What was your "Harley" moment? When did you decide that riding was your passion?

I was in the 4th grade and my Dad owned a "Service Station" and worked on bikes on the side. He picked me up from school on one of the bikes he had repaired and I can still remember one of my friends saying, "Man, he is so lucky!" It was all over after that!

What's yours?

 

Bah, been havin' 'em all my life<g>

Think the one I remember best was:

My grandma was an RN at the Marshfield (WI) hospice unit. I went up to visit when I was growing up and kinda "helped" out in the ward. (mostly playing games and watching TV with the terminal children). All the sudden I hear this *noise*, look out the window and there's gotta be 80+ bikes out there. The Hell's Angels were in town for some ride and stopped at the hospital to give each and every terminal child a stuffed animal and those that were well enough a ride around the parking lot on a bike. At that moment "bikers" went from being scary to being really kinda cool.

Nothing like seeing a 350lb man with hair down to his butt and a beard down to his waist have tears rolling down his face while he gives a bald kid a ride around the parking lot.

Wolf, probably one of the best things I ever saw in my life.

(and regarding our other thread...can you imagine the lawsuits if something like that was to happen nowadays? OMG!)

 

1955 I was 3 years old and watched my dad pull up on his.Iwanted to go with him so bad but the mom said noooooooo.I still remember it like it was yesterday.I guess i have want one ever since.Got my first one in 1966.but it was a honda S90 not a Harley.But i have one now.05 heritage softail.

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When did riding become my passion or when did I decide that I bled orange and black?

 

Been addicted to bikes since I bought my first (age 14, Kawasaki KH 250). After that I owned a Kaw 750, a BMW 1000 Cafe, a Triumph 650.
Figured I'd owned just about everything else, so last year I bought my hog.

Right now it's dismantled in the garage and dining room. Repainting tin in the garage/paint booth. Engine's in pieces waiting to reinstall my cam support plate (Andrews 26G gear driven), and my 95" pistons/cylinders should be here any day now....

Fever? Uhm......yeah.......I kinda got the affliction pretty bad!

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Because of my father. It's probably one of the first things I ever knew.

 

1966. I was 9 years old. Three WW2 vets in my neighborhood had Harleys. I would gaze at them in awe every time they would rumble by. 1967. Rode my friend's Rupp mini-bike. Infected for life!

 

I was a die hard dirt bike rider since age 12, sears roebuck bike, then a Yamaha 175 enduro at 14, then a 250 Honda at 20, But when a buddy stopped by my shop with his 82 lowrider and asked if I wanted to take it for a ride I did and everything I heard about Harley's being a POS to ride was immediately put behind me and I wanted one someday, Took another 15 plus years till I could afford one. 03 FXST. Stopped at my buddies house who had sold the lowrider shortly after I first rode it and parked my new bike in his garage. Took all of about 3 weeks for him to convince himself to go buy a new 03 Fatboy and get back into riding. His old lowrider is still in the area and not being ridden much. I hope someday the owner will sell it to me, I would love to have it for sentimental reasons alone.

 

In my teens, but real hard at 18. That's when the coffin-tanked Sporty called out to me.

Too bad I was a broke college guy - had to sell it when I got laid off at my outside job.

 

1948, I was 8 years old, had to wait 10 years to get a big harley. first big Harley was a 1957 Sporty, bought it about 2 days after I turned 18..[sm=biker.gif]