My First Motorcycle

My first motorcycle was a 1967 Honda Dream 250 that I bought right after my 16th birthday in 1970. The very square looking bike was not my first choice but I don't think I could have made a better choice for my first vehicle.

When I say it was "square" I mean old-fashioned but I also mean physically square. The headlight was square, the fenders when viewed on end were squared (and flared!), the forks were squared. Nothing else looked like a Dream.

The motor was whisper quiet and always started with the merest bump of the starter button. This ugly beast was as reliable as Honda ever made them. The huge fenders and complete chain cover, while corny looking, were very functional. It looked nerdy as hell but it was really a great bike.

I rode old Red many thousands of miles all over the Midwest and she never gave me the slightest problem. None of my friends could say the same about their bikes. But I got this bike almost by accident.

Right after turning 16 Dad took me to a bike dealer in St. Louis. I picked out a cool looking late model Honda 175 scrambler and put money down on it. We left to visit a loan company and got approved. When we returned to the dealer the salesman unapologetically told me he had sold the bike right after we left.

We left that dealer, never to return, and visited a small Honda dealer closer to home. The only small but not-too-small used bike they had was the Dream. I sneered at the corny looking beast. The salesman assured me it was a great bike and a great deal (much cheaper than the scrambler) and that I owed it to myself to take it for a test ride.

He showed me how to operate it and turned me loose on the parking lot and the driveways that went all around the dealer. I started off uphill on a gravelly patch, spewed some gravel and shot up the hill. I rode all over the place with a big smile plastered across my face. They had to flag me down to get me off the thing!

We made the deal and Dad followed me home in the car. I proceeded to ride Red all over the neighborhood (we lived in the suburbs) showing all my friends. I didn't stop until nightfall. Missouri learners permits only allowed daylight riding, darn it.

I never ever regretted buying the Dream. Dwarfing the little bike with my skinny 6' 2" frame I looked like a dork on that bike, but I was the happiest dork in town.

When I got out of the Army I moved everything else home but left the bike for a week at the apartment complex. When I returned to get the bike it was gone, and the apartment management said, "What motorcycle? We don't remember any motorcycle."

What followed was an epic story that I'll save for another time.

[ If you look closely at the last picture, which I stole off the internet, you'll notice that the tank badge is a right-side tank badge! My bike was missing the left-side tank badge. Could this be a photo of my long lost bike??? ]