[speediva]

Does riding as a passenger count?

If riding as a passenger counts, then the first bike I rode on was (I think) my dad's early 90s Yamaha FJ1300. I remember it had that awful early 90s paint scheme with white and pink and purple... maybe some teal thrown in for good measure. My dad would take me around on the back of his bike on a fairly regular basis - he would even take me to soccer practice on it! I imagine I was about 8 years old or so... but being that I've always been tall, I'm sure I rode on it before then... that's just my first memory of it.

As for piloting... the first time I drove a street bike was back in 02. It was a brand spankin new BMW F650GS with the black and white Dakar edition paint scheme. It was a single cylinder thumper, but was pretty forgiving. I had ridden dirtbikes as a kid and after I spilled on it, I gave up riding and didn't ride for years. Then - about a decade later - my dad brings home the first street bike he'd had in at least as long and my first thought was "man, I remember that being really cool" and the rest is history.