BIG TROUBLE IN A LITTLE GARAGE

TEXT;Yoshi Shirayama


MY AKA-KAGE (RED NINJA) with white KA

INTRODUCTION


"Japanese are living in rabbit house."
Many foreign visitors say so. And to tell you the truth, exactly it is right.
You, triple lovers in USA or Europe can not believe that we Japanese must pay lot of money for little garage
(we describe it "little like cat's forehead ").
For such a reason, we own only one motorcycle in each model.
But now,(un) fortunately I own two H1.

I explain you (and my wife !) why I came to own two H1(KA) in my little garage.
And show you the way I make him "fast ninja."

BEGINING OF TROBLES !




AKA KAGE-SAN after the first restorations


This H1-KA was stood still in California for a with its right side facing the sun.
The paint of the right gas and oil tank was almost burned and faded.
I rescued him from SKIN CANCER due to sun burn .
The oil pump bolts were broken and that was a big problem.
Air bobbles were seen inside the oil lines .


I told you that I want to own several kinds of bikes rather than keep many of the same model.
In other words, I want to own only one KA, only one H2 or only one W bike.
But now, I own two KA ( RED and WHITE).

Get ready because this explanation is too LONG !

I love motorcycles, and also I am mad about MOVIES .
Nowadays we can get movie videos from rental video shops and enjoy
all kinds of films any time and easily.

But in my younger days, we had to go to the theater, and spent a
lot of money.

I was so crazy about movies in my high school days that I got a Saturday job as projection engineer
(just like the movie "NUOVO CINEMA PARADISO" !).

If I ask you to tell me the name of a Motorcycle Movie, you'd probably recommend "EASY RIDERS".

Yes, that is a great answer .
But I think it is not a Motorcycle Movie, but a Travel Movie - two guys (and Jack Nicholson )
searching for freedom with just their motorcycles.
Of course, I think Easy Riders is a kind of great movie, but (for reasons that are very difficult to describe in English !), I want to see movies where the motorcycle acts as one of the main cast, not as just a prop.

Any way, I found out someone was planning to make a movie about a
guy riding an H1 and traveling around Shikoku (an island of Japan).
I was very surprised and wanted to help them make the movie .
The movie producer was the same age as I and worked as assistant director on Akira Kurosawa's movie "DREAM".

He also rides a Hon.CB 750F but I thought most movie staff were not good at handling motorcycles.
I thought it would be very dangerous to lend them my Shirokage-san (white KA, my treasure!).

I knew a shop that had one KA from the US, and it was so called DEAD STOCK .I had an idea.
If I bought it at a low(er) price, and did some slight restorations, it could be used for the motorcycle movie .

After we made the motorcycle movie, I could sell it to a younger KA fan for restoration.

I thought it was a very, very good idea that time .



But later, I found out it was a very foolish idea !

To Be Continued.




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