The Honda Trail 70

 I have been poor all of my life.  Our family was not poor, and we had the things we needed.  I learned to appreciate the things I had, and often for which they were worked.  Used things.  Old things.  Hand-me-down things.  Perhaps lessons were learned trying to fix these old things.  My father and I spent more time fixing the Honda Trail 70 than riding it.  That is an exaggeration.  I rode it a lot, but it took considerable maintenance.  Although I didn't understand it, it was a "beater."  It had been beaten nearly to death and resurrected by the previous owner.  Its front forks and handlebars were replaced by "Frankenbars."  My pubescent friends made fun of it regularly including its "titty grips."  It was not until recently with the emergence of "Mini Bike Mike's" website I was able to restore it.  It runs now better than it ever did, and the pleasure I receive from riding it comes more from the appreciation of and dedication to owning it.  I didn't own it; it was titled to my father.  When I became an adult, he consented with reluctance to signing over its title.  I have yet to do this with my nephew.  I ceased riding it in the woods, because the crevices, roots, rocks, and poison are too much.  I ride it on the street, and with its 1971, best-selling, Honda 72cc engine it shines.  The CT-70HKO has four gears and a manual hand-operated clutch differentiating it from other Trail 70's.  Although its wheels were squat and fat for the trails, still it would reach a whopping 46 m.p.h. on flat with the throttle wide open.  I may be sentimental, but the sound and vibration of that motorcycle restored and still running after fifty years makes my heart swell with appreciation and pride.  I am not proud that I was able to rebuild it; I am proud that I accomplished something in tandem with my father's love.  It is of him I think when I ride this machine.  I have passed on this legacy to my nephew, and I hope he will be bitten with the same bug of motorcycling pleasure.