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Another post gave this idea, since we should have very different experiences regarding this. So, first ever time on a bike was around the parking lot of a hotel in Lisbon, my dad took me there on a dudes' weekend when I was around 8 or 9 to go see the F1 at the Estoril track, this was around 1988 to 1990. A friend of his took me around the parking lot on his Virago XV250 sitting up front, I loved it and still remember it. I hate that guy now, but that is besides the point. As a teenager, and this will maybe be a little weird to a lot of you ancient people, I then rode pillion with my foreign girlfriend at the time on her cousin's DTR125, borrowed on a stay here. She was a little older and rode a motorcycle at home. Around that time, first time to ever ride alone was on a friend's Gilera Typhoon 50, plastic panels rattled and came apart every time it went over a tiny bump on the road , looked a lot rattier than this: Took my motorcycle classes and exam on a TW225 And then bought my first bike a year after starting to work, at around 22 or 23, a Transalp 650

Well let's see, I think I was conceived on the back of a bike, so I started young. I lived in the country and my dad was in a local "gang", if you like. Where I lived then the bike gangs were an actual thing and it was always a big party every weekend. Bikes, bonfires and boobies everywhere., it was the 70's. ? I rode with my dad first, since before I could walk he would take me out for rides. So bikes were just always there. I didn't get my licence until I was in my 20's and unfortunately my dad passed away before I could share that with him.

If you got the money:

1971 I bought a 1963 Lambretta TV175 for 22 quid.......it looked something like this, but in a bad state with a Union Jack seat cover! It was in an even worse state when I sold it two months later after binning it about 10 times! Then I got a 1968 Vespa SS180 like this...... By the end of the year it was battered to shit as I binned that one about 7 or 8 times as well. January 1972 I got a 1965 D7 Bantam like this...... And guess what? I never binned it! Cos I spent most of the time pushing it. The following month I replaced it with a 1966 Triumph 3TA......ex Welsh Water Board. It was like this, but by no means immaculate! Fell of it about 4 or 5 times as I recall. Even took it round Llandow Race Track as well......and came very very close to binning it there too! August 1972 I got a Suzuki T250J Hustler......and that bike was the game changer for me. At last, a bike that didn't fuck up! Still binned it about 4 or times though! And that's as far as I'm going....cos I can't do 59 more!

Bearing With My Royal Enfield Himalayan - Part 4 - New Parts & Lots of Grease The time has come to change the front steering bearings in Bagheera, my 2019 Royal Enfield Himalayan. Bagheera has 6000km on him and that might seem early for a bearing change, but I believe the conditions I ride in can wear things out on the bike a bit faster. It's a great opportunity to learn more about my bike and as usual things never go according to plan, so this has turned into a multi-part video. In this episode we replace the bearings and races with new parts and grease, while sharing some casual garage chit-chat.

I think my first time on a bike was on the back of my uncles BMW exactly the same as this one. it was after that i started dreaming about bikes My first go on a bike solo was on a friends old trail bike haven't a clue what it was i was probably about 12 year old i had a straight line fixation and almost went down a 20ft grass bank on it but somehow turned away from it at the last second. My second go on a bike was a different friends OSSA 250 trials bike, i think i was around 13. Now that one did go over a 20ft drop. I rode wobbly along what was the old canal at the time and when i started to turn around the bike got the better of me and went up a grass bank which had about a 20ft drop the other side into the the cutting they were digging out for the new dual carriageway to Merthyr, I had managed to drop the bike on the edge as it went over and was holding onto it with all my strength but i couldn't hold it and over it went i can still picture it hitting the floor front wheel first on full lock i climbed down to it but couldn't start it as i didn't know it needed to be in neutral to kick it. In the meantime my mate turned up looking for me, i told him i flipped the bike trying to ride over the rocks, he congratulated me on getting to where i was on a first go as he struggled riding it out lol. i found out later he got rid of the bike shortly after because it had a twisted frame ? At about 14 or 15 my mate had a C90 which is what i really learned to ride on, we went everywhere on it taking it in turns to ride it totally illegal searching the valleys for pussy to impress Next came my first bike it was a DT175mx, well i needn't mention what trouble that got me into It was in real good condition and everything worked on it. Looked like this one Then i made one of the worst mistake of my life i swapped the DT for a Honda CB400N superdream thinking i could swap it for a 125 easier but how wrong i was, all i could get being young and easy to rip off was a CB100N, but i was now road legal and had started my life of two wheeled adventures

I've voted for the Welsh turd polisher, because if you had told me this time last year his bike would be on a road with snow in the back ground I would have laughed so hard a bit of wee would have come out, but there it is!!

Awful weekend......worked 12 hours yesterday, 12 hours today......and got out on the bike for half an hour. And that was hard going with the bloody wind. And look at next week.....decent Mon-Fri and a fucking shitstorm on the weekend!

It does look strange in the video, but it was the right size and did work out. I know my tool sizes, don't worry! ?

My sentiments exactly Ian, I'm sure he's photoshopped in reality Mucho gets my vote.

Minnesota, Iowa and Wisconsin are about the only areas of the USA where you'll find lutefisk. These are the areas that the Scandinavian immigrants moved to years ago so they have Lutefisk. I lived in northern Iowa as a kid and lots of the Iowa-wegian (what we called them) restaurants had it on the menu. That shit is foul ! Can't believe anyone can eat that shit. My parents (children of German immigrants) would eat it, but I never went near it.

If its the End of the World. Im here to make it look good.

My mistake....it was the SS90.

I've never seen a tool for inserting the outer races like that. The norm is a bush sitting in the race but with a lip to sit on the top of the race, if that makes sense. Looks like what you were using was to small for the job?

Good work @Grasshopper's Ride ? fixing things myself always gives me a good feeling of achievement. I've found a copper/hide mallet a much better tool than a rubber mallet for hitting things

So, although the world conspires against the BOTM events, we did manage to get a few cool entries for BOTM. Feast your eyes on this! We´ve got: @alfalfa's BMW R1200GSA, "Flames", on a Californian dirt road in the US @Grasshopper's Ride's Royal Enfield Himalayan, "Bagheera" on a lush British Columbia forest, in Canada @Pedro's BMW R1200GSA on a green meadow in Portugal @Skippy's Royal Enfield Himalayan on a sunny ride in Southern Spain @Tym's moped, "Loosenuts", hanging from a tree in the US @XTreme's BMW G650GS out on a chilly ride in Spain

It'll probably never happen again in our lifetime Yen!

they will come up with tier 5 in a bit ?

Did @Catteeclan just imply he has a bigger tool for the job?

Loosenuts for me!

I had a 500 like that in Ohio mid '70's. not the same paint.

Wasn't mine....I had my Vespa at the time.

I need more snow for glow pics!

My vote goes for Alalfa's bike, I just love the road and the sky, man I need lockdown and winter to go away!

my first bike was a 1976 yamaha fs1e in baja brown with the speed blocks

Think I’ll just stay in and become an alcoholic, it won’t matter what happens as long as I have whiskey or meths.?

I'll take the SL350 please.

Some classics there! First actual motorcycle (not scooter) that I ever rode there too.....Honda SS50.

That truly is some Pedro food right there!

How about a visit to the culinary capital of Oooot deere Wisconsin! Welcome to friday at Lakeview Lutheran, all you can eat Lutefisk! Yummmy!

The wife had a braised short rib with some kind of crunchy stuff (shaved almonds maybe?) on top with a brown sauce / gravy on it. Mashed potato are underneath with some asparagus on the side. Oh, and another Stella for me.

A few more for Pedro..... Started off with an appetizer of Stella this evening and followed it with some sort of Kung Pao dish with chicken. Basically veggies, chicken and rice.....

Whenever i travelled a kid we would take the USAF with us, never had a problem.

Tiger 1200 would be perfect ? Flights over should be fairly cheap and I'd use more money than hire in fuel costs there and back let alone whilst there so think that is the way to go, flight hire bike

Doesn't sound too bad like, I'll check out that link see what goes

Welcome to the XTreme .??

You seen the size of Rich.

Sorry @Bruce I forgot my chair for a minute.

i really meant the goth chick's

Because an American Media Corporate sent me this: We have discovered that articles originally published on xxxxxxx are being published on your site, Adventure Motorcycles. Both text and images from xxxxxxx have been published on your site without authorization. We request you discontinue this practice immediately for both xxxxxxx and our other websites including xxxxxxx, xxxxxxx, and xxxxxxx. In addition, we request that you remove the xxxxxxx “user” from your forums. Please reply to this email with confirmation you understand this request and will comply. If you do not reply and discontinue this practice, you will be contacted by our lawyers next and we will report your site to your hosting agency. So I've removed two newsbots and hundreds of news articles. Bewildering when you consider all those articles had the original links on them which directed back to their site anyway. And it's not as if we're a commercial site using their articles to try and make money. There's no Paid Ads or Subscriptions either.......absolutely nothing like that here. I really don't know why these companies bother to publish RSS feeds for syndication, because when you actually use them you get threats of legal action. So we're officially Bad to the Bone now.......and we have the threats of legal action to confirm it!

I'll admit that on one occasion I did tell my mate Javi on the petrol pumps here that the bloke with me was a rampant homosexual who wanted to fuck him up the ass! Sorry.....I did it on two occasions! The other time was on the phone to the Service Manager in the Skoda dealer in Teruel about Dell who was there with him broken down at the time. Dell said to me afterwards....."that guy in the Skoda dealer kept looking at me really weird!"

Allie is a sweetheart, Rich, stop for some flowers or wine or whatever. Apart from her taste in men she is a nice lady. Pete is a loudmouth welshman, he'll try to embarrass you first chance he gets. On and off the bike.

Your bike....you didnt have a name so made an executive decision to name it Eric P.S other names are available

Plenty of other news sources out there Bruce......and a lot of their stuff wasn't particularly impressive anyway.

Topic specific forums (i.e. motorcycles) will always attract a majority of like-minded people. Couple that with the fact that most riders are pretty good people, Bruce excepted, and you have a much more enjoyable place to hang out. Unfortunately, that also hampers the amount of different discussion that takes place on FB. Maybe if the forum software was configured to display conversations similar to how FB does it, it might be more inviting. On FB, you only have to load the app and you are hit with every single conversation the algorithms can throw at you. I liken it to my restaurant experiences with the club i ride with - everyone is talking at the same time so the noise level is high. Forums like this are more like polite, mature conversation where you listen before speaking. well, mostly.

Excellent stuff @Grasshopper's Ride that tool sure beats my steel bar and hammer. The one for removing the steering stem bearing is something i can easily make but until i saw it i hadn't thought of it so simple. It was a pleasure seeing you handle those tools for the first time you looked very competent you could learn from this @XTreme

Bearing With My Royal Enfield Himalayan - Part 3 - Off to The Races The time has come to change the front steering bearings in Bagheera, my 2019 Royal Enfield Himalayan. Bagheera has 6000km on him and that might seem early for a bearing change, but I believe the conditions I ride in can wear things out on the bike a bit faster. It's a great opportunity to learn more about my bike and as usual things never go according to plan, so this has turned into a multi-part video. In this episode we remove the bearings and races while sharing some casual garage chit-chat.