Monday, April 30, 2012

take your helmet with you...



taking the amtrak sufliner from fullerton station to old town san diego, about a 2-hour ride.

ヘルメットを持って旅に出よう。フラトン駅からサンディエゴのオールドタウン駅まで、片道約2時間の冒険。
 


 passing angel stadium

エンジェル・スタジアムを通り過ぎる

 san clemente
the surfliner really follows the shoreline so we can see the ocean right in front of us like this.

サンクラメンテ。サーフライナーは海岸線を走っているので、時にこんなに海が近い!波の申し子、Fナキ氏を探す。見えたような気もするし見えなかった気もする。とりあえず手を振って通り過ぎた。

 coaster

コースター
 
 solana beach


got off at old town san diego.

オールドタウン・サンディエゴで下車。

♪ ♬♪ ♫ ♪ ♬ ♪♪ ♫ ♬♪ ♬ ♪ ♬♪ ♫ ♪♬ ♫ ♬♪ ♬♪ ♫ ♪ ♬ ♪♪ ♫ ♬♪ ♬ 

our plan was to picked up this beautiful honda CL450 there and rode back, distance of 118 miles by freeway. although the former owner had been taking very good care of this bike, we weren't sure if we could make it all the way by tandem on freeway. so decided to ride some back roads first. we took a first coffee break in less than 10 minuets. then shinya told me that CL450 shows its character at high rpm so we decided to take a freeway to see how it goes.

サーフライナーでサンディエゴに出向き、このhonda CL450をピックアップして乗って帰る、実はこれが我々の小さな冒険計画だったのです。とても大切にされていたCL450、でもいきなり118マイル(約190km)を2ケツでフリーウェイはCLちゃんが気の毒・・・なのでしばらくは下道で進むことに。10分もしない内にコーフィー休憩。先が思いやられますな。すると、「CL450は高回転で初めて力を発揮するんだよなあ」と木村氏。それならフリーウェイに乗って試してみよう!

shinya was right. on a freeway, the CL450 was telling us that she wanted to go more and more. she was claiming that she was honda RC racers' flesh and blood, the ones took over isle of man TT in mid 60s to late 60s. it was just fun and felt good being on her. we went all the way to san clamente from san diego and took a break. shinya and i were praising Soichiro Honda by yelling and chanting his name in unison. thank you, Soichiro Honda! we feel your spirit!

フリーウェイに乗った途端に木村氏が言っていた高回転で発揮、の意味が分かった!CL450は、「まだまだいけるけど、こんなんで大丈夫?」と余裕で乗り手を気遣ってくれる。全然詳しくない私にさえも、CLちゃんが走りたがっているのが自然と伝わってくる。まさに60年代中盤から後半にかけて、マン島TTに新しい風を吹かせたhonda RCレーサーの血筋を主張するかのような走り。(←木村氏談)一挙にサンクレメンテの外れまで着いてしまった!道中、そしてこのガスステーションでの小休憩中も、我々は本田宗一郎シュプレヒコールを叫んだ。凄いよ、ソウイチロウ!ありがとう、ソウイチロウ!貴方のスピリット、しかと受け止めました。

look at this motor! beautiful. beautiful. ravishingly beautiful! i believe that beauty will come after when people create something by their passion and spirit to make good thing. back in those days, the fastest on the street was british 650s. Soichiro Honda seriously tried to beat them by making really good 450. CL450 was the honda's first ever big motorcycle back then. so lucky and happy to be able to feel his spirit still after 40 years. bravo!

このエンジンの造詣。うっとりするほど美しい。ああ、美しい。 ただただ素晴らしいものを本当の本気で作った時、同時に美しさが生まれるのだと思う。逆ではだめで、見た目の美しさだけを追って何かを作っても、それが素晴らしいものになるとは限らない。得てしてならない。当時公道最速は概ね英国製の650が制していた最中に450で挑んだ本田宗一郎氏の本気。ホンダ初のビッグバイク、CL450の素晴らしさを40年経った今でも体感できる喜び。ソウイチロウ・シュプレヒコール、再び。

ahhh beautiful! we started to call it blue-two.

これって、blue-twoに相応しいのではないでしょうか。blue-one, blue-twoときて、3台目は乗り物じゃなくて人になっちゃうことに気がついて大いに盛り上がる。

so, we got too excited and forgot to stop by at the station to pick up the one we took there. we turned around and got back to the fullerton station after all. it was so fun!

あまりにも気持ち良いライド過ぎて、行きに駅まで乗ってきた乗り物を取りに寄るのをすっかり忘れて駅を通り過ぎる。途中で思い出して引き返し、夜も更けたフラトン駅へ。あー楽しかった!




8 comments:

TAdesign said...

いいですね!!
僕も今、兄弟分の500Tで作ってますよ!!

Pirate Tom said...

Ah, you have to love it when you find one with soul in it.

Hairy Larry said...

Looks to be in really nice shape. I have a red 71 Cl-450 that used to look that good. It's in boxes now waiting for a new crankshaft and other parts. I'm sure you've heard how you have to watch the gas getting past the carbs and into the oil.I tried to turn the petcock off and park mine on the centerstand as much as possible to prevent the gas getting into the oil. When I bought mine you could smell the gas in the oil ( the previous owner wasn't as careful ). I rode it for a few years until one day I heard a knocking noise. One piston was hitting the head...the rod bearing and journal had gone.Even though I had immediately changed oil, and treated it better , the damage had been done. I miss my 450...I changed it over to CB spec, and had a sidecar on it. I also have a Black Bomber (with race cams) that is really fast. That's a cool bike you got there. Always loved the sound of the pipes on those.

おいちゃん said...

おっと!!k村君、、。ええもん手に入れましたね!!こいつが高回転で唸るエクゾーストはシビレまっせ!!カブとこのツインカムはHONDAを語るには絶対外せないですよね!!

mach712R said...

本当にきれいなエンジンですね。

BLK TOP SOCIETY said...

You guys have some serious b@lls to just ride that puppy back!

movementpractice said...

congratulations on blue-two!
Looks like it suits you really well.
Really reminds me of what I read in a book about Soichiro Honda, what a particular spirit and person!
would love to hear it rev...

Travis Perich said...

Dang it you guys were right down the street!
I can see you were focused on a mission.
Nice bike!
TP