37 Years of Motorcycling: a four stroke day with my Honda C-100 Dream

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Português

A four stroke day:

Dawn of 14/04/01, at 06:30 hs, minutes before the sunrise.

1^st stroke: Dawn at the vicinity of the Goiania International Autodrome, on the 14/04/01. Beginning a fast trip to Caldas Novas - GO (as an excuse to go to the barber shop, in order to have a haircut and a beard trimming).

Posing in front of the restaurant; fuel station at Cristianopolis-GO.

2^nd stroke: "Technical" stop at Cristianopolis-GO (Entre Trevos fuel station) to top up the fuel tank. Me and my Honda C 100 Dream.

Me, Tonico (barber) and my Dream. Tonico (Antonio Rabelo Sobrinho) is one of the top barbers at Caldas Novas.

3^rd stroke: In front of Ellus Cabelereiros (Ellus Barber Shop), with Tonico. Fortnightly I pay my routine visit to this barber shop: I leave Goiania - GO early in the morning to go the barber shop; I ride 162 km to Caldas Novas - GO, get a beard trimming (and a hair cut when it is the case) and ride back 162 km in my Honda C 100 Dream.

My Dream at the flower clock, nearby Flamboyant Shopping Center.

4^th stroke: Arriving back in Goiania - GO, my Dream over the footpath nearby the flower clock. Check the time, it is 13:40 hs on the 14/04/01. This small trip of approximately 330 km is our "training session"; it is simply a trip, just for the sake of it.

On the 30/04/01 I repeated my traditional route: Goiania - Caldas Novas - Goiania.

In front of the State Road Police station close to Caldas Novas - GO. Me, my Dream and a Honda CB 450 cc belonging to the State Military Road Police.

"Pit Stop" at the State Military Road Police.

Close to the lateral entrance of CTC (Caldas Thermas Club), in Caldas Novas - GO. The blossoming tree is a paineira, also called barriguda.

The tree in flowers (blossoming) shows the power of Nature in a sunny morning at the end of April/2001.

Below you can see my Honda C 100 Dream at the end of May/2001, immediately after clocking 40.000 km. From all my motorcycles this one became special for me, simply because I rode it intensively in many different roads without having any trouble at all. I took it through gravel rural roads, I put it to endure heavy urban traffic, and my Dream always performed wonderfully. Having that in mind I can say: this little motocycle is a classic, second by none; it is the most sturdy, low maintenance and well built little bike I came across so far.

(Click at each photo to get a bigger picture)

Odilon is topping up the battery liquid.

The fuel tank is under the seat. Detais that really matter, making this model unique and a winner in Honda's history.

Main points observed during those 40.000 km ridden in my C-100 Dream:

This is a very stable motocycle, its fairing really contributes to stability. It protects us from the elements, at the same time that diminishes the drag. When crossing with buses or trucks on roads this model showed to be more diretionally stable than my Honda CBX 200 Strada or even the Kawasaki KLR 600.
Its chain drive cover protects the parts very well. My bike still has the original parts, and they are in a very good state.
The front and back suspension perform very well, even if we drive on gravel (over pits and bogs).
All plastic components match perfectly to the frame. There is no vibration, no noise at all.
The engine works perfectly, it is very well devised and engineered, principally if we consider its small output.
I was "beatten" a little bit by the semi-automatic clutch at the very beginning, due to the fact that this bike doesn't have the left lever (clutch). But after I get used to it, it showed very comfortable to ride. I really enjoyed Honda's "little beauty" overall.

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