Making friends

S

Scottm

Guest
The song from Sesamee Street plays inmy mind. "Who are the people in your neighborhood..."
We all have the stories of visiting with young kids and young at heart adults. People stopping at stop lights next to you and rolling down their windows and yelling questions over the noise of their car's engine and your bike's engine. They keep talking even after the light turns green.
You ride around with that silly grin on your face, I think many people envy that grin.
One day last December while out riding I stopped at a park to take a break. This guy in his mid 60's walks up and starts asking tons of questions and finally asks if i will build one for him. Reluctantly I agree. I give him my phone number and he doesn't call until March and says he's ready. He writes me a check for $250 and tells me to get what I need and then we go shopping for bikes.
When's the last time a total stranger handed you $250?
I build him a Jaguar with a Happy Times 70cc. His legs are short, so I lowered the seat as low as it could go and mounted the reflectors on the seat stays by the brakes. He mounts the bike by walking up behind it. Smiles and says "Just like Gene Autry getting on his horse".
I delivered the bike this Saturday. He had all his neighbors out in his yard when I pulled up. He was like a little kid at his birthday party and did not stop smiling.
We did a walk around and I did my best to teach him how to operate it. We fired up our bikes and took off down the street to a new residential development with no traffic so he could learn starting and stopping.
We went to dinner and then came back to his house. He says "Call me when we can go riding again". So I say how about now?
Once again we fired up the bikes and I told him to lead the way.
He ends up infront of a house several miles away and pulls out his cell phone and call's the person in the house to come out and see. It was his daughter (my age 38). He had a grin as big as Texas and she shook her head in disbelief. He yelled over the buzz of his motor. "Scott, Julie, Julie, Scott" We nodded at each other then he started pedaling till he could engage the motor and tore off down the street back to his place. It was a nice sunset and cool spring evening. Every once in a while I would pull up next to him and ask "what do you think". Still smiling "This is GREAT".
Back at his place he talked to his neighbors as I put my bike back on my car.

We went back in his house and had a few beers and watch Boston put the Rangers away. When's the last time you walked into a stranger's house, sat down on the couch and drank beer?

I drove home with Grateful Dead singing "WHat a long strange trip it's been"

Well that's my story. It's all because of these silly motoredbikes.
Please feel free to add any stories you have of making friends because of these bikes.
 
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We all have the stories of visiting with young kids and young at heart adults. People stopping at stop lights next to you and rolling down their windows and yelling questions over the noise of their car's engine and your bike's engine. They keep talking even after the light turns green.
You ride around with that silly grin on your face, I think many people envy that grin.
I am ashamed at how much I grin. Usually, when everybody's staring at you... you're doing something wrong or really cool. I know motored biking isn't wrong, but grinning as much as I do has got to tick some people off.

That was a GREAT story, Scott! I hope to meet a few older folks like that around my parts.
 
Scott, you are so cool...what a great thing to do for a stranger! Made me grin big:D
 
Oh man that story is one for the books. Absolutely amazing.
I do wish I was your neighbor,Scott.
Lately because it's been warm out people are just starting to see my bike for the first time. I find myself intentionally stopping to rest at areas that have people and right away they want to know about it and jot down the site. It's amazing how none of them have registered...yet.
Also I've been waving at people and about half of them wave back.
And I can't get this grin off my face when riding even if I try.
Why is that?
My son just bought a Neon and wants me to build him one.
His birthday's coming up.
I just might.
 
great story scott!!!!!!!!!!! i had 2 neighbors ask me if they could have me build one. i said only if you help :) now we talk almost daily. we also plan to build one. ps, large if he has a 1st gen neon, pm me, theres a few things he /you should know. (cans of worms alamode)
 
Fantastic story Scott...kinda makes me want to reconcider when strangers ask me to build one for them.
 
I did my best to discourage him early on. He worked with computers for 10 years and never wants to see anotherone so no MBc for him. is kids have taken all his tools. I told him these happy times engines are a carp shoot. You either get one that works flawlessly or one that is problematic. He has heeded my break in warning. He wouldn't get much faster than 17mph. Since my bike is broken in it's hates going below 20 so i had to pedal my bike quite a bit. I bought him a measuring funnel and 2 cycle oil and taught him how to mix fuel.
All I have to do is roll my bike and the engine starts within feet. His takes some pedaling. Hopefully we'll get it tweeked soon.
I didn't charge him to build it for all those reasons. He takes me to dinner at nice restaurants, so he's probably spent half of what i would have charged him.

I got my degree in Law Enforcement. I enjoyed studying about the days when cops walked beats and knew all the people on their routes. Now we ride around in our cars with the windows rolled up and have to pay attention to where we are going or tinker with our gadgets instead of watching whats going on around us. We park our cars in the garage and the door shuts before we get out, so we've shut out the world.

Best of all I have a riding buddy and a new friend. The grin on his face is payment enough.
Perhaps if Osama or Saddam had motor bikes they would have been nicer people.:eek: These bikes are great therapy.
 
That is a fine story. I haven't been motorbiking long enough to have an encounter like that, but I'll try to be alert and catch the opportunity when it comes. and yeah, I grin, too.
 
Loved it :D

I had somebody pull up beside me --I live in Arkansaw so they were hill billies,-- and the passenger said, "that's cuter than owl babies." To which I replied, "well thank ya!"
 
Everywhere I stop I get grilled... the hardware store, gas station (that's always a good spot), garage sales...

Q's are always the same... how fast, what MPG, what did you pay for the kit, how many cc's?

Women in durangos with the windows rolled up are never smiling-- ever!
 
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