Snowbound's first ride

Damn Beej. You want me to remember my first bike? Man, I lived through the 60’s and I’m supposed to remember that kind of shit?? Hell, I barley remember my own name some days. But this damn snow has me trapped and I got nothing better to do except work (which I am avoiding right now) so I’ll give it a shot.

My first bike was actually my older brother’s first scooter. A Honda 50 with the girly type frame. My brother is a little over three years older than me and was four grades ahead of me in school. He bought that little Honda himself and was nice enough to show me how to ride it too. It was fairly easy to learn as it had an automatic transmission and a heel-toe shifter.

I can remember him riding in the neighborhood with a girl on the seat behind him and a girl on the seat in front of him and another one on the handlebars. No license was needed back then as the little Honda was less than 50 cc. It was the days of the Beach Boys and their song “Little Honda” was fairly popular with the girls. Remember???

"First gear (Honda Honda) it's alright (faster faster) Second gear (little Honda Honda) I lean right (faster faster) Third gear (Honda Honda) hang on tight (faster faster) Faster it's alright."

After I learned the basics of the thing I got pretty cocky and would ride it around the neighborhood while my brother was at work with the old man. One day I had it on the center stand and was practicing going through the gears. I got a little too rambunctious and it came off the center stand in first gear. There was a wooden gate made out of 1X6 redwood basket weave right in front of me and the bike. Needless to say, I proceeded to crash through it before I could find the brake pedal. I thought sure my brother was going to kick my ass and the old man would kill me. When they saw the abject fear on my face upon the revelation of the incident, they both laughed too hard to do anything. My brother did ban me from riding it for awhile though. And the old man made me help put the gate back together while adding a few chores to my summertime tasks to keep me out of further mischief. This was of course back when children were actually AFRAID of their parents.

We put that little Honda through hell and back. The discovery of being able to hold down the heel part of the shifter and release it led to many a good wheelie. We had a larger, break apart sprocket we’d put on the back wheel to lower the gearing. The top speed was only about 20 or so when that gear was on, but you could “trail ride” with the bike then (snicker snicker.) We found all kinds of things to climb then, and fell over a lot too. We actually had the motor seize on us on several occasions, only to loosen up and be ridden again. We had the cylinder bored out to a whopping 58cc, the most you could do. We put ether in the gas (don’t ask where we got it, it was the 60’s after all.) We pressurized the gas tank with an inner tube valve stem, thinking that would get the gas into the carb faster. All kinds of dumb crap like that. The little red Honda took it all in stride. It was still running when my brother traded it for a 49 Chevy.

I learned a lot more on that little Honda than how to ride a motorcycle. I learned about fear. I learned that looking DOWN a steep hill is scarier than blazing up it. I learned that it hurts when you fall down, but it hurts worse if you don’t get back on. But I think the most important thing I learned was this: Chicks dig motorcycles. End of story.

Shiny side up y’all.

See ya on the road ... Snowbound.

You can contact this associate here. snowbound@rumblenews.com