What event started you down the Sport-Touring road?

[sleazy rider]

It all started at one of our GWRRA chapter meetings.  This evil old cuss I happen to be friends with rode up on a VF1000F Interceptor.  I musta wore the pavement down about 3 inches walking around it again and again.  A year later, he's got it up for sale at a price I can do in cash.  The ride home was when I decided to get my first full face helmet too.     With wind induced tears streaming out the corners of my eyes, I did the 60 miles home and the Wing sat for two weeks while I got familiar with old roads at much higher speeds.  Some GW friends invited me camping a month later and to be contrary, I rode the VF with all the camping gear strapped on.  550 miles in two days had me hooked.  When it became financially necessary to sell all the bikes, it was the last to go.  A year later, I ended up with a Triumph Trophy 1200 and that was the beginning of a new chapter and an intro to hooliganism at 47 years of age.

[JIMLARCH]

It took me 3 days to catch up to some dude on a Vespa who asked me when I was going to buy a real bike. By the time I caught him, I was 6 states away and I realized I was touring. I figured I'd stick with it.

Not sure if the dude was riding the Vespa, or you were.  I had a vespa for 6 months in my youth, a lot of fun, as long as you didn't forget about it's tiny wheels.

[jhawk]

It was small UJM's until a riding buddy bought the first R90S sold  in this area....

[JIMLARCH]

I was looking for a new hobby after getting bored with necrophilia.

Those Italian necrophilia bikes were a pain in the ass to ride.  Not surprised that you changed to sport touring.

[JIMLARCH]

Flash forward about 25 years and I'm a fledgling rider on a nearly 20-year-old Honda CB750F Superspoot with soft luggage bound for the Oregon Coast and the kid in the car is now watching me.  

 

Good for you.  Just got some retro hard bags for my CB900f and am looking forward to a long trip this summer.

[DredheadV2.0]

A trip across Wisconsin with a buddy on our vintage/beater CB750's showed me there was more to riding that just to-and-from work.  Lookit!  Curves and hills and stuff!!  I think that was 1998.

[Kraz]

Got a good deal on a SV650N on ebay while I was in college and rode it back.  What's the big deal, NY to ND?  Sounded like fun... and it was.

Rode that for a while 'till I froze my tuckus off coming back from the '03 ST.N Nat'l in Custer... upgraded to a ZZR1200.

Now I'm on a naked bike again... wtf?  How'd that happen!?

[theWolfTamer]

I think it was always in the back of my mind.  I wanted a motorcycle from the time I could remember.  It was one of the things on my first list of stuff I wanted.

When I finally got one, I thought what now?  What was the point of owning a motorcycle?  I only knew one other person that rode and as far as I knew, he didn't tour.  I went on a day ride with him once or twice before I owned a bike.  Once I got it, we rode around town and out in the country south of town where it was warmer.  I knew nothing about the mountains.

Then I got a job in California.  I picked up and moved cross country begging my brother (who helped me move) to let me ride.  I figured he could drive the moving van while I rode.  He kept refusing until we got to El Paso, TX.  I rode from El Paso to Long Beach, CA.  Once there I joined Women on Wheels a couple of weeks before the annual Ride-In.  After a few rides with them (Oh, THAT'S what mountain roads are for!!), I just knew.  My first real trip was to the Laughlin River Run.  My second was to the next Ride-In...in Canaan Valley, WV.  I was hooked and now I'm always looking forward to my next trip.

[mcgillicuty]

My dad got me into riding we would go on long trips on our harleys. We would do a week long trip every year and do about 5000 miles in 7 days. In 08 I got tired of the rattle of the harley and bought a new kawasaki concours. He saw how much fun it was to have a sporttour he went and got a Bmw rt1200 now our one week trips are two week trips. We have done alot of trips together and would not trade it for anything.

[coho]

When I was 15 months old I freaked out the Mall Santa by clearly asking for a "Kawasaki Motorcycle".




Some years passed.  




Twenty five minutes after getting my endorsement I had a duffel bungeed to the seat of my '83 CB550SC and was on my way out of town.

Oddly enough, in half a dozen bikes and half a million miles I've never had a Kawasaki.

[jesse0192]

Just that the other sportbike riders were chumps  

[buls4evr]

 My first long trip from MI to VA in 1972 with my new bride on the back of a CB450 Honda got me into long distance touring. That was in addition to all the MX and CC racing I was also doing. Just got pretty old for dirt racing finally and so now I ride vintage trials and sport tour again on a BMW. Sort of re-discovery you might say.

[Goat]

Can't really pinpoint an event, dad always had bikes and I started riding a Honda XR 75 at age 6.  Back then you could ride anything on the street in small town Mississippi so I was off!  Have had a bike ever since and it's as much fun now as that first blast down a gravel road!  

[schmii]

hmm... rode a cruiser and sport dying from the noise, wind blast, vibration, fuel range, storage lack, light/heavy steering, reliability, soaked legs.  Needs were shaft and lower fairing... not many options.

[JimWilliamson]

I was born with the desire to see what's around the next corner and over the next hill - no matter the transportation.

A friend had a Yamaha 400 that was sitting at his P's place, outside, uncovered for six years decided to give the bike to me to get it out of the P's place. Before that set of wheels I had no burning desire for a cycle - but since I had it, along with the desire to 'see things' the progression was natural.

That step had another friend interested in getting a bike. He asked me to go with while he looked at bikes - always a mistake. I sat on an old Honda Magna and said "this fits me". So the wheel rolls.

[bungie4]

Been riding since I was 14. Back around 91 or 92 I was living in Toronto and went out for a ride on the August long weekend. I wasn't planning on going anywhere, just for a ride.

I ended up in Barrie. Day was still early so I kept going.

Stopped in Parry Sound for lunch. Realized I was halfway to our camp (cottage) in Sudbury. So I rode there. Spent the night. The next morning I rode out to the highway and realized I still had 2 full days off. I'd never gone down the highway passed the turn off to camp.

Through Sault Ste. Marie and on up Superior.. to Thunder Bay.

It was *STELLAR*.

After I got to Thunder Bay I realized their was no way in hell I was going to make it back to work in time Tues. morning. So I called my boss.

"I won't be in till Thurs.."

"Where are you?"

"Thunder Bay"

"Jesus Christ!"

How he knew I wasn't where I was supposed to be I don't know.

The ride back the entire way in the rain was the exact opposite of the ride up. I *SWORE* I'd never ride that far again, and I didn't.

I sold that old VFR after a woman attempted to paste me into the guardrail on Black Creek Drive. On purpose.

I went back to dirt bikes.

2002 I lost my mind and bought 750 Shadow and got back into street riding. Except for a trip or two down to Barrie to see my brother, that was the extent of my travels.

I always wanted an FJR though. Finally the time was right, the deal came up, I had money in the bank.

I've had the FJR two years and have put on over 50Km. Trips to Wisconsin, Quebec, West Virginia, Tennessee ...

Now I spend practically every waking minute planning and dreaming about the trips for the summer. I don't know wtf happened. I HATE LD riding!

[chomy]

When I wuz about 12 years old, we were on the family summer vacation, sitting in the car waiting to board the BC ferry to Vancouver Island. The ferry docked and disgorged its cargo. First off the boat were two identical Kawasaki Z900s with sleeping bags tied on to the rear grab rail.

I was starstruck  

Those two riders, heading off to points unknown seemed like the coolest beings on the planet. The seed had been planted  

Orson, I have to ask if you remember the year that took place as I grew up on the Island and two guys I went to school with who were brothers, Jim and John, had matching Kawasaki 900's, I am still in contact with them to this day and they would be tickled to hear this.

[bikerfish1100]

as others have shared, it wasn't necessarily an "event", but more just a progression.
I began touring around New England on my very first bike, a 1965 Triumph 650 Tiger one year after i bought it. Friends i rode with were mostly on harleys, and we all liked to get away- but never very far. A few more bikes, slightly farther/longer overnights ensued, but nothing beond a few hundred miles away.
Fast forward a few years to when I bought a 1978 R100RS beemer

, the original full-on factory-equipped sport-tourer. Summer arrived, I was done with under-grad, took a leave of absence from work, and left for a 2 month/14,000 mile solo road trip. haven't stopped since.

[Orson]

Orson, I have to ask if you remember the year that took place as I grew up on the Island and two guys I went to school with who were brothers, Jim and John, had matching Kawasaki 900's, I am still in contact with them to this day and they would be tickled to hear this.

My memory is hazy, but it was either '72 or 73'.

The Kawasakis were the ones with green gas tanks with yellow striping. I believe those were the second year Z1 paint jobs.

Hopefully, I paid it forward years later when I was riding thru Colorado on my FJ-1100. I came upon a car with a kid filling the rear window, waving a bike magazine at me with the FJ on the cover. I gave him a friendly wave before roaring past.

I wonder if I made a biker out of him  

[Giaka]

Back in 1982 (I was 20) I got off work early on a Friday (worked for Kawasaki dealer) and headed home. Decided it was a nice day for a ride and kept going. I had nothing but my leathers, helmet, wallet and my trusty KZ550. 300+ miles later I called home to tell my mom I would be on a ride for the rest of the weekend. Picked up a small duffel, a bungie chord and a pair of sweats to sleep in at a local store in Fairbanks. Rode from Anchorage to Fairbanks then over to Tok then back home to Anchorage. I took my time , enjoyed the site and slept in hotels. When I got home I knew I found a new "hobby:. Everyone at work thought I was crazy riding that far.