Photo of your first motorcycle

[Water Warrior 2]

Originally Posted by purslant

This is the first bike I owned. I got it when I was 17 in 77.
I rode it all over Waco until about 1985, then just off road.
Last time I had it running was in 95, but the gas tank leaked so bad I had to stop riding.
I'm working on getting it going again.


This is the bike I learned to ride on when I was 14. Suzuki 250 that belong to my brother in law.
Yes that is me on it, in 74.

The TS 250 was an awsome bike in it's day. 22 Hp that would not quite. There was also a TS 400 but it was not as good in the handling dept. but could pull wheelies all day.

[5th_bike]

When I was 14 or so I found one of these at the neighborhood trash pickup, fixed a flat tire, put some gas in, and it ran:



(This one isn't mine, but I had two Solexes like that)
Note the forced air cooling - from the left side of the engine, air is blown towards the cylinder by fan blades around the magneto-alternator/generator. Also, note the carburator just behind the cylinder, above the gas tank at the right side of the engine. I remember once putting 5 cents of gasoline in it, which was 2 dollarcents at that time (around 1970). Usually it took up to two dimes of gasoline (50 Dutch cents). The exhaust was just a tiny pipe leading to a cute little round drum. It was a very economical 35 cc two-stroke engine.
Its default throttle setting was "full open", to reduce throttle you had to squeeze the little lever (see pic) at the right handlebar, and when you let go of the lever, off it went, purrrrr.
To start it, you had to bicycle forward, and then lower the engine onto the front wheel. Note the handle for the engine and its hook at the steering column. It did have a centrifugal clutch that enabled you to stop with the engine running.

Then, on my 16th birthday, I got a 'real' Puch moped like this one:



This was a 50cc two-stroke moped with forced air cooling, note the air conduit around the cylinder. It had two gears, and it ran 45-50 kmh whereas the Solexes only went around 25 kmh max.! The frame is just a few bent plates welded together.
The clutch, gear shifter, front & rear brakes, throttle - all controls were exactly in the same spot as today's motorcycles !
The Puch served me fine for about five years, until I got a cage (Citroen 2CV).

[patrick_777]

For some reason, I just got the hankering to visit the Netherlands.

[music man]

Originally Posted by patrick_777

For some reason, I just got the hankering to visit the Netherlands.

I second that Emotion. :twisted:

[zoned10x]

Had to borrow this photo from suzukicycles.org, but my first 'real motorcycle' back in 1965 was a 150cc two-stroke twin Suzuki S32. In those days synthetic oil was rare, so it was common to add outboard motor oil to the gas. The result was fouled plugs every 80 miles, but the routine was accepted. The little bike was PDQ for the displacement, easily outrunning the similar Honda CA-95 150cc four-stroke.

[Water Warrior 2]

Sounds like you have a soft spot in your heart for 2 strokes. The Hustler was an awesome street bike in it's time. A friend had one and loved it but he was dismayed to find out it wouldn't float. A very funny afternoon for all of us.