Yes, that’s the score. For all of you scooter doubters a Vespa LX150 can outrun a dog quite handily and I now have the direct experience to offer testament.
The weekend was lovely and Sunday morning was bright and a balmy 55 degrees Fahrenheit at 9AM. I left the driveway with a general inclination to proceed East through Penns Valley. The police politely detoured me to make way for a bicycle race but other than that I largely had the road to myself. I wandered through the rural countryside at a leisurely 25 MPH looking at the fields and cows and trees have a good old time. As I rounded a curve I caught a flash in the corner of my eye and looked to see a brown dog racing towards me on a collision course. After the initial primal dog attack reaction my training took over and I twisted the throttle just a bit up to about 30MPH as the dog closed on my I rolled off the throttle to throw off his intercept timing for a moment. As he hit the brakes to adjust I rolled on the throttle and sped right by him. He was a barking running beast growing smaller in my rear view mirror. Vespa 1, Dog 0.
Not a mile down the road came another even larger beast running at me from behind a house. I did the same thing this time but tried a more dramatic slowing and sure enough the dog’s timing was wrecked, he tried to recover and at that instant I sped past him. This poor guy was so confused that he fell over himself trying to get after me. Vespa 2, Dogs 0.
I met one more dog on the run a few miles later and this one fared the same—a twisting confused mass of legs and feet watching another scooter get away. Vespa 3, Dogs 0.
The last dog encounter occurred while I was stopped taking the above picture. I still had my helmet on and earplugs so it took me awhile to recognize that a barking critter was slowly making his way towards me. He was about 150 feet away when I saw him. I finished with the camera, stowed it under the seat, pulled on my gloves and called out to Fido who just barked more. I started the Vespa and I guess the roar of the 150cc engine just scared the life out of him because he shied away and started trotting back home, still barking, but accepting the risk of approaching any closer to my obviously powerful machine. Vespa 4, Dogs 0.
So, for any of you who are concerned about the Vespa being unsuited for the road, underpowered for emergency situations like this, well, get over yourself. A Harley could not have performed any better.
Steve,
One more time let me explain this to you ( an overly patient sigh, here ). When you go to the store and buy bacon you stow it under the seat and not in the pocket of your new riding pants. Then, when you get home, TAKE THE BACON OUT of your pocket and put it in the icebox. 🙂
Interesting, three and a half chases in one day, huh? Horsepower still trumps dogpower. Vespas rule and dogs drool.
Gotta quit before I try to get too cute and die of sugar poisoning.
Fun story.
Dan
I’ve never had 4 in one day, but I have never had any problems out running a dog on my LX150. The strategy Steve used works great when they are coming from the front. When directly from the side or from behind, they don’t stand a chance.
Steve, I didn’t see a “link to this post” button, but thought that I’d let you know that I cross linked this post to The Angry Bees Blog.
David
Dan,
I actually used to carry stuff like that around when I was photographing on farms. So many packs of farm dogs around that I needed it to make friends….
david,
Yeah, the dogs don’t stand a chance. I suppose a greyhound could give me a run but you don’t see many of those out running about.
Thanks for the link on your blog. that Daring Plum scooter is sweet. I almost got that instead of the grey but changed my mind at the last minute.
steve