And just when you think bikes couldn’t get any smaller —
Wha??? – it was ok – at least I didn’t have far to fall —
Tag Archives: Honda MSX125
Little Things – Like the MSX125 —
FJ1100 Luing Scrambler
FJ1100 Luing Scrambler? That’s the plan anyway. If Ducati – Triumph plus Uncle Tom Coblers and all can build a scrambler out of what is basically a road bike then surely I can build one too —
My MSX 125 runabout keeking through the curtains looks unimpressed – or does she? I reckon the little sweetie looks pretty scared as well she might once that 4cyl 1100cc beast comes back to life! Even the Tall Tenere who seldom backs off from a photo-shoot has taken to the shadows on this occasion —
No worries – not a lot more can be done to the FJ till H brings our new shed home —
My fault it’s running late really for I’ve prevaricated over the rebuild for almost a year since I got to the stage where I would have had to cover up all that lovely metal with her original plastics and couldn’t bring myself to do it.
Now here she is anxious to be completed and out there – but – unfortunately two hundred miles from our new home —
Who is the Daddy 🙂
Little Bike for a Little Island – Honda MSX 125
Winding the clock back here – with H away putting her two wee grand daughters on the plane to Japan my empty head swings to motorbikes. Little motorbikes. Back in the late sixties – early seventies I lived at Siavonga on the shores of Lake Kariba with my friends Jack and Beryl Canty —
Now Jack was a big burly fella with a crewcut – shorts n flipflops while Beryl was a wee slim thing who lived in her swimsuit – easily done in such a balmy climate where life revolved around the swimming pool. Honda Monkey bikes were in their infancy back then and my abiding memory of Jack was of him riding his tiny 50cc Monkey Bike around his property out on the peninsula —
There she is – the little 50cc fourstroke. I’ve no idea how Jack got it to Central Africa – no doubt the crate was labelled motor spares or machine parts but he managed it.
One thing I spot right away is the comfy seat for there is no such thing fitted to my modern 125cc version —
A flat plank of timber would be just as comfortable – but – with less than ten miles of road on the island and the ferry just a long mile away she might just be the wee beastie I need around here —
Time will tell — hell I reckon I could reach Oban from here on this lil beautie —
Initially I had my concerns about the two n half litre fuel tank —
but that was before she clocked up her first 100 miles without the need for a top-up —
Oban is only sixteen miles from my new home and unlike the A75 – where convoys of high speed Belfast bound McBurney lorries terrorise everything in their way – with a few exceptions the traffic around here is quite accomodating and the wee 125cc Honda has slightly more oomph than Jack’s 50cc Monkey Bike from days of yore 🙂
North Harbour – Ayr
What do u do on a wet Easter Saturday?
Slip across the road to the fair in the church hall — or —
jump in the sardine can and make a rare expedition over the hills to Ayr.
To be more specific – to North Harbour Motorcycles the Honda dealer.
We were not alone for when we arrived there we found —
the NHS Emergency Rider Volunteer Service bikes which as the name suggests provide with their riders an emergency medical transport service in Scotland —
The local Fire Service were in attendance too —
likewise the polis —
Thought ‘at least be a national emergency’ but there were no newsmen with TV cameras in tow -so —
I had a butchers at the new Africa Twin —
while H raided the clothing mall — ‘does my bum look big in this’ —
and became a naturlised Scot so she could wear this bonnie lid —
a steal at £79.99. The paint job alone could cost three times as much on an Aria.
Then the MSX125 got a test ride around the mall —
While I made my getaway in the Knockhill Racing Circuit ‘Q’ car —
H held the plod at bay with her cannon —
then set ‘Chum’ onto a harmless passing hoodie —
before spending the rest of the afternoon wishing she had a roof on her garret —
Well – what did you do on a wet Easter Saturday 🙂
Honda MSX125
A motorcycle in miniature —
but a thing of beauty —
whichever way you look at her —
She may only be knee high to a grasshopper —
but someone has to ride her —
whether delivering pizza’s —
or heading off to the beach with a picnic —
she’s a whole lot of fun 🙂
from-a-distance 