• Welcome to the new B.I.R.D. Forum. Please be sure to read the "New Member / New Registered ? Please Read" thread in the Coffee Shop. This contains some important information. To become a full member ( £5.90 a year ) simply click on your user name near the top on the right I hope you enjoy the new site ................ Jaws ( John )

What was your first road bike ?

Cougar377

Express elevator to hell
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Suzuki GT 185. I thought it was the bollox until I borrowed an oppo's X7.
 

Jaws

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Mine was a new Suzi GT125. 1975. Brand new, purchased it on the never never as I needed transport for shifts.
I crashed on the way home as I had never ridden a geared bike before.

Murt
The first 'outfit' I bought was from a mate near Stratford, east London.
He warned me it would feel odd and pull hard to the left.
Being 16 and brim full of knowing everything, I jumped on it, dropped the clutch, went up the kerb and through his 6ft garden fence !
The next morning, pulling away from me house, I forgot about the width and punted the chair in to the back of a milk float !

It was a 1954 BSA B33 with a Watsonian double adult chair... Cost me 12 quid ( knocked him down from £15 )
 

Centaur

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My one and only try on a chair was in 1960. I borrowed an Aerial square four with a chair and went a few miles to Calne and back. The first left hand bend when the chair came up scared the sh1t out of me and I never wanted to try again. Just glad to give it back in one piece.
 

slim63

Never surrender
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The first 'outfit' I bought was from a mate near Stratford, east London.
He warned me it would feel odd and pull hard to the left.
Being 16 and brim full of knowing everything, I jumped on it, dropped the clutch, went up the kerb and through his 6ft garden fence !

Similar experience to me, my first go was on a god awful ural outfit & made a whole 3 yards before we had a chair lamp post interface :risas3:

My second experience was in the chair of an F2 outfit around Mallory, one lap was more than enough & I began to think fondly of the ural :eek:

Never again!
 

Jaws

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I went on to do some pretty daft things with oufits...
Rode from Thatched House Garage on the A13 Barking to the outskirts of Southend( Manners Rd) with the chair wheel up... for a five bob bet !!!!!!!!
It is a tad over 30 miles
 

Steve Ashby

Registered User
I had forgotten about those bloody things, had a sprung hub Thunderbird with a Garrard on the side, bought for a tenner in about '68-'69 to get me through my winter commute to Coventry. My dad showed me how to "ride" it and power through left handers, actually it was good fun and I am still embarassed now at some of the stupid things me and my mates got up to with it. Kept it for two or three years and flogged it for what I paid for it.
 

ScottyUK

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Friday will be my 10th anniversary of owning a bike. This is the first pic of my first bike.
I had the CBR600F for 2 years before I got the Blackbird (Feb '10). I've just realised I've got them and my latest one all in February for some reason?!?
 

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sr71caspar

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I went on to do some pretty daft things with oufits...
Rode from Thatched House Garage on the A13 Barking to the outskirts of Southend( Manners Rd) with the chair wheel up... for a five bob bet !!!!!!!!
It is a tad over 30 miles

Was the chair up on purpose, or did the rider's weight help matters? :eek:



:elefant:







:D
 

T.C

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As soon as I turned 17, I ditched the FS1E (for a small profit strangely enough) and paid £60 for a CD175. Then I realised what a heap of poo it was and swapped it for the CB175 which was much better and it had an electric foot.

Within 2 months I had passed my test and 24 hours later I was the proud owner of a GT380 which is another story altogether

CD175.jpg CB175.jpg GT380-static-028.jpg
 

andyBeaker

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Whaaaat !!
It was a hoot (for about three months at least) and could be ridden with just a passed CBT.

Bought it on impulse haveing endured a really bad period f being stuck in traffic endlessly in a commuter coach. Gave me two hours a day of my life back.

Followed by BMW GS650, Fazer 600, Fazer 1000 then two Blackbirds.

Happilly no need for a death trap any more(y)
 

ridgeback05

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Royal Enfield Crusader Sports nasty pale green colour. 250 single, had a few issues with the wet cork clutch plates burning out.
 

Jaws

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Royal Enfield Crusader Sports nasty pale green colour. 250 single, had a few issues with the wet cork clutch plates burning out.
I always reckoned the later 250 Enfields had soft guts.. I knew of two or three that broke cranks or lost rods
 

Quiney

Registered User
As soon as I turned 17, I ditched the FS1E (for a small profit strangely enough) and paid £60 for a CD175. Then I realised what a heap of poo it was and swapped it for the CB175 which was much better and it had an electric foot.

Within 2 months I had passed my test and 24 hours later I was the proud owner of a GT380 which is another story altogether

View attachment 42738 View attachment 42739 View attachment 42740

I have a GT380 in the garage alongside the Bird.
 

T.C

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I have a GT380 in the garage alongside the Bird.

Has the middle pot on yours seized as most did (JMO 833P was the reg of mine and I brought it when it was 3 months old) ? Only seemed to happen to the 380. Never had the same issue later with the 550
 

Quiney

Registered User
Has the middle pot on yours seized as most did (JMO 833P was the reg of mine and I brought it when it was 3 months old) ? Only seemed to happen to the 380. Never had the same issue later with the 550
Surprisingly no. It got some hammering as I rode with a couple of IOM TT riders! my best(worst) mpg was 18mpg!
 

Jaws

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Tried a 750 kettle.. rode it pretty aggressively and managed 12 mpg !!
I completely lost interest in it !!!!!!!
 

slim63

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Has the middle pot on yours seized as most did (JMO 833P was the reg of mine and I brought it when it was 3 months old) ? Only seemed to happen to the 380. Never had the same issue later with the 550

Mine never seized unlike the Kh400 I had but it did occasionally run backwards on first start up :eek:
 
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