The influence of the baby boom generation on motorcycling cannot be overstated. From the dirt bike explosion of the ’60s and ’70s through the cruiser phenomenon of the ’80s and beyond, motorcycling will never see another epoch like it. And no brand benefitted more than Honda from the confluence of societal affluence and motorcycling’s burgeoning cultural relevance.

在智能手机和连接性出现之前，我们渴望移动。我是X-ers，但是繁荣的影响力是如此强烈，以至于我也被扫除了。我想搬家，走出城镇，到达下一个城镇。摩托车是它的核心。本田饰有像珠宝一样的珠宝阵容，是摩托车爆炸爆炸的代名词。

But, over time, the luster went off the movement. Our craving for mobility sullied by the effects of climate change, road congestion, and the cost of fuel and insurance. Now we have an entire generation that takes no pleasure from words that were music to the ears of an entire generation:let’s go for a ride。

当我的女儿三岁时，我买了一辆大众巴士。我想象我们两个人（她的母亲休假之后）编织了向后编织的人。A friend of the devil is a friend of mine同时咀嚼冰淇淋和笨拙的浓缩咖啡。它从未发生过。露营地的Wi-Fi太虚弱了，与虫子，薄床垫和臭外屋一起，我试图让女儿的公路旅行失败。这并不是说她不想看到新事物或发现新的地方，而是这是我女儿的关键，而对于许多人来说，运动的缘故完全没有魅力。从我们居住的地方，纽约市的开车是穿越山脉和翠绿的佛蒙特州乡村的迷人之旅。我的女儿想见曼哈顿，但对之间没有兴趣。而且，从我对她的同时代人的了解来看，她并不孤单。正是这种思维方式的变化对本田来说是腹部打击。

Anyone around to witness the golden age of motorcycling has a Honda memory. My first ride on a motorized two-wheeler was on a Z50 at the grandly misnamed Shannonville World’s Fair on the Tyendinaga Mohawk reservation. After my father handed a man $1, I hopped on the bike, twisted the throttle as instructed, and went arrow straight into a crowd preoccupied with watching the nail-driving competition. In the aftermath of the crash I was sore, humiliated, and embarrassed. I was convinced I’d never attempt motorcycling again.

如果您曾经经历过高昂的经历 - 从完成马拉松比赛，赢得自行车比赛，以荣誉毕业 - 您知道成功的诱人能力。可以理解的是，本田一直在追逐过去的成功，希望机械和营销的某种结合能重新点燃火焰。They’ve given it a shot with a space-age cruiser (the Rune), a wheeled Tupperware container (the Pacific Coast) and, alarmingly, the DN-01, which is what happens if a cruiser, a scooter, and a suppository walk into a bar and come out as one. Never ones to give up, Honda’s latest gambit is this: minibikes.

A few weeks ago, I was invited to sample the four motorcycles in Honda’s “minimoto” range: Ruckus, Navi, Grom and Monkey. At 49cc, the $2,899 (all prices USD) Ruckus’s tubular-steel framework give it the look of a lawn chair bolted overtop a sump pump. Hopping on a busy big-city street with traffic flowing at a post rush-hour pace left me feeling a little vulnerable, but that wasn’t my biggest beef with the bike. As I learned years ago from my first experience with the long-running Ruckus, its scooter-ish riding position isn’t my ideal way to sit on a bike. Perhaps it’s just my natural bowleggedness, but my knees resist being tucked together. The Ruckus is undeniably funky, but it took the Navi to upset my expectations.

Of the four minimotos, the Navi is the most curious. Aimed squarely at the unlicensed, cheap and not-so-cheerful, faux-pedal-equipped electric scooters and motorcycles that have become ubiquitous, the Navi, at $1,807, is unbelievably cheap. And it was its cost that lowered my expectations. But its 109 cc, air-cooled single moves it along with surprising authority, especially if you’ve just jumped off the Ruckus. The Navi, like the Ruckus, has origins in CVT-equipped scooters, but you straddle the Navi like a motorcycle, and that makes all the difference if you’re a seasoned motorcyclist. And the Navi never made me feel like I was about to be vacuumed off the street by an enraged Prius driver.

本田范围的最后二人组对摩托车手特别感兴趣，他们不愿意离开转移。GROM和猴子具有五速变速箱和124 cc气冷单打，机械上几乎相同。但这就是相似之处的结局。斜视和4,199美元的猴子令人信服地传播了复古氛围，就像凯旋的常绿邦纳维尔一样。就像现代的1200 cc邦纳维尔几乎使原始自行车的位移翻了一番，新猴子也比本田的原始猴子大得多。但是在这种情况下，更大肯定会更好。

最近，自从在县集市上那天那天，我第一次骑着70年代的Z50骑行，虽然自行车和冰棒一样可爱，但我的六英尺框架并不容易适合它。但是，只要您愿意为时尚付出代价，新的猴子带有宽敞和填充的鞍座以及可容纳成人的车把，脚步和座椅之间的关系，使其成为有用的机器。GROM的价格为3,499美元，非常便宜，并且可以完成猴子所做的一切 - 毫无疑问的复古风格，对于许多人来说，这将是决定因素。

尽管本田的迷你店与骑自行车一样明智和便宜，但我很难想象他们会在富裕的西方国家找到立足点。写这篇文章让我很痛苦，我希望我错了，就像我认为智能手机受欢迎程度与呼啦狂的狂热一样短。北美是SUV和皮卡车的土地。小型，敏捷，有趣且明智的车辆被视为拟人化的弱点，并且像科学，基于事实的新闻业，问责制以及我们一半人口的一半人自行做出决定一样可笑。迷你吧不是我们困境的答案。但是，如果本田的小奇迹发现观众愿意抓住一个旧的（和令人惊讶的声音），那不是一个令人鼓舞的信号。