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So bought another bike last week, just cos it was local and a mate was egging me on with talk of epic cross country rides. This is a 1973 K4 model in Mars orange, 90cc and a precursor to the ubiquitous red 110cc postie bike. I think lots of parts are interchangeable, so should be plenty of sources for the missing bits... Picked it up yesterday, couple of kicks and she burst into life, I rode it round the house and jemmied it into the overflowing shed... And even better, picked this up this morning, local and $26. Sweet deal, rough as fuck but has a few bits I need... So unsure of plans at this stage, too much on to get into it immediately. Will prob keep patina (rust) and replace bearings, brake shoes, cables etc. Loosely planning some overland trips, also the odd scooter run, should be fun once I get some time to play with it...

Usual story, browsing TradeMe on a Friday night while having a few beers. Que some peer pressure from mates. Sunday morning I trekked down to Te Aroha and loaded this thing into the Sentra Sportwagon. It promptly leaked all the oil/water mixture out. Then headed another hour down the road to visit @MopedNZ in Tauranga and have a 4 stroke wank fest with his new Honda Chaly. So, the bike is a 1973 ish model. Listed as a CT110, but turns out it's a CT90. Sold new by Paeroa Honda and been used on a farm since then. Has some goodies like the Hi/Low gearbox and the rare auxiliary reserve fuel tank. Been suitably barry'd around, wiring hacked up and roofing galv riveted over the rust hole in the rear guard. Tried to get it to run with @MopedNZ after draining the rest of the water and oil out of the crankcase. No luck though, couldn't produce a strong enough spark. Had another go at it today with the battery and coil out of my car and got it to run for a second on some brake kleen down the carb! Carb has been barry'd too so that will need sorting, couldn't get it to run off petrol. Will order a new 6v coil for it and go from there. Plan to replace anything that needs replacing, tyres, wheel bearings etc and just roll as is on some 50 plates. Here's the updated faded red paint fleet picture. Something 70s, 80s and 90s. As always any advice is appreciated! Just got my head around the 2 stroke Yamaha and now onto this thing.

THE BACK STORY: This story goes back a little further than most threads, but it is important to understand the significance of such a piece of history. It all starts, with the English navigator Captain James Cook sighting New Zealand on 6 October 1769, landing at Poverty Bay two days later. He drew detailed and accurate maps of the country, and wrote about the Māori people. Most of us are aware of the HMS Endeavour, that was used to circumnavigate the perimeter of Aotearoa. However Cook also did a lot of inland exploring too, and, until recently very little has been known about this. I decided to take it upon myself to do some further investigation. FACT: On his way South, Cook visited his old mate Soichiro Snr in Japan. Soichiro was a bit of a tinkerer with a soft spot for Double Brown Saki. After a few months, and quite a few Doubro's, he invented a futuristic metal horse that he insisted that his mate Cook took with him on his travels. Cook agreed on the provision that no one knew of the wizardry of the machine. Researching deeper, I found some of Sydney Parkinson's (Cook's Artist) more unknown paintings and sketches which backed up this theory. Cook arriving in the East Cape of New Zealand Although the resolution isn't high, if you look closely in the above sketch, you can make out what appears to be Soichiro's metal horse. FACT: Word quickly spread within the Maori communities of the great dorts and much skids of Cook and his men. The people affectionately named the metal horse the 'Cooks Transport 90'. The 90 was in reference to the swept volumetric area of the internal combustion area that Rangi and Whetu at Raizer Motu-mechanics calculated while replacing the rings for Cook during a visit to Whakatane. The machine was abbreviated to Pakeha iwa tekau, or, in English The CT90. Further proof, it seems, has been under our noses the whole time. The Humble Fitty cent coin. Solid evidence of Cooks Transport 90. Most of us don't pay particular notice to any currency less than Hunnitz, however after zooming in on this coin of Cook's Waka, It appears there is indeed a machine between the two masts. FACT: Cook left New Zealand a few months later, however it seems quite hastily after an altercation with a local chief called Hone Danger. In his haste, Cook peeled out of the harbour in Endevour leaving the CT90 hidden in a Mcdonald's car park in Porirua. Not much is understood about what happened to Cook's transport over the next 80 years. Further research is indeed needed, however on occasion throughout the history books it appears that the machine was noted. I hope to find more examples of this over the next little while. However, I have no doubt in my mind whatsoever in the fact that I HAVE FOUND COOK'S ORIGINAL TRANSPORT. Treaty of Waitangi Signing in 1840 CURRENT DAY The Real Deal. Cook's Original bike as found by me this year: Cook's Own Transport - The original, one and only. Please join me over the next few months, while I take time to preserve this historically significant machine. I hope to bring you a restoration sympathetic to what James Cook what have wanted before being murdered in Hawaii for giving too many prossi's syphilis. Stay tuned. Subscribe. This is a journey you won't want to miss. #cookstransport #eastcape2018