While dodging raindrops pretty much all of May ... Peggy has been busy preparing for and conducting her church related children's teaching passion and as for me ... I have attempted to stay out of trouble by taking care of some spring yard work and working on my latest motorcycle restoration project.
After selling those mopeds last month I was able to free up a little work space around here and I found a new "rusty treasure" to become my latest restoration project.
This year's project is a 1966 Yamaha YL1 - also known as the "Twinjet 100." Back in 1966 I purchased my first motorcycle -- a 1965 Yamaha YG1-- an 80cc single cylinder. It wasn't my first love ... that would have been Peggy ... but it was my second! (Remind me to tell you the story about how my 1st love wrecked my 2nd love someday). Anyway ... I rode that little Yamaha all over town and on just about every logging road surrounding McCloud, California from that spring of 1966 until after I graduated high school in 1968.
Of course just because you have a motorcycle doesn't mean you don't lust after another. Back in those days my dream bike would have been a Yamaha YDS-3C ... AKA the 250 Big Bear Scrambler. But there were several other bikes that I really liked as well. When I saw my first Twinjet 100 at the local Yamaha store the summer of 1966 I remember thinking that if 1 cylinder was fun -- 2 cylinders must be twice as fun!
So when this Twinjet 100 became available in New Hampshire ... I just had to buy it ... in spite of it missing a few pieces and having a non-functional back brake ... after all it did run ... not well ... but it made noise and all 4 gears worked!
So the restoration process has begun. My first step in doing these projects is to get everything working correctly before moving on to the beautification part. I really don't enjoy having to disassemble and reassemble parts after those parts have been painted and polished. I've had the bike for about two weeks now and it's starting and running well, stops well, and all the lights/horn features are working. I even got it registered and took it on a couple of short test rides.
I really am too large of a person to be riding these small bikes ... when you weigh more than the bike it's time to get a bigger one ... (or lose some weight I suppose) but it's still fun and hopefully it's next owner will appreciate having a piece of preserved history to enjoy!
So that's they way things were in Maine in May. Now that it has made it to June we have June things to do including;
- Dodge all the "summer people" that are arriving in droves
- Have a lobster feed (or two)
- Play with the grandkids
- Await the new grandson
- Mow the lawn
- Tinker with the "new" Yamaha
- Go cruising in the Chevelle
- Take a ride or two on the other Yamaha and Honda
- Fire up the smoker!
It's what we've been waiting for since last summer!
(and it won't last long enough)
