I can still remember as a kid hearing the local hoodlum who lived around the block kickstarting his Suzuki GT550 - those expansion chambers crackled and tore through the air. Turned 16 in 1978 and bought an FS1E for £220 and life was never going to be the same again . . .
1976 at age 16 I bought a brand new Kawasaki KH400 2 stroke triple from Steve Baker ( former world champion ) Kawasaki and what a little rocket it turned out to be. Let the good times roll, Kawasaki!
I had a Suzuki 250 dual sport, a Kawasaki 500 two stroke triple, a Honda 550 Four, a Suzuki 500 two stroke twin, a Kawasaki Z900, a Harley Davidson Electra Glide Police Special, and then some 1980s motorcycles.
Cool, I like your style 😎 z900 and 74 shovel head fl custom with a few yamaha dt triles bikes mixed in with the cb750 four. We're good times. Still have my 72 Norton commando custom 😊
I bought my first motorcycle (? - if you could call it that...) on July 19th 1971. It was a Suzuki 50cc Gaucho. Had it for three months, put 3K miles on it, sold it and bought a 1972 Yamaha DS7-250 Twin (100cc less than the R5 350 Twin.) and put over 14K miles in less than a year. Then came a 1971 Honda CB450, another Yamaha 250 twin, a 1976 Honda CB550F and my last 70's motorcycle was a 1978 Yamaha XS400.
Stared with the honda ss50, quick learning curve. It was all about two strokes for a few years after that. suzuki GT 250 B, Suzuki Gt 750B. Summer of 76 What a time to be a teenager.
Had a mint 78 xs650 special burgundy paint. It would vibrate when revved higher than it wanted, but from idle to that rpm it was a sweet engine. One of my favorite bikes looking back now that I'm older.
Started riding in 1971 on a 1971 Rupp Roadster 2 mini bike. Got a 1973 Honda CL 125S as my first street bike. Then a bought a friends 1972 Yamaha 250 Enduro, traded it in on a used 1974 Kawasaki 250 triple 2 stroke.street bike, then got a 1972 Honda 500 four. Also bought a new 1979 Kawasaki KL 250 duel purposes cycle. Also had a 1975 Kawasaki KZ 400. Must of those bikes I owed in the late 70’s and through the 80’s.
Being a child of the 1970s, I remember seeing these motorcycles, but I never rode any of them. My father put the fear in me of motorcycles because his cousin became a quadrapalegic wrecking his motorcycle, but in my early thirties I went to Departure Bike Works and asked if I could ride on the back of one. They were very kind, and a gentleman who works there allowed me to ride as a passenger on a trike. I'm physically challenged so it was the best way to ride for me. It was so dang much fun!
I owned both the Kawasaki-900, and the Harley Lowrider, and I wish I had them back! They're both classics now, but then again, in my opinion, they were classics the day they rolled off the showroom floor! Great bikes! Seeya
I had a 1975 Yamaha XS 650 i got used in 78 & had it for close to 8 years before i sold it,. I can't really agree with the rating you gave it but mine ran great & never once left me on the side of the road. Great Bobber engines these days & my biggest problem with the bike is that it was heavy, but it was a fine ride with very nice lines to it. I sold that bike & found a 38 Indian Chief which was a blast & the best street bike i ever had, no troubles learning to shift gears as i had one friend with a 69 Harley trike so i learned on that beast. Too much fun!!!
I had a 1973 Yamaha 750 and it was a mess to deal with. I then got a 1973 Z1 Kawasaki and it was great. I sold it in 1995 and have regreted it ever since. Didn't want my sons to ride until adults. The Z1 was fast for the time and my top speed on it was 145 mph on a closed portion of I-10. I now own a 2007 Kawasaki Z1000 and a 2009 Concours. Love the Kawasaki in-line 4.
Thanks for sharing some great memories and some great bikes. Actually owned a basket case 1975 Kawasaki Z1 900 which I got cheap and completely rebuilt and restored before ex wife #1 made me sell it along with a 1978 Suzuki GS550B 4 banger which was one of my favourite bikes and along with my Z1 I owned long before we got married. A lot of the bikes on this list I’ve actually ridden over the years missing from this list is the Kawasaki Z1300 and the Suzuki RE5. One bike I did own as an 18 year old was a brand new 1980 Yamaha DT175 which was an absolute bastard of a bike and put me off Yamaha for years. As a 61 year old I’ve come back to bikes after a fair amount of years and bought a new Suzuki SV650 which is a brilliant little bike and I’m hoping at some point to find myself some great bikes from my youth.
@@davegoldspink5354 your welcome I've been pretty busy this year not a lot of time for videos so I thought I'd produce one a little different. I covered the 1300 Kwaka in detail in a previous video and yep those 650 suzukis are very good bikes indeed, cheap too.
Still riding my yds7 yamaha 250, one of my first bikes as a 16 year old in 1971, it gets more attention from people than all the Harleys and numerous bikes I have owned over many year's of motor cycling, 69 years old now but I always say no one knows how old we are when we put our helmets on😅.
I had a gold Gt250m same as the one featured…I was the fastest thing on the planet😂 fortunately I lived to tell the tales. I rode many bikes working as a motorcycle salesman. The 400/4 was great straight out of the crate just needing better rear shocks. I always hankered after an RD350 they were a nice bike. Best bike I rode at 17yrs that suprised me in an era of japanese bikes was an 850 Interstate lovely fast but mellow superb handling thing. Thnx for the compilation
@@motorcyclecafe the Suzuki GS550B I had was actually only ran from 77 and 78 and was before they went to the 650cc engine size. They came out with the GS400 twin and the GS750.
No woman ever made me sell anything. If you’d stood your ground you might not be crying in your beer. If it’s a question of money shortage, there are three options: Spend less; Make more; Let her go out to work. That doesn’t mean I didn’t make the mistake of selling bikes and cars. I sold my Bond Bug due to lack of space; the SAAB 99 because I bought a 900 turbo. But they were all MY decisions. Oh, and I never married any of them either.
My first bike was a Suzuki GT500, 2 stroke parallel twin, then a '77 (I think) Yamaha XS750. Dinosaurs by todays standards but so much fun to ride. I also rode a friends Honda CB750. Thanx for the memories.
Hi, my biking days started in the seventies and I do think that some beautiful designs came from that era. Tempting to say the best but when you think of the 916, panegale, mv and others of today, I remain humble 😊. I had a few of those bikes at the time and I've got some of them today. La vie est belle. Thanks for the video, I was worried that you had gone forever 😮😅
@@jeremyharris5102 nope I'm still here just been busy this year. RU-vid is just a hobby but I'm working on another video. Its hard trying to balance my time sometimes. Cheers.
I started on a 2and half horse e-z Ryder,then a ts75,ds100,dt360,triumph Bonneville 1960 I paid 650$ ,cb550,cx500,seca 550,gs750,v45,gpz550,xl600,xs650,xs1100,vf1000,nighthawk650,gs1100,fzx700fazer,cbr600,vfr,yzf600r,and my current triumph thruxton,I have ridden near a million miles
Although the modern motorcycle era was birthed in the 1960s, the 1970s was the first full decade of that wonderful transition time and very much like the late '50s and early '60s was to the golden performance age of the American automobile...It was an incredible time to be young and in love with motorized vehicles, my bike of choice was the 'old fashioned' Norton Commando, although I enjoyed others.
1970 Yamaha 100, 1972 250, 1973 rd350, 1972 xlch 1000, 1973 Triumph 750 Tiger , 1977 Bonneville, Still have the Tiger, miss the sporty. 69 and still in the wind on 1980 FLH 84 FXSB and an 09 Street glide. 70's bike had a lot more class.
Started out on FS1E in 1977. Moved up to a Suzuki 250 X7 in 1978. Both great bikes and not featured in this video. To buy either of these bikes now, you have to dig deep in your pockets
I had a Benelli 250 2c, Honda CB 250,CB 450, CB 550 4,CB 750 K2, Kawasaki 650 4, Kawasaki 750 twin, Suzuki GS 850G and a Yamaha RD 200. I think that was the lot of my 70s bikes. I haven't updated much by the looks of it as my latest bike is an 82 VF 750 Magna.
I had a 73 Penton 125 six day trial motocross...That Sachs motor was a bitch to start and the transmission had to be shifted perfectly but when it was running good it was unbeatable!!!
My brother had Honda CB. I had the Yamaha DT 250 and the Kawasakip z900. Had a Honda sl 100 not on the list but it was my first real motorcycle and I put many a mile on it. Neighbors had a Kawasaki 500 triple two stroke and the 750 triple after that. They were fast but disposable bikes. Great fun times when gass was under .50 cent a gallon.
650 yamies x3, 73 mk2a 850 commando, yammy DT125, 79 TT500F, RM and PE 250's, DR 250 and 600's, GSX 750ex, all in the late 70s and 80s. Just to add, more fun 4:03 before the electronics of today. We fixed all our own bikes back then. Was all part of it. Now, call the towtruck and the computer geek. 😂
Had quite a few of these and some that aren’t mentioned. Fave bike of all time cb750/4 1977 in electric blue. Hard to believe but only 70 bhp which people laugh at nowadays
Yamaha really made a few butt-ugly street bikes back then. Loved them, though! I do remember a little TT 175 that I loved. GREAT soundtrack, BTW, and thank you for making this!
Glad you enjoyed it buddy. It took a while for Yamaha to make a decent big street bike. The XS650 was their best bigger bike for quite a while. The 750 twin was a dud.
Poor selection. Missed lots of good bikes from the era. The Yamaha XS750 D was superseded by the E model, which I owned. great bike but did have 2nd gear issue if you rode it like you stole it. Which I did... Easy fix however, which I only found out long after I traded it in for the mighty XS1100...
@@Kysushanz the stars were just for a bit of fun , my ratings on bikes I've owned or ridden nothing more. The stars only went to 5, so 4 is pretty good.😉
