Day One/Day Forty; Setting the Stage
Sunday, March 30th, 2008
Clearly, because I don’t have enough to do, I decided to buy a scooter and customize it. Actually, there are reasons:
I want to get on two wheels. I’ve finally gotten to the point where the tug of th eopen road has outweighed the fear of a horrible death at the hands of a soccer mom behind the wheel of a free cingular mp3 ringtones | phone ringtones verizon | free music nextel real ringtones | celcom malaysia caller ringtones | free funny voice ringtones | free real ringtones tone | download free ringtones samsung | free verizon cell phone ringtones | virgin mobile ringtones | free nokia ringtones | free get ringtones | download free midi ringtonesкомпютри | free ringtones for cingular phone | complimentary music real ringtones | real ringtones | free ringtones for cricket cell phone | ringtones for prepaid phone | dash mobile ringtones t | free new ringtones | free samsung x427 ringtones | Suburban, but you have to walk before you run, so passing my motorcycle test with something that requires no shifting is probably best, all things considered.
I want something to traipse around on at the various Burningmman-like festivals I attend, and a scooter is easy to pack up and transport places.
I want a project, and my current car, the Fit, is new, and a daily driver, so having the leisure of pulling something apart I don’t have to reassemble by Monday is nice, as is the fact that it’s always easier to tear apart something that’s crummy and old, as opposed to your brand new car.
So off to craigslist I go, I had tried ebay and found good deals in faraway states that I couldn’t get to easily ro cheaply, so I wanted a local seller. I wanted a Honda, since they build quality scooters just like their cars, and for the most part they sell 4 stroke engines with them, which pollute less and are a known quantity with me.
But then I found a 1984 Honda Aero 80 on craigslist for an absurdly low price that I felt that I had to have. I did some research, and yes, it’s a 2-stroke, but it has oil injection, neater and cleaner running than premix, and, I suppose, I’d have to learn about how 2-strokes work sometime anyway, so this would be my chance. Also, the fact that this scoot shared engine architecture at least with some Honda dirtbikes meant that I could hop it up some, yup
The scoot looked good, and I wanted it, so I sent off the requisite email and heard. . . nothing. I emailled and emailled through the end of February and almost all of March, only getting 2 responses, perhaps the most maddenning aspect of the it. It seemed like he wanted to sell, but no movement was being made. Finally, about 40 days into this mess, I made a fateful decision– I had the seller’s name from his email, and it being somewhat unusual, I hunted around whitepages.com and found an address for who I thought was the right guy.
Thursday, March 27 was raining, the kind of fine, drenching rain that seems to so often be the mark of portentious events afoot, so I drove out to the address I had and knocked on the door.
I didn’t even get a whole sentence out when he said “Oh, you’re the guy who wants the scooter.”
Bingo.
I paid for it and dragged it home, inside my Honda Fit, no less, hatch closed and everything, and it’s now sitting right next to me as I type. I done some basic cleaning and a little disassembly, to see what I have: All 4 turn signals battered or missing, missing left engine cover, ancient tires, lots of scuffs and scratches, but no rust, and and mechanical soundness everywhere else. I’ll backdate this with pictures as they get scanned into the blog, and the inevitable lists of what needs to be done and what I want to do to make this the most spectacular scooter of all time.
Clearly, because I don’t have enough to do, I decided to buy a scooter and customize it. Actually, there are reasons:
I want to get on two wheels. I’ve finally gotten to the point where the tug of th eopen road has outweighed the fear of a horrible death at the hands of a soccer mom behind the wheel of a free cingular mp3 ringtones | phone ringtones verizon | free music nextel real ringtones | celcom malaysia caller ringtones | free funny voice ringtones | free real ringtones tone | download free ringtones samsung | free verizon cell phone ringtones | virgin mobile ringtones | free nokia ringtones | free get ringtones | download free midi ringtonesкомпютри | free ringtones for cingular phone | complimentary music real ringtones | real ringtones | free ringtones for cricket cell phone | ringtones for prepaid phone | dash mobile ringtones t | free new ringtones | free samsung x427 ringtones | Suburban, but you have to walk before you run, so passing my motorcycle test with something that requires no shifting is probably best, all things considered.
I want something to traipse around on at the various Burningmman-like festivals I attend, and a scooter is easy to pack up and transport places.
I want a project, and my current car, the Fit, is new, and a daily driver, so having the leisure of pulling something apart I don’t have to reassemble by Monday is nice, as is the fact that it’s always easier to tear apart something that’s crummy and old, as opposed to your brand new car.
So off to craigslist I go, I had tried ebay and found good deals in faraway states that I couldn’t get to easily ro cheaply, so I wanted a local seller. I wanted a Honda, since they build quality scooters just like their cars, and for the most part they sell 4 stroke engines with them, which pollute less and are a known quantity with me.
But then I found a 1984 Honda Aero 80 on craigslist for an absurdly low price that I felt that I had to have. I did some research, and yes, it’s a 2-stroke, but it has oil injection, neater and cleaner running than premix, and, I suppose, I’d have to learn about how 2-strokes work sometime anyway, so this would be my chance. Also, the fact that this scoot shared engine architecture at least with some Honda dirtbikes meant that I could hop it up some, yup
The scoot looked good, and I wanted it, so I sent off the requisite email and heard. . . nothing. I emailled and emailled through the end of February and almost all of March, only getting 2 responses, perhaps the most maddenning aspect of the it. It seemed like he wanted to sell, but no movement was being made. Finally, about 40 days into this mess, I made a fateful decision– I had the seller’s name from his email, and it being somewhat unusual, I hunted around whitepages.com and found an address for who I thought was the right guy.
Thursday, March 27 was raining, the kind of fine, drenching rain that seems to so often be the mark of portentious events afoot, so I drove out to the address I had and knocked on the door.
I didn’t even get a whole sentence out when he said “Oh, you’re the guy who wants the scooter.”
Bingo.
I paid for it and dragged it home, inside my Honda Fit, no less, hatch closed and everything, and it’s now sitting right next to me as I type. I done some basic cleaning and a little disassembly, to see what I have: All 4 turn signals battered or missing, missing left engine cover, ancient tires, lots of scuffs and scratches, but no rust, and and mechanical soundness everywhere else. I’ll backdate this with pictures as they get scanned into the blog, and the inevitable lists of what needs to be done and what I want to do to make this the most spectacular scooter of all time.
