My first time on a bike was a 305 Honda my dad brought home to show my mom (tried to talk her into buying)I was about 6 years old. My dad put a 4 sizes to big helmet on me told me to hang on and off we went, the wind blowing the 4 sizes to big helmet back till the strap choked my neck, the vibration of that fourstroke power throwing me back and hanging on to my dad for dear life, that was it for me, I was hooked!
My mom didnt aprove of the bike so my dad never did buy it, but I, on the other hand, started a campaign to get me a bike! Now this was not going to be easy, so a clean campaign was out of the question. 1st, need money (show mom I will buy it myself), 2nd, Be on my best behavior (beyond the I'll be good 2 weeks before Christmas), 3rd, Gather guilt information (so and so has a bike and his parents let him ride all the time), 4th, find someone close to the family that has a bike or knows someone whos selling, (alies are your best weapon).

None of the above works by the way.

So I had to regroup, rethink, and just get plain sneaky,down right,low down,dig to meanest tricks I could muster (as a 6 year old could do)
Yes, the dreaded whine..not just your I want ice cream whine... no that wont do.. its the throw your head back and beller, drop to the ground at moms feet, the total embarasing at the store fit, (school buddy saw and I had to explain to him my reason for this method) Kicking and screaming method. Note: while useing this method make sure you pad your back pockets....softens the blows a bit. So after a constant barage of the tantrums and whine fits the peace talks began.. first between mom and dad at the table, you know the "what can we do about this crazy kid" talk, then it happened.. Dad said it, "maybe we should see about getting him a mini bike!" WOW I must have bounced 10 feet.. but I had to hold my composure..I cant slack... the whine method is breaking them down. Next came the "you know if we get you this mini bike you will have to..bla..bla..bla..." you know damn well that if they even said you had to wear dipers to school while waring your sisters pink toto you are going to say YES no problem I'll do it!
So it began, I turned 7 before I got my beloved 2 1/2 HP, bald tires, torn grips, throttle sticking, cyntrifugal cluch tightened to max,no brake wonder the mini bike!

My parents bought me and my brother a Z-50 when I was about 8, my brother was 4. We had that thing for 3 years. I broke the frame at least a dozen times and pops would always get it fixed. My brother and I picked berries one summer to buy a new bike. We picked strawberries, raspberries, cucumbers and beans. (Side note here, I learned at the tender age of 11 that if you flirted and winked at the cute girl that was punching your ticket for your carton of whatever you were picking you could get extra punches) but I digress...we saved enough to buy a 70 something YZ 80, I think it was around
$300. I was always the tinkerer of the family and I decided that the bike needed a new top end. I bought all the parts and did the whole thing by myself (at 11 years old and without a manual). I, however, neglected to align the tab in the carburetor bore with the slot in the slide and the first kick the bike started up WFO. All I remember was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, uuuurp. We sold the carcass to Morries Motorcycle Wrecking yard for $25. My brother was soooooo mad. The next year my folks bought my brother an XR80 and me an IT125. I sold the IT a few years later and bought an 81 CR250 and started racing at Spannaway Speedway. I made it to 250 intermediate class (moving up waay to soon but that's another story). One day at the Gold cup at ORV park, the one that Magoo attended I crashed real bad in the whoops that were in front of the grandstand. I woke up in the ambulance and that was the end of my racing. Fast forward to 2004 I convinced my wife to let me buy a '99 KX250 and start racing again. It has turned into a great way to meet new friends, release stress and visit the hospital on occasion. Now I'm a 45 year old social racer who is afraid to jump big jumps but has a good time at the track. That's my story and I'm sticking to it

I think I was in the 4th grade, and this little jerk I knew named Josh Mylnar had all these bikes. I never understood how one kid could ride 3 bikes. Anyway I cried to my Dad, and he said, "You have bad grades, get A's and I will get you a bike." It took me no time, and I miraculously got straight A's. I got a bike that weekend, (A 1973 TS 125 to be exact)

No that is not me in the picture. I had a Red Sparkly open faced helmet, and my Dad made me ride in long sleeves. Anyay, after that he asked me, "How do you like it?" I told him it was the best weekend of my life. He responded with, "If your grades drop, the bike is gone."

Well, I've been riding for 25 years, following that Honda916 guy around, and I still haven't caught him. But that's my story and I'm sticking with it...

Oh and Paul, that was the last Suzuki I had too.

Well Aaron is not really sharing the whole story here. First off at one time I had 5 bikes. suzuki jr 50, suzuki rm50, suzuki ds80, yamaha yzinger 50, yamaha yz80. My old man got me into riding. I will never forget riding on the leaky gas tank of my dads maico 490. I remember because my balls would burn from my gas soaked pants. I also remember wrecking with my dad on his dirtbike. HAha. At one time i recall racing Aaron when I was a kid and losing and balling my eyes out, and my dad warning me if I didnt quit my cryin we would be packin it up and headin home. Ever since then I have been secretly training to beat Aaron. And now after 25 years, Aaron having a wife, 3 kids, and riding half as much as me I can finally beat him. Sometimes...

Went to a monster truck show with my dad when i was about 8 or 9. they had a halftime arenacross race and I saw all the little kids racin. I didnt know who they were but I probably race with them now. told my dad I could do that stuff, couple weeks later we picked up a '90 xr80. couple years later I wanted to start racing after ridin trails for a while. Lee's arenacross in monroe on a xr100. Got lapped by Waunch(on his kx/xr80 thing), Beal, and a bunch of fast guys on yz400's in the open 4 stroke class. We thought that was the right class for some reason haha. It was awesome. 11 years later and have finally made it to the pro class and mx is still the shit.

Good thread, lets hear some more....

I went with a couple of very good childhood friends to their race on the bare floor of the King Dome, I remember there being a bunch of circles painted in the floor and the start line was staggered (kind of like in track). I watched my buddies ride in a race and was amazed. They had a spot where you could run up and down in a straight line to tune your bikes. My buddies dad let me ride their bikes when it wasn't their race, needless to say I was instantly hooked. I went a few more weekends, never raced though. I think I was around 6, one was a little Suzuki and the other was a little Honda, it looked like a mini street cruiser.

A few years later, my cousin Mike in Eastern Washington had gotten a dirtbike. It was an old Yamaha IT490? I think that is what it was. We rode on the dikes of the Colombia River all summer, it was awesome. I was about 9-10 years old. When I came home at the end of the summer, I begged my parents all year for a motorcycle. The next summer, in July (my birthday), my parents bought me a used 1981 KX80 with dual Fox shocks. I rode that thing in to the ground. My dad didn't know anything about bikes and I think I ended up blowing the thing up. I was around 11 or 12 when it finally went. Never changed the air filter, gear oil, nothing, just rode the crap out of it.

Years go bye and I mean years. I met my wife and her family when I was about 22. Incidentally, I met Aaron (President of the MXPPA) at the same time (our wives are sisters). Aaron suckered me in, I remember:

Aaron: "Hey, me and some buddies are going riding out to Walker Valley, do you wanna go?". Me: "I would love to, but I don't have a bike"
Aaron: "Its ok, my buddy Rob has two, you can ride his KDX200, and I will loan you some gear"
Me: "Sweet, count me in"

I remember gearing up and unloading the bike, firing it up and getting reacquainted to riding out on the logging road. We rode for a good portion of the day, man I had a ball. Then, after we were done:

Aaron: "Did you have a good time?"
Me: "Man, it was awesome, I can't believe what I have been missing."
Aaron: "Hey, did I mention that Rob is selling that bike you rode today?"
Me: "Really? Man, I will have to talk with Karen and see if I can buy it"

Later that night was spent trying to convince my lovely wife why I "needed" a dirt bike. The next few days were spent recovering from my extremely sore muscles, some that I never knew I even had.

After I bought the KDX200 and went on a couple more trips to Walker Valley. Aaron piped in again.

Aaron: "Hey, me and some buddies are going to race MX at Woodland, do you want to go?"
Me: "Sure, sounds like fun"
Aaron: "Ok cool, we leave at about 330am, you can ride with JT"
Me: "Sounds good"

Little did I know that it was going to pour down rain the whole way there. I remember driving down I-5 with JT, Rob Zombie at distortion levels at 330am, surfing down I-5 in JT's Ford F-150 with crappy windshield wipers and bald tires. I remember racing my first race in the 250 Beginner class, I have never been so exhausted, I did one extra lap around the track then I needed to. I remember coming back to the truck wiped out and I said:

Me: "Holy shit, I am tired. I am glad that is over"
Aaron: "Uh, you still have another moto to ride dude" laughing out loud.
Me: "Are you serious? Holy shit"

And so my MX career began, I came to Woodland every other weekend for the rest of that season and the 3-4 more seasons that followed. The last 10+ years I have been riding have been awesome, all the memories I have made and not to mention all of the people I have met has been incredible. I have not ridden in a couple of years due to a pretty severe leg injury and taking care of some responsibilities at home. I am looking forward to coming out of retirement this Spring/Summer. I am really anxious to ride my brand new 2005 Honda CRF.

my dad rode all his life and when i was about 6 we looked at this air-cooled,drum braked,steel rimmed 1984 KX 60 for 800$
my dad bought it and we rebuilt the WHOLE thing.. i started out ghetto with jeans, regular boots,a long sleeve shirt, and a too large bell helmet but it worked and from-then-to now is like a crazy timeline
i look back and laugh but it was awesome and now im doing good
neven thought i would b where i am today with motocross!!

These stories are great! Thanks guys.

The whining worked in our house, but it took a few years...Actually, I tortured poor Joe by going to work at the Brothers Powersports when he was about 7, but no amount of whining was going to get him a bike until he was big enough to get one that I could ride! The poor kid would come to the shop and sit on every bike on the floor, tottering on his tippy toes and saying "I could ride this one Mom!!!" I almost gave in when he could just touch on an 80, but I held out until his 10th birthday, thinking if I got a CRF100 it would take him a few years to get bored with/grow out of it. Man was I stupid! I thought plunking down $1500 for a new bike and another $100 for helmet, boots, & gear was crazy... 4 years, 5 bikes, and Lord knows how many sets of gear, helmets, boots, (yadda yadda yadda) later, I'm thinking, "Duh, if I hadn't been dumb enough to take the kid to an Eric Waunch class he'd still be happily putting around the trails on the 100"! And my bank account would be in a LOT better shape. Thanks Eric

Like most farm kids, we grew up with motorized toys. I got a Honda Mini-Trail 50 to ride in 1980 when I was 5 years old. I rode that bike on the farm for 2 years until I got an 75cc Honda four stroke. That was my "farm bike" for about 5 years at which point I sold the bike to help pay for a snowmobile. That is when I was around 12 years old or so. I ended up getting heavily in snocross racing (I lived back in Minnesota), especially when I was in college. I started coveting bikes around then as a lot of the fast snocross guys raced bikes in the off season. I got seriously hurt racing Pro Class snocross when I was 24 years old. I took a couple years off from riding and decided to get back into bikes at the ripe young age of 26. I think I rode on my first motocross track at around 30 years old and now at the ripe old age of 34 am an "acutal" vet beginner.

I love bikes and will never go back, but I always think about how the tracks I ride/race on would be much easier for me on a snocross sled!!

Our family moved when I was about 5 and our neighbors kids had motorcycles. My dad always had a bike as well but I'm sure the fact that the neighbor kids were out riding their bikes in the field had lots to do with it.

After a year or so the neighbors upgraded to a YZ60 and YZ80 and my dad bought one of their old Honda Z50s for my brother and I to share. It was a 1977 Z50 and I think he bought it for $150. That was in 1987 and I was almost 7 years old. My brother and I shared that bike for 2 years until I upgraded to a 1974 XR75 that my dad found at a repair shop. It had a bent valve and didn't run so we got it for $100.

That XR75 was a sweet machine.... the only problem was the rear shocks would stick in the compressed position and my back would start to hurt after awhile. We later got a different set of shocks at the motorcycle junk yard and I was a happy camper.

It was the summer of 1973 I got detained by the Kent Police for putting a rubber life raft in the Citys' water tower, the officer involved explained that I must be somewhat mechanically inclined as the City works had a hell of a time getting the raft back out. Soon after the officer shows up at my house with a box of tools for me and a couple of broken down honda trail bikes, he also gave me the phone number to Morries in Fife where I could pick up good deals on parts. Here it is 35 years later just picked a wheel from Morrie . Oh yea, the cop ended up marrying my mother, gotta lolve those cops.

Is morries still in business?

Yes Morrie is still going strong-He renamed his company "The Wheel Master" and his son rides a bad ass old school yz490 desert racer.

It was all I wanted to do. My family was into it, we lived in Mattawa so my dad and aunts, uncles grew up in the desert on Hodaka's and Bultaco's. My grandparents got to be good friends with Binckley's grandparents working together on making the old Desert 100 happen. My dad and uncle started racing MX in the mid 70's and I was born in '79 and remember sitting on the tank and holding on the the crossbar pad of my dads '80 YZ 465. Binckleys would always come visit and Billy had a YZinger but I never got a minibike. My dad got out of racing for a few years in the early 80's and I spent my time cutting up Motocross Actions, picking out gear sets I wanted, and watching the VHS tape of the 500USGP at Carlsbad every summer until the tape wouldn't play anymore. In 85 my dad picked up a used 82 XR 80 and got himself a 83 CR 480. I literally rode that thing until the wheels fell off.

A new left over 87 YZ 80 came next and my dad got rid of the 480 and found a used '87 CR 250 in Moses Lake, and we started racing together in '89. I wrote a few letters to Cagiva in 4th grade and asked them if they had any plans to make an 80cc Motocrosser. I wrote letters to Scott and asked them what they thought went wrong with their original boot, if they still had the mold and if they could make me a set.

I started like all of us, something fun that we just developed a huge passion for and it consumed our thoughts and our time in some form or another.