Your Rider Resume

[raja777m]

Started riding a 70cc at age 14(friend's moped, automatic), then immediately upgraded to 100cc Bajaj Boxer, Bajaj Chetak(awesome/powerful 150cc scooter), Hero Honda Passion Plus, then to a 150cc Hero Honda Glamor until i'm 21(all dad's money/vehicle).

Got 4 yrs gap after moving to USA, got my 08FZ6 BlackBeauty on March 29th, 2015(after selling 2 N. Sentras).
Currently started spending money on mods one by one, slowly and steadily. This is my only vehicle now, for daily commute of less than 5 miles(rain or shine) and long trips over weekends(shine only).
Over the past couple fuel fill-ups, i got 37 and 40mpg.
Bike is currently 3500(oil change and inspection servicing done at 3k miles), planning to do the oil change for the first time in my life on my own at 7k miles.

Currently feeling lucky to get a decent bike for best value on the market with very low miles.

Accessories: Sony AZ1V Action Cam helmet mounted.

 

[rideslikean00b]

I'm still green as far as amount of time in the saddle goes, I mean I'm about 14 months into it and I was a late starter... 29 years old but always wanted to ride, a few pillions and my uncle was an avid Harley man plus a few of the uncles on my other side of the family dabbled.

But in terms of miles I've really wound them on. I think it's over 8K on my YBR-125 (got bored of that within a month but didn't have money to get the full license/big bike for a while), 11K on my XJ-6 (had a spill on ice so traded her in, the shop is still rebuilding), and now even in just a few months about 5K on my FZ-6.

I've still got a lot to learn but the FZ-6 is the first bike I've had or ridden that feels like it was designed just for me. It's not the fastest or the lightest but by god is it a well-balanced all-rounder, it's like Yamaha did a semi-faired version of of the Hornet and made it better in the process. I can lean in to the corners or filter with more speed/confidence to the point where other bikers filtering at 15mph look pitifully slow and I enjoy the moment I can safely overtake. All year round riding makes you appreciate the extra grip of the road when the sun heats it up!

At heart I'm a sports tourer guy - don't like the wrist-ache position of the pure sports machines and the temptation to redline through the gears all the time - but I also enjoy the old-school cruisers, as I found out when I had the Yamaha XV950 (also stupidly named the Star Bolt in USA :roll eyes: ). My late uncle Tony left me his classic black leathers so even though I have an FZ-6 I tend to cruise around with the leathers and an open face pisspot style helmet and shades on weekend when the weathers good, I think it confuses a lot of fellow bikers having an R6-derived bike with cruiser gear on but it makes me happy and gets me thinking about the fact I never did get to ride out with my uncle. Maybe later. ;-)

Yeah. Just wish I'd started riding years ago, so by now I'd only be half crap instead of complete crap lol. Although knowing how I like to hoon it now probably best that I was a late starter.

 

[Serzedo]

I'm 31 yo, from Portugal, been riding since 2008 and have at the time I have almost 100.000km's on two wheels.

I have an Euro license and I'm permited to drive everything that goes from two wheels, until many wheels, motorcycles, cars, bus, truck, semi-truck, you name it.

Learned something about car/bus/truck mechanics in classes during heavy vehicles training.

My motorcycles where: Yamaha Thundercat, Honda Deauville and also SYM XS125-K. Now I ride the FZ6 and the SYM.

"V"

 

[pizza_pablo]

Years and ages approximate.

1973 10 Tecumseh 5hp mini bike around the neighborhood.

1974 11 Honda Trail 50 to ride at the camp on the bayou.

1976 13 Kawasaki Enduro to ride around the neighborhood, in the woods and at the levy of Lake Pontchartrain.

1980 17 Kawasaki KZ 400 to ride everywhere.

1985 22 Kawasaki Ninja 600. Wife bought it for me as a wedding gift.

1986 23 traded wrecked 600 Ninja for Yamaha RZ350 (red, white & blue, not yellow & black) two stroke. That bike was exciting (ie, scared the crap out of me). In case you're curious, I was drunk and stoned, wheelie-ing through a stop sign and T-boned a Datsun Z car.

1987 24 joined the Navy and the RZ350 was sold while I was in boot camp.

1988 25 shared a Honda Shadow (500?) with a buddy, for commuting to the base. We had overnight duty on opposing days.

1989 no motorcycles...

2020 57 wife passed away in January. Was telling coworker how bad life stinks. He put his hand on my shoulder and said solemnly, "you need a motorcycle". Two weeks later I bought a 2008 Yamaha FZ6.

I don't ever recall doing anything to get a motorcycle license. Maybe it was no big deal. Maybe I never did.
Now, as a mature and responsible adult, I have to pay for and compete two different courses of instruction, in order to obtain a motorcycle endorsement.

 

[Gary in NJ]

Wow this is an old thread...and one I've never seen. And I'm bored to death during the COVID19 lock-down...so I'll play. Not a resume but a story.

My first bike was a new off the showroom floor '73 Suzuki TS-50 Gaucho. That first summer of riding as a 10 year old I shared the mighty TS with my three older brothers. The next spring my dad bought me a lightly used CT-70H for $100. We lived on on 138 acres that was surrounded by state land. I literately had thousands of acres to explore...and I did...every day. My brothers and our friends all now had motorcycles and we were all connected though the same trail system. If a trail needed to be created, we created it. The best days of my life had begun.
The summer of '75 I had a hand-me-down TS125
The summer of '76 an hand-me-down XL175
The summer of '77 I had a hand-me-down TS185
The summer of '78 I has a hand-me-down TM250. It almost didn't matter what bike I had. There was a lot of bike swapping between my friends and family. I rode every great bike of the time; Honda Elsinore's, CZ's, Maco's & Penton's. I got to ride all of the mainstream bikes from Honda, Suzuki, the occasional Kawasaki and even a Hodaka Dirt squirt. Oddly enough, I never rode a Yamaha (no local dealers). My brother had the dreaded TM400. What a beast, especially for a 15 year old. It was the only bike I was afraid of. In the spring of '79 my father's success allowed him to move the family to a very upscale neighborhood. Motorcycles were sold. Dirt bikes would no longer be a part of my teen experience. I missed that land, my friends, and motorcycling.

The fall of '81 I left for college. Within a few days of being on my own I purchased my first street bike - a '71 CB125 for $100. I was a complete POS - and I loved it. I was riding again and I rode that little bike every where with my head held high. I couldn't bring it home because my parents didn't know I had it (nor would they have approved) so at the end of the school year I gave it to some local kids. The next fall I purchased a GN400 - the only new bike I've ever owned. The local dealer had two on the showroom floor and my brother and I worked on the owner for weeks to get a package deal. In the end we got them for $800 each. I had that bike for two years (I stored it at a friends house at school during the summer because once again, my parents didn't know) and sold it in the fall of '84 for a used GS450 - my first twin. That bike was sold just before graduation - and I would once again be bikeless for many years.

Right out of college I started working in NYC, got married, bought a condo. I had little disposable money and little time for riding. I never even thought about it other than thinking back to my days as a teen. As I started to to make some money I started building an airplane (I got my license at 17 and got a degree in aeronautics) - that ate all time and all money. By the summer of '95, now 32 years old with a child, my airplane was done. One of my flying buddies showed up at the hangar with a mid-80's GS450 that he had just bought. After telling him I had the same bike back in the 80's he said "here, take it for a ride". And that was it...just like that...I needed a motorcycle and I needed it bad. I bought a used EX500...and I have probably have owned 20 different street bikes since.

One last part of the story. It seemed that airplane people and motorcycle people are one in the same. As I met more friends through flying an experimental aircraft, I also met more people to ride with. In the late 90's one of my friends that I flew/rode with invited me to his family farm to ride dirt bikes. He gave me a KDX200 for the day. I actually think that day was one of the best times (certainly one of the most memorable) that I've ever had on a motorcycle. Being on a modern dirt bike was nothing like the machinery I had left behind in the late 70's - this was everything I thought a motorcycle should be. Once again the hook was set. I purchased a KDX200 and in no time I started racing hare scrambles. I had never been involved in organized racing and I just loved everything about it and the people. A few years later my kids were just at the right age to get them involved in racing too. We raced local hare scrambles and I started to race motocross as well. I stopped racing when I turned 47 - not because I didn't love it (I still do) but because the kids (now 3 of 'em) were getting more active in sports and wanted to try different things. As a family we decided to sell the bikes and move on from dirt bikes. We have great memories from those days, especially the bike/camping trips. I think one of my sons may get back into riding one day..and I'll join him when he does. If not, maybe one of the grand kids (that I don't even have yet). I will be happy to be the guy in his 60's tearing it up on a dirt bike. I still have an MX track in my back field...somewhere under the grass.

Motorcycles have brought me a lifetime of happiness, great friends and has been a social and family bond since I was 10 years old. I am a motorcyclist to my very core. I love these machines and the people who enjoy them. I look forward to many more years of riding.

 

[Wazdis]

I've been riding since I was 15. Dirtbikes on the family farm back then. Progressed to roadbikes at 19. Built 2 dragbikes that ran 10.70 secs & 7.86 respectively. I rode most my life until 35 years old and getting knocked off an XJ750 due to no fault of my own but had young kids so never bought another after the insurance of the driver paid out & I started a business. Just 2 weeks ago I bought a used FZ6S and am seriously impressed with this bike, suits me to a T on the road! I'm now 53 but can ride this well enough to enjoy it, welcome home for me. ;-)

 

[Kuninkas]

I have been a petrol head since i was a kid. My dad has always had projects where he buys crashed motorcycle / mopped and fixes it, drives it and sells them. I have been closely following those and helped on those projects. My first experience with bikes was when i was 10 and my friend had 50cc & 80cc motocross bike on their summer house, i was lucky enough to test them out and also loved to visit their summer house because of that. I then secretly borrowed my brothers scooter when i was around 13 for fun 200m rides, on age 15 i got my own moped license and got mbk ovetto scooter and drove in one year around 10000km with it. On age 16 i got my 125cc 2 stroke aprillia rs and within 2 years drove around 25000km with it. When i was 18 the 125cc license upgraded automatically to under 25kw license, i borrowed few times my friends 600 zxr which wasnt limited but had the paperwork for limited.

Then comes the fun part, age 20, license upgrades automatically to full power license and i buy Kawasaki z750s crashed from copart. I was on Army and fixed the bike on weekend holidays, drove around 10000km with it in one year and sold it with good profit. My father bought then Honda vfr 800 VTEC and i loaned that on every summer for 9 years, that bike is amazing with r1 devil exhaust. Now i am 30 and bought fz6s and i am building ”yamasaki” out of it(check my posts). We are also building a Honda cx500 caferacer with my dad at the moment ☺️ For me fixing the bikes is therapy and helps me to get away from busy worklife, i am really lucky that i have found a way how i can clear my mind.