Beginning with a James ending with a Honda

Finishing up the paperwork…
Mechanic:

 All set. Are you ready for the downsize from the CB 1300?
Old Timer: Smaller, but familiar. Learned to ride on a 125cc James two-stroke.
Mechanic: James? Heard of them. 
Old Timer: Vintage, with the gear shift on the tank.
Mechanic: Why the bright yellow on this one? Bold choice.
Old Timer: Visibility. Safety. This is probably my last bike. 
Mechanic: This one's joining your legacy?
Old Timer: The final chapter.
_________

Voice-over

Winston Churchill’s last bike was a James. Maybe he was visible enough on it not to need yellow.

Downsizing a motorcycle

In the shop...
Mechanic: So, you're trading in this beauty for a smaller trail bike? If you don't mind me asking, why the downsize?
Old Timer: I just don't have the muscle mass to manhandle a big bike like this anymore. Age catches up with you. My back and knees aren't what they used to be. What bike do you ride?
Mechanic: Kawasaki. Keeps me alert.
Old Timer: Wish I could still ride one of those. But now, I worry about taking a fall and not getting back up. Don't bounce back like I used to.
Mechanic: I get that. But this trail bike you're getting is light. It’s nimble.
Old Timer: You think so? It's hard giving up the old bike.
Mechanic: Think of all the new trails you can explore. Less wrestling with the bike, more enjoying the ride.
Old Timer: (signing papers) Alright, you convinced me. Here's to new adventures.
Mechanic: Absolutely! Enjoy the new bike. Safe rides out there.
____________
Voice-over
Doctors and firefighters warn against the dangers of motorcycles. And stats bear them out. As in: “There are two kinds of motor cyclists: those who have fallen off and those who haven’t fallen off yet.” But there are some riders who go years incident-free.

Long Way Up

Harley and Rivian prototypes

Bingewatching a road trip

Aaron: The middle episodes were the most memorable for me. Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Peru.

Isaac: The scenery?

Aaron: Huge vistas, yes. South American towns. Local people. All that. Two best friends on a bike trip. Hints of family back stories.

Isaac: But also the technical problems with electric bikes; the backup crew, the photography with helmet cams capturing the riders’ view, Rivian truck shots, drone footage, diary cams at night before sleeping.

Aaron: Not a trip that could have been done or documented without serious sponsorship and vehicle backup. Makes you rethink solo documenting a road trip.

________

Voice-over

An 11-episode Apple TV+ television series. Thirteen countries in a hundred days. Environmental and charity themes. Travellers encountered many challenges, the story had many unexpected twists and turns, the telling of it had many voices and viewpoints. Complexities of a modern picaresque narrative. Worth a watch.

Planning a curative journey

Motorcycling around Japan...

Mamoru: At your age?
Yuki: It’s something I’d always intended to do. Better late than never.

Mamoru: Try that and you might become late earlier.

Yuki: Some truth in that. But some say motorcycling provides exercise in stretching and coordination and the level of alertness required is higher than driving a car.

Mamoru: Isn’t your bike a bit heavy for you now?

Yuki: It is, so I may graduate to or at least trade it for something lighter part way.

____________

Voice-over

Yuki also explained that he won’t tour Japan in one long circuit. Using Tokyo as a hub, he’ll make a series of journeys (like spokes in a wheel) to visit all 47 prefectures. Mamoru says it could take some time. But it’s about the journey, not the outcome.

Graduating from motorcycle to electric bicycle

Marshall caves in…

Excessive

Craig: You gave in and bought an electric bicycle?

Marshall: My contribution to adjusting the world’s climate. 

Craig: Quite a downsizing from a Honda motorcycle (bought in 2006 when there was less urgency about carbon emissions and global warming) to a Panasonic electric bicycle.

Marshall: 1300 ccs capable of 180 kilometers per hour to a 250 watt motor capable of 25 kilometers per hour.

Craig: You don’t miss the thrill?

Minimalist

Marshall: At my age I now get as big a kick from accelerating from 0 to 15 km/hour with an electric pedal assist as I did 15 years ago accelerating from 0 to 60 km/hour with a gasoline throttle twist. 

_______

Voice-over

It may have been his aging playing out against against a backdrop of COP26 that Marshall was shamed into giving up moving around on fossil-fuelled two wheels and moving to an electric bicycle (電動). 

From motorcycle to Japanese mini truck

Après retirement...

.

Carlos: I had this list you know. That was before.

.

Greg: A bucket list?

.

Carlos: Not exactly. Just things I thought would be good to try. One was to motorcycle around Japan.

.

Greg: You had a motorcycle for 30 years, why didn’t you go then?

.

Carlos: The roads were not so interesting....

.

Greg: Are they any better now?

.

Kei Tora

Carlos: Nope. A lot of roads are just concrete canyons, no views. There’s thousands of traffic lights. Toll roads cost. And then winters that are too cold to ride in, summers are better but sometimes too hot. A lot of rain spring and autumn. Almost thinking of buying a kei-tora*. Economical, low road tax.

.

Greg: And then join the hordes of old jokers running around in white light trucks? Dreadful to drive, I hear.

.

Carlos: Over time, the excitement of motorcycling around Japan just disappeared. A light truck just seems economical and practical.

.

Greg: Why not just rent one when you need a vehicle? Young people do that these days.

_________

Voice-over

Sacrificing excitement to diminish risk seems to have come late to this old fellow. The lustre of a long-held hope dulls.

But better late than him becoming late. Issues of balance, lateral vision, strength, reaction time are a concern. And he might make some new friends in the kei tora cafe.

Better yet if he didn’t take to the road himself, but send the young bloods thirsting after adventure. Stay back and coordinate their travels. Like Carl Linnaeus. Stay on the farm.

*kei tora: Japanese mini truck

...

Risk and reward in motorcycling

A data point…

Lawrence: You’re giving up motorcycling?

Ali: For pleasure, yes. On a regular basis, yes. If there’s no other way, perhaps I’ll use two wheels. Or a horse.

Lawrence: What prompted this? An epiphany or an accident?

Ali: Statistics. Motorcycle riders are 35 times more likely to die in an accident than a car driver.

Lawrence: Ah, statistics, the modern superstition. Can’t argue with death as an ultimate cost, I suppose. Or the pain of injury. Seems risk far outweighs the reward. 

Victim of the risk averse

Ali: So after 23 years, green machine goes to the scrapyard. Count myself lucky I’m still alive and unscathed.

Lawrence: Sounds like you are trying to wrest some control back into your life.

Ali: I did recently get more interested in risk management, yes.

_______________

Voice-over

The biggest problem for a motorcyclist is that he or she is vulnerable to the mistakes other drivers make. Perhaps motorcyclists favor freedom yet are fatalistic? Motorists surely trade feelings of freedom for a sense of greater control.

But avoiding flaunting risk behavior, and having a hyperreflective self-disciplinary attitude, must help lower the risk for the alert and cautious rider.

And DataDan, in an enlightened assessment of risk, has this to say: Motorcycling attracts risk seekers, but it rewards the more risk averse.

...

Fouled Plugs and Stale Petrol

1949 BSA

Oh woe, it will not go…

Mech: What’re the symptoms?

WBB: It’s been sitting, it started, then I shut it down, came back, it turned over, then backfired with a great BANG.

Mech: Let’s take a look (unscrews spark plug). Plug’s fouled. Coated with carbon, see? The spark grounds on the metal shell rather than jumping the gap. And the petrol smells old.

WBB: You can tell?

Mech: Sommeliers have noses. Mechanics have noses too.

WBB: Gas I bought in 1949.

Mech: Ewq. New petrol, new plug.

__________

Voice-over

Bike engines are fussier than car engines. If the machine has been stored, and you can start it, keep it running, take it out on the highway for a half-hour run. Otherwise, as Mech says, "New petrol, new plug."

...