Scooter in the Sticks

Exploring life on a Vespa, Royal Enfield Himalayan, Honda Trail 125, and a Kawasaki W650

Absent-Minded Vespa Mechanic

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Vespa scooter and tools in a drivewayNighttime 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”.

Vespa GTS scooter at nightInto 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.

Vespa GTS batteryI 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?

Antigravity Batteries

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Vespa GTS scooterThis post is not about the Vespa.  It’s about the Honda Fit on the left side of the picture.  And everything I’m about to share is my dog Lily’s fault.  I happened like this…

On Thursday morning Lily, Junior and I piled into the Fit and went to the park.  While there, she took a predictable dump and me, being the responsible dog owner I am, gathered up the logs in a plastic bag. Since there were no public garbage cans available for disposal I tied the bag off and put it on the floor of the Fit to dispose of at home.  After some energetic tennis ball retrieval games we piled back into the car and went home.

Fast forward to Saturday morning when I get into the Honda Fit to look for my raincoat — I forgot the bag.  Two days of roasting temperatures transformed the inside of the car into some sort of cosmic level fragrance center.  It was bad.

Working quickly while holding my breath I get the windows down and abandon the car for later in the day.

Fast forward to Saturday evening when I go outside to close the car windows.  As soon as I opened the car door and the dome light didn’t come on I knew what happened.  Lily made me leave the key in the ignition in the on position all day long and killed the battery.

Bad dog.

Anti-Gravity batteryEnter the Micro-Start Mini XP-5 from Antigravity Batteries.  I bought one of these to keep with the Vespa so if I’m on the road and my battery dies I can just jump start the scooter.  It’s about the size of my iPhone, comes with a nice little case that includes jumper cables and a variety phone and mobile device charger cords.  For $99 I thought it was a good investment.

With a dead Honda Fit in the driveway I had a couple choices — move a lot of stuff around so I could get the van in a place where I could jump the Fit, or try out the Mini XP-5.

Took but a few seconds to plug the short jumper cables into the battery, connect it to the Fit, and turn the key.  The car started right up.

Lily’s not a bad dog afterall.

This is the smallest battery made by Antigravity Batteries but it will jump start engines up to 1600ccs.  The slightly larger ones will start a V8 engine a dozen times.  Or recharge an iPad that many times.  It’s a pretty cool piece of technology to have available should you need power.

I got mine from Revzilla.com.

Tranquility Interrupted

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Gordon Harkins with his Vespa GTS 300“My Vespa is dead”.  That’s the message I got while sitting at the Pump Station awaiting Gordon’s arrival.  A quick conversation led us both to believe the battery was dead — a victim of too little riding during the winter despite being tethered to a Battery Tender.  Tranquility interrupted because of a dead battery is not the way you want to start your riding day.  The call reminded me that I want to think hard about purchasing an emergency battery for the scooter.

I arrived at the scene with the little bag of tricks.

Gordon Harkins with a Torx bitUnlike my older Vespa GTS 250 that requires a common Phillips head screwdriver to expose the battery his bright red 300 calls for a Torx bit.  Like a blind squirrel finding an acorn, Gordon had one with him and had already removed the cover so we could jump start the scooter.  I’ve jump started mine several times from a car battery.

Out of habit I flicked the kill switch on and off and hit the starter button.  The scooter engine turned over and came to life.  Gordon had one of those looks you get when you think you’ve done something stupid; I probably had the look of a magician who just pulled a fast one over the audience.

The kill switch contacts could have been dirty or the battery really is on it’s last legs.  For now it was enough to have the engine running.

Gordon Harkins on Vespa 300There’s a special camaraderie among scooter and motorcycle riders that does not extend to automobile owners — a willingness to help out when things breakdown on the road.  Not just with friends, but with strangers as well.

Vespa GTS 300 on the roadI followed Gordon home to make sure the scooter functioned ok and to let Lily the Hammer, my wife’s Belgian Sheepdog puppy play with Gordon’s dog for awhile.  Success on all counts and tranquility interrupted gave way to a fine day.

Order from Chaos

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Assortment of wrenches and toolsThe drawers of my toolbox are an uncomfortable reflection of my mind — messy, haphazard, chaotic.  It’s a wonder I accomplish anything.  This spring marks the ninth winter that the Vespa scooter has endured and collected more dirt, grit and salt along with the attendant damage to metal and finish.  Trying to drive some order from chaos I worked to transition the scooter from winter service into a machine ready for the warm weather.  With a little wrenching the winter tires came off and the still serviceable summer ones returned.  I had already changed the filters and oil a couple months ago so the next order of business was the muffler — heavy with dirt and rust.

Spray can of Rustoleum high temperature paintFor a few moments I considered replacing the stock Vespa muffler with an Akrapovič or other exotic aftermarket product.  That lasted only a moment as I looked at price (wow) and more importantly noise.  The stock muffler is more or less silent.  The aftermarket ones I’ve heard are louder and annoying with the “look at me” qualities I felt were reserved for other motorcycles.

So I took the muffler off, wirebrushed all the big chucks of rush and dirt away, hosed it off, dried it in the sun and gave the muffler four coats of high temperature black paint.  It’s a familiar ritual.

repainted Vespa mufflerYou can see how badly the surface of the muffler is.  The black paint merely changes the visual tone from a rusty mess to a flat black shadow.  Looks great from ten feet or more.  Someday I’ll have to change it.  Just not today.

I see pictures on the ModernVespa.com forum of people’s scooters and I am astounded at how shiny and perfect they are even with thousands of miles on them.  That takes work and special care to maintain that kind of appearance.  And probably never venturing off road or into winter.  We each make decisions about what’s important.  For me, as long as the scooter is safe to ride, that’s all that’s important.  At least so far.

Vespa GTS scooter at sunsetTook a short ride this evening to make sure I balanced the tires correctly, got the exhaust back on with no escaping gases burning away at the fuel line, and that the scooter felt ready for more warm weather riding.

If there is anything holding up more riding it’s my own physical state.  Ten days after being diagnosed with pneumonia I seem to be recovery at a steady pace.  I’ve rested and taken care of myself and have only started to venture back into a more normal routine.  Another step to add a little order to chaos that has been persistent of late.

When the Vespa Won’t Start

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shadow of Vespa scooter and rider

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.

farm landscape near Pennsylvania Furnace, PA

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.

Vespa GTS 250ie scooter in cornfield

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.

Vespa GTS scooter at railroad underpass

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.

iPhone showing No Service

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.

Spruce Creek, PA church

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.

trout fisherman on spruce creek

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.

Moto Guzzi V7 Racer at Kissell Motorsports

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…