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Post by oldbritguy on Jul 22, 2021 8:24:36 GMT 1
Giving away my vintage here.
40 years ago today I ripped up my L plates after passing my bike test.
Sat my test on a GT250 and all my mates were riding 2 strokes at the time. Hardly anyone had a big bike.
Test cost a tenner and I drove around the block of the test centre twice with the examiner observing from a safe distance.
There were rumours at the time of a new law limiting riders to 125cc and possibly sitting two tests. Pftt that will never happen!!!!
Here we are 40 years later and still running about on 2 wheels.
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Post by shaunthe2nd on Jul 22, 2021 8:42:45 GMT 1
That made me look at my driving license. 41 years and 6 days for me.
16th July 1980 when I passed my bike test on RD200 and test was similar to yours.
Just had to not hit the examiner when he jumped out in front of you for the brake test.
Best day of my life. 2 months later bought my first 350LC.
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Post by midlifecrisisrd on Jul 22, 2021 8:43:58 GMT 1
Oh you old Bugger 😉
Mine was 33 years last month and unfortunately 2 parts on a 125 max (did it on an rxs100)
Same few laps of a housing estate mind, piece of pish. Don't fancy it these days 😰
Steve
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Post by spondon440 on Jul 22, 2021 8:44:08 GMT 1
41 years me, took mine on a borrowed KH250 which was actually a proddy tuned 400 with ace bars and spannies on it, was a b*****d to ride but I'd seized my x7 the week before and couldn't afford to fix it.
I love bikes but I'm still riding today because my parents told me I'd never have a motorcycle.
Andy
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Post by midlifecrisisrd on Jul 22, 2021 8:46:31 GMT 1
I never had the money 😜
I only had a GSX 250 I'd bought as a non runner for £50 that I'd been sorting out
Was the following year before I bought my 350 ypvs
Steve
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Post by 29davyt on Jul 22, 2021 8:52:42 GMT 1
My license says I passed my bike test on 30/12/1980 ! I seem to recall it being a few months later, I’d crashed my 250E round about the xmas time and mashed both exhausts so remember having nice chrome noisey Microns on for the test date,, yeah round a housing estate twice and try not to run the old guy over when he jumped out 😂 wasn’t there 10 easy road safety questions also ?
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Post by peddrotzr on Jul 22, 2021 9:12:53 GMT 1
My Mum & Dad wouldnt let get get a 250 unless I passed my test on my FSIE !
So passed that October 1977
Then passed the next test on KH250 Feb 1979
Then got a 400 four F2
Along time ago!
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Post by billbott on Jul 22, 2021 9:27:58 GMT 1
I passed my test on a cold bleak December day (03/12/1985) on my RS100 wearing a Donkey jacket and welders gloves (free issue from work) at 17 years old. Couldn’t afford to trade up to a big bike straightaway so it took a few months until I could afford an RD350LC which was a 1981 model on an X plate.
As soon as I turned 18 we went on double day shift so the wage practically doubled and I bought a set of allspeeds for the LC (£99 from On Ya Bike in Bolton) then a car pulled out into the side of me and the bike was totalled. I bought it off the insurance company and used it until the settlement and compensation came through after which I took my car test and bought an XR3i and a GPz900R (wisely invested………..)
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Post by sbscnor on Jul 22, 2021 9:55:47 GMT 1
Just checked mine 41 yrs ago when I passed my bike test on a silver RD250C, next day traded it in for an RD400 wish I still had that one.
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Post by arrdy350 on Jul 22, 2021 10:13:02 GMT 1
I wish the bike tests was that easy now. I have still got to do my full test 😭
I can only ride up to 47bhp because of my age.
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Post by shaunthe2nd on Jul 22, 2021 10:37:14 GMT 1
I wish the bike tests was that easy now. I have still got to do my full test 😭 I can only ride up to 47bhp because of my age. Keep off the pies then! |
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Post by shaunthe2nd on Jul 22, 2021 10:38:18 GMT 1
My license says I passed my bike test on 30/12/1980 ! I seem to recall it being a few months later, I’d crashed my 250E round about the xmas time and mashed both exhausts so remember having nice chrome noisey Microns on for the test date,, yeah round a housing estate twice and try not to run the old guy over when he jumped out 😂 wasn’t there 10 easy road safety questions also ? 3 in my case and you had to read a reg plate from about 20m. |
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Post by reedpete on Jul 22, 2021 10:50:08 GMT 1
It will be 40 years ago in September for me....
Pretty much just around the block, emergency stop when he stepped out with the clipboard, can I read a plate in front of me and have I any clue what the Highway Code was!
Then got shot of my cb200 faster than the fastest thing and bought a rough RD350A....the rest is history as they say !
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Post by oldbritguy on Jul 22, 2021 11:31:11 GMT 1
Looks like a lot of us on here had the same upbringing.
I forgot about the examiner popping out from between parked cars for the emergency stop. That could have gone horribly wrong ….for both of us.
Moved onto big fours with my new freedom, GS750, Z1000, Z1R then Laverda then into Brits for the next 30 years.
Full circle later I have a 4LO, 31k, a naughty 4L1 under construction and of course my Brit and Italian fix.
Longest habit I have ever had 😁
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Post by midlifecrisisrd on Jul 22, 2021 12:23:51 GMT 1
Went kinda the same way too
750 turbo, 1000 exup, zx9r, fazer 1000, r1, fireblade, fazer1000/r1 hybrid then gave up on big bikes
From the r1 on I got obsessed with 2 strokes again
May do a gpz hybrid at some point 🤔
Steve
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Post by veg on Jul 22, 2021 12:41:03 GMT 1
Bloody hell just looked at mine, didn’t do it till I was 18 (1988) I’d been in and out of hospital with compound fractures it still wasn’t right, but passed on a Gp125. Had a GS550 katana at home went straight home and swapped bikes. Soon got rid of it after the apprentice beat me on his lc125 and bought my first lc250 for about £350, mead speed fairing spannies and only 7000 miles.
Dad and older brother both had bonnies so grew up with tales of Chelsea bridge etc. Never stopped riding or swapping bikes.
Christ we’re all old 😁
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element137
Drag-strip hero
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Post by element137 on Jul 22, 2021 13:04:47 GMT 1
33 years for me - aged 21, mine was an early Two Part Test in them days - did part one on a hired CG125 at Birmingham Wheels Race Track - riding round cones etc- and got an almighty bollocking for turning up on the day on my TZR125 without any L plates on it - part Two done on the TZR with examiner on a pursuit bike - passed in the October - Spring next year RD350YPVS F2 (in blue ) - happy days - it was another 5 years before passed my car test - and a then a 29 year gap to getting my current 31K - where does the time go -
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Post by dusty350 on Jul 22, 2021 13:43:30 GMT 1
It will be 37 years in November since I passed. I did the 2 parter - a day in Aylesbury on a rented Suzuki A100, and then a ride around - the streets - test on an Rs100, with the examiner stood on the pavement watching. A fella that did his test before me had a 250 Scorpian with a side winder fitted ! Only time I've ever seen one. I had bought a really low miles (2900) X7 which sat in my Dad's garage waiting for me to pass. I was out on it by the early afternoon  Happy days Dusty  |
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Post by billbott on Jul 22, 2021 14:00:40 GMT 1
I went to do my part one test with my mate Col. Me on the RS100, him on his GP125, both with microns etc
As he did his, I sat at the opposite end of the car park, helmet on the wing mirror, smoking an embassy filter, jeering at Col.
An old woman (probably younger than I am now…) came over and gave me a roasting for putting him off and told me to move. I put my lid on my arm, fag in the corner of my mouth and hoiked a wheelie over to the other side of the car park, parked up and sat there revelling in my coolness.
Ten minutes later, the woman came walking towards me, with a clipboard…………. Mr Bottomley, time for your test………. Would you believe she still passed me!
Happy days indeed.
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Post by stusco on Jul 22, 2021 14:03:37 GMT 1
I sat my part one on 13/7/85 it was live-aid ,there was about 20 waiting for our turn to take our test at an old cattle market in Edinburgh,so we sat in the pub watching live aid on tv because the weather was like it is just now absolutely boiling, then the testers burst in saying we couldn’t sit our tests as we had been drinking so we all pointed to the glasses of coke and irn bru so they backed down, passed my part 2 two weeks later .So thats 36 years
ps i was on a kh125ex a couple of months later I bought my first lc2 PSP732Y
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Post by julianboolean on Jul 22, 2021 14:05:02 GMT 1
Passed my test 10th May 1985, I was 17, bought my first LC a couple of weeks later when I turned 18, wanted to buy a mid size four stroke like a GPZ550, but had a lucky escape when I couldn't find anything I liked for sale and bought a OGW124W a mars bar 250 with a red frame.
Owned it two years, must have been one of the most abused LCs ever, I don't know how many times I fell off it, including hitting a Mk2 Granada with it, resprayed it 3 times, went through 2 engines (destroyed a crank on the first one) , don't know how many pistons I holed, had the exhausts crack with the second engine as it didn't have tie bars, fitted Microns and eventually sold it and bought a mars bar 350, which got treated a little better, I hit a Mk3 Capri with it instead of a Granada.
I also passed my part 2 on a KH125 |
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Post by steve h on Jul 22, 2021 14:59:46 GMT 1
Failed first test, passed second on borrowed bike, bought CB650 and then CB900 shortly afterwards, kept the 900 and most of the bikes after it. Wheeled them into a shed. Must of passed my test in 80. When I failed it I all ready had an RD350 lined up.....crap....If I'd passed, the 350 would be in my folks barn.
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Post by oldbritguy on Jul 22, 2021 18:04:24 GMT 1
Failed first test, passed second on borrowed bike, bought CB650 and then CB900 shortly afterwards, kept the 900 and most of the bikes after it. Wheeled them into a shed. Must of passed my test in 80. When I failed it I all ready had an RD350 lined up.....crap....If I'd passed, the 350 would be in my folks barn. Your shed Steve sounds like a magical place. I am imagining one of those places you see on American Pickers owned by an eccentric guy with a beard who is into everything. Photos? 😉 |
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Post by veg on Jul 22, 2021 18:18:42 GMT 1
A glass of mead or scrumpy with some home made bread and fresh cheese for those that are ok, a wicker man for those who aren’t?
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Post by steve h on Jul 22, 2021 18:23:22 GMT 1
Yes have a beard..... but it's mainly shity shit in barn. As in my sibling threw all his old wrecked furniture on top of a mando, rd400, 250 gamma, cb900, gotta love favourite sons eh...what a ***t, nowhere to be seen now my old folks need help during covid hysteria..... #2 son helps every chance he gets, he always tries to do the right thing  No pics, box brownie out of film. Oh it's a magical place alright....if you're a rat. Snapon tool chest somewhere in there, must be worth a £5 now, unless its rusted away. |
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Post by steve h on Jul 22, 2021 18:27:31 GMT 1
A glass of mead or scrumpy with some home made bread and fresh cheese for those that are ok, a wicker man for those who aren’t? You are weird....I'm actually baking!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Waiting for second rise.............. Got the tiple wrong, it's plum wine that's been installed in't fridge a couple of hours ago. Cheese man wasn't at the Great Yorkshire Show last week (Mrs stewards there), so out of proper cheese...but the German salami man was Wickerman? Nahhh 3 crackers dogs that I cant get near...and they know me! |
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Post by steve h on Jul 22, 2021 18:58:22 GMT 1
Failed first test, passed second on borrowed bike, bought CB650 and then CB900 shortly afterwards, kept the 900 and most of the bikes after it. Wheeled them into a shed. Must of passed my test in 80. When I failed it I all ready had an RD350 lined up.....crap....If I'd passed, the 350 would be in my folks barn. Your shed Steve sounds like a magical place. I am imagining one of those places you see on American Pickers owned by an eccentric guy with a beard who is into everything. Photos? 😉  DSCF0070 (1) by Ernest Stoppage, on Flickr  DSCF0253 by Ernest Stoppage, on Flickr |
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Post by veg on Jul 22, 2021 19:19:06 GMT 1
In my mind it’s getafix from asterix 😁👍
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Post by steve h on Jul 22, 2021 19:41:11 GMT 1
That's a bit gauling....
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Post by oldbritguy on Jul 22, 2021 20:19:37 GMT 1
See!! I was right. A magical place indeed.
Stuff in there we didn’t even know existed.
Cherish the shed Steve 😎
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No pics, box brownie out of film.