Nighttime Wrenching
On Monday morning I was suited up and ready to ride to work only to find the Vespa near death when I pressed the starter button. Hard to describe the level of disappointment this old man feels when a scooter ride is snatched away. There’s some consolation in being able to report no curses or expletives emerged from my disappointed brain — just a calm push of the scooter back into the garage.
A long day at work along with evening errands kept me from investigating the problem with the Vespa. And Tuesday evening had me finishing our taxes before Uncle Sam hauled myself and the scooter away. Finally this evening I found time to have a look. Like so many things though, my estimate of available “time” was inaccurate. Or perhaps more precisely, I didn’t realize how fast I was rushing through time to get the Vespa moving again.
The differential diagnosis which was confirmed by fellow riders on the ModernVespa.com forum was either a dead battery or bad ground wire. Simple things to investigate and fix. Found the ground wire — it looked dirty and corroded so I removed it and being in a rush and not paying attention promptly dropped the bolt and washers into an abyss in the engine compartment. Predictable move for an absent-minded Vespa mechanic.
After a trip to the hardware store for replacement parts I pushed the start button and the scooter started right up. Shut the engine off and tried again and the engine barely turned. Pushed the starter button again and the engine turned over slowly and started. Barely. As I rode out of the driveway I’m thinking “bad battery”.
Into the Night with a Dead Battery
Zipped up the street and the Vespa ran fine. Didn’t want to breakdown far from home so I stayed in the neighborhood. Just up the hill from our garage I shut the engine off and let the headlight drain some energy from the battery. Hit the starter button after a few minutes and I’m back to a hard start. Once home I hooked the engine up to my AntiGravity battery and the Vespa came to life.
Get your own peace of mind regarding dead batteries — Antigravity XP-5 MINI Micro Start – Personal Battery Jump Starter & Charger – Back Up Power Supply
So — dead battery. Hopefully.
I See a Battery in my Future
Despite being less than two years old the battery seems to be dead. Perhaps running year round in cold weather takes a toll. Others have suggested constant use of a Battery Tender shortens the life of the battery. Don’t know, don’t care. Just want to go for a ride. So tomorrow I’ll stop by Kissell Motorsports and hopefully find a new battery. And once installed I expect the engine to start.
Am I asking too much?
“I’ll stop by Kissell Motorsports and hopefully find a new battery. And once installed I expect the engine to start.
Am I asking too much?”
Yes, because Steve riding the Vespa is a form of pleasuure,
and so too should your repair of the Vespa.
Just reading the posting I could feel the mad rushing of you!
You’re back to work after illness, you want in your mind’s eye
to return to as life was before your flu. Not!
Take it easy Steve, slow down (yes!) your federal income taxes
are completed and sent off in time before the deadline.
Now to other things, slowly. Why rush?
Batteries BTW are vulnerable electricity storage devices.
Proper maintenance is important. Suspect while the physical
body of the owner was being pummeled by illness.
your Vespa was sitting unloved
and perhaps too the battery
was disintegrating.
You have money for a new battery? Good; the people
at Kissell shall understand; they too probably read your blog
as much as the rest of us do, eh?
The desire to slow down and the sense I need to speed up collide with increasing frequency. Still searching for the right path through that wilderness of choices.
While I keep the battery on a Battery Tender I think the pressure on the battery through terrible weather and temperatures might exceed the expectations the manufacturer has for them. At least that’s what I’m telling myself.
Hopefully there’s one in stock at Kissell Motorsports!
So far I’ve been lucky with all things electrical on the Vespa.
The bike was three years old when I got it so I replaced the battery. That was three years ago. It’s a Yuasa just like yours.
I store mine for the winter. This year it hibernated from December 15th to March 15th. During that time it was plugged into a trickle charger.
Knock on wood, there are no signs of decay… yet.
I’ve never had good luck with batteries and never had one last three years. I’m on a normal 18 month replacement cycle. I have to think the winter riding, sitting all day in frigid weather at work and other slaps just shorten its life.
That’s what I hope!
If the good folks at Kissell could find the well hidden flasher unit in my Stella—the poor man’s Vespa—and get me back on the road, your battery is a snap.
Given the temperatures here in SC while you were under the weather, I would guess your battery did not react well.
See you back on the road.
I have some riding plans coming up and really want to be back on the road pretty quick lest the word “cancel” passes my lips. I’ll call this morning for a new battery…
Since many standard size batteries are carried by auto parts stores if Kissell doesn’t have it your local Auto Zone, Advance Auto or NAPA will. I’ve bought batteries with success from all those places. Lately I’ve been buying from Batterysharks.com and the results from bargain batteries have been notable. If you’re going through batteries that quickly you might give them a look.
Kissell always has batteries. My friend Paul has purchased batteries at those other places for his scooter but what they sell or batteries that are the right size but for lawn tractors and such. His experience is they don’t hold up as well as the motorcycle batteries. I have no experience though with them. Probably should give them a run sometime.
Kissell checked mine this evening — dead cell. They’re charging a new battery now and I’ll pick it up Friday after work. Bought the last one in July of 2014.
I have been a fan of your Blog for many years, Steve. Glad you are back-up and running.
Thanks for reading — I appreciate the support. Almost back up and running. Tomorrow evening I should be good to go.
Those portable jump starters are truly something all riders should have with their motorcycle/scooter. You could have the auto parts store test your battery, but don’t run the scooter up there and have them connect their tester, the battery has to be “at rest”. (more than 1 hour since it was last charged)
We got a false “ok” when my son took the car over to get it tested. Several jump starts later, I took the battery out, let it sit overnight, took it to the auto parts store, and it failed the same test.
The battery sat in the van all day. Test showed a dead cell. So a new battery should put me back on the road.
The portable batteries are amazing. Don’t leave home without one!
On my old Riva 200 I want through a battery every 18 months & I had no winter storage. I am still rolling on the 2011 battery on the Burgman, I am waiting for the morning it won’t start.
18 to 24 months is all I get with the GTS. And that’s using a Battery Tender in winter though I ride enough I probably don’t need it. I just chalk it up as an operating cost…
Thanks for turning me on to the battery gadget…I want one.
2 lonely bikes in powerless storage shed and 2 in the driveway. Sounds like a must have.
All hail lithium ion….electric motorcycle next…at Kissells now too…ZERO
I wonder sometimes when I’ll be riding an electric scooter. Or electric car. Will it rob me of some of the riding romance???
As a life long 2 wheeled addict, including two attempts to adapt a lawnmower motor and an old electric Minn Kota trolling motor to a bicycle…part of the experience is the mechanics.
At 16 grand the ZERO is out of my reach…but…who knows whats comin.
Yea …an electric scooter sounds perfect…before I slip this mortal coil.
I want to make time (someday) for more mechanics. But finding time to work remains elusive. Perhaps in retirement.
Not ready for a pure electric scooter yet. I need some more internal combustion…
Out of curiosity, why not use the jump start battery right off the bat when it wouldn’t start the first time? I’ve only needed to use mine once on a bike so far. Is the Yuasa battery AGM? If so, then there may be different trickle charging requirements for long life. The Odyssey AGM battery in the Beemer is now about 6-7 years old but I had picked up one of the manufacture recommended trickle chargers. They stated that the use of a regular trickle charger will reduce the useful life of the battery.
I didn’t have time to fiddle when the scooter wouldn’t start — was already late for work. It was a conventional battery and not AGM. I”ll ask about the trickle charger for the replacement.
I don’t have a scooter (yet), but I have a background with ATVs, motorcycles and dune buggies. I too used to run the YUASA batteries, and quickly got sick and tired of replacing them every year or every other year at best. I’ve tried a few different batteries over the years, and I currently run Motobatt AGM batteries in everything I have. Haven’t replaced a single one yet; the oldest is 7 years old and still going strong.
Sounds like an AGM type is worth looking for…
Yours is “no country for old men”, Gramps.
Yeah — I need to live in the country and let someone else take care of my scooter!
So sorry to hear this happened to you. Hopefully the issue can be resolved quickly. Dead batteries are the worst!
A dead cell. New battery purchased and installed and I’m back on the road…
Hi Steve,
Hope you are well,
Reading your post made me feel your need to get back to the scoot and find the route cause of the problem.
Sincerly hope it’s just the battery, like your style in “I don’t care I just want it fixed” attitude 🙂
Take care mate and let us know how you get on.
It’s good that you have Kissal on tap and there when you need them, you do appear to have a good two-way street relationship with them.
Regards
Len
Thankfully it was just a dead battery so no complicated or frustration to deal with. At least that’s what I’m telling myself at the moment.
Kissell Motorsports is a great dealer. I always enjoy visiting. Well, almost always. Sometimes I feel irked that I can’t buy a motorcycle…