Bye bye to a faithful friend

The C90, no longer mine, in the hired van of its new owner this morning

Those who have followed these ramblings for the past three years will be familiar with K101 XMO, my lovely little C90. It has taken me on many 'little bike' adventures but a couple of months ago I bought a Honda Innova to replace it. The Innova is Honda's ultimate development of the Cub (which began life as the Honda 50) with the engine enlarged to 125cc and fuel injected, and four gears instead of the C90's three, so it is a bit more usuable. However, I doubt the Innova will ever be the classic that the C90 is. Honda's latest small bikes use a completely different engine with continuously variable belt drive instead of the Cub's conventional gearbox and chain drive, so are no longer 'Cubs'.

Some videos of the bike taken last Saturday. Malc is the pilot:

Start and ride away: http://youtu.be/Ss8a_fFHLOc

Ride past: http://youtu.be/zCCHgwPSdKc

Ride up and park: http://youtu.be/olMK69R-Vl0

Walk around with engine running: http://youtu.be/PU401CxO_zg

For a while I contemplated keeping the C90, but with the Suzuki Freewind 650 and Moto Guzzi Griso 1200, space in the garage is tight. Also, the Innova does everything the C90 was formerly used for so chances are the C90 would see very little use. So it had to go.

A mature chap from Longton, Stoke on Trent, came today to collect it in a hired van. He seems a sensible type, who I hope will give XMO the same level of care and attention it has received while resident in my garage.

My Honda Innova, which has replaced the C90

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