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 Plasticâ€, 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.
While in Japan (and before we met), Mariko used to have a scooter like the one above. She cannot remember what happened to it, though. I can’t believe you can just not know what happened to you scooter? Crazy woman!
We went to a wine-tasting at Central Market, and I spotted this nice C70 Passport.
I have been reading “Jupiter’s Travels†by Ted Simon for a week or so, and it is really good. It’s about a round-the-world trip that Ted Simon took upon his Triumph motorcycle back in the 70’s. He balances the technical motorcycle aspect with the travel aspect perfectly (to me, at least), and the pacing is nice and fast. I read that Simon is attempting the same trip by motorcycle again, and I can’t wait to read about the modern-day journey. It will be interesting to get his perspective on how the world has changed.
Got a new helmet yesterday. It’s an HJC CL-14, and pretty nice, with both DOT and SNELL approval. It’s got five adjustable vents, and fits snugly, but the padding is such that my glasses go on easily. I have my old helmet up for sale, but no takers yet.
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.
OK, this is my dream bike. A Honda CB400SS… available in Japan, but not in the U.S. Bummer… It’s got the classic style, but with updated components. If only they sold this in the States, it would be so cool. I love the white tank with rust-colored graphics. The blue and silver color scheme is nice too.
Check out the cool wallpapers they have at the Japanese Honda site.
So, I have been having tons of fun restoring my C70 these days, and still love it, but I have my eyes on a new (old) bike… a Honda CB350. These were apparently very popular in the early 70’s, and tons of them were sold here in the States. I see ads for them every so often, prices ranging from “free†to $1,500 for a close-to-perfect specimen. I am interested in a “runs, but needs some work†condition model. The motorcycle itself is not really a sought-after classic, but I like the look of it, and it’s small, light. Plus, parts are readily available on ebay, with more availability and cheaper than C70 parts.
One of the things about the C70 is that, although it goes up to 40mph, it takes it’s own sweet time to get up to speed. I guess that’s the trade-off, however, for being so economical (over 100mpg). But being rather slow makes it more dangerous, even for neighborhood riding. The bigger bike is safer, since it can pull away from tailgating cars more easily. With the C70, once you hit 40, that’s pretty much it. The CB350, from what I have read. has enough power and zip to accelerate faster than most traffic. (How’s that for rationalizing)
My thinking at this point is that I need to get fix the C70 to as good a condition as I can, then sell it to fund my CB350 project. It’s funny, but a nice C70 sells for pretty good money. I think I would be able to get $1,000 for it. By my estimate, I have put a grand total of $500 into it, including buying the bike itself.
At any rate, to do more restoration on the C70, I need to wait until we are in the new house, so I can unpack all my tools and C70 parts. Plus, we will have a 2 1/2-car garage, which means more room!!! So, this project will have to wait until 2006. In the meantime, I still have some things I can do to the C70, like work on some electrical issues.