First, I hope all readers will have a calm and contented 2023. I do know that some of you have health issues in old age, but maybe even those will find nuggets of joy for contemplation.
You will have seen from my last post that my life has had its setbacks, but I am determined to resurface and look to the future (however short that may be at age 84).
The weather has not been kind for me to exercise my motorcycle for a while but that has led me to consider my (small) stable. I still like my classic 1997 Suzuki TU250X
which will continue to be ridden as long as I can keep it upright. But I decided to discard the small Honda scooter and find a small, lightweight motorcycle to replace it as a general runaround. I have never really been a great fan of scooters, but they are a useful convenience. Their riding position is akin to squatting on a kitchen chair, legs primly ahead, knees together and with no ability to ride the bumps by taking weight on the footrests as with a motorcycle, legs apart, with some body weight on the arms - akin to astride a horse.
Honda has recently updated their perennial Honda Cub (100 million produced since 1958 - the most amongst all road vehicles of any kind ever made in the world). Their new 125cc Super Cub seemed to fit the bill for this decrepit, ageing motorcyclist. I looked around and eventually found a 2020 example, down in Gloucester (joys of the internet) which had only done 180 miles
The dealer offered free delivery to Kent too (no doubt included in their asking price but still....). Is it a motorcycle or a scooter? I suppose it is the former, but dressed somewhat like the latter. It has the advantage of a bike's riding position, but with a scooter's weather protection. And it only weighs a touch over 100 kgs - a great selling point for this ageing, decrepit, etc., etc.
Now we only need some decent weather for me to ride it!
14 comments:
When I was riding bikes which were vintage even then (late 60s, early 70s) I used to look at Hondas manufactured after the war, and they were all based on British classics. I passed my test on a Honda 50 and immediately bought a 1938 Triumph Tiger 80. Men who were as old as I am now used to stop me and say wistfully, 'I used to have one of those'...
Tom:
When I could still manage the weight of a 2009 Indian Royal Enfield 500 I often used to get the same reponses, usually when filling up with fuel. Some guy would come across and say someting like, "Ah, a Royal Enfield, I had one back in the day. You have restored that beautifully". There was surprise when I said that was how it came, recently.
Delighted to see your new Honda! Let's root for good weather! Currently I'm trying to order a Classic Motorcycle calendar for HH, but they are closed today, since yesterday was Sunday and a holiday. The stable is a little large here in Oregon, so I hope he actually sells his stunninglly beautiful Laverda, or is it just that beauty is in the eye of the beholder? My brother had to sell his 1957 Porche and was ecstatic it fetched $100,000 from some buyer in New York. I don't know what happened to his Morris Minor woody.
Wishing you good riding weather!
Vita:
Laverdas and $100,000 Porsches are a bit richer diet than this little Honda Super Cub! But the same (or different) enjoyment can be got from riding a tiddler and getting the best from its engine.
GZ:
Thanks - I see you are enjoying NZ once more - some of the place names you mention evoke fond memories.
For one whole year (1959 - 60) I was the moped specialist on what was then called Cycling and Mopeds, previously Cycling (going back to the dark ages) and now Cycling Weekly (devoted only to unmotorised bikes). These days mopeds are quite vaguely defined; then they were powered by 50 cc engines, typically from Villiers or Sachs, with the extra facility - should you feel inclined - of adding leg power to the sputtering ironmongery that could barely pull the skin off a rice pudding.
My predecessor had subjected these vehicles to full road tests (Top speed, acceleration, fuel consumption, braking, etc) but given that that their dissipated energy would have been more accurately rated in ponypower, or even rabbitpower than horsepower, and that he was quite an overweight sort of fellow, the subsequent performance figures he quoted were, not surprisimgly, quite similar. When I took over I did away with this charade and used the 15 mopeds I tested over the year to economising on the journey between my London flat just off Clapham Common to C&M's office in Bowling Green Lane, not far from the offices of what was then called The Daily Worker and is now the Morning Star, official newspaper of Britain's Communist party. No jokes about my politics, please.
It sounds like a giddy life but having also to cover cyclo-cross races held on Sunday mornings in deepest rural Sussex and Essex I yearned for more intellectual challenges. And here is the link-up with your post. Just before I left (for a hi-fi magazine) the concept of mopeds took a giant step forward. Most of the steeds I'd ridden had difficulty in reaching 30 mph on the flat. The then new Yamaha dispensed with pedals and topped 42 mph. Hardly a moped but stylistically there was - let's say - a grandparental resemblance between it and your Honda Cub, including the legshields, the open frame and the pillion seat. Even though the Yamaha was limited to 50 cc it showed the way. I did manage to squeeze in the Honda equivalent but my impression - dimmed by the passage of 60-plus years - is it wasn't as fast.
RR:
I took "Cycling and Mopeds" during the period of your specialisation, buy never read the "Mopeds" section I am sorry to say. As a keen club cyclist I had taken the magazine for about 10 years when it concerned itself with cycling only. I guessed that changing fashions and circulation convinced the magazine to include the new interlopers but at exactly this time I was getting enthused by motorcycles and my weekly became "The Motor Cycle" (or "Blue 'Un as it was nicknamed to distinguish itself from its competitor "Motorcycling" with its green cover, which was called - wait for it - the "Green 'Un").
The Yamaha FS1E (Shortened by the young then to The "Fizzie") was an absolute revelation and they all wanted one. Now reconditioned ones are fetching over £4000.
The Honda Cub, then a 50cc but with no pedals did not compete. I remember my mother had one for a while for commuting and shopping and it served her well. Honda updated it over the years with increasing engine sizes (the latest is 125cc) but always maintaining its original design. Rumour goes that Soichiro Honda wanten a clutch lever free machine (it has an automatic clutch operated by selecting the next gear by foot) so that noodle delivery riders could ride one handed, carrying their load in the left hand. Its first colour of light/dark blue (repeated in this 2020 model) apparently referred to the sky and the sea. One day when Soichiro was bending over one the design shop foreman noted Honda's CEO had on a red shirt and always thereafter coloured the seat red - to which the latest model pays tribute.
The Australian Postal Service bought them in droves, specially adapted for their "Posties" rounds - and still use them I am told.
As you know, I later worked on the Green 'un; among other things editing its letters page. I have a photograph of me riding the works AJS, still covered with mud it attracted in that year's Scott Trial.
RR:
I should like to see that photo of you on the Ajay!
Hi Avus ive been following your blog for some time, and was worried when there was not much last year. Sorry to hear about your wife. Love your new vehicle, I wish I could get one, but they dont seem to import to Cyprus. Blessings for the NEW YESR. MIKE
Oh dear, I'm so sorry about your wife. How very sad. Do keep on blogging, though.
Pam:
Thanks for your thoughts. As regards blogging, I will.
I am cracking on a bit, and considered selling my little guzzi after 20 years and buying something smaller, however after reading an article on motorcycles for geriatrics I decided to keep it
most of the machines they recommended were 15 to 20k monsters, I presume that the intention is to get us to part with all of our money, then die quickly !!
met an old mate who is in his 70s, still working 4 hours a day 5 days a week, and still rides big bikes
I reckon as long as you are healthy you need to keep riding as long as you can
as for electric motorcycles, they can stick them all up Boris Johnson backside, useless things, glad to hear that you have a cub now, an excellent motorcycle to ride, when I get around to retiring, I plan to take 3 months off to tour Europe at my own pace
plenty of places that I want to see again, perhaps it might be on a cub !
I enjoyed your comment Russell. Keep it upright!
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