Scooter in the Sticks

Breathe Deep and Ride

January 13, 2015 by Scooter in the Sticks 20 Comments

Cold and windy at sunrise with brain announcing there’ll be no riding today. At once a coward and slacker the gray matter will convincingly guide ass into car, or couch, or other safe and slothful action. I have to guard against my brain for it does not have my best interest in mind but rather hopes to drift in a comfortable malaise fueled by sugar and fat and electrons pushed out by Netflix. With as much muddled resistance as I could muster I tried to breathe deep and ride.

And so I found myself walking out of Subway with breakfast in a bag at sunrise.

Warm sunlight bathed the scooter when I arrived at work. No caffeine necessary to wake up when 19F air is hammering at you. Dismounting the Vespa after a cold ride leaves you quivering like a dog exiting a freezing dip in a creek. While I’ve done no research, I’m certain the workdays kickstarted by a ride are better.

Departing for home at twilight in the cold can be, well, discouraging after a long day. Without a doubt driving home in a warm car is easier than bracing for a ride into the freezing night. The damn brain. It says it’s just playing things safe but I swear it’s robbing me of life energy.

Or something.

You would think an evening ride in the cold would be direct and deliberately intended to travel fast to the warm safety of home. But like one of the kids in Bil Keane’s Family Circus comics, I wander off course a bit. As the sun sank further below the horizon the challenge to monitor the road surface increased as I made the logical choice to detour.

There are plenty of dry, paved roads to ride on but I seem to be drawn to the little dirt, grass and gravel paths found here in central Pennsylvania. I wonder at times why I’m not riding a dirt bike instead of a scooter.

It was almost dark when I arrived home and as in the morning I felt refreshed and alive. All things seem possible after a scooter ride.

I think that’s called denial.

Riding in the Dark

January 11, 2015 by Scooter in the Sticks 7 Comments

Just typed “Vespa GTS scooter at night in the snow” as the alt tag for the above image and thought “What the hell are you doing riding in the dark?”. After some thought the best I can come up with is a line from the the old Florida Citrus Commission campaign (remember Anita Bryant) “A day without orange juice is like a day without sunshine.”

Substitute “a scooter ride” with “orange juice”. I just needed a little ride and it was dark outside so what do you do? Sit inside on the couch? Even a 20 minute ride will change the way you look at the world.

Besides, it wasn’t cold — temperature hovering at the freezing mark. A the roads were mostly clear of snow and ice and not much traffic around. The Vespa has a bright high beam headlight that illuminates the roadway making scanning for obstacles simple.

Most of the holiday lighting is gone save for some twinkle lights wrapped around light poles in Boalsburg and a shrinking collection of lights on homes. Doesn’t dull the thrill of riding.

An aside related to the photos. Made them with a Canon G15 point and shoot camera. I continue to be amazed at what it can do. This one is a handheld shot at ISO 1600 with the zoom at a medium range setting. You can shoot pictures in the dark. I realize it’s another matter entirely to be riding in the dark. Some might say a fools errand and on the surface I might agree. Looking deeper it’s not so simple. It may seem risky but it only seems that way.

At home now drinking juice and gnawing on French bread. I am absolutely certain it tastes better because of the little ride I took earlier. Isn’t that your experience as well?

Winter Vespa

January 10, 2015 by Scooter in the Sticks 22 Comments

This morning under a dazzling sky and frigid 12F atmosphere the Vespa scooter returned to the road — mostly, just a few side jaunts to re-familiarize myself with the newly mounted winter tires. The winter Vespa has slightly different handling characteristics that take a few moments to program into muscle memory.

There’s still a bit of snow and ice to contend with but the main roads are mostly clear and dry though the stray patch of ice or packed snow still lurk in the shadows demanding winter grade attention to detail. I can sense the autonomic responses at work and seem to have a level of hyperawareness that’s not present in warm weather. All the usual suspects remain — other drivers and such, but now the road surface has far more pitfalls. Crossing through a residential neighborhood I found myself riding at 15mph on packed snow where I would normally be navigating at 35mph.

Winter riding means slow riding.

Paul Ruby provided transportation from my home to Kissell Motorsports where the scooter with it’s new fuel pump and winter tires waited. In exchange I took him to breakfast at the State College Diner. The temperature rose sharply from 0F when I was walking Junior to almost 10F at breakfast. Add a little sunshine and your brain can convince you it isn’t all that cold.

No matter how cold it is there’s always ice water being served in restaurants. Seems to make sense that the ice would be dropped in the winter. Lukewarm tap water being served…

The scooter had been sitting in unheated storage for a few days and nights of really cold weather and took a bit longer to start than normal. Once it fired up it ran like a champ. I let it run a bit while I paid the repair bill and took a look at the motorcycles and scooters.

The technician let me know that come spring when I remove the snow tires I should change the rear wheel bearing. Not surprising that some water and salt grime have gotten into the bearing. He cleaned it out and regreased the bearing but it’s time for a shiny new version.

Kissell Motorsports has a lot of motorcycles and scooters to look at. The new Vespa Sprint 150s are really cool looking.

Update on the FirstGear Kilimanjaro jacket in the cold — fantastic. Riding at 13F I was able to do so with a long-sleeved undershirt, a sweater, and the jacket. It appears impervious to cold. No leaks, not cold penetration. The zippers are big and easy to operate and the velcro closures seem perfectly placed and easy to use. Really happy with this jacket.

(Photo by Paul Ruby)

Off on a few errands and then onward towards home. First order of business was to not dump the scooter in the parking lot. Slow is the order of the day. Heated grips worked really well and warmed my hands nicely through a thick pair of Tourmaster winter gloves that I’ve had for years. The Tucano Urbano muffs also do a great job keeping the wind and cold at bay. The combination of heated grips and muffs is the best winter Vespa hand protection that I’ve found. A far cry better than heated gloves alone. At some point I’ll test the heated gloves with the muffs in place of the heated grips.

The only weak link left in terms of me getting cold are my feet. After about 45 minutes my feet started to get cold. No spare power on the scooter for electric socks or insoles. Thinking it might be time to just get some heavy boots — perhaps a Sorel winter boot though the rubber bottoms worry me a bit in terms of wear.

The tried and true method of managing freezing body parts is to stop riding and seek shelter. The Pump Station in Boalsburg, Pennsylvania provided shelter today along with some steaming hot Earl Grey tea. Sitting inside with the sun pouring in the windows kept the place warm and I was ready for a nap.

While not perfect winter riding weather because of the lingering snow and ice it is possible to still ride if you’ve winterized yourself and your scooter or motorcycle. Riding on neighborhood roads and streets is a mixed bag of snow, ice, and dry pavement. Don’t get over confident on the dry stuff only to suddenly find yourself having to navigate the slippery stuff while going much too fast. It’s a perfect way to try out your protective riding gear.

I still find a puzzling level of satisfaction riding the winter Vespa. There’s a sense of accomplishment and satisfaction knowing I endured the cold. And of course the fun of riding which has not diminished much regardless of the weather.

Wonder what’s next this winter?

A Return to OZ

January 9, 2015 by Scooter in the Sticks 12 Comments

Nine years ago, the first winter on the Vespa LX150, seems like another life, another world. The protection scheme was different from top to bottom. No winter riding jacket yet, just my summer vented one along with a Mountain Hardware windbreaker underneath. And the black gloves were good to about 4oF but hardly useful below freezing.

Saturday morning I’ll be retrieving the Vespa GTS 250 from Kissell Motorsports. The sun should be out so the 0F temperature won’t seem so cold. The scooter will have a new fuel pump and Heidenau snow tires so I should be in good shape. And the frigid weather will give me an opportunity to really test the heated grip/Tucano Urbano mitt combination.

So tomorrow will be a return to Oz of sorts, a chance to pretend I’m younger, more organized, and ready for anything…

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…

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(Photo by Paul Ruby)

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Scooter in the Sticks