Your first 'adventure' on a motorbike

[Beam me up]

An early adventure was a trip from Devon to Loughborough. I was doing an engineering course at Loughborough University. I ran an old (even then) BSA A10 which was a complete wreck. One weekend I set off to see my parents in Devon. It was a fairly uneventful trip down although it took about 6 hours. For the return trip I left at lunchtime. Within about 20 miles I rear-ended a triumph Dolomite driven by a Japanese gentleman who didn't speak a word of English so everyone automatically assumed it was his fault (cosmopolitan nation we were in those days). He had stood on the brakes when he saw a petrol station and my bike didn't really have brakes. Not much damage done to the car or the bike. The garage owner welded up my broken gear lever for nothing and I went on my way. Cutting through from the M5 to Warwick and Conventry I ran into some floods but these didn't cause too much of a problem for the bike, some coughing and spluttering and a reduction in the already minimal braking power and some very wet feet for me. I got to Coventry and it seemed unlikely that I was going to make it in daylight and the bike didn't have working lights. The decision as to whether to carry on in the fading light was made for me when I got a puncture. I pushed the bike round the back of a closed pub. All pubs were closed on Sunday evenings in those days, I think. I chained the bike to a small tree and took the back wheel out but didn't have any tools to repair a puncture. I was just leaving the car park to carry on by hitching when a mini pulled in to the car park. The lively driver turns out to be the landlady's daughter who lives in the flat at the back of the pub. She's very friendly and helpful and invites me to stay. She drove me up to Loughborough in the morning and I got the tyre repaired and collected the bike the following weekend. We're still married now.

As Ted Simon says it's always more interesting when the bike breaks down!

[PeterT]

An early adventure.........

.................... We're still married now.

As Ted Simon says it's always more interesting when the bike breaks down!

Nice one. Thanks for sharing that

[Flintlock]

Great stories so far, looks like we all got by on the basics, both in bikes and kit, not much of an idea as to how we were going to get to where we were going, no maps sat navs mobile phones, but we still managed, life was simple and care free, and the seeds were sown for a life of biking.

Flintlock

[Boo Cock]

And to think, someone put a question on here earlier, "what makes an adventure bike"? Here is your answer to that I say!

Happy Adventures,

Boo. :woohoo:

[Moorso]

Riding about on a (exceptionally kindly) donated BMW R80. My first bike. I loved the sound of the boxer engine and those exhausts. Had just passed my test and it was utter freedom. The 'bap bap bap bap' sound.

Happy times!

[Vindaloo]

Riding my new Bullet Machismo 350 home from the Enfield dealer in Kolkata ... First time ever riding a bike with gears and a kick start!!

Baptism of fire ...

[Heff]

Where are you in the photo? :laugh:

[Vindaloo]

Under the bus ... But I'm not telling which one

[waynecoluk]

I guess my first adventure on a bike was riding back from Germany to Lancashire. I was on a 2000 CBR600 with a huge bag on the back with my worldly belongings in it. I only did about 1000 miles and most of it was on motorways but with no map, no experience and no real idea where to go it was certainly an adventure for an inexperienced bike rider like me.

[Norrie77]

Bought a R1150RS in 2003 before I passed my test and once I got that done and dusted in 2004 a friend and his brothers gave me a month to get used to the bigger bike and they then took me on a fantastic to me adventure round the North and West of Scotland over 1000 miles in 4 days. Magic