Cavalier de Moto

On Friday I took a [very] long lunch to drive up to the DMV/DVS testing station in Arden Hills. Basically, it was a 40 minute scoot down Lexington, each way... Definitely the most scooting I'd done at a time, or in a day. If better prepared (goggles, long-sleeves) I could see how a cross-country scoot would be fun, although a day-long trip would take a lot of stopping (for gas, and to rest), and with the restricted top-speed you really wouldn't get all that far. Someday though, someday.

Anyway, I took the scooter (the 'bigger', 150cc one, obviously) up to Arden Hills to take my motorcycle license road test. Without the full motorcycle license (with my bigger-than-50cc engined scooter) I can't ride at night, or with a passenger, or without a helmet, or go on a highway. Not that I mind those last two, but riding after sunset, and with someone on the back is something I want to do.

When I pulled up there were 3 dudes already waiting, posed by their bikes... 2 choppers and a crotch-rocket... "Great," I thought, whining up on my Honda. "I'm totally the tool on the scooter." Fortunately though, there ended up being 3 or 4 scooter riders that showed up by test time.

The instructor called attendance and gave us our testing order, I was to be second.

This is what the test consisted of:
1. The Sharp Left-Hand Turn Through Cones, Followed by Braking Test in Which You Must Smoothly Come to a Stop with Your Front Tire Resting in The Box test.
2. The Weaving Through Cones and then Making a Right U-Turn without Touching the Lines test.

3. The Quick-Stop Test in Which You Must Maintain 15 M.P.H Through the Cones and then Stop in an Appropriate Amount of Time test.
4. The Swerve Test that is Similar to the Quick-Stop Test in that You Must Maintain 15 M.P.H. Through the Cones, but then Swerve to Either the Right or Left Without Touching the Lines, or Crashing test.
Not bad, right? That's what I thought when I saw it on paper too. But looking at the course in person for the first time, I was like, "Dang! Those cones are really close together."

I was nervous.

And so was the first guy, on his crotch-rocket. You could tell. And I didn't think these other guys with there big fancy motorcycles COULD get nervous. I mean, come on. You OWN a MOTORCYCLE, MAN! But I guess that didn't matter. Because he failed. The jerk. Fails right in front of me on the slaloms. He went off course, missed a cone, and touched his foot down. That's 2 strikes. And that's enough at the DMV.

One up, one down.

My turn.

I scoot over to the starting T. ('Whiiiiiiiiiiiiinnnnnnnnne.')

I take a deep breath.

And I perform. Beautifully.

I become one with the bike. I no longer have feet, but wheels. And I caress the pavement. It caresses back, urging me along. Through the cones and lines that are no longer obstacles, but ornamentation. The natural beautifiers of my habitat. I am in my element. The course begins to move beneath me as if I am sitting still. I am the Sun in a pavement universe.

And then... "Here's your paperwork," I hear faintly, as if spoken by a flea, or an ant. "You can go finish up in the office."

"Ok," I say, remembering human language.

I go to the office and wait in line. For humility's sake, I say to myself, knowing that no piece of paper or social institution's 'endorsement' could tell me now what I am, or am not.

Bjorn Hagstrom
cavalier de moto

Scooter Update and Training Log.

What a glorious past week for scootering! And this week is shaping up to be just as nice. I've been scootin' to work just about every day, and I've found it to be pretty relaxing way to get around the city. Why? Because on my scooter at least, you CAN'T be in a hurry. Where ever I go I have the throttle wide open, just to maintain 27 mph. So what's there to do (?), but settle in and enjoy the ride. I guess stop-and-go traffic can be annoying. Some days it's pretty bad going through the construction on Lake St. But not as bad, I usually decide, as if I was in my van! Bottom line: it's easy to be content upon a scooter.

Training Log, uh, for this last week or so.
Dang. I've been distracting myself away from working out. I think I've gone running twice since my last post, but I've only lifted once. I have been doing my situps on off days still, but admittedly, I've been slacking. It was nice to get out and play Ultimate the other day though. Not exactly the toughest game, but still a little workout. Goal for tonight: lift before going on a run. Tryouts are a week and a half away!

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. :)