Category: Honda C70 Supercub

I finally finished covering my Honda C70 with red paint! I didn’t do the entire bike (underneath the legshield and a couple other hidden places), but unless you look really closely, you wouldn’t know that it was originally blue. Next, I need to route the wiring to the rear turn signals more cleanly. This means drilling a hole in the fender to drop the wires down. I bought a little black rubber grommet to make the hold look a little nicer, and I don’t foresee any trouble. While I have the rear wheel off, I think I am going to replace the tire/tube. The front one was a pain to replace. It just took a lot of elbow grease to do it, but I’m still not looking forward to it. After that, the things I want to do are to straighten out the footpegs, then shave to seat foam down a little. Also I bought a little switch cover for the hi-beam switch, since it had broken off.

Just this week I also got my new license plate and registration sticker. The title should be in my hands in a couple weeks as well. Then the only thing from keeping the bike from being fully legal is the inspection. Hopefully she passes without any problems.

Yay for the Honda Supercub! Still going strong at 60.

I finally got around to seriously getting the title for my Honda C70 squared away. I have the title, but it is not signed by me yet. It has the previous owner, and his signature that he has sold it. The next step was to contact him and have him sign a “Transfer of Title” form. But, when I tried to get in contact with him a few years ago, I could only get as far as his personal assistant. The previous owner is the retired CEO of a huge auto conglomerate, so I figured he wouldn’t even really care about an old motorbike from 17 years ago. Anyways, the city that I live in now has a nice title transfer policy. Basically , send the form to the last known address in a registered letter with return receipt. Upon them receiving the letter, they have 10 days to respond to me. If I do not receive a response, I can take my return receipt form to the Titling Department, and they will transfer it to me. Or, if the letter comes back to me unopened, they will accept that as sufficient for title transfer.

Today I checked the status of the letter, and saw this:

Label/Receipt Number: 7008 1140 0002 1234 5678

Status: Moved, Left no Address

Your item was returned to the sender on June 3, 2008 because the addressee moved and left no forwarding address.

Woohoo! Looks like I should be receiving my letter back to me, and can take that to the Titling Office and have it transferred over! I can’t wait. Next will be insurance, and then getting the bike inspected. After that, it will be fully legal to ride!

Last night I spent an hour in our apartment garage getting the C70 ready for the move. I emptied out all the gasoline using the carb overflow tube. It took a long time to drain 3/4 gallon thru that skinny little tube, but it was a clean operation. In the past, I used to disconnect the fuel line from the petcock and drain it into the gas can, which can be messy and smelly, but quick. The method I used last night involved removing the gas cap, loosening the drain plug, turning the fuel petcock to reserve, and letting the fuel flow into the carb bowl and out its overflow tube.

It dripped for about half an hour, while I packed up all the tools and spare parts and removed the fragile legshield. I told the moving company that we are moving “a little moped, which is not working and is dry”, and they said that’s ok. The C70 is a bit bigger than a moped, but it is such a funky looking bike that people in the U.S. don’t necessarily think of it as a motorcycle or scooter, especially with the legshield off. They don’t really know what to think. Anyways, I hope that the moving goes smoothly!

I was looking at the US Vespa site, and noticed this image on the opening page. I thought, “That looks very familiar.” Then I remembered seeing an old 1960 Supercub ad, which used a similar concept. Kinda neat…

I painted the replacement front fender I bought a year ago. It was originally red, and I plan to paint it dark blue, along with the bike frame, but temporarily painted it an off-white color, the same as the side covers. I didn’t want to have a red fender on my light blue bike. I used Rustoleum “Paint for Plastic”, and it turned out pretty good. I will put on a coat or two of clear coat in a couple days after it dries a bit.

Tonight I went for a ride around the neighborhood. It was about 77° out when I started, which made for a perfect ride. First I went to the parking lot of the huge church “compound” near our place to practice some hard braking and slow tight turns. I saw the Austin Police Dept motorcycle cops doing their training there a couple weeks ago, and the parking lot was marked with painted pylons, which I used to do some u-turns. After doing that for a minute or so, I took off and rode around the neighborhood. Tonight was the first time I wore my full-face helmet, and it makes such a huge difference! I felt much more protected, and the wind was kept off my face and eyes, but visibility was still excellent. It didn’t even feel like I was wearing a helmet after a while. It is so much better riding with a full-face helmet as opposed to a half/open face helmet, even at 40mph and lower.

We went to a wine-tasting at Central Market, and I spotted this nice C70 Passport.

Went riding last night, and it was fun as always. I am getting a lot more comfortable shifting. It’s almost automatic, I don’t even have to think too much about it. Downshifting and slowing down before I initiate a turn are pretty automatic now as well. I am getting confident that the bike is mechanically sound, and reliable, so I can just enjoy riding and exploring around my small neighborhood.

The mileage on my C70 is at 5,737.9, so I have put a whopping 47.4 miles on it! I can’t believe I put on that kind of mileage just putting around the neighborhood. Top speed is about 45mph, and that is going on flat ground, with plenty of straigtaway to get going. If you want to read more detail about the work that I have been doing on the bike, you can go to the page I made for the restoration project here.

I was going to change the rear tire on the C70 last night, when I noticed that it was in pretty good shape. The front was all cracked and worn, so I had replaced it, and had thought the rear would be the same. But, there is no cracking, and plenty of tread left. But, I noticed that it is the wrong size. When the previous owner changed the tire, he used the same size as the front, which is 2.25/70. The correct size is 2.50/70. Although it will run fine with this smaller tire, the top speed will be reduced slightly, while rate of acceleration is increased. I decided to just keep the smaller tire on the back for now, and when I have more room in the new house/garage I will replace it.