My First Bike: How The RideApart Team Got Started

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Jason Marker, Director - 1980 Yamaha XS850SG

I started riding on a whim. I’d been around motorcycles on and off my whole life—my dad was, and still is, a dyed in the wool Harlista—but I never rode one and never really expected to. Well, until one day my co-worker Nate rolled up to work on a mid-80s Yamaha SECA and I was like, “What the hell? Nate rides a motorcycle? I’m way cooler than he is. Why don’t I ride a motorcycle?” That was it, right then and there I decided to buy a motorcycle and learn to ride.

Over the next few weeks I attacked this thorny problem as I did most things—directly, impulsively, and with very little forethought or concern for the future. I read everything I could about beginner motorcycles. I sold my car (a mint, steel-gray late-80s Honda Accord with a bum fifth gear that I’d bought from my mother-in-law) for around $1,000 (in 1999 money, mind you). Then, completely ignoring all common sense and all the advice I’d been given, I bought a 1980 Yamaha XS850SG.

The XS850SG is among the last generation of Yamaha’s storied triples. It’s powered by an 826cc, dual overhead cam, air-cooled, three-cylinder mill mated to a five-speed transmission. New from the factory and in stock trim, the 850 triple generates around 80 horsepower and gets those ponies to the ground through a stout shaft final drive that Team Blue may have ripped off from the Bavarians. Other features include vacuum-operated fuel taps, three CV carbs, disc brakes all around, cast wheels, and, in typical Yamaha fashion, about 100 extra pounds of curb weight.

My triple was a poorly-treated, slightly modified version that came from Iwata in a deep metallic burgundy color with gold badging. I paid $800 Yankee dollars for it, and when I picked it up from Belleville, MI, it didn’t run because, as is always the case, the PO was a complete hack and had rendered the bike unrideable by tinkering with it. On the plus side, at some point in its life it’d been treated to a bunch of standard Yamaha triple mods—a three-into-one MAC exhaust system, K&N pod-style air filters, and the OEM Hitachi carbs (which were hot garbage) had already been switched out for a trio of superior Mikuni Mk.II carbs off an XS750. It ruled, and It was love at first sight.

I’ve ridden that Yamaha everywhere over the past 18 years and it’s never let me down. I fixed all the PO problems (while creating a few of my own), and it’s gone through several looks and configurations over the years. It’s currently in pieces in my garage, awaiting a new paint job and a new front end from a donor early-aughts Yamaha R6. I plan on riding that bike until I can’t ride anymore, and I’ll be buried with it. I’ll ride that bike to Valhalla, shiny and chrome, and look great doing it.

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Sabrina Giacomini, Managing Editor - 1993 Yamaha XJ 600 Seca II

I was never one of those kids who was allowed to whip around an appropriately-sized dirt bike—we lived in the city— but for as long as I can remember, my dad, an avid rider and motorcycle enthusiast, would take us on rides, sharing his love of all things on wheels. To him, we were big enough to ride as soon as our feet could reach the passenger footpegs. Fifteen years after my first ride with my dad, I received the best Christmas gift of all: riding classes. I still have the model scale of the Suzuki Gixxer my parents and grandmother had wrapped up for me to open and guess what the "actual" gift was. It took much longer for the little light bulb in my head to light up than I am willing to admit.

As soon as I received my license, I started shopping for a bike. Within a week or so of my "graduation", I found a guy roughly 25 miles away who was selling a deep green, fully faired 1993 Yamaha XJ 600. My dad and I met with him and his father and started probing the bike, looking around, checking for any fatal flaws. I took it out for a ride and my excitement was at its pinnacle. I didn't care that the cylinder heads were leaking a bit—apparently a recurring flaw of Yamahas at the time according to our mechanic—I loved the Seca. Despite my dad's best efforts to get me to think rationally, I knew the XJ was coming home with me.

We spent a great four years together. From Sunday rides to daily commute to downtown Montreal where I was attending university, my Seca took me everywhere. It wasn't an exciting or powerful bike by any measure despite being fitted with what was a capable 599cc inline four, but it was mine and it ended up being a perfect starter for me.

We parted ways in 2011, after a neighbor backed into it with his SUV. The cost of the repairs superseded the value of the bike so without any ceremony, the insurer sent me a cheque and took the bike away. I was heartbroken and while the years have passed, I believe to this day, I still am a little bit.

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Justin Hughes, Contributor - 1982 Suzuki GS650L

When I moved to the town next door to my friend Eldon, he gave me his old 1982 Suzuki GS650L. He used to ride, but since the wife and kids came along (which he still blames me for since I introduced them) the bike sat next to his house unused for three years. He figured I could put it to better use, so I did. Of course, no bike is ever truly free. It took a bit of work to get it running, sort of.

The carburetors needed cleaning since they had sat for so long, but carbs are little boxes of black magic to me. It ran well enough with the choke on, and as a new rider, I didn't really need the full power of a 650 anyway. I put my first several hundred miles on this bike. Sure, it dripped a little oil, but that was no big deal until it was. Little did I know, until it was too late, that there was a separate lubricant reservoir for the transmission end of the driveshaft than there was for the engine oil. That, rather than the engine, was where the leak was coming from.

Eventually all of the oil leaked out, the gears stripped, and it ended up being less expensive to buy a low-mileage 1980 Suzuki GS550E for $500 than to fix my GS650L. After swapping a few compatible new parts over to the 550, I parted out the 650 thanks to The GS Resources forum, then gave the hulk that was left to a friend who wanted to learn motorcycle mechanics. I knew from my dead Miata engine (which I also parted out) that there is no better way to learn how something works than to take it apart when you have no pressure to get it working again.

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Sophia Vassiliadis, Contributor - 2002 Kawasaki Ninja 250

My first bike was called CJ, named after her amazing previous owner. The week before buying her, I had told a fellow rider that there was no way I could trust myself on a 250 after learning on a 125. Seemed like way too much power, especially a sportbike like a Ninja. Funny how things work out.

I meant it when I'd said it, but yet, there I was, the proud owner of a barely ridden 2002 EX, bought from her first owner, Cassandra Jane, one of few female riders I had met. She was a Newfoundlander who had grown up riding dirt bikes but had bought a sportbike after the move to Toronto. She even let me ride it around a local empty parking lot and assured me that I could handle it.

2 days after I bought CJ, we rode almost 190 miles through wild June winds to visit one of my original inspirations to ride—my dad. On too many occasions during that first long distance trip I thought I was going to be swept off the road but a panicked call home was met with a measured reminder that "they're designed to stay upright. You'll be fine." And although CJ is still in the garage today, she is now in the company of a 2013 FZ800 called Valentina who has already traveled me over 6,000 miles.

Here is CJ and I on our first ride. The picture was taken by another lady rider who had fanned the flames of my fascination with fast. We're taking a little break after she accidentally lead us onto the highway for one exit.

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Jan 01, 2019 at 9:00am ET

By: RideApart Staff

We all have to start somewhere.

We all start somewhere. Whether it's buying your first vehicle or your first house, every milestone is the beginning of a new era. It's the same with riding: the first motorcycle leaves a print in the rider's history and memory. Every bike that follows is compared to "the first one". Like every other rider out there, the RideApart team also started somewhere, that's no big surprise. What's great, however, is that some of us have managed to hold onto our first bikes and still have them sleeping in our garages.

For the first day of the New Year, we decided to share the RideApart's team first bikes ever. What did we start our careers as riders and motorcycle owners on? Find out here and let us know what bike got you started!