While I've always wanted a blog because I love to write, I never really had anything specific to write about. I have a blog on our business website www.5xracing.com, but it's very specific (and needs to be) to Mazda Miatas, Spec Miata racing, or our products. I've always had many hobbies that I've enjoyed, but never a presence in any of these things, or at least never a means to share information that might help people. I never really had a niche per say in the world of blogging, until now!
Thanks to my son Rennen, who reignited my interest in motorcycling, I pre-purchased a Honda Monkey 125 when they were first announced back in early summer of 2018. This Honda Monkey was special, as it was a modern reissue of the Mini-Trail's and Z50's of the 60's and 70's. What made this bike special to me, is that my family always had a 1970 Honda Trail 70 that we kept in Upstate NY, basically since before I was born! This bike never ran right all throughout my childhood, so as a challenge to right all this lost time on a cool bike, I had recently recovered it from our mountain retreat to turn it into a restoration project and use it as a pit/paddock bike for our Miata racing. This to me, was the ULTIMATE pit bike, and a very nostalgic one to be seen on riding around the pits! Before I could get the Trail up and running in top form however, I came across another sweet deal, a 1977 Honda Z50. I needed to trade the 1978 Yamaha YZ80 pit bike that inspired Rennen so greatly for it though, but I felt it was a good deal because that YZ was VERY zippy and not the best for cruising the paddock. Picking up the Z50 and restoring both this and the Trail 70 reinstated a love for Honda vintage bikes that I always had in me, but seemed to have forgotten over the years. The ease in which I was able to get both of these bikes back up and running was staggering. The more I worked on them, the more I appreciated them. My thirst for a modern Honda small-bore was intensifying!
The snowball that started the Monkey avalanche was when I got to spend some time on my friend Lars' Honda Grom though. Riding the Grom enlightened me to how much fun the new Honda small-bores were. This bike could go anywhere and would do anything you asked of it, just like the old Trail 70. I was sold! I immediately started my search for Honda Grom's, and while searching the internet I came across what to me was the most appealing motorcycle I could want: the Honda Grom Scrambler Concept
The bike above stirred emotions in me. I wanted this bike BAD! Within my research on whether or not Honda was going to come out with it led me to the talks of the incoming Honda Monkey reissue. It was then, I knew what I REALLY wanted! I stopped in at my local Honda Dealership on the way home from work and put down a deposit on the Monkey. The salesman didn't even know about the bike, but was able to take my money and assure me I would have the first one when it arrived, six months later...
Fast forward 6-months to the fall of 2018, October 2nd to be exact, and I was sitting on my very first brand new motorcycle, and long awaited Honda Monkey! What a great day that was, and I am thrilled to have shared it with my family
The day after these pictures above I shot a super long walkthrough video. That video is what started it all (the YouTube journey), and is why this blog even exists. The popularity of that video inspired me to continue creating videos, and reignited another interest of mine: filmmaking (read the info in the "About" page). The new bike + an interest in it across the world + filmmaking being an interest of mine = a great formula for a YouTube channel! 200+ videos later, and the rest if history we are still creating!
So with that, I suppose I have to thank Honda first and foremost for producing the worlds most reliable and impactful bikes back in the 70's that in turn caused my parents to buy a 1970 Trail 70, which in turn they kept and gave to me, which in turn stoked the fire for a passion for vintage Honda's I didn't know I had, which in turn caused me to get a 77' Z50, which in turn caused me to collect small-bore Honda's, which in turn led me to wanting a Grom, then learn about and eventually get the 2019 Honda Monkey 125!
I honestly hope you enjoy this blog and the enthusiasm I have to share with you. If you know me, you know I just might have one too many irons in the fire and maybe just a little too much going on to dedicate more time to something like this, BUT... I feel as if it rounds out my content creation journey quite nicely and also gives me a "hub" for that content.
So with that, I hope you follow along! Thanks for reading.
John