Viewing Category: Motorbike
2011 Aug 18
Cycles South appeared in my Netflix queue and it looked pretty fun so after the kids went to bed I watched it. It’s a travel movie made in the early 70’s and has the feel of a Bruce Brown film like On Any Sunday. The plot is basically three friends take off from their jobs and ride motorcycles down from the west coast of the US (maybe Northern California?) all the way down to Panama. They complete the journey spending about $60 each. It’s a fun journey and extremely interesting in how it shows how much times change.
From the view of motorcycling, the bikes are small UJM streetbikes. They look like Honda CBs. They ride them like dirtbikes, going off jumps, off pavement, bushwacking, and on railroad tracks. I hardly ever seem them standing on the pegs either! They mainly just bounce along. Kind of cool that they don’t worry about the machine or gear so much (or at all), unlike these days when there is so much focus on the type of equipment and bike you have. I like that kind of “ride what you got” attitude.
Culturally, the movie is funny and potentially disturbing (depending on your lifestyle) when they happen upon an old town/commune and proceed to “recreate” with the locals. There’s quite a bit of free-love and partaking of illegal drugs going on. Then they go out on a psychedelic joyride on their bikes. It’s all pretty amusing, but that joyride scene went on for way too long, and had some really annoying “spacey” sound effects.
I really enjoyed the movie after they traveled south of the border. They camped on the beach and went spearfishing for their food. Kinda strange when they killed and ate a sea turtle, but it just goes to show you how times change. There are a couple really cool scenes where they go surfing and hang out on the beach playing with fireworks. Looks like so much fun.
I’d recommend checking this movie out especially because it’s available for streaming. It’s not as polished or charming as a Bruce Brown classic, but it’s still a fun flick.
2011 Apr 30
I’ve had The World’s Fastest Indian in my Netflix queue for a while now and decided it was finally time to watch it. It’s based on the life of Burt Munro, a New Zealander who travels from Invercargill to Utah with his Indian motorcycle. Sir Anthony Hopkins stars in the leading role and he is absolutely perfect in it.. Well, almost perfect since he didn’t have a Kiwi accent. However, one of the greatest actors in the world in this small indie-style film is pretty cool! He’s so good, you just get into the character of Munro and forget about the actor. Munro is old, funny, good-hearted, and determined to live out his dream — to set a land speed record at the Bonneville Salt Flats. There are a few parts in the movie with a little bit of tension, like when he arrives in Hollywood and is taken advantage of, but it’s all pretty harmless. I’m usually fine with movies where there’s a lot of tension, but the Munro character is so likeable and innocent that I just didn’t want anything bad to happen to him. Thankfully, all of the problems that he encounters in his journey he is able to overcome and the ending of the film is satisfying. I also loved the style of the film, the characters were all interesting, and the recreation of the 1960’s was well done. Of course I love the motorcycling parts too! This film is on Netflix streaming, so go and watch it!
FYI, the trailer above is not a good representation of the mood of the movie. Whereas the trailer might make it seem like an action-packed, rebellious story, it’s really a quiet, introspective study of Burt Munro.
2010 May 04
In case you didn’t know, I have another blog dedicated to my motorbikes. Oh, and I got a new bike! Vroom vroom.
www.motofuji.net
2008 Aug 14
Mariko goes into the garage this morning and then comes to get me. “It smells like gas in the garage!”. So I rush in there, knowing that it must be from the supercub since I just filled it up yesterday. I said, “Oh, my supercub must be leaking.” And she says, “Oh good, I thought it was one of our cars.” To which I replied, “What?! The supercub is my baby!” Anyways, I guess it is time to order a new fuel petcock as the old one wasn’t completely sealing off the fuel flow. And I need to take apart the carb and make sure the fuel cutoff inside the bowl is working correctly. Either one of those would have prevented the leak.
2008 Jul 10
I really like the look of this helmet. Right now I have a full-face HJC similar to this, but like the open-face look better. I know it’s safer to have the DOT/Snell approved helmet I use now, but still...!
2008 Jun 13
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.
2008 Jun 11
Yay for the Honda Supercub! Still going strong at 60.
2008 Jun 03
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 I 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!
2008 May 21
The Honda Supercub has surpassed the 60-million mark of total units produced! It’s the 50th anniversary of the legendary bike. It’s the highest selling vehicle of all time, and it gets ~100 mpg.
Article at Yahoo! Japan
Translated (to English) article
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