She bought me this for my 40th birthday:

Of course, I don't have it yet because the global supply chain is broken but hoo boy I'll do a review when I get it! Probably July.

I painted the exhaust shield black. It was silver. I like it better this way.

For reference:

En route home now, 4.5 hr round trip. Review incoming. It only took 3 months…

[update:]

So back in May I posted about how awesome and wonderful my wife is, because she put a deposit on one of these things for me, as a 40th birthday present. I like 2 miles from my work at a private school and I go back and forth a zillion times a day, so this is really ideal. I also do trailwork on the school's network of nordic and MTB trails, which, again, this is ideal. My truck has been great for the trails but is limited to the xc trails (width).

So then I started looking around and found that these were impossible to find. I literally got laughed at, then laughed WITH the dealers I was calling, up to about 30 of them all over New England. I got put on waitlists because why not? Maybe one would pan out if somebody changed their mind.

Well nothing was happening until about last week. I got a Craigslist notification that one had appeared, with 500 miles on it, in Pennsylvania. I actually gave the guy a deposit, but figured that with shipping it was going to be $1500 more than a new one, and since this is a toy anyway, I backed down and decided to wait.

So I referenced my spreadsheet of dealers with a color-coded system of hot to cold leads (like a CRM but backwards, because I'm the buyer) and called all my warm leads.
"Hello, Cycle Design."
"Yeah, I'm looking for a unicorn, right?"
"Haha, what a Honda Trail 125?"
"Yeah that's the one."
"Well it turns out I've got one."
"...... [long pause] ... What? Really?"
"Yeah it just came in, it's on my showroom floor I can see it."
".... Well damn. I want it. What next?"

Long story ... long... the place didn't take any deposits because they had no idea if they'd even see one. They didn't want to be seen as making promises they couldn't keep. And most people looking for one are on wait lists like me, and aren't calling around to every dealer in a 90 mile radius. I was just lucky to call at the right time! And the price was the same as it would have been from the dealer we first talked to back in May. No markup, just list price (fair, in the circumstances).

It has 0 miles on the odometer - it hasn't even turned over 1 mile yet. I still have to get it registered, inspected, insured, and I have to get the motorcycle endorsement on my license from the State of NH. Hopefully I can wrap all that up next week and be fully legal on the road! Then I'll write up a review.

I can't wait!!! More pics also incoming.

I can't take any credit, but I was told I can drive it. Sometime, anytime, just not today, it's not running quite right and anyway I didn't have the time.

It's NOT THIS ACTUAL ONE, I didn't have my phone for a pic. It is a 1929 Model A Roadster. But it's black, it's got an original-ish engine (no hot-rodding or other modernizations). I know they intend to do some work to it, but it's in great shape overall. She drove it to work, to the grocery store, Agway, basically everywhere for a week or so. I can't wait to drive it! I've never driven something with manual spark advance or any of that kind of stuff.

(this looks carefully staged, but really, I just rode 50 feet past my shed to where a beautiful maple tree just shed all its leaves. The view from there happens to be excellent)

I hit 500 miles yesterday right as I was putting the Honda into my shed, so I rolled it back out and did an oil change.

On this machine, there's no proper filter, so changing the oil is literally drain/fill and it's 0.7 quarts so this is a quick process. I bought a magnetic drain plug and it did have some stuff on it. From reading about it online, I heard there were quite a few bits of metal in the oil in the first few changes, so this is actually my THIRD oil change on this machine. Because why not? I noticed metal shavings on the first, so I did another when my magnetic plug came in, then did a third just now because it's so easy.

I have been loving this machine, thoroughly. The other day we hosted a mountain bike race on our school's campus, and my friend is the head coach. He used the Honda to set up signs and tape off the course the day of the race, then it became the Course Marshall Official Vehicle for the race itself, it was absolutely perfect. The MTB network here weaves in and out of XC ski trails, so you can generally use those to transit between the singletrack junctions. I rode my MTB as sweep during the race itself. The other coaches (from our school and others) were super jealous of the Honda, they all want one for their teams now.

Then this morning I had class at 8:20. I was showering at home when I got out to get dressed and realized it was 8:05. Oops! I threw on my jacket and tie and shoes, ran out the door and ripped down the ~3 miles to campus on the Honda, parking right outside the building because I can. I walked up to the classroom at exactly 8:20 feeling rather proud of myself.

This week in particular, I've noticed a new phenomenon, which is falling leaves hitting me in the face at 30mph! Surprisingly unpleasant, haha. But I've been SO lucky with the weather this October, for New England it's been warm and dry so I've gotten to ride the Honda a ton. I mean, 500 miles isn't a ton but it's about frequency not mileage. Just yesterday I ran into town for a coffee, leaving campus at 1:05 before my 1:20 class. A 15 minute round trip would have been challenging having to park a car in town, etc. but it was cake on the Honda. Plus, riding short distances in full dress code is fun.

This weekend wasn't a good one. I had parent conferences for work on Friday and then Saturday morning. I had to cut them short and reschedule because our older dog hadn't eaten in over 24 hours, and has been on a steady decline really since July. She was 11, would have been 12 in June. She most likely had cancer although it was elusive and we didn't want to put her through serious invasive exploratory surgery only to have her never recover. She went with dignity and in peace, on a beautiful winter day.

This dog was with me 24 hours a day for the first 5 years of her life. When we had kids, she was a gentle companion, the best you could ask for with kids who prodded, pulled, and poked her. I'm not sure she ever forgave us for the disruption in her life that the kids created, but the kids started throwing a ball for her and she loved that this past summer.

I know many of you share my love for animals, and many of you have had the same experience we just did, whether recently or long ago. It's still hard. We still have our other dog and we're thankful for her more than ever. And it will be a huge weight off us in this stressful year not to be constantly worried about the older dog. But that relief hasn't overpowered the grief yet.

Our kids handled it pretty well, they're old enough to kind of get it. This is the first pet we've lost where they're old enough to be sad, too.

Rest in peace, Brighton.

@looseonexit said in Were I A More Paranoid Man, I'd Be Thinking Sabotage/Act Of War...:

@skyfire77

I was involved in a situation once requiring six tugs

In my mind, trucks in general fall into one of just three different eras with some obvious gray areas in between. I came into this line of thinking because of how different my '61 is from my father's '79. It's relatively comfortable. It can go 70 on the highway for hours at a time. It's kinda soft, but in a good way. Mine, I recently compared to a street legal tractor. So this got me thinking about the evolution of trucks over the last 100+ years, and how I could categorize them.

I am ready for the angry mob, so here goes.

1. Early trucks. Made to do work: Practically starting with the Model T but extending up into the 60's. Utility first. True function over fashion, although the 40's-60's had arguably better looks than today's trucks. But they weren't show pieces back then. My truck really has no creature comforts other than heat and windows that open. It's made to do WORK. It's durable, rugged, capable, but not comfortable, fast, or smooth. It's your basic flathead screwdriver. It can turn flat head screws! Why would you want to do anything else with it?

2. Gentleman's trucks. I think the marketing guys got hold of this idea in the late 60's into the early 70's, that trucks could also be gasp comfortable! And not awful to drive, let's say, every day to the job site, even if you weren't hauling 3 pallets of bricks, but maybe some rolled up plans instead. You've got room for your hard hat and your lunch box, and sure, you can take the wife to the movies, and go fishing with little Johnny on the weekends. Your truck has real suspension, not just 4 carriage springs bolted to a frame. This era seems to have lasted into the 90's, where most trucks were still just that. But at least you could drive one without suffering. It's a basic swiss army knife. The nicer trucks of this era would be the version with a corkscrew instead of the screwdriver.

3. Ultra-capable and/or Luxury sedans. It started in the late 90's but seems to have accelerated through the 2010's like an arms race that led us to the 2021 Chevrolet Giantgrillerado [mr_regular_voice] that can tow 11 million pounds and has 40 million TORQUE oh man I can't even bother googling it for a picture. Even the 1/2 tons are capable of pulling an aircraft carrier down the interstate at 70 if you believe the hype. But we also have the F-150 Platinum, or the Denali or AT4 lineup from GMC, which are all VERY nice, very capable trucks you can live with every day. It's a full Snap-On toolbox. Works well and looks good. Does everyone need all those sockets? Or the Snap-On quality? Certainly not. But they'll sell it to ya.

Today I went up the Sandwich Notch Road with the Honda; it was absolutely ideal. This is a road that was built in 1801 or 1803 depending on your source, as a way to connect the NH North Country and Vermont farmers with the seacoast. It seems crazy now, but really, it's a huge shortcut to Sandwich, which is near the modern-day Route 25 which goes all the way to Portland, ME. To drive the "normal" way, it's gotta be close to an hour in a modern car at 30-70 mph along the route. This road is only 9 miles although it's pretty rough in spots. It's single-lane, gravel, and steep in many places. I think I was making better time in the Honda than most cars would do, because, you know, single lane, blind corners.

Anyway, I had fun with the Honda, and explored some of the trails/roads that stem from it as well. This pond is spectacular, and it was just dead silent up there save for some birds and insects. What a nice change of pace. And this is just 15 miles from my house! Probably much less in a straight line.

Beautiful spot, too bad camping is prohibited on that little beach there.

Thursday I'm taking a school group up here to camp out (not on the beach!) for a couple nights, and get some hiking in too. Or maybe fishing. We'll see!

I've gotten lots of comments / compliments on the bike already, people recognizing "woah, that's a CT but it's like... new! Sweet!!"

Having now ridden this beast around 200 miles, I have a good feel for it I think. It's really happy doing around-town type errand runs. 0 - 30 and back again. Or up to 40. I'm sure if I was a regular motorcycle rider I'd be better at higher speeds, too, but it just isn't my thing. All I can think about is how much I would be upset to be dead, if someone sneezed and ran over the yellow line at 40mph opposing speeds. Of course, this bike also doesn't love going near its top speed of 55, even if it can do it.

The riding position also just feels like it wasn't meant for long-distance road riding. Maybe it's me, maybe I need a better seat, but I just don't want to sit on that thing going 45 for hour after hour. But man, the transit time is worth it, because it really is smooth on the road but then highly capable when you turn off. And I don't mean turning off onto a dirt road, although it was great there, too. I can just jump onto a MTB singletrack and have at it. One of the first places I took it off-road was one of the most challenging places to ride my MTB around here - straight up an old washed out mountain road. And it was great!

It's light enough that even for me at 145lb and sticks for limbs, I can wrestle it around, push/pull/lift it as needed, turn it around in its own length, run next to it while working the throttle, whatever. It's light, simple, and just powerful enough to get where it wants to go, but not make me feel like I'm gonna die when I romp on the throttle. Which, of course, you can do - run it wide open through the gears from a dead stop, why not? I've spun the rear tire but only on loose surfaces.

All the while, I'm working it pretty hard and getting 120mpg at the same time. Of course at 200 miles I'm only on my second (1.4g) tank.

I wish I could run this thing on dirt roads everywhere I go, though, because it's so fun. It has just enough suspension travel that a pothole isn't going to break your spine. I caught a teeny bit of air with it today, and it landed smoothly. It just feels like a heavier, powered version of my mountain bike. There are trails around here that my MTB would be the much faster choice, but that has more to do with technical features or rock drops that the MTB would handle better with 29" wheels and less weight.

Anyway, I love it. I'm not convinced I've got the right crate setup, but that's easy to change - I have a template now for the holes I need to drill to use 4 factory threaded inserts. But I kind of like the two crate system I have at the moment. It's very "function over fashion" for sure.

That's enough for now, thanks for reading if you made it this far. Stay tuned for more Honda Trail content!

Sometime around two years ago now, I wrote a post on Old Oppo about biking on my lake in March, on the ice obviously. This time of year the surface has been through some melting, so the texture is grippy and flat, or smooth and very slippery, but still flat. And the ice is still very solid, right up to the shore, which it won't be two weeks from now. The first time, we went out on a full moon night and found ourselves at this feature, pictured here mid-summer:

It's a rock wall built between two small islands, making a causeway. In the summer it's not even completely dry until August or September most years. The water on either side is about 4-5 feet deep. The water tends to be low in winter, though, and this protrudes above the ice by at least a foot, sometimes closer to 3 feet.

The first time we went out, we tried riding across it (naturally) but due to some melting, there was about 12-18" width of open water on either side of the wall, so the consequence of falling was pretty high. None of us made it across in one go, at least without putting a foot down somewhere along the way. But I wanted another shot. That's easier said than done.

Last year, there wasn't a single opportunity where the ice was the right way when I also had friends who were willing and able to accompany me (this isn't something I'd try alone). That's a whole winter with zero attempts. This year the ice has been good but I've been too busy; FINALLY last night, I convinced a couple friends to go out. The conditions were about ideal - the wall was almost snow-free on top, while the ice around it had only melted in a very small area, no more than 12" wide next to the wall. The ice beyond that was very thick and safe to land on, if you had to bail off the top of the wall (I didn't). It took a few tries but I finally made it across one way.

The picture doesn't really do justice to the mental aspect of riding the wobbly top of a rock wall with ice below. There are all kinds of ways this could go badly, so I'm not sure I'll keep trying it. I'm certain no one else has ever done it, and there's a bit of satisfaction in that. Considering one of the guys with me didn't even want to try it, and the other gave up after one attempt that ended with a wet foot, I'm not sure there are a lot of people looking to one-up me here. Every time I didn't make it I just put my feet down and stopped on the wall. I felt reasonably safe, and there were three of us there. We're all experienced in these sorts of things, and in dealing with emergencies if one were to occur. I felt like the risk was above my normal tolerance, but well within what's reasonable, all things considered.

Anyway I'm not here to talk about risk management. I have been thinking about that wall for 2 years and I'm psyched I finally conquered it. Sorry, no pic from last night because it was cloudy and way too dark.

@cobrajoe said in Red Notice - A Poll:

@functionoverfashion said in Red Notice - A Poll:

The book was excellent…

There was a book?

I might have to read it...

Bill Browder, I believe. Yeah I read it years ago, it was a quick read but excellent.

@ibrad said in Over / Under... Pun Intended:

@functionoverfashion If I didn't live among 80' trees I'd be looking into solar for sure.

Yeah, our primary house lot is no good for solar as is, either. It's kind of open for 150' x ~60' around the house but it's east-west so the house is largely in the shade mid-day. And the roof is simple east-west too.

We own another lot though, just to the north of us, and it's open because it was logged before we bought it. By logged, I mean, 3.5 acres of it were totally clearcut. Lots of sun over there, but we just have to run 400' of wire through the forest back to our house haha.

That's partly why it would have been $30k.

That burned forklift reminds me of the fire at the marina where I worked in 2013. It was a single building separate from the rest - thankfully, or else it would have been a LOT worse - but our tractor was parked right next to the building.

Our forklift was close enough to get a little damaged but it was okay overall. That same machine still runs around with one side kinda charred-looking if you look closely enough.

I'll never forget what that felt like. Ugh, hopefully I'll never have to experience it again.

@ibrad said in Over / Under... Pun Intended:

@functionoverfashion 40 grand would get you a pretty sweet solar setup.

Indeed, we were quoted about 30 grand for a setup that would provide 100% of our usage needs, including running wires 400' from our clearing back to our house. Kind of a long payback, but maybe I should look into financing before rates increase. If it saves us $150/mo in utility bills, we could afford a pretty good payment....

@EssExTee exactly, I can't believe price increases are to blame here.

Ah, man, that's no fun. Our normally-bone-dry basement sprung a leak via a tiny floor crack on Easter day a couple years ago. I alternated between hanging with family and making sure the water didn't get anywhere that would do real damage. The difference there was it kept coming in all day with no sign of slowing down.

Are you replacing the hot water heater with the same kind? Or are you getting fancy at all with a heat pump or anything like that?

So after thinking about this overnight, I am going to propose option C.

Allegedly the power company will put in 200' of whatever for a "new service location" as in, if we were building a house 200' from where the last power was, they would do the line for free.

Now, it's 275' from the pole to the next property corner, but that corner is just between two parcels of which we own both. The corner of our neighbor's property is at the end of the existing road, which might be 175' from the pole. So I don't care if the transformer box goes to our corner. I could also do a lot line adjustment in the future because we own both sides of the line, and it's a few hundred feet from the house, so it would affect nothing.

So I wonder if the company would put in 200' underground for our "new service" to our other lot, for which I would happily pay the basic service fee of <$40/mo for a year or so, until the neighbor's house is totally done and memories have faded at the electric company as to just why the service was extended. Two lots would now be serviced by the same line, and I think I could just say "you know, it turns out we're not going to build here for a long time, I'd like to cancel my service."

The neighbors would still have an active account served by the lines, so it's not like it would be abandoned. We'd use it eventually, but we would have no power needs for the foreseeable future, either.

I feel like if I waited a year or two before canceling, it would just be a formality. I'd have to read the fine print, though, if they're paying for the extension - there's some chance that I'd be on the hook for the cost if I didn't end up using the service, but I wonder for how long. AND someone would be using the service... hmm.

@essextee said in Over / Under... Pun Intended:

@functionoverfashion we have to hire a directional drill on occasion and it does not cost five figures to run a cable under a road. Granted, a power line to a well pump isn't the same as for a whole house but your utility company is either ripping you off or being ripped off by their subcontractors.

This doesn’t even involve a directional drill, our driveway is dirt. A mini-ex could do the whole project in a day I’m sure. Materials are being cited as a factor here but even then I don’t get it.

The book was excellent…

@facw same here, but I guess the run from main power to the house isn’t the same as the regular power lines and all the utilities with them. Still $40k seems bonkers

@essextee said in Over / Under... Pun Intended:

@functionoverfashion I don't know what your power company is smoking but 275ft of trenching does NOT cost that much.

I agree completely. One factor is going under the driveway I guess, so it has to be rated for whatever might drive in there. It’s also along the town road ROW so maybe it all has to be super rugged? Still…