Fazer Owners Club - Unofficial

Bikes, Hints'n'Tips => FZS600 Fazer => Topic started by: anutz on 30 June 2015, 09:41:39 pm

Title: What started you off....???
Post by: anutz on 30 June 2015, 09:41:39 pm
how did you get into motorcycling....????

i simply liked the way bikes looked, then i discovered they were even more fun to ride  :lol
Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: bandit on 30 June 2015, 10:17:34 pm
Got into the 1970's revamped mod (showing my age) scene riding a 1957 150cc Lambretta scooter up & down the alley was no where near old enough to have a licence, first bike I rode but I soon found motorbikes were better & safer. But if you ever get chance to ride this type of scooter with twist grip gear change go for it.
Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: clayt74 on 30 June 2015, 10:56:39 pm
Boobs.......... Girls liked Bikes n bad boys!!  Hence I like Boobs and bikes!!!
So become a bad boy......... To get boobs!!!
Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: darrsi on 01 July 2015, 06:49:18 am
My brother had a monkey bike to mess about with when he was a kid, and he was 7 years older than me.
Then on his 17th birthday passed his test but he'd already saved money and also got a loan so had a Honda CBX1000 waiting at home for him on the day.
The mind boggles even thinking about an adult riding that beast, let alone a 17 year old kid riding one!
Then he swapped it for a brand new Kawasaki Z1300 when he was 18 years old!
I was kinda hooked by then, so i had my first scooter when i was 17, and have been riding ever since.  :)
Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: stevie-g1968 on 01 July 2015, 07:05:24 am
11 years old, bunch of kids with a stripped down chicken chaser and a muddy field... as a kid I would watch the older lads and grown men bang propper motorcross bikes around this swamp/ field too.

at 16 I got my first bike, a RD50mx in black with mars bar colours...still love  RD's to this day... life was then full of shit bikes and a few RD125lc's.
Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: andybesy on 01 July 2015, 07:39:43 am
C90s in fields, I think a lot of folks get started this way. After lots of field bikes next was a derbi 50 on the road, then an rg 125 gamma, then a 10 year break, then the fazer.
Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: odbguy on 01 July 2015, 07:49:05 am
When I was 12 my Dad got me a Honda CD175. I can remember the 1st time I took it  out my mum and dad was with me down the fields and I went over the handle bars at some speed. Dad made me do 3 laps of the field before he took me to hospital with blood all down me. Nothing serious tho.
Then I had a Kawasaki KE185 at 13 to 14 .. it was a right beast but I sold it and bought a guitar. Biggest regret ever. I had 4 lessons and give it up. Lol
I been into bikes ever since but couldn't afford my test til last year at 28 and got the Fazer.
Definitely won't be giving that up for a little craze!
Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: paulchucky on 01 July 2015, 07:54:04 am
14yrs old bought a purple FS!E for £8 non runner  pushed it home stripped it into a million bitz then rebuit it   had many spares so stripped it again and rebuilt it  still had a few spares so  stripped again  n again n again till no spares  still would`nt  start ?
next door neighbour said has it got a good earth ??  (my introduction to auto electric`s  :\ :\  ????? ) 
amazing what a bit of wire can do  b ding ding ding  it lives  my life changed
" i stopped reading ladybird books and  started on repair manuals "   :lol :lol :lol
Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: Hedgetrimmer on 01 July 2015, 09:11:55 am
My oldest brother was my main influence. He'd take me up to High Beach on the back of first his Superdream, then his Z650. His mates all had bikes too. Another major influence was the August 1980 copy of Bike magazine, which featured road tests of the Laverda Montjuic, Ducati Pantah, Morini Maestro 500. It also had an article on the IOM TT, another on street racing - which talked about how to get away with going nuts on the roads  :evil - and back then had good, engaging writers. Getting a job as a Saturday lad at a Ducati/Laverda/Moto Guzzi/Yamaha dealer sealed the deal; hooked  :)
Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: HarryHornby on 01 July 2015, 09:17:34 am
I've always quite liked bikes and over the years toyed with maybe one day getting one.  Then  when our eldest started school we knew my wife would need our car for the school run so we needed a second vehicle.


Work were talking about introducing car parking permits/ limiting parking based on distance from the University and we weren't in the financial position to buy a car only to find out I couldn't park at work.  I was focked if I was going to catch the train because it's blooming expensive and takes twice as long so I decided to get a bike, never looked back.
Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: Robbie8666 on 01 July 2015, 11:20:48 am
at a young age but 70's went with dad to see his mate who worked for Rumbelows who sat me on his superdream 250 and kick started it!!
I was hooked! at 17 (1983) bought a Honda cub that was rats but did for me .. then I had a old rxs for a year and did bike & car test within a month of each other but never changed bike cuz of married family etc... did have a super dream in 94 then got a F650 in 96 till 2000 then was off bikes till I got divorced & got my Fazer!!
 had it 4 years now & love it!!
 
Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: Red Ceri on 01 July 2015, 12:18:29 pm
Need transport at 16 to get to work and the public transport journey would have taken forever, so bought a Fizzy-DX (my first and only new bike) expecting to use it for a year then get a car, yeah right, got the bug and even a 4 month hospital stay at 18 didn't stop me,  seven years later finally got a car to stop the earache I'd suddenly developed, still didn't get rid of the bike, always had at least one even if they may have been a 'project'
Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: bigralphie on 01 July 2015, 01:01:32 pm
A TV program call Kick Start
Joined a local trail riders club (trail riding was all the rage then) did quite well in races but never had the support/sponsorship to progress to the better classes  :\ [size=78%] [/size]
[/size]

Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: slappy on 01 July 2015, 01:10:36 pm
Guy that lived next door, when I stilled lived with my parents, built choppers out of Triumphs and BSAs and I started running errands for him to local bike shop. They offered me an job as an apprentice mechanic when I left school, did it for six months then got an engineering apprenticeship. Took the engineering job because that was £10 a week and bike shop was only paying me £8 and I had to work all day Saturday.
Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: risticuss on 01 July 2015, 01:46:42 pm
My dad had bikes before have us three kids, but sold his last when my sister (2 1/2 years older than me) was born. He didn't get a bike again until my parents got divorced when he was given a CX500 with a bent frame. We spent that summer stripping it down and swapping it over into a new frame from a basket case he bought.  He then swapped all his accumulated bits and the bike for a complete, working, nice looking example and then started taking me out on it.


I've always loved bikes but my mum never let me get one, and I was always skint, so after finishing uni and getting a job at 24 I bought a Hyosung GV125. Passed my direct access two years later and got a CBR600 '99 of a mate. Had that for a year then sold it and bought my Fazer of my brother who'd just got banned for 109 mph (tut tut).


Always loved bikes and always wanted one, especially the Fazer. Just have to keep hold of it now that my daughters been born  :\


And still want to get a CX500 just for old times sake, but they're going for silly money these days "Cult classic them are"
Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: HJFazer on 01 July 2015, 02:16:07 pm
No one in the family really had bikes. My old man had a Vespa in his 20's but apart from a few months when an Uncle had one I was never around them growing up. Quite simply, I've always thought they looked cool.


I got some money from my PPI claim and was initially thinking of a scooter. I live in London so a car made no sense and as I looked more into it I decided a bike would be better. Got a YBR 125 and loved it, but after riding it back to the midlands at Christmastime I realised I needed something bigger. Did my DAS 5 months after buying the 125 and having sat on a 600 once I could never enjoy the smaller one again.


Been riding the Fazer 2 years now and it's by far one of the best decisions I've made. My niece and nephews love the bike though so hopefully I'll be able to help inspire them to take it up  :)
Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: Dave48 on 01 July 2015, 03:35:54 pm
Learnt to "ride" at 15 on a 3-speed Victoria 50cc moped with clutch lever. Was off-roading around a garden & was introduced to the rhododendron bushes & roses a few times before I managed a circuit without hitting anything!
Mid 60s saw me as a poverty stricken youth with a succession of beat up Lambrettas & Vespas. We all rode each others bikes back then & have fond memories of the following: 500cc AJS, 100cc Yamaha twin two-stroke, various low-powered Villiers engined two-strokes.
Long break from early 20s-marriage, kids, bills etc.
Came back to "proper" bikes in 2002; couple of Hondas-Cx500 & NTV 650 then got the Yamaha bug & have had 6 ranging from YBR 125 (commuter) to FZS 1000.
Have only ever bought 3 new bikes-current is the MT-07!
Dad rode bikes prewar & also in the army before being sent to France in 1940-he tried to discourage me by saying "the roadsare a lot busier than in his day"(This was 1964!) :lol
Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: mr wayneker on 01 July 2015, 04:14:10 pm
at 8 went to go panny jumping down the local field and there were some big boys mucking around on a stolen DT175 all twisted up going up and down the field...when they had enough they just left it there so me and a couple mates took the chance to get on and have a bash :rolleyes....didn't have a clue what we were doing took two of us to kick start this thing and get it going :lol

and I remember we couldn't stop the thing so we were going as slow as we could...then we would change riders
one on one off :rollin....didn't give a shit at that age it was a new toy...I will say it was f#'king fast

we all came off a few times... didn't matter I was always the next to go on even though id just come off and finished my go ;)
of and on from then any one that went down the local quarry on there RM80s or CR125 I was there messing with the big boys
until I was 16 got my first 50cc it was a rd50 then 17 had an A reg RD125LC then a brand new 89 model TZR125 three spoke wheels
mark two....and that was the start 8)
Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: stevierst on 01 July 2015, 05:39:03 pm
Rode a tzr 125 of my mates when I was 17 and scared myself senseless. I got off it and said "never again!!!"

It wasn't until I was  about 29, in the army and working down south. Wife and kids were in Blackpool, and I was commuting 500 miles every weekend to see them. I always got stuck on the M5/M6 junction for at least an hour. I used to see bikes filtering through, and thought 'I should be doing that!'

By the time I was 30, I was riding a boxeye on the same journey every week to see the wife and kids. Roughly 30,000 miles/annum.

12 years later and I've not looked back. I still do 12-15k/year, and every moment in the saddle is a moment well spent!
Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: Derpdiherp on 03 July 2015, 12:05:17 pm
My mum and dad both rode bikes, my dad a little 125, my mum a zephyr. I ridden pillion on the zephyr a bit as a kid - but I was never really bitten by the bug.

A fair few years ago though I needed a cheap way to get to my work since it moved to a place that was a pain in the arse to commute to. I started car driving lessons but soon found out how expensive insurance was.
So I thought "Why not get a little 125 for a while?". I got a little cbf125 - first day riding it that was it - utterly helplessly hooked.

Been through offs, many many british winters and had a kid since, but none of that has preturbed me in the slightest - bike's are a part of my life now.
Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: 7omly on 03 July 2015, 07:37:31 pm
At the tender age of sixteen I was car mad but like most teenagers I was impatient. I wasn't going to wait two years to get behind the wheel of a car. A mates Dad had Vespa PX200E for sale so I bought it with money lent off a family member. I couldn't ride it until seventeen (longest wait of my life). Once I had experienced two wheels I couldn't give a stuff about cars. I've had all sorts over the years and I'd do it all over again. I'm a true petrolhead and like cars but these days I get no joy from driving the car. The bike however I always enjoy.  :)
Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: hotmetal on 03 July 2015, 07:56:38 pm
I was a mod when I was a teenager so I got a Vespa 50 cos it was cooler (and slower) than a honda C50 and faster than a bicycle. Cost me £300. Then got a Vespa 150 Super "it's a 125 officer" at 17. That got me round London and to all the seaside rallies. Watford to Yarmouth in 4.5 hours in the rain you'd have thought that would put me off! By this stage there was always going to be a bike in my life but I didn't take the full test until I needed something bigger to get to college. Me & a mate rented out a couple of shady dirt bikes in Spain and went ripping up the side of the mountains  (the shop wouldn't hire us lids cos 'only a 50' this was the Spain of old). Got a gpz500 after that which was crap so when the boys were off to tour Europe I pxed it for my trusty FZR foxeye which I put about 60,000 miles on until a twunt in a Saab wrote it off for me. That's when I got my first gen 1. Piled on the miles on that one as well so I bought my current one 'to last forever'. I've put another 25,000 on it but it doesn't get the use it once did.
Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: pilgo on 03 July 2015, 08:02:03 pm
Joined Royal mail in 1981 as a 16 year old, delivering telegrams on a puch 50cc moped
kick start, 3 gears on a hand change shifter and knee cappers !!  ( why did I refuse to ever take a photo of me on it ?  To embarrased I guess )
bought a suzuki TS 125 to get around on, then a brand new Suzuki DR125. Then a fella joined work who rode a 500 cc bike and it was being left behind on post work rides by him that gee'd me up to pass my test.
best decision I ever made
Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: esetest on 03 July 2015, 08:23:57 pm
For my first job , as an apprentice electrician about 20 miles away from where we lived as public transport was a no go . A Honda MB50 , looked better than it went . Next bike a Honda CM200 , looked better than it went , then a Kawasaki Z200  , went better than it looked ,got a car at 19 so I had somewhere to shag my girlfriend , then at 23 got a Kawasaki GT550, great bike , then at 25 my first daughter was born , so had a break while they were growing up . Then in 2007 decided to get back into biking and got a Suzuki GS500F , had it for 3 1/2 years , then bought the FZS1000 and I have just got the Moto Guzzi V7 Racer as a second bike , both bikes look and go fantastic .
Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: hotmetal on 03 July 2015, 08:56:51 pm


got a car at 19 so I had somewhere to shag my girlfriend , then at 23 got a Kawasaki GT550, great bike , then at 25 my first daughter was born ,

Was she conceived in the top box LOL!
Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: taylor on 03 July 2015, 09:28:12 pm
I went to a local fair.           and Kenny Roberts had a mini motorcycle show on     , my gran bought me a maluguti 50, I was only seven, that was 40 years ago,   she paid 500. pound for it, that was a lot of money then, I also once took 5 of my mates. on my bike to Cardiff, on the main roads. all at the same. lol.
Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: Hedgetrimmer on 03 July 2015, 09:44:16 pm
I went to a local fair.           and Kenny Roberts had a mini motorcycle show on     , my gran bought me a maluguti 50, I was only seven, that was 40 years ago,   she paid 500. pound for it, that was a lot of money then, I also once took 5 of my mates. on my bike to Cardiff, on the main roads. all at the same. lol.

That's a lot of money now  :lol
Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: mr self destruct on 03 July 2015, 10:09:07 pm
Had a Honda SH50 then a Kawasaki KH100 at 16/17 but only for commuting as I couldn't afford a car, no real interest.

Fast forward 23 years, when they built a production block on our car park at work and we all had a mile long walk every morning.
The motorbike park was still on site and the company run a scheme where you get £200 a year for non-work based training courses (guitar, sewing, and most importantly CBTs!), so it was a no-brainer.
Bought a 125 Virago, got the biking bug and did a direct access.

The plan was to work through a series of 5/600cc bikes to see which I liked the most, Bandits, Hornets, SV's, GS's etc. but it kind of fucked up when I bought the best one first.  ;)
Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: darrsi on 03 July 2015, 10:35:17 pm
Some sort of 50cc scooter when i was 17


Then some other 100cc thingy


RD125LC


Aprilia Taureg 125

Kawasaki KMX125

Kawasaki GPZ305

Honda NTV600

 :faz  600




Thought it was more than that, but i do tend to keep my bikes for a long time, i think i had the Honda for 10 years, and the Fazer for about 7 years now!

Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: hotmetal on 04 July 2015, 12:07:12 am
My Gpzzzzz was the bike I had for the shortest time, followed by the zx6. The gpz was downright dodgy, zx6 was fine but I never fell in love with it. Fzr I had for many years, and I kept both my Thous for ages. I've had this one 7 years.
Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: darrsi on 04 July 2015, 06:03:57 am
Some sort of 50cc scooter when i was 17


Then some other 100cc thingy


RD125LC


Aprilia Taureg 125

Kawasaki KMX125

Kawasaki GPZ305

Honda NTV600

 :faz  600




Thought it was more than that, but i do tend to keep my bikes for a long time, i think i had the Honda for 10 years, and the Fazer for about 7 years now!


Haha, wrong thread, i was wondering where my post went.  :rollin
Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: bandit on 14 July 2015, 08:42:25 am
.
Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: bolanjames on 14 July 2015, 04:34:25 pm
Used to go to work as pillion on a 1976 kh250 triple. Loved it. Couldnt wait to get my own bike. First one i could afford? Suzuki gp100. I can here the laughter from here. lol.
Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: Ian-man on 14 July 2015, 08:41:34 pm
I used to watch chips on the telly as a kid. Also used to cycle constantly so adding an engine was the next step.
Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: snakeyprince83 on 14 July 2015, 10:25:54 pm
My dad used to race motorbikes when i was a kid, so i always like them but i didnt really get in to them properly until a year ago! i bought myself a little 125 scooter to get to work, quickly figured out i loved riding but i hated scooters so i bought a fazer, the rest is history, well and truly hooked.
Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: Paul on 15 July 2015, 10:58:11 am
I saw a new Suzuki GT750 parked outside school in the summer of 1973.
So I got a Saturday job, sold my air rifle, bicycle and Bolton Wanderers memorabilia and bought a tired old Honda 50.


Oddly enough it was very reliable, which couldn't be said for its successor.... a CZ125..... or its successor a Ducati 160..... or its successor a BSA A7 (which was the singularly most unreliable vehicle I've ever had the displeasure of owning)...... but its successor, a Kawasaki S3 400 was a good bike.









Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: sinto on 15 July 2015, 10:51:20 pm
Just came across this thread and funny enough talking to my dad earlier about the bank situation :( and other stuff got talking about what got me into motorbikes.

I was about 12 or 13 and we as a family were in sunny magaluf,  when I disappeared away from the parents as you do, duly went to one of those moped hire places and managed to wangle a deal with the guy for an afternoons hire :)

There's me jumping around on this moped with no helmet, no protection, no insurance probably?  And no foccin idea no doubt :eek but it was an absolute blast and still remember it well, especially as I approached a zebra crossing and had to stop to let people across and you've probably already guessed, my parents were in the crowd crossing and they were in total disbelief it was me, but I just smiled, waited in them crossing and carried on with a big massive cheesy grin, priceless :lol
Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: Steve on 18 July 2015, 11:41:51 am
 The majority of my dad's side of the family all own bikes. As soon as I could touch the rear footrests I would go touring with him, mainly on his mint Suzuki GSXR1100, but sometimes on one of his RD350's. As soon as I could take the test my parents bought me a single cylinder 2006 YBR125. I was very lucky to have such parents; aside from the initial expenses, my dad was very patient in pointing out the finer points of biking, mainly about observations and lane discipline. I'm can happily say I can't remember the last day that I wasn't riding at least one of my bikes    :)
Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: fazersharp on 18 July 2015, 08:10:12 pm
I was riding pushbikes / trike's almost before I could walk my granddad had some sort of 1000cc velocet/vincent  I have a photo of my mum at age 20 on the back of it. My now 93 year old uncle used to go to IOM tt in his teens -- so I just think its in my genes. My Bro rides too
Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: freeware on 02 August 2015, 09:58:05 pm
Always wanted one but never committed to until 3 years ago at age of 36 I said to myself: it's time! Done direct access.  Bought FZS600 as first bike from a friend.
Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: Millietant on 04 August 2015, 07:06:00 pm
My Dad was always going to get me into bikes, but he needn't have worried - first year of senior school I got hooked on being involved in building our metalwork teacher's Kawasaki H1 engined sprint racer as a project, moved on through a series of school projects to my own project, a school-built frame for a C90 engine I picked up for £5, followed by making all the bits to fit forks, wheels, tank/seat etc etc until we had a working field bike.


Dad bought me (or was it him) a FS1E before my 16th birthday, so that he could ride 20 miles to a site for me to practice on it. But, I was totally hooked.


Hardly surprising really as I was apparently conceived either in the Black Forest, Luxembourg or Liechtenstein, during my mum and dad's last bike touring holiday before they started a family.


As I got older and bought my own bikes, my dad used to steal the keys occasionally so he and my mum could go for days out (I didn't mind except when he took my new FJ 1200 put and rang me from the Lake District to go and pick them up because they'd gotten a puncture).


Anyway, when he was 72, he was diagnosed with cancer, so he bought himself a Suzuki 600 and for a couple of years, well into his mid 70's, he'd come out with me, my younger brother and our mates, on the bikes, hooning all around the north of England and the Scottish Borders, it was brilliant seeing the looks on people's faces when we pulled up and he took his helmet off - an old gadgets on a sports bike with a loud pipe
Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: celticdog on 04 August 2015, 09:58:14 pm
Never had bikes in the family but as a kid neighbour had kawa z1, beautiful air cooled muscle bike. Occasionally he would let us kids sit on it (supervised) and give us a 'backie' up garden path, happy days. Back then I was a Evel Knievel fan and had the stunt cycle and t shirt. Fast forward several years, took my bike licence at 21 yrs old. Fuck them all, fuck that bitch who broke my heart, I'll show them, as Ogri says "Stuff everything -I've always got my bike".
Title: Re: What started you off....???
Post by: TomS_ on 05 August 2015, 10:04:31 am
Myself and a bunch of friends planned a 3 day trip around Wales. So I (and 3 others) had about 3 months to get our full license from start to finish (a couple of us had never ridden before) in preparation for that.


Now that weve got it and the trip is done, why stop? :lol