Mini Bike Mike

The internet is truly useful for certain things. There are areas where it excels. One is direct, personal, exchange of enlightening information. This, contrary to what Al Gore contends, is how the internet began. In the Cold War Era the United States Department of Defense needed a way to link together databases in different locations so scientists working on the atom bomb could share information. The internet was born. I have done a great deal of research on the web, and much of the information qualifies as scholarly. Because of the incident concerning Wikipedia you must be careful what you use and cite. Wikipedia began as an extremely scholarly source of good information. The citations I read were like college level research papers complete with footnote citations and a bibliography. Unfortunately it only takes one bad apple to spoil the batch. Web surfers should be savvy enough to know a .edu site is likely to be trustworthy, since it part of a college or university network. There are others on the internet who have provided invaluable information for a variety of different uses, both fun and academic. One site was devoted to the rebuilding of the Honda CT-70 motorcycle. I have one of these. When we got it when I was a kid, it had been abused by its previous owner. I never experienced what it was like to ride a new CT-70. Thanks to this particular website I was able to rebuild it to almost new condition. A 36 year old motorcycle will never be new again, but at least I was able to restore the essential components necessary for a pleasant ride. This website detailed how to go about these tasks and where to buy most of the NOS (new old stock) parts. After some hours in the garage banging on metal, I had a bike that runs almost like new. Considering its age I don’t want to ride it “hard” because of the potential of weakening metal. After one kick it fires up and rides immeasurably better than it ever did in the past. We did have the engine rebuilt at Meridian Motorcycle, so compression was good. I just had to take care of the structural related things and the carb. Luckily a little vagabond down the street sold me a duplicate carburetor, although it was filled up with what appeared to be sawdust. I am guessing this is what ‘rotted’ gasoline looks like. I picked the best from both, cleaned them, and put it back on. Without going into details I spend a lot of time at the “Motorcycle Graveyard” in Rowland, NC digging for replacement parts. With a little diligence I was able to find what I needed, and with some elbow grease I managed to restore formerly what was pretty much a piece of junk. Never have I been so proud!