What began as a short ride to take care of a few errands and then head to our local polling place to vote for township supervisor ended with the Vespa GTS rattling around in the back of a big blue truck.  Reflecting on the events of that evening I can say two things for sure — one, it’s nice to have friends with a truck, and two, ModernVespa.com is the best resource for all things related to modern Vespa scooters anywhere in the solar system.

The ride started innocently enough with a simple plan to ride across the valley to the asian market to stock up on ginger tea.  The evening sky glowed as I rode across the Penn State campus where I stopped to make a few pictures of Beaver Stadium, home of the Nittany Lions football team.

When I was an undergraduate student in the early 1970s the stadium was much smaller and was a multiple use facility.  Commencement took place in the stadium along with track and field meets and other events.  Today it’s all football, all the time.

The Canon G15 does a good job in low light. Reasonable image quality and noise control in the chip coupled with a fast, F1.8 lens gets the job done.

I do love riding at night.

One last stop at the pharmacy to pick up a prescription turned into the last stop of the night for the Vespa.  The engine turned over once and that was it.  Pulled the pet carrier to do a quick check of the sparkplug wire and immediately saw the problem.

A connector melted and shorted out the engine’s electrical system.  I’d seen pictures of this problem again on ModernVespa.com so I pulled out my iPhone, posted to the forum, and a few minutes later I had the information I needed.  It was not a roadside repair.  Called my friend Paul Ruby and he stopped by to pick up the dead Vespa.

The next day Paul cut out the connector and soldered the wires together — the fix recommended on ModernVespa.com.  The Vespa is running smoothly and I can ride another day.

Just another day in the life of a Vespa rider…

On the way to work a couple weeks ago…

Crossed paths with two riders from Canada– John and Doug.  Had a nice chat about riding, their trip and the Can-am Spyder Touring machine.  Definitely an interesting ride.  John refers to it as “an open-air sportscar”.  After sitting on it a bit I could see his point.  His third Can-am I seem to remember and he’s loving them.  For those times he needs the motorcycle experience there’s a Suzuki VStrom in the stable.

Both rode down from Ontario and where making a big loop through New York and Pennsylvania.  When asked how they liked riding in Pennsylvania they indicated a love for the twisting, winding roads we have — a remarkable difference from the North-South-East-West road grids where they’re from.

I’m sure they’re home by now.  Hope they had a fine trip.

Ugly.

The toll of too many winters of salt and slush?  Whatever happened I need to replace the center stand on the Vespa GTS and there will be no further riding until I do. For now I’ll let WD40 perform its magic.

The scooter seemed a little wobbly when I pushed it off the center stand this morning but it wasn’t until I arrived at work and pulled the scooter onto the stand that I realized something was terribly wrong. A quick look and I saw the break.

Checked the damage more closely this evening with a flashlight — reminds me of some of the old copper pipes in the house when they break — rotten from the inside out. I’ll make a closer evaluation when I remove it.

Vespa maintenance suddenly has moved to the top of the to do list and it contains a lot of stuff.  Now is the chance to expand my mechanical prowess:

1. Replace center stand
2. Replace drivebelt, rollers and sliders
3. Service clutch assembly
4. Replace brake fluid
5. Replace coolant
6. Change engine oil, filter and screen
7. Replace hub oil

That should consume 30 minutes or so.

I’m hesitating to add one more thing — check the valve lash.  We’ll see…

I suppose if I want to be the complete rider I should have a little understanding of how the things works right?

Please excuse the absence of a riding related post.  Junior has no patience for such nonsense as writing, editing, processing images or blogging in general.  First things always come first he says, “Take me up on the mountain and let me swim, run and be a damn dog!”

Junior now returns your attention to browsing the web…