To begin with...

To begin with, I am not a mechanic. I am an engineer- an aerospace engineer to be precise. My interest does not stop at merely aviation, though that is definitely my driving passion. I've come to find that with very few exceptions if a thing is winged, wheeled, or watertight, I'm into it. So it's only natural for me to have an interest in cars, boats, motorcycles, bicycles, etc, right?

My girlfriend and I recently bought a project Honda Cub, which some of you will note is the most widely produced motor vehicle... well, the most widely produced consumer good, really... of all time. Great styling, peppy little four-stroke, three speed semi-automatic transmission, and a modest 200 miles to the gallon of fuel economy. It's actually in pretty good shape, but needs a few parts that have wandered off into the ethereal mist over the course of four decades, so I'm looking forward to a fairly straight-forward project (knocking on wood, of course).

Being the engineer that I am, I thought to myself, "why not chronicle the process of getting this thing running again? It'd be interesting to go back and look at it later, and I might have a few more projects to log later on." You're reading the result of that thought, needless to say. Ride-by-Night Garage is officially open- your friendly neighborhood novice motorcycle tinkerer bumbling his way through his first project. Now, first thing's first- get my workspace in order...