* * Retiring Mae

My new book, Harmonic Highways: Motorcycling Virginia’s Crooked Road, chronicles my journey across Southwest Virginia aboard Mae, my 1981 Honda CBX motorcycle. Mae has been in my life for fifteen of her 30 years, and she now has 73,000 miles on the odometer. Her engine was rebuilt 3 years ago with 58,000 miles on her. She’s been steady, mostly reliable transportation and has never left me stranded.
Two years ago, a friend from the CBX club called me. “I know you like the 1981 CBXs. I have one for sale you might be interested in.”
I said, “The one I have is doing fine.”
“You might be interested anyway.”
“Why?”
“Mine has 920 miles.”
Wow!
What he was offering me was essentially a brand-new 28-year-old motorcycle. So I bought it, thinking that I would continue to ride Mae until some unspecified time when she might “wear out” or become unreliable. The new bike, which I’m yet to name (Let’s go with “Newbee” for now.) has been in storage since.
A few months ago, I began to have a change of heart. I spoke with Jeff, a friend in my local motorcycle club. He said, “Years ago, I was in a sports car club. Some of the guys had nearly undriven cars. We often talked about the fact that unless those cars were destined for a museum, someday somebody needed to drive and enjoy them. Why sell that pleasure away to somebody else?”
So I decided that Newbee needed to be put into service and ridden. By me. Now.
I went to my local dealer, Go Race, in Christiansburg, with both bikes, and had them transfer some of the nicer parts from Mae onto Newbee and mount some new tires to replace the 28-year old original rubber. I got it back a few weeks ago. And I’ve started to ride it. It is the identical model so of course the look and feel is 98% the same. But the exhaust piping is original, which is quieter and subtler than Mae’s. The bottom-end power is better and it accelerates away from a standing stop or a slow corner better. It feels more solid and comfortable.
As I write this, Mae is spending the weekend with a potential buyer who I’m yet to meet. He took a look at her, then balked, explaining to me in an email that he was hesitant about a bike with so many miles. I told him the mileage was deceptive, given that her engine had been rebuilt and that the other things that may need attention – brakes, chains, sprocket and the like – wouldn’t be much different for a bike with half the miles. “You owe it to yourself to ride this bike. Take her home with you over the weekend and see what you think. Ride her hard and see how she performs. Then bring her back on Monday with a full tank of gas.” As is obvious, I am applying the principle of “touch and covet.” Maybe it will work. I think she may have the same spell on him that she’s had on me for so long.
Meanwhile, Newbee needs a name. It will come in time.