Scooter in the Sticks

Exploring life on a Vespa Scooter and Royal Enfield Himalayan motorcycle.

Vespa GTS 250 Fuel Pump

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Fuel pump from Vespa GTS

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.

Old Vespa GTS fuel pump

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.

Vespa GTS 250 in for repair at Kissell Motorsports

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…

Make Mistakes

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contemplating a handIf I’ve learned anything in life it’s that I make mistakes.  Albert Einstein counseled people to make them as part of a method which makes life richer, deeper, and opens doors otherwise invisible.  I was pondering this idea while trying to ease my frustration at line of little mistakes and misjudgments that are maddening.  Ordering the wrong parts, staying up half the night instead of sleeping, neglecting new ATM cards until the bank decides to cancel everything.

My own magical thinking leads me to believe that things will just work out.

Dog in a fairy ringJunior is oblivious to the fairy ring he’s laying in.  I asked him to pose for this picture, a momentary break from our repetitive exercise of hurling and retrieving tennis balls.  Come spring there fairy rings, elf rings to some, will burst forth as a line of mushrooms.  The biology is more complicated than I want to go into.  Being able to see them is a gift of my wife  Kim and her naturalist ways slowly rubbing off on me.

Junior reminds me of mistakes, especially in timing related to inadequate sleep.  The less sleep I have the less time there is for the two of us to run wild.

Dog displaying lazy behavior

Junior reflects my own laziness and sloth of late.  And I’m sure it’s fueled some of the mistakes I’ve been making, especially in regard to installing the heated grips on the Vespa.  It’s still in the garage in pieces and at the rate I’m going it will fall in line between printing my daughter’s prom pictures and finishing the darkroom sink.

I’ve been waiting for over a week for some Posi-Tap connectors only to discover I ordered the wrong size.  With my patience exhausted I just grabbed the quick splice connectors I had on hand and started the electrical work.  It wouldn’t be as “perfect” as I imagined but would likely work just fine.

KOSO heated grips controllerSuccess.  Switched power to the grips and all the lights are on.  So the power is wired correctly.  Was working a bit on the grips.  Have to do a bit more sanding before I can push them onto the bars.  Ran out of energy, heard the whisper of the easy chair.

One step at a time I’lll get the project finished and i’ll probably continue to make mistakes…

Back on the Road Again

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After lunch today my daughter dropped me off at Kissell Motorsports so I could be reunited with my Vespa. The rear master cylinder arrived during the holidays and they installed, checked, and tested it so I was ready to go. When you are used to riding constantly it feels like forever to be without something to ride, even if it is for only a couple weeks. A couple weeks at Christmas when the whole world is busy with other things anyway. The weather was cooperating too with partly sunny skies and temperatures hovering around 35 degrees for my ride home.

Walking into a motorcycle dealership is a bit disorienting. For me at least. You never go right to the service counter but instead do one of those Family Circus kid coming home from school routes through the place. I do a slow stroll through the Vespa’s until the Triumph’s catch my eye. I imagine what it would be like to take the Bonneville T100 up Rattlesnake Pike, or the 2009 Kawasaki KLR up along Pine Creek. I pretty much find I can create a fantasy to accompany any vehicle in the place. Sure, I have my favorites, but a person needs to be flexible.

Craig Kissell, owner of Kissell Motorsports, must see a lot of these Family Circus walks. We try to stay cool and act like adults but I’m sure he sees eyes drift off into imaginary rides when someone stands too long near a Triumph or Ducati. I pause too long near and ask too many questions of a brand new, flat black MP3500. I know that he knows that I like this scooter. He tells me to take it out for a ride. Part of me wants to but another part of me knows I don’t need to be obsessing right now about anything else. I am already coveting an Epson 3800 printer. And a new computer. But that’s a story for another day. I resist the temptation but I do allow Craig to take a picture of me on the MP3. I’ll have to delete that image. If you are out for a ride in Central Pennsylvania is is worth making a stop to look around at all the good things at Kissell Motorsports. Unless you don’t like having that old, kid-like, toy store experience.
The Vespa is ready to go and the extended warranty I purchased covers all the repair costs save for a small deductible. That was a nice surprise. When I pulled out onto the road I was surprised at how powerful the GTS is. It really jumps when you twist the throttle. I had plans to ride straight home but I always get distracted by some view or little winding path. After one short detour down a dirt and cinder road to test out that rear brake I did make a beeline home.

It’s nice to be back on the road.

Non-Riding Adventure

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These could be things like getting thrown in jail for speeding or having your scooter or bike stolen I guess. Or having a dead scooter that is entirely the result of your actions. I raise my hand and accept responsibility for what has become “Dead Scooter in the Sticks”. So I apologize to all of you who visit here looking for writing about riding through the sticks or seeing pictures of the Vespa in whatever landscape I happen to be in. Believe me – I miss it too.

I received the diagnosis from Casey at Kisselmotorsports yesterday concerning the starting problem I had. It appears I was barking up the wrong tree and what’s worse I caused the problem. When I replaced the drive belt I misaligned a washer when I reassembled the variator assembly and that allowed for enough play on the drive shaft to have the driven half pulley wobble itself and the splines on the drive shaft in oblivion. You can see how the center is smooth instead of being splined. And the evident grinding as it worked its way off the shaft and into the transmission cover. Don’t ask me how I didn’t hear this happening.


The adventure continues as I consider my non-riding adventure options:

1. Have the crankshaft replaced along with the other pieces and gaskets necessary. This is a complicated job and will run $1200 -$1500. That’s around half the value of the scooter. Think about the value of your car and spending half of that to repair it. Sounds like a total loss with no insurance.

2. Abandon repair, part out the scooter on eBay or other places and hope I have enough money to buy another scooter.

3. See if I can make a trade-in deal with the Vespa dealer since their cost to repair the scooter will be considerably less than what they would charge me perhaps I can recover some value towards a new machine.

4. Find and install a “new” engine from a scooter that has been in some collision or other unfortunate mishap.

Right now I am pursuing option 4. Time and patience will reveal the feasibility of this course.

Again, sorry you can’t be reading about a fine ride through the winter landscape. It was snowing last night and I would have loved to ride through the snowflakes. The current situation is another adventure though. It’s the sort of thing that I used to rail against. Today I am better able to see it as just something that happens. No amount of railing will change it so I’ll move on to the next thing I can do.

I still have ideas for things to post. I have a riding video in production from last summer that I never finished. Stay tuned.

Vespa Sleeping with Ducati

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Ly LX150 is spending the night with a Ducati GT1000. I hope they’re careful. The unlikely pairing came about after I delivered my non-starting scooter to Kissell Motorsports for diagnosis of the problem and a repair estimate. Over the past week I’ve heard or read a range of horror stories of dealer and repair woes so I thought I would give everyone a chance to follow the unfolding of this particular repair story. I’ll start by saying I’ve always been pleased with the service and support given by Kissell’s and don’t expect this experience to be different. If I have any apprehension it’s with the cost of the repair.

Paul Ruby and I transported the scooter in his truck to Kissell’s brand new facility. I spoke with Casey, their service manager, and asked that they determine what the starting problem is and call me with a repair estimate. I turned the red and blue key over with the suggestion “don’t lose the red key”. He smiled and agreed. The Vespa was brought around back to their service facility – WOW! What a nice place. Brand new, bright light, white walls, new Snap-On tool chests and machinery, wooden butcher block-topped work benches all working together to create the proper stage for shiny new Ducatis and Triumphs to keep my scooter company. This place reminded me of a NASCAR garage I visited. Professional.


Their new showroom is full of things to covet. A special section for Ducati’s that just gleam and sparkle. A long line of Triumphs and a bunch of Vespas. Kawasaki cruisers and sport bikes. To make the experience complete they have an espresso machine. Once can only assume that they’ll have tea for the British bike buyers and chocolate milk for the kids buying Ninjas.

I didn’t ask when the call would come with the repair estimate. I guess I like surprises. With the Vespa gone maybe I’ll organize the garage, put tools away and try and make the place look more like Kissell’s place. I’ll wait out the lack of riding as productively as I can. I’m pretty relaxed about it all.

With all the unseasonably warm weather we’ve been having here (almost 60 today) I’ve started wondering about the wisdom of having a second vehicle. Any suggestions or experience you have in this area and want to share I would appreciate it. Especially the argument you use to convince others of the merits of this sort of plan.