Saving "The Unofficial Yamaha CV80 Owner's Guide"

Almost two years between postings is an embarrassingly long time. A lot has happened, of course, but clearly I haven't felt any of it was worthy of public comment. Until now.

From time to time, I receive an email from someone asking a question related to their Yamaha CV80 motor scooter. Invariably the correspondent refers to my old website on the subject, "The Unofficial Yamaha CV80 Owner's Guide," and I am obliged to explain that: a) I am surprised the website is available online; and b) It's been a while since I tinkered with one of the scooters, having sold the last of my meagre collection a while ago after the realisation that, despite my best intentions, I likely would never get around to finishing my restoration project.

About the old website. I've explained in an earlier post that it was originally hosted by my ISP at the time. I cancelled my account in 2005 when I moved out of the city, but the site inexplicably stayed up; I just couldn't access it to update pages or alert readers about its status. Later, through a partnership the ISP entered into, the site was migrated to the Yahoo! GeoCities domain. That eventually folded (in 2009, I think); however, its sites were archived by others, ostensibly as a public service. For example, my original site is still available (now with advertising inserted) through OoCities.org. There might be others, but that one turns up most often when you search for anything related to the old Yamaha scooters.

All that bugs me a little bit, even if I know that the web is rife with content pilferers who practise what they do for the sake of earning ad dollars. I am a supporter of making content freely available, but it should be the content owner who makes that decision.

So what to do? Evidently, OoCities will allow me to update its version of my site. I can also ask to have it removed. I'm still considering what to do, now that it appears that I have options again.

In the meantime, I am thinking I might start transferring the content of the site to this blog, so that control of it rightfully reverts to me and it continues to be available to those who find the original articles helpful.

Stay tuned.

Wow, what balls

I was visiting Toronto on Friday night -- one of the coldest nights of the year, with the wind chill at minus 30C or something close to it -- and saw a guy on an automatic scooter pull up to a traffic light at Jarvis and Gerrard. Couldn't believe my eyes. And I think he had an open-face helmet. Brave or stupid hardly matters: the guy had balls, even if they were frozen.

I know folks scoot through winters around the world, but I was amazed.

Moving into the attic? Not really.

Christopher in San Francisco recently commented on a popular scooter BBS: "Why does the front cover [of your book] look like that? I would have thought putting a scooter on the front cover would have sold it as such (book having to do with scooters), rather than a book about ... Moving into the attic?"

That made me laugh, actually. Also, I'm appreciative of the attention, even if it's seemingly negative.

My response to Christopher was I guess you have to read the book to find out why the cover looks like that. I added that I wanted something unusual and different because I think the book tells a different kind of story about scooters.

I am very happy with the cover. And I am not moving into the attic.

My website vanished

I recently learned that "The Unofficial CV80 Owner's Guide," my website about Yamaha's venerable scooter, has gone off the air. A few people have contacted me by email to ask what happened. Evidently my ISP has changed its agreement with Yahoo! and Geocities and, as a result, my site vanished suddenly, without notice (that I recall). I am scrambling to figure out what to do and whether I can use this blog as a replacement.

In fact, I've known for a while that I would have to do something. For years, the site was hosted on my personal space with my ISP. I updated it regularly, but then a few years ago I moved out of the city. I cancelled my internet service when I moved, but incredibly my site remained on the air. I just couldn't access it. I moved back to the city and signed up again with the same ISP, with the same username that should have entitled me to the same personal web space, and yet I still couldn't access my site. Meanwhile, it continued to do well in search results for those seeking information about their CV80s and I received a lot of email.

With the launch of my new scooter book, I planned to get in touch with the ISP to see what I could do with my original (and still popular) site. It has always received a lot of traffic. I wanted to add a notice about the book, which I expected would be of interest to CV80 owners in particular. Then, suddenly, it vanished.

I'll look at how best to migrate content to this space. Until then, hey, want to buy a book?

New scooter book launched

Well, it took a while, but the scooter book is finally finished. It's available now in print and electronic editions (see the sidebar for details).

"Half a Step Ahead: Learning My Way Around a Motor Scooter" is mainly about my experiences tinkering with one and then another Yamaha CV80, plus some other vintage scooters.

The book is a personal and practical guide intended to be accessible enough to encourage a novice, yet sufficiently technical to offer insights of value to even the most practised scooter mechanic.

There's also some historical detail about Yamaha's early scooters. That, and accounts of some of my ridiculous misadventures while learning to rebuild a couple of CV80s, might be of interest.

I hope you'll check it out. Scooter season's almost over for many of us. It's OK to put your feet up now with a book!