A brief follow-up to some of the safety discussions of earlier posts. Each of us come to a fork in the road where we are faced with a choice. In regard to safety I have absolutely no control over the road or the other drivers and riders I encounter. I know that I am left with a simple choice—to take personal action to protect myself and manage risk myself or to scream into the wind that others should look out for me and manage themselves appropriately. 
The choice for me has been easy and its price low. The only requirement is that I keep making the choice for the entire journey.
Switching gears now to off-road riding on the Vespa LX150. A couple weeks ago I was riding on a country road that switched from smooth asphalt to dirt. I proceeded about one quarter mile before turning around not wanting to ride the 15 miles in dirt before hitting pavement again. I decided to experiment on gravel a bit and find the Vespa floats uncomfortably on loose gravel. I have Pirelli SL38 tires design for the street and that accounts for most of the issues. A more aggressive tread design would probably improve performance. I could manage 15 to 25 MPH on the Vespa without it feeling as if it would lay itself down—a far cry from the speeds I could manage as a kid on a dirt bike.
So I can’t recommend the Vespa as a dual-sport tourer….
Long time reader, first time comment. I love the blog and your artful photography.
I have Pirelli SL60s which are a semi-knobby design and work quite well on “fine” gravel roads. Still a bit floaty when the gravel is very coarse (maybe 3/4″ or larger.)
Hello ron and welcome! Always glad to hear a new voice here. Thanks for your kind words too.
I’ll have to take a look at the SL60s. I know Kenda also makes some pretty agressive tires–they look like snow tires. For now I think I’ll keep the gravel roads to a minimum.
steve
why mess up that pretty paint job with rock chips?
irondad: I think you’re right. The Vespa is going to spend most of its time on paved roads. I’ll get one of the KLRs like the Rush Hour Rambler has if I want to do some adventuring on the unpaved road….
steve