Projects

[Bigwolf]

Projects
I drove to Belington, WV on Friday November 15th. For the next several days I helped my brother with some “projects” that he wanted some help with, a 28 ft sagging gutter with fascia pulled loose, a torn up brush hog, some plumbing, and more.

On Monday before Thanksgiving more family began to arrive and the Thanksgiving dinner planning got underway. It was an extra special week this year as my brother‘s youngest daughter got married on Saturday. So wedding planning was intertwined with dinner planning.

Mural and I drove back home Sunday afternoon hoping to beat the foul weather that was rolling in. The snow showers surrounded us a couple of times but no ice on the roads. It remained too warm.........just barely.

A small trailer followed us home and on it was a couple of projects to fill some of my time.
Over 20 years ago, my brother acquired a small motorcycle during some trading. He started to repair it but got too busy with other projects so it has just sat around in one garage and then another. Recently, he asked me if I would take it and make it road ready again. A big project for sure, but I could not refuse. Heck, I am going to enjoy it!

My dad drank and often he did so much more than he should have. He never seemed to stay employed anywhere for very long and couldn’t even run a business of his own very long.
I was just a toddler when my mother began working as a cook so she could pay some of the bills and feed my 3 siblings and me. On my 13th birthday my mother moved us to a different town. My dad did not come with us. He hadn’t been around much anyway.

My brother, just 3 years older than me, began mowing grass and delivering papers to make some money while he was only 7 or 8. Before he turned 13 he was buying cars, repairing and selling them for extra cash. My parents never knew of those cars except for the one that my dad figured was beyond repair and gave it to him.

My brother often gave money to our mother to help with the bills. He gave me the first car I ever owned, a ‘57 Chevy with no engine. But he helped me find the parts and had already taught me how to build an engine so I put that one together myself and was the envy of many at my high school.
My brother began to teach me about mechanical things before I was 7 and he began to let me hang around with him even when he would have had more fun by himself. He got into racing before he was 16 and he often paid my way into the pits so I could watch what went on.

My dad was not around for much of my childhood but, for some reason unknown to me, my brother took on that roll.

Yes, I will make this old Honda roadworthy again! In fact, I will gleefully put it in as good a condition as I can possibly make it and I will be mighty happy to return it to him in that condition. This is a project worthy of no less than my very best.

It is a 1975 Honda CB 200 with 2665 on the meter.  I was going to add photos to this post but the system was unfriendly to that.......very unfriendly!

[The emperor has no clothes]

Great story Jerry ! I like your big brother. 

[..]

Well done big brother.

https://postimages.org/

Create an account using the SIGN UP box top right.

Create a new gallery by clicking on the box towards the top left

Upload photos. Do a max of 4 at a time or it can take too long.

Once uploaded put your cursor on the image you want to put on the VRCC forum

Now move your cursor to the symbol to left of the trash bin symbol
Click on it
Now copy the "Hotlink" for forums.

Now go to the VRCC post you want the photo to appear in and right click and paste.

Once you then post your comment the photo should appear for all to see.



I have  a soft spot for CB200's. I borrowed one from the Honda dealer in Leicester to take my bike test on.

English law at the time dictated that a learner could only ride up to a 250cc bike. I wanted something bigger and borrowed this from a local dealer on the understanding that I would take my test and purchase a bike from him. At the time I was a driving instructor in Leicester so knew the test route like the back of my hand. I had a couple of adventures on the bike before taking my test. Approached a large junction on a horrendously rainy night only to have a stop light change to red in front of me, the back wheel locked up and I skidded nearly sideways through the junction. Seemed that the rear shocks were shot. Dealer was embarrassed and changed them. I rode to see some friends one night about 20 miles away on twisty country roads. Came around a bend to find about 15 large white cows in the roadway, how I swerved and weaved through them I don’t really know, I ended up as white as a milk shake.
Took my test and passed even though during the test a car drove at me the wrong way down a narrow one way street. The test examiner told me that the sight of me standing on the foot pegs yelling at the driver had made his day.

I rode another for about 35,000 miles as a motorcycle messenger in London. It was the last bike I used. I took it with me when I moved to a real job that gave me a company car. It languished in my garage until i gave it to an older guy I met who was looking for a project bike.

It took me to Nice, France one summer. This is in the Vercors National Park.

[henry 008]

 

[Bigwolf]

Britman,
Nice story! 

Thanks for the post.img details.  I do have the photos stored there but every time that I tried to load them into this story my cursor would highlight (and erase) the end of the previous link.  I don’t know if the problem is in my IPad or if it is my interface with the current VRCC board.  I’ve not had that problem before the last board migration.

[..]

Britman,
Nice story! 

Thanks for the post.img details.  I do have the photos stored there but every time that I tried to load them into this story my cursor would highlight (and erase) the end of the previous link.  I don’t know if the problem is in my IPad or if it is my interface with the current VRCC board.  I’ve not had that problem before the last board migration.

After I paste a link for a photo I then hit enter 3 times before pasting another link to put some space between the images.