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James May builds a Honda Monkey

Started by Watcher, July 27, 2018, 10:15:05 PM

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Watcher

Anyone who has seen TopGear probably knows James May, he has a rather interesting show that I came across called "James May the Reassembler", where he starts with a piece of technology in its most rendered components and he puts it together while talking about it, in a rather James May sort of way.

It sounds rather boring, and it may be, but I also find it a bit relaxing and also quite interesting, and some of the insights that James shares can be rather profound.  Not only does he talk about the piece of tech itself, it's history, it's impact to the world, and how it's led to further advancement, but he also goes rather minute and talks about the intricacies of specific parts themselves and marvels at how advanced for the era something might have been.  He also shares personal anecdotes and feelings/thoughts about certain things.


Anyway, this one in particular he rebuilds a Honda Z50A.  Around the 15 minute mark he talks about the feeling of riding a motorcycle in a particular way that made me think.  He likens gearing up for a ride to ancient times when a knight would put on armor and mount a horse, riding off to the horizon on a mission, and I've never made that comparison so it made me chuckle.
He also describes how the rider becomes one with the machine in a rather James May sort of way, being quite descriptive while entirely layman at the same time.  He makes the juxtaposition to car driving, how in a car your body moves in reaction to the behavior of the vehicle, while on a motorcycle you body moves more as an operating force to the behavior of the vehicle.  You "become the bike," in a sense.
It's something we all know, and we can all convey to others in our own way, but for some reason the James May way of saying it just seemed extra interesting to me.


Anyway, it's about a half hour long, if you ask me it's worth a watch.  If it was boring then feel free to throw a shoe at me for wasting your time, but hopefully you were able to pass some time with a snack/drink and it made you think.

"The point of a journey is not to arrive..."

-Neil Peart

mr72

I saw that some time ago, and I was similarly intrigued and entertained by it. It's a good show and this is a cool episode. Of course I have a similar personality in many ways to James May so this show kind of felt like talking to myself. Good call.

Another show that is interesting for the sort of passive motorcycle enthusiast with a similar kind of British wit and pace is "The Motorbike Show" with Henry Cole. They had a couple of seasons on Netflix recently but it's no longer on there. Worth it to find where to watch it if you dig that episode above of James May.

tobyd

He rebuilds a lawnmower in one of them.

My thats some dull watching...

The Buddha

James may is boring, however he is one heck of a smart dude. Or someone who is writing his stuff is smart.
That short clip of him explaining who we can ride a bicycle ... basically because we can was awesome.

Cool.
Buddha.
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Kilted1

Based on his delivery style and stage presence, if May ever wants to be a 3rd year economics lecturer, he's in!

I enjoyed the project and I've generally enjoyed James May in the past.  But had a hard time staying awake.

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