Are we there yet?

[Lao Jia Hou]

It was a Spanish Bultaco Lobito 100cc.

You won't believe this, but I was going to guess a Bultaco - because of the engine case - but I didn't want to appear that senility is setting in!

Let's just say I am closer to 60 years old than I am to 50 years old.

We were probably matching each other in the same grades in school. Vintage 55 is a good year.

I look forward to meeting you some day face to face. I bet we have a lot in common. (I still even have some of my pirate gear back in Dallas) Let me know if you are ever in Nanjing.

Ditto - but no foreseeable trips down South ... there be dragons! You need to high tail it up to the North, land of wonderful mystery.

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Some of you folks probably also remember the Honda Trails - CT90, CT110, etc. I never owned one, but relatives/friends/neighbours did. We used them on our farm, along with the classic 90 step-throughs - cheap and virtually indestructible. We kids would deliver food to/from the trucks/combines during planting & harvesting seasons, until we were old enough to drive the big machinery (usually about age 12 - haha). They took a bashing on every trip, but always kept on ticking. I recall watching a Mythbusters (or Top Gear?) where they dropped one off a tall building, and it still ran.

Anyways, it has recently got me to thinking - why isn't there something like that being made now? I've heard that Honda still makes/sells them in NZ/Oz to sell as Posties and "Agricultural Vehicles", but only in NZ can you get the legal-on-road Trail 110 with the dual-range gearbox. Getting them into China, though, would be a nightmare.

I saw that Yamaha has just brought something similar to the market in Thailand.

http://www.gizmag.com/yamaha-off-roa...21978/pictures

In the last few days, I've been on some roads around Beijing on which these things would shine. They are so light & nimble, and that switchable gearing allows one to climb virtually anything/anywhere. And if you drop the thing down a ditch, it is possible to manhandle the thing back onto the road. And it opens the market, as 99% of dirt bikes are simply too tall for most Chinese and, especially, female riders.

An ADV scooter is, quite frankly, perfect for secondary road touring in China. Those dying CJ shops should switch from chroming, to ADV-reinforcing things like the Suzuki Neptune. They'd sell a ton.