1987 Honda Elite SE50P

Hello all,

I know that I've been a little behind on the posts lately, so I hope that this explains what I've been up to the last couple weeks...

- so -

A year or so ago I bought a beat up, piece of junk scooter from my friend Mario. And although the price seemed a little high at the time - especially for a scooter that had definitely seen better days - it was the novelty and potential of the machine that attracted me, and I couldn't help but go forward with the purchase. Since then, however, the scooter has been rusting away in the garage... leaned up against my dusty drum set; alongside my home-made didgeridoo; within reach of my corroded climbing gear; and just in sight of my crusty keyboard...

But earlier this spring, and just as the weather was getting better, something called out to me, motivating me to work on the scooter. Maybe it was the desire to delve into mechanics a little... to get some grease on my hands... or maybe it was my eco-consciousness reminding me of the 90-100mpg rating of the engine... or maybe it was the groaning of the mini van over those potholes that led me to work towards a better way.

...or maybe I just wanted to look cooler and feel the wind through my hair on the way to work...

Regardless, the project began.

After getting the Title/License & Insurance stuff out of the way, I took the scooter to work a couple times. The thing still ran pretty well, especially considering it had old oil and not super new gas in it. Yea! Then it snowed and got cold again, so I had to wait a couple weeks before I did any riding or tinkering. Boo. In the meantime, however, I was able to learn a lot about Honda scooters from "the Internet" and plan my course of action.* Yea!

The body was in really bad shape. Cracked and broken plastics, missing lights and lenses... Some new parts were definitely needed. And this is where things got a little out of hand.




Soooo [re]addicted! I still spend a good chunk of time at work each day searching "honda scooter" "honda elite" "honda se50" and so on, and so on. Good news is, I found a lot of what I was looking for. (Not everything though! If somebody had a right side fairing for an '87 Elite I'd probably promise to name my first son after them for it.)

Like I said, a couple weeks went by and I started accumulating parts, and knowledge. And the first Saturday it was supposed to be above 40* I was out in the garage at 7:30am working on my ride.






So with a LOT of sanding, painting, screwing, cranking, tapping, cleaning, grunting - a couple trips to HondaTown on Lake St. - and another couple weeks later, this is where I'm at:





And I'm pretty happy.


*Something I did try to remedy, but unsuccessfully, was the top speed of the scooter. Right now I can do 27 mph (according to the on-board speedometer) while going on a flat or down-hill slope. Apparently there are 2 models of the '87 Elite: the S and the P. I have the P, which stands for 'Ped, or moped, which accounts for the restricted speed. Some scooters can be easily brought back up to speed by taking off clutch restrictor plates and/or washers in the muffler - unfortunately mine has neither, so the restriction is built into how the machine runs as opposed to being added on the way out of the factory... I'm not interested in soupin' up the scooter and negatively effecting its longevity, gas mileage, etc, so I'll just have to live with the top speed.
Until I get another scooter. :)

Training Log - 4/16 - 4/18

Again, I've been pretty good so far this week. (Yea!) Both Monday and Wednesday I lifted before going on a run. Lately I feel really slow when I'm out there running... I hope that goes away. The season is really sneeking up on me!

Training Log - 4/9 - 4/16

Looks like this has turned into a weekly entry at this point. Which I still think is OK. Keep on me if I dip below that...

Anyway, I kept on the lifting schedule last week, and as long as I do Day 1 of the program today, this week should go alright too. I went running yesterday and plan on going again today. I'd like to get up to 3-4 days a week running, even if it's only a mile or two some days. Adding plyos to a short run makes for a pretty good day-off-of-lifting workout.

The Way Of The Swayze

Friends, especially Jay, I thought you'd like this article (and Zach definitely would if someone forwarded it to him).

The Way Of The Swayze: How To Be A Thoughtful Hunk

Happy reading.

And have a scary Friday the 13th.

Lynch Weekend

"Spend an amazing weekend with filmmaker David Lynch and quantum physicist John Hagelin (“The Secret” and “What the Bleep Do We Know?”) May 25-27."

http://lynchweekend.org/

Wow. That could be pretty amazing. Unfortunately it will be right in the middle of tryouts... if someone (Davin? Jay?) was super psyched about this and was going anyway I could see myself taging along...

Hmmm.

SNL

Too lazy to go out and do anything Saturday night after a movie, Jay, Davin and I found ourselves in front of the TV. *Flick* Charlie's Angels? *Flick* Man vs. Wild? *Flick* History Channel? Each were given their chance to impress us, and each were passed by... I guess we were looking for something truly special this night. And on the way back around, back through the network stations, we found our entertainment in an unexpected place.

It's 11:30pm, and we arrive on channel 22. NBC, that is, on Comcast basic cable. Saturday Night Live is on... Huh... And if you're like me, there's good reason to be skeptical of what SNL has to offer these days. Many nights I wouldn't have taken a second look. More commonly I'd make it through half a skit before moving on - shaking my head - once - twice - three times - partly out of pity, remembering what was; and partly to clear my head of their brand of comedic rubbish.

Expectations low - maybe getting desperate(?) - we settled in for whatever this (largely 'unknown' to me) SNL cast could deliever. And, well, we made it through one skit... and we were laughing?! I thought, "Was that a fluke? Could it last?" But then there came another, and yet another, actually funny skit! At one point I remember saying, "This is the funniest SNL I've seen in 10 years," conveniently forgetting some of the great skits by Farrel et al, but being truly enthusiastic about a show that I'd basically left for dead.

AFI was the musical act, and their poor performances brought us down a little by the end of the show... also, the last skit was definitely the worst of the bunch, so that was another unfortunate downside... But overall (and with some time to reflect) I'd say that I'm ready to try out SNL again.

AFI really does suck though.

Training Log - 4/3 - 4/9

Let's see. I did OK last week, although I did have to skip a day of lifting. I got out running twice I think (the days that it was only 10-15 degrees below normal... like yesterday). I'm really looking forward to the weather warming up, just a little, so I can be more excited about training outdoors. Anyway, I'm all caught up, and will likely do Day 2 of lifting tonight or tomorrow.

Training Log - 3.28 - 4.01

I lifted on Friday, and meant to again on Sunday, but found myself too sore from the 3 games (of Ultimate!) that I played on Saturday (at Spring Ding, down in Winona)... It's been a rough couple weeks for the lifting schedule. :(

Playing outdoor Ultimate was pretty fun though. (And imagine if it hadn't been 40 degrees and raining!) I was actually pretty suck-tacular... my throws were OK, but my hucks were less than awesome. I did get to flop in the mud a couple times though. Two offesive layout grab attepts, one of them succesful, and a layout D. I'll say that brings me back over 50% for the weekend... You hear that?! OVER 50%! YE-HAH! ...and I'm sure that makes Moe really excited to take me for this next season...