Super Cub 55 (2)

I'm not sure what year this Cub is. It was sitting in a really interesting bike shop. Komoto Honda.

Bikes were crammed in all over the place. This beauty was sitting right up to the glass in the front of the "showroom". There was no way in Hades you'd be able to get close to it, unless you had a forklift.

I stopped by to take some pics, and found they were open. Lights low, and doors closed. But open. A elderly man in Honda overalls came out and pretended to be doing something nearby while he casually kept an eye on me. I stopped taking pics thru the window and said my hellos. We chatted for a bit, what country am I from, etc, then I mentioned I was looking for older emblems and decals for Cubs and other bikes, and he invited me in. The back room was filled floor to ceiling with interesting stuff. And the lighting was more like a bar, than a dealer's office. Trophies, paintings and posters of races long over, engine parts, and rare thingamajigs were all over the place. This was a biker heaven. I did my usual flattering and complementing, though it wasn't insincere, since I was truly impressed with the place, and he opened up more, pointing out this and that. He told of races, and carbs, and tires, and you name it. He opened some tins and inside were stickers, and patches. He went thru them looking for older ones which he thought I might mean. He put aside several interesting ones. Though, obviously not the kind you'd put on a bike. So, i figured he misunderstood me, and thought I meant decals and emblems ABOUT cubs. I didn't correct him. Just smiled and thanked as each adhesive backed goodie came my way.
I had figured that he was probably dying to talk to someone, back here in this parlor of yesterday's glories. He probably went days w/out customers, since it wasn't exactly your super clean Honda Dream showroom, and it clearly looked closed.
But how wrong I was. Within 10 minutes there must've been 20 people in and out of there. Most, it seemed were regulars, not buying, but hanging out with the guy. And most were under 40. This guy, apparently is some sort of local hero, a guru on bikes. A question would fly and he'd scratch his head, open a drawer, slide out a box, climb up on a cabinet and produce a widget that solved the issue, or made it more complicated. Plus, he sold two bikes while I was there in what ended up being an fascinating two hours. One NSR and a Dax. Both used, and really falling apart it seemed. Each went for around 600 dollars. One customer/regular, surprised to see a foreigner in the back room, sort of backed out, once he saw me in the holy inner sanctum. The owner said, laughing, that I was in there looking for decals and to take pics. American. The younger kid backed out with more haste. I did my best 'oh well, farewell, my good man'.

But about 5 minutes later he returned with a cold canned coffee which he handed to me.

That was nice.


Super Cub 55 (2), originally uploaded by supercublogger.