How Long Have You Been Riding? Keep the posts coming!

[mcgalinmd]

I see a lot of gals on here and was wondering how long you've been riding motorcycles??  I've got 18 years of experience - 10 on dirt, 8 on the street.  How about you!  [moto]

[Kyna]

I'd also be interested what got you into riding? 

I've wanted to learn since I was very young.  I used to ride on with my dad on his shadow and then his BMW before he decided to take a break from riding.  I decided to take the plunge and actually learn to ride on my own because riding pillon on a Monster just isn't that comfortable.

[somegirl]

I've been riding a bit over 2 years now.

For many years I'd been envious watching people on motorcycles go by, but had always felt too scared to do it myself.

Then I started dating someone in the UK who rode.  Friends recommended that I take the MSF, even just to ride two-up with him, so I signed up for it.   After taking it, I thought, "Well, now I know how to ride around a parking lot, but I want to learn more."  I was hooked!

Furthermore, when he moved to CA to be with me, he got a monoposto bike, so I had to get a bike of my own.

The guy is history, but the riding continues. [moto]

[TiNi]

i've been riding just over 3 years now  [moto]

i started off as a passenger, and it frustrated me beyond belief because i wanted to be in control.
so, i started looking into options i had for sport bikes, and bought my monster before i knew how to ride it.

i promised myself i wouldn't ride it until i took the msf,
so, it sat in the garage for almost 2 painful months.

[mcgalinmd]

I got into riding when I was 8 years old.  Family friends had a farm west of Bedford, PA.  I would ride their 3 wheelers, dirt bikes, and such.  My dad thought it was a good idea to get me and my brother our own bikes as he was afraid of the "maintenance" he might have to do to theirs if there was an "unscheduled dismount".  So he got me my 1978 Suzuki DS80.  I've attached a pic....I still have the bike, looks like it came off the showroom floor as I cleaned, waxed, and fussed over that bike.  And oh yeah, I drove it like I stole it!!!  [moto]  Shorts, t-shirt, etc. - and a red glittery helmet!  It was the 80's you know.   None of my friends would ride behind me because I was always dumping the clutch (on purpose) and coating them with mud and rocks.  God I loved (still love) that bike!



Many many years later, I bought my brothers bike (1975 honda trail 90) and have plans on getting it back on the road this winter.

[jdubbs32584]

I was dating someone about two years ago who had a dark 800. I rode on the back a lot and we got really good at it. Problem was he didn't want to teach me about the bike or go do the MSF. He's still riding around without a full endorsement. I broke up with him, met another guy on a Monster, he taught me how to ride on his 695 (so nice of him). We took the MSF together, both passed and got our full endorsements too. He sold me the 695 and bought an S4R. We ended up breaking up (as many of you know) and I moved up to an S2R.

I guess I've been riding for almost a year now. Its awesome!!!

[LMT]

I started riding in 1982.  I learned in a parking lot on a Yamaha Seca 750.  This was a Sunday and I bought the bike on Monday.  I rode to the DNV in Presque Isle, Maine and they gave me a MC license without any testing.  Making it the 23 miles there was the test.

I rode 2 up on a dirt bike as a kid a few times and loved it.  Being a girl, I was not allowed to learn to ride.  We were very fundamental baptists.  I know I would learn as soon as I left home.  On a side note, we were not allowed to dance either.  I learned both in the same year!

I had the Seca for just over a year and put 15,000 miles on it in way northern Maine.  I sold it when I moved to Germany (Air Force).  I had a break, then a Suzuki for a short time, a break, and have been riding regularly from 1994 on.

[ro-monster]

I really don't know what got me into riding; one day I just decided I wanted to do it. I didn't know anyone who rode, and I had to get my mother to drive me to the dealer to look at bikes, because I didn't even have a driver's license. This dealer offered private lessons on a little 100 cc dual sport in their parking lot. I don't even think MSF existed at the time (1979). After a few lessons, we moved on to riding on the street and freeway, on the bike I bought, a 1978 Yamaha XS400. I rode that bike for a couple of years, then moved away to Boston, where I didn't ride.

Fast forward 13 years, when I moved to California. I was reading about bikes online, saw a Suzuki DR650, and had to have it. But I could just *barely* touch the ground, and it was so intimidating that I didn't ride it much for a couple of years. At some point I decided this was stupid, and I would learn to manage the bike...and so I did, with a little help from boots with 3-inch platform soles. After a while I switched over to real motorcycle boots. A couple of years after that I gave up my car.

Funny thing is, not one person has ever given me grief for being a woman on a bike, even when I started out all those years ago. I hear a lot of stories about women being ignored or treated rudely in shops, or by male riders, but that's never happened to me. I sometimes wonder why that is.

[jdubbs32584]

I really don't know what got me into riding; one day I just decided I wanted to do it. I didn't know anyone who rode, and I had to get my mother to drive me to the dealer to look at bikes, because I didn't even have a driver's license. This dealer offered private lessons on a little 100 cc dual sport in their parking lot. I don't even think MSF existed at the time (1979). After a few lessons, we moved on to riding on the street and freeway, on the bike I bought, a 1978 Yamaha XS400. I rode that bike for a couple of years, then moved away to Boston, where I didn't ride.

Fast forward 13 years, when I moved to California. I was reading about bikes online, saw a Suzuki DR650, and had to have it. But I could just *barely* touch the ground, and it was so intimidating that I didn't ride it much for a couple of years. At some point I decided this was stupid, and I would learn to manage the bike...and so I did, with a little help from boots with 3-inch platform soles. After a while I switched over to real motorcycle boots. A couple of years after that I gave up my car.

Funny thing is, not one person has ever given me grief for being a woman on a bike, even when I started out all those years ago. I hear a lot of stories about women being ignored or treated rudely in shops, or by male riders, but that's never happened to me. I sometimes wonder why that is.

/threadjack

I've been treated weird by guys on bikes. Even if I'm alone, I'm asked if my monster is my boyfriend's bike. While I understand that not a lot of girls ride, at least give me a little credit. More and more, at stop lights and such, I'm getting the "you go girl" thing. I like that.  Oh yeah, and my local shop is great at putting women on bikes.

/end threadjack

[duqette]

Learned to ride after I met my bf. He's moto-only, I LOVED riding two-up, but it didn't take me long to want to do it myself (I'm like that  ).

I'm actually right at my 4 year "anniversary," so I chose 4 to 6 years (rather than 2 to 4), because I ain't stopping any time soon!

[dolci]

bought a bike in college (20+ year ago) and tried to learn to ride but never got past the parking lot.....bf turned me on to Ducs and the rest is history.

[T-byrd]

I was my ex-husbands backpack and didn't like not having any control.  For my 30th (I'm 35 now)he enrolled us both in the MSF, we both passed but I couldn't find a bike I felt I liked enough to buy.  The next spring I found the bike of my dreams...a red 620 with low hung, chrome D&D's (loudest thing I've ever heard in my life).  I ended up outriding that bikes' set up and needed something that wouldn't scrape hard parts.

That's when I found my current steed...I love this bike and will never part with it.  [moto]

T

[Ducatista]

Both my parents rode before I was born.  My mother rode out of necessity, since a moto was cheaper to get around on than a car.  Even after she could afford a car, she still preferred the scoot.  She has never ridden on the back of a motorcycle.  She bought a bike, taught herself, and got her endorsement without ever having ridden with anyone.  My sister is the one who got the in vitro pillion experience, since my mother didn't give it up until her high school art students told her it was scandalous that she was riding at 41 and in her second trimester!

Ever since I was a kid, I've been fascinated by motorcycles.  Our neighbor's failed 30 year old son who still lived at home would go screaming up and down the street on his Harley.  Every time I'd go running up to the window pointing and squealing, "Megasoose!  Megasoose, Mommy!!!" 

Finally, after I had been married and divorced, I met a couple of people who rode.  I became friends and rode cupcake for a short while on a variety of bikes before I decided that I had to get one of my own in 2004.  Yes, my M900s is my first bike, and it was a dumb move.  I had to force myself to ride, since it was so intimidating for me.  I didn't have any friends to ride with at this point, since all my riding buddies seemed to scatter to the four winds. 

I picked up my first track tool in 2007 and did my first track days then.  Now it's all I can think about.  Motos have changed my friends, fiscal priorities, and time allocation.  I have no idea what I did before motorcycles.  I only wish I had discovered them sooner!

[mcgalinmd]

To further women on wheels, i'm signing up my 13 year old daughter for dirt bike school next month (cross my fingers)...I want her to learn on the dirt first, like I did.  It's a secret, though...don't tell!!       I'm doing it as part of a vacation.  If it's not too expensive, i'll do it with her, too.  Looks way fun!  [moto]

[Kyna]

To further women on wheels, i'm signing up my 13 year old daughter for dirt bike school next month (cross my fingers)...I want her to learn on the dirt first, like I did.  It's a secret, though...don't tell!!       I'm doing it as part of a vacation.  If it's not too expensive, i'll do it with her, too.  Looks way fun!  [moto]

sounds like a lot of fun.  I bet your daughter will be over the moon.  What a great mother-daughter activity.