Saturday, August 9, 2008

Honda, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways

It's raining and windy in North Bend today, and I have to clean out the garage, so no riding this morning. In between taking out the garbage and cleaning the cat box, I thought I would write a bit.

My scootering adventures began with my 1986 Honda Elite 150 Deluxe (also known as the "Spacey" in Europe for its space age design). It has a pop up front headlight (which I have heard will fail at some point, but for now, so far so good) and digital dash, which earns this model its "Deluxe" moniker. It's excellent, even considering it is a 22 year old bike.
Honda had a great series of MTV-styled ads during the 1980's, one featuring Lou Reed with the great line "hey, don't settle for walking" as he starts his Honda scooter...




One of the reasons I chose the Elite was that I have always been impressed with the quality of Honda products. What follows is a testament to my love of all things Honda:
Our two cars are Honda's - a 2004 Element (my driver) and a 2003 Honda Odyssey Mini-van:














We have a Honda riding lawn mower - Honda doesn't make these anymore, which is too bad - this is a great one:















Generators? Yup, Honda - these are those whisper quiet models. My son has a Sound/DJ business, and sometimes he is at a location with no electricity - these quietly do a fantastic job:















Lastly, here is a 1978 Honda Express moped/noped. My wife wanted something to ride around for fun but she didn't want to get her MC endorsement, so this 50cc bike does the trick. We call her Miss Stinky, as she had a gas leak, which has since been repaired, but she keeps the name. She doesn't have a kick start - it's called a wind-up start - you press your foot down on what looks like a kick start lever several times until the spring winds up, then squeeze the left brake lever and it starts the engine - pretty interesting technology. Like everything else, it runs great!


I think I know how Elizabeth Barrett Browning felt!

4 comments:

Kano said...

We share a love of Honda's. My wife drives a 2004 Odyssey and my previous car was an old Accord which I bought for $400.00. I drove it for 2 years before the fix was going to cost too much, but by that time she had a quarter of a million miles on the odometer!

That bike of your wife's is an interesting one that I've never seen. Maybe a bike that's time has come. Honda should re-introduce an updated version!

Joe said...

I don't have a Honda anything but I do admire your brand loyalty. I'm the same way with companies which make products I stand by.

-Joe

Lance said...

Kano and Joe - thanks! Kano, the Honda Express is a pretty cool little bike. It purrs, and gets up to around 30mph (depending on the rider - it seems to hold back with me on it...go figure). Joe, I'm with you - whenever there is a product or service (ala Panera's) that seems to go above and beyond, I definitely like to repay with my business. Incidentally, my wife is now a fan of Panera's too!

Anonymous said...

I am myself a Honda man. First car was an 81 Honda civic wagon. I loved it. I've owned 5 Civics since. Currently riding a Honda C70 scooter. The famous Cub. I'm considering a Honda tattoo down my forearm.

I know a guy that owns a tool rental shop. He only buys stuff if it has a Honda engine in it.

Those Honda Express's are fun. A friend of mine has one. With a 200 lbs person on it is rather slow. I know thats a 2 stroke and I was disappointed in the lack of power. I'm sure it could be tuned up to get a bit more power. Not a hot rod, but something that can get up with traffic.