And So It Begins…

Hello Anyone,

I was going to start this with a verse from the song “My little Honda 50”, but considering what I am contemplating, I thought the above line was far more appropriate!

So the story so far – I am a 40 something Australian who lives in a rural city (Orange, New South Wales to be exact, more usually referred to as OJ, or occasionally The OC – pun intended!) One day quite a while ago I decided to go all retro & purchase a classic motor bike. One thing lead to another & The Child Bride & I ended up purchasing a 68 Vespa & a 63 Lambretta from the interweb - rebuilt in Vietnam… (I can hear the gasps from people as they read this & to be honest I am not too sure that I’d go through all the stress of that again, but it is the truth & I have long worked out that honesty is the best policy).

That accepted, we call the Vespa “The Silver Surfer” & The Lambretta is “the Mighty Lamb”

These turned out to have their ups & downs, but have for the most part been reasonably reliable in the context of not being a daily ride (a big saving for us, as I would not recommend that age of vehicle as a daily ride!)

We did convert the Lamb to an electronic ignition as the points flywheel supplied was $h!tte, & I had a piston-ring failure on the Vespa whilst out riding one morning (perhaps I didn’t pick the soft seize?). Apart from the usual 40+ year old problems they have been good for the purpose of weekend plaything (Coffee shop ride & posing anyone?).

As it turns out, the Classics were not as fantastic as rides for The Child Bride, so we ended up buying a Torino Veloce (a LiFan Virago clone) as the lower seat height suited her better than either of the classics… oh well, at least we could ride together! The kids christened this one “the Mighty Bull” after the Bulls on the tank Logos

This was all well & good, but after a while, a man gets “that” itch & well, you know, you just have to scratch it…

And this is where it really does begin!

Over a glass or two of everyone’s favorite tonic, my Dear Ol’Dad says to me: “You know there’s an ol’ postie in the shed…”  & the conversation continued on other things (like the Friday nite football game on TV). At the time, I didn’t think too much about it – it was late & I was just thinking about more booze, the footy & sleep etc…

Anyway, one day a couple of weeks later, the Youngest & I decide to go get the thing (the postie that is) going. This also means looking for it… after a bit of time we find the Postie in dads shed, in all its glory. It wasn’t a postie, but rather it turned out to be a Honda Cub C50 (50cc engine & a 3 speed transmission). It must have been reasonably old as the speedo was a Miles per hour jobbie (stuck on 6334 Miles).

Painted mat black & showing years of abuse as an aggie bike. The plastic was either badly damaged, or missing, the exhaust pipe was half there & decorated with a fine patina of sump oil. The plastic lenses on the rear were all missing & the seat was covered in a badly cracked sheet of vinyl for good measure. The drive chain & sprocket where badly worn (possibly original), & the old girl was covered in dust, but due to the central-west NSW location, thankfully, no serious rust was present.

No worries I says; it’s a Honda & she’ll be right. So we pump up the tyres, give the old girl an oil change, new spark plug & put some fresh petrol into it. After about ½ an hour of swearing & attempted kickstarting & aerostarting I finally managed to roll start it. To my absolute dismay, it was a complete gutless heap of $h!tte… sorry, no amazing “it still Runs after 30 years in a farm shed” wonder stories here!  So I figure, it has copped 30+ years of abuse as a farm bike before being forgotten about when Dear Ol’Dad & Me Mum bought the old Orchard they live on… basket case & someone else’s problem now!

I promptly told Dear Ol’Dad, yep, she runs, you can do something with her if you’d like (hoping that he’d take the hint!) and promptly when back to Vespa-ering & Lambretta-ering & Torino-ing around the OJ district.

Fast forward 12 months…

I have a new job & am in need of another hobby… as if all the other stuff that I seem to be doing wasn’t enough! Anyway, that little Honda popped into my mind, not too sure why, but at Easter 2012 I asked Dear Ol’Dad; so, what exactly are you doing with the Honda?

“Yep” was my reply.

Well you can’t just have it… but I’ll sell it to you; I can’t show any favoritism between you kids now can I? So I can’t give it to you, but I can sell you it - for $1!

OK & the deal was done!  I followed with “Hey, a man has got to have a hobby! AND I don’t think I have a chance of a Barn Find 356 Porsche to play with, so an antique Honda-step thru is probably the best thing for me!”

That day I started ownership of a Honda C50 Cub…

Unfortunately, the next day I was off to work so I had to wait 2 weeks until I could “play” with the Love Cub!

So Mote It Be!

Leigh

Dan the Man trying to re-animate the Love Cub