Wendy Griffiths' First Bike

My First Bike
by Wendy Griffiths

.....and the winner of the "My First Bike" contest is.......

In 1976, at the age of 14, when many young ladies are turning their fancy towards boys, kittens, flower arranging and other such shit....I was mad for a young Barry Sheene, who was making a name for himself winning every 500cc race out there. Posters of him on a motorbike adorned my bedroom walls, along with the likes of Marc Bolanand Slade.

Years later at a punk club in London, I met a ...young man with a 1975 Yamaha XT dirtbike and I was hooked, on dirtbike riding that is!

So, not to be left in the dirt watching from the sidelines, I went out and bought a wee Honda XL100. I remember I was so thrilled when I put my down payment on it, my first brand new anything! A few weeks later the guys at the tiny dealership I bought it from called me to tell me it had been delivered. They were excited to see my face when they wheeled it out for me to see, they had managed to secure the first of the new model XL’s and had kept it a secret from me.....alas, I did not have the heart to tell them that I had really wanted the old model, I just preferred the style, and it was slightly higher in the seat for my lanky legs. I rode it off the lot, thinking, this isn’t exactly what I wanted, and now I’m stuck with it! Ungrateful wench.

For a year I rode that little thing everywhere, to work every day in the rain and cold, plus 120 miles up and down the A2, M25 most weekends to see my boyfriend, until he dumped me for a tiny cute blonde...leaving me with no-one to go riding bikes. Oh well, it didn’t take me long to realise that it was way too small for me, so, I sold it to fund my new found addiction of fixing up 1950’s cars, and that was an expensive hobby, something had to give. I chose wrong, the bike went, until I wised up a decade later.

1981 - Here are I am, off to take my test with my L-plates all askew, spikey short red hair, vintage flying jacket and shiny blue crocodile print go-go boots...nothing much changes does it?

When I came to Texas 23 years ago, I bought a 1973 Yamaha XT500 (photo to come), which I rode all around Dallas and Denton, until one day I could no longer kick start it, that darn compression got the better of me, so I left it to die in my backyard. Until one day a man stopped by and offered to buy it, he got it going on the2nd kick, after he had handed me the money, dammit! Wish I still had that bike.

Here’s a selection of other bikes of mine, all still residing in our garage, though the CB550 has undergone quite the transformation by its new owner, my hubby Dave.

It has all just been leading up to this moment in time......

Wendy Griffiths