Kissell Archives - Scooter in the Sticks

Motoped

November 30, 2015 by Scooter in the Sticks 26 Comments

I was at Kissell Motorsports buying oil and a filter for my Vespa when owner Craig Kissell showed me his new line of bikes — the Motoped — probably the most elegantly engineered machine I’ve seen in a long time. If you want a moped, then you really need to look at the Motoped.

The Motoped is a lovely machine and comes in three versions — the Cruzer show here, the Pro, and my favorite, the Survival. And with a four-stroke, 49cc engine. Craig tells me they are built in the United States (Kansas I think) though parts are brought in from different parts of the world.

Like the Brooks leather seat on the Cruzer courtesy of Brooks Seats Limited in the United Kingdom. And the bike is loaded with machined parts that make it something you just don’t see in a moped.

The Motoped Cruzer will be a hipster hit.

Wooden fenders with brass attachments on the Cruzer. You don’t see that everyday. As I looked it over there was one feature or detail after another that made me go, “Wow”.

My favorite — the Motoped Survival. This machine had the same elegant build with all sorts of details that say let’s ride. Anywhere. With two side cans of fuel you can go and go. And on a more practical side the Motoped would offer the possibility of a little exercise with the peddling possibilities.

The price for the Motoped is around $3500. But for someone wanted to commute, run errands or explore the great outdoors, it might be the best $3500 you ever spend.

Vespa GTS 250 Fuel Pump

January 4, 2015 by Scooter in the Sticks 18 Comments

Received a call today that Kissell Motorsports put a new fuel pump in my scooter. While the pressure test was ok it was making unusual noises. And on the road it would intermittently fail and no longer make any noise. The technician showed me the old one and it looked pretty grimy. A new fuel pump seems like the best course of action.

The Vespa GTS 250 fuel pump is a known issue and was subject to a recall for a great many scooters. Unfortunately mine was not among them.

I had the scooter die three times on the road due to this problem. They all had the following in common that seemed consistent with fuel pump failure:

Fuel pump motor did not spin — the usual pressurization when the ignition is switched on was absent.
The fuel level was low each time the pump failed — from what I’ve read the pumps overheat and the impeller binds causing the motor to quit spinning. After the engine cools the pump began working again but it would only be a matter of time before it would not come back to life.

So the scooter is close to being back on the road. I dropped off my Heidenau K66 LT Snow Tex tires to be mounted which should have me all ready for the rest of the winter riding season. For anyone considering year round riding I can’t stress how nice these tires are for rain, snow, gravel, slush, and plain dry frozen roads. Noticeably better traction in all cases. The only negative is that you lose a bit of responsiveness — the flickable nature of the Vespa is impaired a bit. You get used to it quickly though.

With the fuel pump replaced I’m good for another 25,000 miles or so…

When the Vespa Won’t Start

December 26, 2014 by Scooter in the Sticks 29 Comments

After weeks of grey, gloomy skies, the return of the sun and the thermometer soaring to 39F could only mean a wonderful opportunity to go for a ride. And with the recent addition of heated grips and Tucano Urbano muffs there would be a cosmic alignment of solar and electric heat to produce the coziest of rides. With an entire day open the last thing on my mind was what to do when the Vespa won’t start.

After weighing geographic options I headed south towards breakfast at the Spruce Creek Bakery. The light was dazzling and the air seemed swept clear of any dense or negative energy. Gazing into the distance I entertained a rush towards the Maryland border and on into Virginia — just because I could and because I haven’t gone for a long ride in awhile.

The Vespa now has Koso heated grips and Tucano muffs installed to keep my hands warm. Usually at this temperature I would have my electric gloves on but instead opted for my LL Bean deerskin field gloves — light, supple, and comfortable. They’re similar to the Aerostich elkskin ropers that I wrecked in the garden.

While it wasn’t that cold (39F) it was obvious that the muffs did a great job offering protection from the wind. The heated grips weren’t warm, they were HOT. So hot that I had to run them on half power. As the weather gets colder I’ll experiment with the need for heavier gloves.

I was also surprised how quickly I adapted to my hands being inside the muffs. No issues at all save for a need to be deliberate with any thumb actions — starter, kill switch, horn, turn signals — since your hands are inside these big, fixed muffs.

The bakery was closed so I continued on towards Sinking Valley and another place to eat. Twenty-six miles from home and the scooter died.

This is as far as I got. Stopped to make a picture inside the underpass, got back on the scooter, started the engine, it ran for a few seconds and it died. I’ve been here before and some will probably say I should have gotten it fixed already. Try again, runs for a second and dies.

My best guess is the fuel pump is failing. When I turn on the ignition I don’t hear the pump running which is a bad sign. It’s done this twice in the past year. Each time I’d wait a minute or so, try again and it would start right up and run all day.

After about a half-hour I decide it’s time to get someone to fetch the scooter.

It’s always something when the Vespa won’t start. Having no cell coverage doesn’t help. At least the sun was shining and the temperature was in the low forties as I started pushing the scooter back towards Spruce Creek, Pennsylvania in hopes of a cell signal. It’s less than a mile.

A half-dozen vehicles stopped to ask if I needed help. Not a single Vespa technician among them. Nice to know that people care about an old man pushing a Vespa along a road.

In the parking lot of the Spruce Creek United Methodist Church I was able to get one bar of AT&T coverage to reach out to my friend Paul. He was available and would bring his truck to haul the dead scooter to Kissell Motorsports and most likely a new fuel pump.

While I waited I watched the fisherman work their way along the Little Juniata River just a few hundred yards from where Spruce Creek dumps its water and fish into the river. This is a popular spot for fly fishing. Not far from here is the club where President Jimmy Carter was a frequent fishing visitor.

Now, on to the dead scooter. I wish it would stay dead because it would be easier to diagnose and fix. As luck (bad) would have it the Vespa started. And more bad luck showed no cell signal again. So off I went with an eye open for Paul’s big blue truck.

About five miles up the road I saw him, we coordinated plans, and headed to Kissell’s to drop on the scooter.

After checking the Vespa in for repairs Craig Kissell showed us a 2012 Moto Guzzi V7 Racer that was just traded. Amazing bit of engineering and I could see Paul wanted it. Craig was ready to make it happen but Paul was too close to a recent Ducati acquisition. The more amazing part of the story was what the owner traded this motorcycle for — a new Vespa Sprint 150.

Go figure.

Anyways, I won’t see the Vespa again until after the new year. Until then I can focus on other projects like getting my darkroom rolling again or clearing the basement so a new gas fired boiler can be installed and the smelly old oil fired one (and the storage tank) can be carted away.

Always things to do, especially when the Vespa won’t start…

Ducati Riding

October 19, 2011 by Scooter in the Sticks 9 Comments

That’s me, a dumbstruck tourist with a Ducati. The Ducati Diavel to be exact. Fresh off a Vespa pushing 22 horsepower to a power cruiser with an additional 140 horsepower. That’s 162 horsepower for those of you who ride K bikes.

This was how an evening ride with the owner of Kissell Motorsports began a few months ago.

Actually this ride began many months before that when Craig Kissell announced the new Ducati and suggested he and I should take a ride together and take notes. Sounded like a plan to me.

We left the shop with Craig on the Multistrada and me on the Diavel. The last time I was on a Ducati was a ride on the Hypermotard. Another experience in the meaning of contrast between a Vespa and something with power far beyond my imagination. I’d read about the Diavel and forged a healthy respect in my head. It seemed to be an engine on wheels, and one of those wheels, the rear one, was eight inches wide.

I chose to start with the Diavel figuring I would face my fears and inadequacies right away, and also take advantage of the freeway leg of our ride — smooth pavement with gently sweeping curves. The easiest landscape to ride. At some point it occurred to me that Craig might be checking up on me after having woken up in the middle of the night wondering what possessed him to just start giving me motorcycles to ride. He needed to see first hand that a Vespa rider could handle something that required more than twisting a throttle. If he did have concerns he never voiced them.

If someone had asked me to describe the Ducati experience at that moment I would have said, “Powerful, finicky, mechanical.” When you are riding a Ducati you know you are on a machine. That’s how I felt after the Hypermotard. And all the Ducati riders I knew would get a faraway look in their eyes when they talked about their motorcycles and the sounds they made.

I expected more of the same with the Diavel.

I was wrong.

Craig Kissell is pretty laid back. At least he seems that way when you seem him at the shop or out in public. He seems that way when he rolls an expensive motorcycle out of the showroom, hands me the keys and says to have fun. I’ve watched him talk with customers in the same easy manner that we talk. He lets you decide what you like and what you don’t. I didn’t think I would like the Diavel. He didn’t care, just said to write whatever I wanted. I suppose he knows everyone has favorite motorcycles and others they don’t care for.

We had less than two hours to ride. Not enough time to ride, sit down and share opinions and have me take any kind of notes that would be a rigorous comparison of the two Ducati motorcycles. So I’ll just share my general response to both. If you want to know what Craig thinks stop by and see him.

The Diavel was one of the smoothest motorcycles I have ever ridden. Shockingly so. And the engine sound and smoothness was definitely un-Ducati like in my estimation, misguided as it is. And the bike was powerful, fast, comfortable and easy to ride. After 25 miles I was smiling and pleasantly surprised by the performance. No bad words from me about this bike though definitely not something that fits into my riding life.

Now it was my turn on the Multistrada, a Ducati that I had my eye on for a long time, one that I felt would definitely fit into my riding life. A mile down the road and I’m telling myself, “This is a Ducati”. Touchy power, the mechanical clatter I associate with a Ducati engine, and a harsher suspension than I expected. Riding a Vespa GTS spoils you when I comes to road comfort.

We got back to Kissell Motorsports at closing time in a rush, a rush that those two motorcycles embraced easily. Before I pass judgment on the Multistrada I need to ride it a bit longer. And take a few more pictures.

Until then, all I can say for sure, is that riding a Ducati is fun.

First Date with the BMW K1600 GTL

June 21, 2011 by Scooter in the Sticks 27 Comments

This is the 2012 BMW K1600 GTL that Kissell Motorsports provided me with to find out what a Vespa rider thought of this serious touring motorcycle. I made this picture later in the evening after a few hours of riding. I had to sit down for a minute and compose my thoughts, think about where I would ride in the morning, and wonder how I had come in a short period of time to think it wasn’t such a big motorcycle after all.

This isn’t really a review of the bike. That will come in the next installment. This is just our first date.

Craig Kissell doesn’t offer these motorcycles lightly, especially something as expensive and complicated as the K1600. Arriving after work I saw a group of machines in the parking lot near the bike. Nate Mattern, sales manager for Kissell Motorsports, and I had planned to ride together for awhile and compare notes. I thought they were going to have me ride the pink Vespa until I realized Nate would eventually have to take a turn with it. Not that I have anything against pink machines, my mountain bike is a more subdued version of pink, but I really didn’t want to have to manage a 150cc machine against a six cylinder powerhouse like the BMW.

Nate and I discussed routes, time limitations for him, and decided I would ride a BMW R1200 RT during the first leg of our trip. I would take the lead so I control stops for pictures, set the pace, and generally make sure I didn’t embarrass myself with an official representative of Kissell Motorsports. I wanted to be able to do more reviews in the future.

I’d never ridden with Nate before but knew enough about him that I’d convince myself he would be uncomfortably fast on the road and I’d spend all my time wondering which way he went. It was bad enough that he’s a Ducati owner and rider, a gonzo mountain biker, (I’ve not met a slow Ducati rider yet) but he’s also a commercial pilot having flown for a number of commercial carriers.

Pilots are all about speed right?

So I thought it best for my image that I stay in front.

We left town in a hurry heading west on US 322. Sailing over Skytop I was cruising at 75mph with Nate in the distance in my mirrors. The RT was smooth and I felt almost no transitional weirdness from the Vespa. It’s easy to understand why riders like them.

It was a bright, clear evening and we owned the road. That bubble burst as a Burgman 650 cruised by us like it was nothing for the rider in shirt sleeves and dress pants to commute home at 80mph. For a moment I considered turning the throttle but I had Nate to worry about. It’s what you do when you’re in the lead.

First stop at a familiar road cut on the way to Philipsburg. The GTL isn’t that much bigger looking than the RT but to my eye it has a sportier look to it. The topcase and big rear seating area does place it squarely in the tourer world but it still looked sleek. Nate and I talked a bit and he shared his thoughts on the fly-by-wire throttle and how different it felt from conventional throttle cable systems. I held my tongue and didn’t ask what he was talking about. I figured I would find out soon enough.

I turn off into a gravel parking area near Black Moshannon State Park, in part to take a few pictures and in part to make sure if someone is going to drop the K1600 Nate can go first. You can’t tell in the picture but the gravel is loose. And it raises the question of how I am thinking about the motorcycles. The RT seems completely manageable and not much different than riding my Vespa, something which indicates a mastery on my part of motorcycles or a wildly unreasonable idea of how big the K1600 really is.

For now, let’s go with the idea that I’m a really great rider.

Nate shared with me later that he swallowed hard when I turned off into the gravel. He’s smiling in the picture because I think he thought I would be taking my turn on the big bike.

I told him I wanted to ride the RT a little longer. What I should have said was that I wanted to ride to a paved swap point.

The moment finally arrives where I’m going to take the new machine. Nate’s pilot training surfaces as he begins a fluid expression of a K1600 checklist outlining every feature and mode on this seriously equipped motorcycle. I didn’t exactly quit listening but my brain quit accepting data as he was running through the various computer controlled riding modes.

So I didn’t seem ungrateful I asked Nate to show me how to get the K1600 on the centerstand. There is always a trick and he showed it to me. I wouldn’t want to try it in gravel or on soft ground but it wasn’t all that difficult.

We also discussed the sensitivity of the throttle and Nate urged caution for a few miles as I got used to how touchy it could be. It didn’t take long to appreciate the advice. He talked about his preferences leaning towards impractical motorcycles like his Ducati 696 or his favorite the Ducati Hypermotard 1100 EVO. Fast, powerful, but not possessing much utilitarian value.

The BMW K1600 GTL is designed to meet utilitarian needs. “Honey, I’m going to the store to get a loaf of bread. Then I’m going to swing by Seattle and be home.” This is the machine for that kind of quick trip. Nate has to get back and we head down the mountain towards home.

Sitting on the bike I can sense the greater mass. Or at least I’ve been telling myself this for the past hour. The throttle is sensitive and the power response is instantaneous. Sloppy throttle work won’t be appreciated on this bike. After a few miles the bike and the throttle seem to merge with my body. I’m not pushing anything but it’s kind of a marvel how easy it is to ride.

Nate heads back to the shop and I turn towards home. I stop on campus for another picture and think about where I’m going to ride in the morning.

The first date was almost over and with only 50 miles on the BMW I wanted a second. At this early point I already knew a few things.

1. Without a doubt this was the smoothest motorcycle I have ever ridden. Engine, road feel, everything. An engineering marvel.

2. It’s surprisingly nimble for a big touring motorcycle.

3. The fly-by-wire throttle takes a little time to acquire the right touch but once you do it is a pleasure to use.

4. It’s not my Vespa. No room for sloppy handling. Too much mass to think you can muscle this around. It requires a rider who pays attention and understands what it means to manage this kind of weight.

5. If I were buying a touring bike, this would be it. I like the BMW R 1200 RT but this K bike is in a different league.

I’ll be posting more involved review of the BMW K1600 GTL in the next week or so. I have been letting the story simmer for awhile but it’s time to write it down.

If you can’t wait stop by and have Craig or Nate show you the bike.

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