Scooter in the Sticks

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

Road Rage, 7 degrees , and the Vespa GTS

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I’m getting frustrated. We have had consistent snow and cold. The Vespa GTS is too shiny and new for me to take out in the mess not to mention I do not feel comfortable enough yet to brave the snow with only 60 miles under my belt on the new scooter.

In my non-riding frustration I came across this road rage device. Maybe one for two-wheeled vehicles will be available soon.

Click HERE to view the great road rage tool! You’ll need the QuickTime movie plugin to view it.

For more Trunk Monkey enjoyment check out the other Trunk Monkey videos HERE

Looking for Risk

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As I do every morning I look out the front door to see what the day has in store for me in terms of riding. I may walk outside to test the road surface and I’ll always look at the weather forecast. I’m looking for risk. I don’t mean I am seeking out ways to put myself at risk. I just want to know what risk I’ll be facing. Physical and performance differences between my new Vespa GTS and the LX150 I used to ride force me to make different choices. Because I am still unfamiliar with the handling characteristics of the GTS I’ll conservative in my decision-making.

Dry snow on the road, temperature hovering at 15° F, an occasional snow shower predicted, windy with 40 MPH gusts, I would take the LX150 to run errands. I’m comfortable handling it in these conditions and readily accept the risks presented by the road surface and weather not to mention the other drivers. I won’t accept the risk with the GTS though because there are too many unknowns right now simply because I don’t have enough experience on this scooter.

Dan Bateman over at Musings of an Intrepid Commuter is a master at assessing risk and offers us an opportunity to learn how to manage safely while riding. I thought it would be a good idea to point out one of his posts titled “Why am I Here?” This thoughtful piece provides riders and commuters with something that makes you think about where you are on the road and how the decisions made set you up for success or disaster. It is definitely worth reading and thinking about. If I have learned one thing from Dan over the past year it’s that the longer I ride the more I realize I don’t know. His writing makes it easy to put my pride aside and make myself a better rider.

The wind is blowing hard now and my dog is antsy for a walk. The GTS is going to have to chill in the garage a bit longer today. The extended weather forecast is calling for similar weather for the next five days so I am going to have to be patient…

Buying a New Vespa GTS Scooter

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2006 Vespa GTS 250 on a gravel road
My brand new Vespa GTS scooter.


The roads are the same but the ride is different. My wife Kim says the asphalt carpet been rolled out for me. Someone at work asked why I’m smiling. I think it’s the new Vespa GTS250ie in the garage.

After signing my name to the pink slip at Kissell Motorsports I was entitled to sound the brass gong to signify another scooter about to take to the road. I’m buying a new Vespa GTS scooter.

Steve Williams at Kissell Motorsports
Ready to strike the gong signaling another new purchase at Kissell Motorsports.


Cody Kissell handed me a sturdy mallet and I applied a firm strike to produce an unexpected GONG that resonated through the entire building. My friend Paul Ruby who made this picture said it sounded like something from a Hollywood movie. A nice touch to signify a new adventure despite shining the grin of a five-year-old on Christmas morning.

Kissell’s has known for a couple days that I would be picking up the scooter so everything was ready to go.

Vespa GTS scooter in service bay.
Paul Ruby checking out a Ducati motorcycle while waiting for my Vespa GTS.

Sparkling clean, everything as it should be, full tank of petrol, and Service Manager Casey Flynn giving me a quick overview of the scooter before I rode off. I can’t say enough good things about the Kissell Motorsports dealership!

Completing this transaction during my lunch break meant not having much time to try out the GTS but I did take a quick spin out of town to get a feel for the throttle, brakes and handling characteristics. It only takes a moment to sense the difference between the LX150 and the GTS. Astride the GTS you’re aware of the increase in mass and size that makes the scooter feel more “present” on the road. I’m sure I’ll have more to say about this in coming weeks. The most obvious difference is at the throttle. The response and power are immediate and I found myself at 60 MPH in the time the LX150 would be at 35 MPH. The speed is deceptive and I understand now why people get speeding tickets with these Vespas.

Photographically I think the GTS will have some presence. I haven’t found the sweet spot angles yet but it is a handsome machine.

Vespa GTS scooter parked along a rural road.
On my first ride home.


It looks just as good in the rural landscape as the smaller scooter did. Work beckoned so I had to wait until the end of the day for anymore riding. I didn’t bring my heavy mittens either so the 32° F air bit into my fingers until they were painfully numb.

The temperature gauge on the GTS showed 29° F when I mounted up for the ride home. It rose two degrees when I got out of the shade and into what remained of the sunlit day. Don’t ask me why but what I really wanted to test on the way home was the handling characteristics of the scooter on gravel. Short review: Pretty good. Definitely more stable that the LX150. Maybe the bigger tires or extra weight.

Arrived home as the sun was setting and I looked at the GTS in the driveway before putting it in the garage.

Vespa GTS scooter in a driveway.
Arriving home for the first time on my Vespa GTS scooter.


To the casual observer it looks the same as the LX150. It’s a fine machine and I am looking forward to riding again. The weather looks promising for the weekend with temperatures rising into the 30’s even though my morning departure will find things at 15. I can handle that. Worst case is I’ll have to stop at more eating establishments to keep my hands warm.

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.