My first bike was my dad's hand me down 1971 Yamaha Enduro 100 similar to this one except it was green.  It was a two-stroke, noisy, whinny, smelly thing but I had a lot of fun on it.   I remember riding it on the street one day when I was about 14.  The mayor lived across the street from my dad and, after I rode past his house about 30 times while he was trying to take a nap, he came out and stopped me.  Obviously I didn't have a drivers license so I thought he was really going to read me the riot act.  He was pretty good about it though and just told me to go stick it in the garage before he stuck it up my ass.   I managed to beat the crap out of that bike in a pretty short period of time.

My second bike was a 1973 Yamaha R5 350 similar to this one only it was orange and black.  The R5 was a two-stroker with a kick start engine and no power.  It wasn't much but I had a lot of fun on it.  Mine had a sissy bar with a backrest and luggage rack and I stuck a huge engine guard on it that was meant for a much larger bike.  It was so big that I actually put highway pegs on the inside and had plenty of room to spare.  I rode it to school as often as I could.  A lot of my friends had the Honda CB 750K at the time and they gave me endless grief over my little oil burner.

When I was going to school in California I briefly rode a 1977 Honda Gold Wing.  It was a great bike to take on long trips and I loved the power and smoothness though it was tough to ride on the windy mountain roads when I went out with my friends and their Kawasaki KZ 750's or Suzuki GS 1000's.  I think that's what led me to my next bike...

A 1981 Kawasaki 750 LTD.  This was a great bike for cruising around Santa Barbara and through the Santa Ynez mountains.  I rode this bike until I moved to LA where I spent two years without a bike.  Then I moved back to Minnesota and spent two more years without a ride until a roommate told me he wanted to sell his ride...

I bought this 1984 Yamaha Maxim for only $100 off my roommate.  He wasn't riding it because someone had tried to steal it and damaged the key slot.  I think it cost me an additional $150 in parts to put it back together.  It was a small bike but it was pretty good looking and I had fun riding it out around in farm country on the weekends.

My next bike was a 1980 Honda CB 900 Custom.  I had a friend that had one of these back in the early 80's and I always liked them.  They had a split transmission which gave it lots of torque in low range and low R's on the highway.

This was the first new bike I ever bought.  It's a 2005 Yamaha V Star 1100 Classic.  I decked it out with lots of chrome, Vance & Hines pipes and a Mustang solo seat.  I really liked this bike but it just didn't have the balls for the highway.  It was good up to about 65 or 70 mph but after that it really needed a 6th gear.  I sold it a woman in Wisconsin who immediately rode it out to Arizona for a few months.  The last time I spoke with her she was just loving it.  It was really a great bike for a woman.  It was low to the ground and easy to handle and had great looks.

This was my first Harley Davidson.  It was a 2006 Electra Glide Classic with an 88 inch motor.  I added a few chrome pieces and some Screamin' Eagle pipes and I was in heaven.  I really liked this bike but I wanted more like a better stereo, cruise control, more chrome and a bigger motor.  Those feelings led me to my next bike, which is also my current bike.  I wound up selling this bike to a buddy of mine which really made me happy because I still get to see it whenever we go riding.

This is my current baby.  It's a 2007 Screamin' Eagle Ultra Classic.  It has a 110 inch motor, six speed tranny, lots of chrome and a killer stereo for a bike.  I ride Millie (I named her after my Minneapolis Millers baseball team which wears the same colors) as often as I can.  I get at least one, 50 mile ride in every month of the year which, in Minnesota, isn't always easy.