Run Sheet
00.06.25
Kids+Motorbike=Lessons
Today was one of those days that makes you laugh till you cry once its all over.
Since I picked up that Honda 50 for the boys I've been wrassling mildly with it to get it to run better. It started out running very poorly, but running enough to haul the kids around the yard, it would pop and fart pitifully as it hauled them around my acre in ever diminishing circles until finally giving up and being pushed inside to cool down and await the next adventure.
For their part the boys loved to blast about at what their 7 and 9 year-old experience told them was just slightly slower than Kyle Petty at Daytona.
Today that all changed, and they're a bit the wiser for it.
Today I had a couple of hours that didn't have any other jobs scheduled, I had picked up the parts for a tune-up a week ago, and I had a manual in my hand for that little monster, so while they were at school I set to work. The plug, points and condenser got changed, the fuel system got flushed, all the wiring got a thorough checking, and the oil was changed.
Once all that got done I fired it up and re-set the timing and she sat there and putt-putted contentedly, no hint of backfiring or hesitation when I cracked on the throttle, no nothing, just as full-throated a roar as that teeny-tiny little engine could make.
When the boys got home from school and got their chores done I asked them to get their helmets and meet me at the workshop to test the bike. I never have to tell them that twice, and today was no exception. Max was the first and appeared with his helmet on, goggles in place, ready to go. He's pretty proud of his riding skill, (all 3 weeks of it), and he's far too well-versed to listen to a boring worrywart of a dad when he says "Watch it this time, she's going to be one hell of a lot faster than you're used to"
He managed not to sneer when he said "Uh huh" and kicked it over...
"Really, you need to be very careful till you get used to it again"
"Jeez dad, I'm a WAY better rider than you think" (said with all the confidence of a nine year old kid with most of a mile and a half of riding under his belt)
I figured "What the hell, he won't listen, so he'll have to learn on his own"
Now before the bike had always sort of burped, backfired, and jerked a few times before anemically puttering off so he was a bit unprepared, as he twisted the throttle in first gear, for it to kick up a roostertail of gravel hoist up its front wheel and take off like a burned cat. He looked a lot like one of those cartoon characters that have their arms stretched ten feet ahead of them before slingshotting after whatever is pulling them. He was pulled to the back of the seat and couldn't reach the rear brake with his legs flapping behind him. Once he managed to get a foot forward to reach for the brake he jammed down hard.
Unfortunately it wasn't the brake, it was the shifter, suddenly he was in second gear and going about 50% faster. He never got the idea that he should just roll the throttle forward, he kept it wide open.
The last I saw of him on that ride was him, arms and legs spreadeagled, upside down, cartwheeling into the brambles as the bike hit a huge pile of lawn clippings at barely subsonic speed.
I admit to a great deal of pride when I saw him burst out from the bushes, his goggles sideways on his helmet, trailing blackberry vines, covered in all kinds of leaves and crap and immediately try to stand the roaring little demon up so the bearings wouldn't burn out from oil starvation.
As I reached the bike I shut it down and looked him over. There were a few scratches and scrapes, but no rivers of blood or bone ends sticking out, so he was okay.
He was pretty scared, and didn't want to ride anymore but I told him I wouldn't push it back to the shop, so he calmed down a bit and started it up again. Once he had putted along in first gear for awhile he decided to rid it a bit more. He wasn't anywhere near as adventurous for the rest of his turn.
Eli had seen the whole thing, this little guy is a bit more sedate than his brother but he had been pretty impatient last time to get to use second gear and actually get up some speed. Once Max came out of the brambles, Eli looked at him, then at me, and said "I think I can wait a bit longer before using second gear"
Smart kid.
Maybe Max figured out that dad
isn't such a dunce after all.