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@vespasfw3 avatar
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UTC quote
I'm looking for some advice/experience from those of you that have done any serious touring on scooters. As the weather approached the 40 degree mark I'm planning to do a little touring---something in the 100 to 200 mile range daily. I'm confortable staying off the freeways but don't have a good idea of what it will actually be like to ride the Vespa a long distance---let's say from central Pennsylvania down to Virginia and the Blue Ridge Parkway and back.

My motorcycle touring friends say I am nuts. I say I want to ride the backroads. They still say I am nuts because that is just a lot of backroads.

Any thoughts on this? Am I nuts??

steve
@jess avatar
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UTC quote
Re: Touring on the Vespa LX150
VESPAsfw3 wrote:
They still say I am nuts because that is just a lot of backroads.
They're nuts if they're not on the backroads. But that's just me.
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Just about every spring since I've been old enough to have a drivers licence I get the bug to just "go". I avoid the freeways and pick a direction (N S E or W) and go on any highway that goes that way from wherever I am. Even if I end up on some flat old farm highway in central MN it's still wonderful. I always run into tiny towns with little diners where I'll stop for a bite before going home. I have never been disappointed on the small roads.

This will be my first year to do it on a scooter. I am so psyched since I won't be seeing the countryside through a windshield (just a helmet shield.).

Backroads - baby! That's where it's at.

Might I suggest getting a copy of Bob Seger's song "Roll me away" and cranking it REALLY LOUD before or during your trip. There's nothing like tooling down a long stretch of empty highway with that song going through your head!

Any other great cruising songs out there folks?
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None. Maybe again someday when Michelle won't worry.
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@dougandmichelle avatar
None. Maybe again someday when Michelle won't worry.
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Michelle and I are planning to ride on route 66 from Tulsa to Oklahoma City pretty soon. I think it will be fun to ride that far (about one hundred miles one way). I don't think her LX150 will have any problems and we are really looking forward to it. Don't know if we would make it a regular thing, but I really think it will be fun. I almost always choose "back roads" over the highway even on my GT. I just don't like going that fast. I prefer to stay at 50 or less.

As for cruising songs..... I'm a big Beach Boys fan and they had a song called Still Crusin' in 1989....one of my favorite cruising songs.
⚠️ Last edited by DougandMichelle on UTC; edited 1 time
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UTC quote
Re: Touring on the Vespa LX150
VESPAsfw3 wrote:
let's say from central Pennsylvania down to Virginia and the Blue Ridge Parkway and back.

Any thoughts on this? Am I nuts??

steve
No, you're not nuts. There are some terrific scenic roads to ride in upper Maryland if you plan to ride from PA down to VA. I've only ridden as far as Philly and it wasn't bad at all. I'm hoping to do longer distances this year. I think my husband and I might be riding up to Stroudsburg, PA one weekend in July - that's way up there- and I'm looking forward to it.

Karen
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The scoot will handle that mileage fine...

I'm off to Newquay in May for the weekend - 350 miles each way.. don't worry about 1-200 miles per day...

Enjoy..

1 tip - take a spare pair of gloves, as if it rains & they get soaked your hands will freeze over the next 200 miles...
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UTC quote
Sounds like fun to me. I much prefer to go on the back roads. I think they provide a lot more opportunity to disvover this country. The Vespa will handle the distance quite well. Many days now I go on 50-60 mile rides. Finding new routes is part of the fun try this site for non highway routes. http://www.us.map24.com/ i have used it with success, good luck enjoy the ride, Beale.
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Go out and get a copy of Peter Egan's "Leanings". Peter has been writing for "Cycle World" for a long time ( I just discovered him about the time I started scooting-two years ago) and his books are compilations of his columns and features. His storytelling will really get you ready for the backroads and touring. I'm planning (have already mapped out the route) to do a little 'backroad touring" myself when the weather permits.
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UTC quote
Nope...you're as sane as the rest of us (uh-oh ).

You should do just fine. I noticed that Doug and Michelle mentioned that they are planning a trip down Route 66 to Oklahoma City. While I haven't made that trip by scooter, I've made it by motorcycle and it's going to be a great experience for them. Unless I'm mistaken, Oklahoma has the most intact and used miles of old 66 in the US.

And yes, I think Michelle's LX150 will do just fine.

Chuck
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I don't think you're crazy at all...at least by scootering standards.

I have been hoping to take a road trip for a couple of years now. This is my year. Backroads only. I travel the highways for business and frankly, although they get you further faster, everything looks pretty much the same from state to state on the four lane. You take the highways when your destination is the object of the trip, but when the trip itself is the whole point, there is nothing like the backroads.

Don't know where I'm going yet, maybe the Laurel Highlands, maybe up to Lake Erie...Cook Forest? It's a big country. But there is still a whole load of beautiful Pennsylvania to cruise through.

Here's what I am taking:

All the scooter stuff for maintenance, safety and comfort, cell phone, a plastic rain coat...the usual.
A small tent (and pillow)
A small something to sit on.
A small radio and some type of small music machine.
A small folding drinking cup.
A small book to read.
A camera, small of course.
and whatever other small things I can fit.
Maps.

I also carry one of those (small) digital voice recorders. I use it for recording cell phone messages and taking notes on the road: Might help me if I am looking for landmarks to find my way back or if I want to remember something to take on the next road trip. Might use it to record the license plate numbers of some yahoo who tries to run me off the road. It beats wrestling a notepad and a pencil out of your riding jacket or glovebox.

Maybe I'll scoot to the Highland Games this year. Scooters and bagpipes. That's gotta be good!
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You are not crazy. It's YOUR adventure and make it what you want. Take it slow, take pics and enjoy yourself. Why else would you do it?
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UTC quote
Don't know where I'm going yet, maybe the Laurel Highlands, maybe up to Lake Erie...Cook Forest? It's a big country. But there is still a whole load of beautiful Pennsylvania to cruise through.

Cruise halfway over to Ohio and I'll cruise halfway over to Pennsylvania and we can "tour" a bit together! I might have to go over to Vespa of Pittsburgh to have them replace my flyscreen ( they got something on it during assembly) when the weather changes so I might be in your neck of the woods then.
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I've never trailered before, but I would like to trailer to either Natchez Trace or the Blue Ridge Parkway. Both are nice rides with lower speed limits. Perfect for scooters!
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OK...this thread got me inspired. It's 40 degrees out and I checked the oil, tires, put on some warm clothes and headed North...for no particular reason...North just sounded good.

Just got back 78 miles later. Not exactly the big road trip I want to take when it gets warmer, but what the hell.

Note to me: I just hafta get a pair of warmer gloves.

Vic: Which road do you come into Pa from? I live only a few miles from Vespa Pittsburgh...the new BMW/Vespa one that is...the "boteek" downtown closed down some time ago.
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UTC quote
Menhir wrote:
Here's what I am taking:

All the scooter stuff for maintenance, safety and comfort, cell phone, a plastic rain coat...the usual.
A small tent (and pillow)
A small something to sit on.
A small radio and some type of small music machine.
A small folding drinking cup.
A small book to read.
A camera, small of course.
and whatever other small things I can fit.
Maps.

I take it you'll be listening to "All the small things" by Blink 182 on your ride....
@bvbob avatar
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UTC quote
Menhir wrote:
Vic: Which road do you come into Pa from? I live only a few miles from Vespa Pittsburgh...the new BMW/Vespa one that is...the "boteek" downtown closed down some time ago.
I'm thinking I'd have to get on RT422 east to RT19 south and then straight in. I got my scooter from the BMW/Vespa shop in Wexford. I almost took it out today. Still tons and tons of salt around here. We need, and are supposed to get, a few days of rain later this week, then a big warm-up! Razz emoticon
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UTC quote
Re: Touring on the Vespa LX150
VESPAsfw3 wrote:
I'm looking for some advice/experience from those of you that have done any serious touring on scooters. As the weather approached the 40 degree mark I'm planning to do a little touring---something in the 100 to 200 mile range daily. I'm confortable staying off the freeways but don't have a good idea of what it will actually be like to ride the Vespa a long distance---let's say from central Pennsylvania down to Virginia and the Blue Ridge Parkway and back.

My motorcycle touring friends say I am nuts. I say I want to ride the backroads. They still say I am nuts because that is just a lot of backroads.

Any thoughts on this? Am I nuts??

steve
Steve,

I went from South Florida to St Augustine, in North Florida, on my ET4 while my husband was riding his V-Star 1100 motorcycle. This was 650 miles round trip. We had a blast. We used the coastal roads with speeds between 30-70 MPH. I had a nice large backback straped to the rear of my seat. It made a great backrest during the ride. One item I would highly suggest for long rides is an AIRHAWK seat cushion. I learned the hard way on that trip and now I don't leave home without it. Make sure whatever you strap to your seat is easy to remove, since it will be necessary when filling your gas tank.

Good luck on your trip.

Janine
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UTC quote
lomunchi wrote:
Just about every spring since I've been old enough to have a drivers licence I get the bug to just "go". I avoid the freeways and pick a direction (N S E or W) and go on any highway that goes that way from wherever I am. Even if I end up on some flat old farm highway in central MN it's still wonderful. I always run into tiny towns with little diners where I'll stop for a bite before going home. I have never been disappointed on the small roads.

This will be my first year to do it on a scooter. I am so psyched since I won't be seeing the countryside through a windshield (just a helmet shield.).

Backroads - baby! That's where it's at.

Might I suggest getting a copy of Bob Seger's song "Roll me away" and cranking it REALLY LOUD before or during your trip. There's nothing like tooling down a long stretch of empty highway with that song going through your head!

Any other great cruising songs out there folks?
Don't forget Foghat's Slow Ride. I just downloaded all of Quadrophenia on iTunes. It also makes great cruisin' music!
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UTC quote
Back roads, a scooter and the Allman Brothers "Ramblin' Man". You're set!
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UTC quote
Seriously...
VESPAsfw3 wrote:
Any thoughts on this?
Hi Steve,

Yuck. I hesitate to answer, because this thread has been so lighthearted up to now. On the other hand, having ridden my GT from Virginia Beach, Virginia to Los Angeles, California (including a long stretch of the Blue Ridge), I guess I do have a couple thoughts, and they're all about planning.

If everything goes smoothly, you just look over your maps, hop on your scooter, ride under fair skies until you are tired, and stop at a convenient hotel where no reservations are required, then ride home. Call that the best-case scenario. In that case, a lot of planning would have been a total waste of time. And then there's the approach I take where I try to consider the worst-case scenario. The following are my suggestions for planning that trip.

I suggest Microsoft Streets & Trips for planning your route. That software has lots of features which will make planning your trip more enjoyable. It's not expensive, either. As Beale noted above, there is an online service for planning back-roads trips, but S&T makes it easy to do things like reroute by grabbing and dragging a plot of your route, for example. I haven't seen an online map service which can do that. Also, S&T can find you places to get gas and places to stop and blah blah blah blah. For good reason, it's what we used to plan the Cannonball route in 2004 and 2006. If you have trouble getting started with S&T, PM me and I'll be happy to walk you through getting started.

Paper maps are good. On the Cannonball, we had our dandy Streets & Trips maps with our route printed on them. As it happened, a hurricane had knocked out significant portions of the Blue Ridge Parkway, which was our route, so we got shunted down the mountain where we bought maps and began improvising like crazy to get to our destination. After that, I made $#!@ sure I had a paper map covering every stage of the route.

Another lesson learned about the Blue Ridge Parkway in particular, and we learned this from a ranger, is that they have a telephone number you can call to check the condition of the Parkway. Had I known that BEFORE I wandered all over hell and creation, I could have saved myself a ton of trouble. Just for fun, the park information number is (828) 298 0398. As their web site says, "this number is your best source for up-to-date information on special events, blooms, or temporary closures due to weather conditions or construction." Online you can get that information at http://www.nps.gov/blri/ , but once you are on the road, getting online may be very problematical.

The final Blue-Ridge-specific suggestion I have is to make your hotel reservations well in advance. The fact is that there just aren't that many convenient places to stay and they don't hold very many folks, so reservations are a great idea. The downside to this is that it sort of limits your spontaneity. Sorry.

Having a cell phone is not good enough. We found that lots of places did not have digital coverage, so a digital-only cell phone was useless. I strongly recommend that you get a dual-mode phone. My new phone can be manually pushed into Analog mode if Digital coverage is poor or non-existent and that's good enough.

NOTICE TO THE SQUEMISH: THE FOLLOWING PARAGRAPH IS NOT LIGHT-HEARTED, JUST PAGE DOWN PAST THIS ONE IF YOU'RE GOING TO GET UPSET: When you get your cell phone, you need to program an ICE (In Case of Emergency) Number into your Contacts List. If, God forbid, you were involved in an accident on the road and you were unable to communicate with the EMTs, they would check your cell phone for an ICE. I'm surprised how many riders do not do this. We learned the hard way on the Cannonball when a rider didn't show up and we called his cell phone only to have it answered by an EMT from Lake Havasu. (The rider survived with very minor injuries considering that he had been struck from behind by an 18-wheeler and was thrown about 100 feet down the road)

If you're going to be gone a couple days or more, you definitely need to carry a charger for your phone. Stupid me, I forgot my charger and had to buy one at the Wal-Mart in Mena, Arkansas.

Okay, now you have a cell phone, so who ya gonna call? Scooter Busters? I gotta tell you, there is no Scooter Busters. So, before you go, do two things. First, make a list of folks you might call, such as every Vespa shop that's anywhere near your route. You can get that info from the Dealer List on www.vespausa.com , for example. Second, suppose you are on the road and, God forbid, you do have a problem. You have your list of Vespa Dealers, but how are you going to get your Vespa to the dealer? I recommend AAA. I have a "MoTow" policy through the American Motorcyclist Association, but when it expires, I'm going to get a deluxe AAA membership (called AAA plus) before Cannonball 2006. Again, this is from experience,because I found out that the AAA plus service will tow your vehicle up to 100 miles to your destination of choice before they start hitting you with a surcharge. (Murphy's Law: A scooter shop will always be further than your towing service allows before hitting you with a surcharge) Oh, and if, you need to call AAA from the road, be sure to tell them you are on a motorbike, so they are certain to bring tiedowns to cinch your precious scooter down on the back of their flatbed. MoTow will be appropriately prepared without having to be told.

Okay, so the scooter itself. Before you go, your big worry is not going to be about performance, big cylinder kits, loud exhausts, carburetor tuning, etc, your big worry is going to be about reliability. And the Achilles Heel of scooters is their tires. Surely you are not going to take off on a worn rear tire? Surely not! So, whether you do it yourself or not, you are going to do a full service on your scooter, including the following: putting a new rear tire on if yours is not like new, oil change, check your CVT belt and your variator rollers for flat spots and wear (a hidden Achilles Heel of CVT scooters), check your clutch, and check your battery (replace if more than 2 years old), check your brakes (you want them to work on the Blue Ridge and its access roads), check your air filter (an overlooked item that is very important), and check your lights.

About the tire thing, this has been thoroughly covered in another thread on the site, and lots of folks suggest putting Slime (TR) or a similar product in your tire to protect against leaks in the event you run over something. That's great, but only use that to get somewhere where you can get the tire replaced. I don't recommend repairing a scooter tire, in fact I warned against it in that other tire thread based on my personal experience watching a patched tire come "unpatched" at speed on Interstate 40.

Speaking of tires, how long would it take to get a spare tire for your scooter if you were on a trip? I suggest planning this in advance. I carried a spare rear and a spare front tire with me. This is where it gets a little sticky, because I had the luxury of a support vehicle to carry this stuff. At the very least, I would locate spare tires somewhere before I left. At least have a plan where you could call and have a tire drop-shipped to you on the road just in case.

Scooters have very small gas tanks. It's amazing how easy it is to run out of gas. A small gas can is a great way to avoid an embarrassing call to the AAA. I bungied mine in front of the backrest and used it three times, twice to rescue fellow scooterists and once to rescue myself.

If you ride, you almost have to carry a rain suit. The under-seat storage area is a good place for this, but make certain it's in a bag in case you spill gasoline during a fill-up.

You need to carry a change of clothing and enough changes of underwear to cover the entire trip. The problem is storage space on the scooter. Here are a couple suggestions: 1) Rather than carry underwear and socks, just go to Wal-Mart for clean underwear and socks. 2) I found an expensive alternate idea is extremely light travel clothing from someplace like TravelSmith.com combined with those packing bags (from Bed Bath & Beyond, for example) that allow you to squeeze the air out of the bag to compress it into the smallest possible space. I used those for every bit of clothing I carried.

In the mountains (and depending greatly on when you go) you will encounter a wide range of temperatures in the course of the day. You'll need to carry a way to layer up to keep warm in the mornings and maybe in the evenings, too. I got caught off-guard in Flagstaff, Arizona and ended up buying a sweat shirt at the local Target. Your mileage may vary.

Of course, you don't even think of going without the bare minimum of a decent helmet, gloves and riding jacket. As it happens, I crashed on the Blue Ridge (my fault, rider error, bad rider!) and was very glad I was wearing a full-face helmet, armored jacket and riding gloves. If I had been wearing riding pants, my only injury would have been my thumb. As it was, one knee got pretty beaten up. Hint: watch for gravel on the entrance and exit ramps from the Parkway.

Don't carry a lot of cash. There are ATMs everywhere now. Carry an ATM card instead.

Carry a spare credit/ATM card in your glove box in case you lose your wallet. Did this happen to one of us on the Cannonball? Sure it did! Believe it or not, an honest person actually found the wallet and gave it back when the rider called in search of it. Better to be prepared.

An unfortunately common problem with our scooters seems to be the failure of the electric mechanism that pops the seat open. You have to be able to get in there to gas your scooter so this is not a trivial problem. There is a manual latch in the glove box which will open the seat if the problem is the electric mechanism. If the manual latch doesn't open it, then you need to know how to jimmy that thing open. Somebody posted instructions on this board explaining how to do that. Put that thread on your reading list.

100-200 miles/day is really not a very long ride per day. If you were going any further, I would recommend a few long practice runs to get your butt prepared for some long days in the saddle and to make certain that you're not going to develop some unexpected back problems or other physical problems when you're far from home.

Let's see, I've covered route planning, maps, Blue Ridge Park info, reservations, cell phones, cell-phone chargers, ICE, towing, tires, prepping your scooter, clothes, money, emergency preparations, gas can, riding gear, the seat-latch gotcha, and the pre-ride. I can't think of much else right now. Oh yeah, my favorite road tune is "Radar Love" by Golden Earring. Don't take "Highway Star" by Deep Purple, it'll cause you to get a ticket.

Take lots of pix and post them here when you get back. Also, keep a paper journal so you can post that here when you get back. I found that carrying a computer was only practical if you had a support vehicle. They're just too heavy and impractical to carry on a scooter.

Have fun and be careful out there.
⚠️ Last edited by jrsjr on UTC; edited 2 times
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UTC quote
jrsjr,

Thanks for such a great and well thought list of things to prepare for. I've filed away your advice for future reference and will pull it out next time I plan to make a scooter trip. Great stuff!
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Nice post John. Always like to get the goods from the experienced. Only thing you left out is what kind of cup holder should we get for the coffee

BTW: Did anyone not wreck at least once on the Cannonball?
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UTC quote
JerryG wrote:
Nice post John. Always like to get the goods from the experienced. Only thing you left out is what kind of cup holder should we get for the coffee

BTW: Did anyone not wreck at least once on the Cannonball?
Thanks for the kind words. I'm going to have to research the Cup Holder thing more thoroughly before I comment. :-} Seriously, the wreck thing is kind of sobering. Chopper got pretty beaten up when somebody crowded him in a turn. Ashrat got the famous leg gash when she hit a guardrail due to aggressive riding. I crashed due to a combination of stupidity and aggressive riding. JD crashed rather than slam into a car that pulled right out in front of him. DC_Rob was hit from behind by an 18-wheeler after dark. That's 5 of 9 who crashed, only 2 of which were caused by overt rider error. That's something to think carefully about. My plan this time is to ride one notch less aggressively and hope for the best.
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@bwyn avatar
GTS250 SOLD
Joined: UTC
Posts: 631
Location: Westmont, NJ
UTC quote
John, you didn't mention a GPS. Do you have any comment re GPS?
@lomunchi avatar
UTC

Veni, Vidi, Posti
2020 Honda NC750DCT ABS
Joined: UTC
Posts: 6934
Location: Maple Grove, MN
 
Veni, Vidi, Posti
@lomunchi avatar
2020 Honda NC750DCT ABS
Joined: UTC
Posts: 6934
Location: Maple Grove, MN
UTC quote
Ok, so now I'm affraid to take on a longer road trip. I was planning on riding from Minneapolis to Milwaukee this summer so I could have my scoot for a family riunion. I mapped it out to stay off the freeway and it was about 375 miles. Estimated at about 7.5 hours. I take this drive all the time in the car and on the freeway it's about 5.5 - 6 hours. I was planning on taking my time and using about 12 hours, stopping where I wished. Now I feel like I should be towing a spare bike, just in case!

Should I abandon my plan? I probably can't afford to buy two extra wheels/tires to support this.
@jrsjr avatar
UTC

Molto Verboso
Nazgul
Joined: UTC
Posts: 1985
Location: North Chesterfield, VA
 
Molto Verboso
@jrsjr avatar
Nazgul
Joined: UTC
Posts: 1985
Location: North Chesterfield, VA
UTC quote
lomunchi wrote:
Should I abandon my plan? I probably can't afford to buy two extra wheels/tires to support this.
Absolutely not! By all means, do it! Sorry if I overstated my case and made you think twice about doing your trip. My suggestions are for folks who're planning on hitting the open road where they might be a long long way from a Vespa dealership. In your case, the worst possible case is that you might have a problem halfway between Vespa Minneapolis and Vespa Milwaukee. The worst that could happen is that you'd have to get towed to one or the other of those shops, maybe 160 miles if you had a mechanical problem (extremely unlikely) exactly in the middle between those locations. If you just had a tire problem, you'd have choices between 1) getting it towed to your Vespa shop, 2) having a tire overnighted to a local cycle shop, or 3) getting it patched at the nearest cycle shop and taking it nice and easy on backroads to your destination.

Again, these are worst-case scenarios and all I'm suggesting is that you do a little planning before you depart so you don't wind up somewhere without a backup plan. And consider, I rode all the honking way across the United States without ever even once needing any of my backup plan. No flat tires, no mechanical problems, my scooter even started up immediately and ran fine after I crashed the devil out of it. So, by all means, go!!!!!!!

Have fun.
⚠️ Last edited by jrsjr on UTC; edited 2 times
@jrsjr avatar
UTC

Molto Verboso
Nazgul
Joined: UTC
Posts: 1985
Location: North Chesterfield, VA
 
Molto Verboso
@jrsjr avatar
Nazgul
Joined: UTC
Posts: 1985
Location: North Chesterfield, VA
UTC quote
Bwyn wrote:
John, you didn't mention a GPS. Do you have any comment re GPS?
Bwyn,

I hope you don't mind, this is such a good question, that I'm going to move it to the new thread called "Scooter Touring."

Thanks!

-John
@bryce-o-rama avatar
UTC

Ossessionato
Peugeot Looxor
Joined: UTC
Posts: 3220
Location: KCMO
 
Ossessionato
@bryce-o-rama avatar
Peugeot Looxor
Joined: UTC
Posts: 3220
Location: KCMO
UTC quote
John, I've been to Mena, Arkansas. Did you ride on the Tallemina (or whatever it is) Senic Highway? I was wishing for a scooter when I saw that road.
@jrsjr avatar
UTC

Molto Verboso
Nazgul
Joined: UTC
Posts: 1985
Location: North Chesterfield, VA
 
Molto Verboso
@jrsjr avatar
Nazgul
Joined: UTC
Posts: 1985
Location: North Chesterfield, VA
UTC quote
Bryce Ludwig wrote:
John, I've been to Mena, Arkansas. Did you ride on the Tallemina (or whatever it is) Senic Highway? I was wishing for a scooter when I saw that road.
Bryce,

We did a whole bunch of the Talimena Scenic Drive, dude. It was awesome! Thanks again to Greyhound whose idea that route was.

-John
⚠️ Last edited by jrsjr on UTC; edited 1 time
@grind avatar
UTC

Ossessionato
Joined: UTC
Posts: 2666
Location: Brookfield, WI
 
Ossessionato
@grind avatar
Joined: UTC
Posts: 2666
Location: Brookfield, WI
UTC quote
lomunchi wrote:
I was planning on riding from Minneapolis to Milwaukee.... Should I abandon my plan? I probably can't afford to buy two extra wheels/tires to support this.
Do it, munchi! Providing I'm in town when you come to Milwaukee, we can meet for a ride.
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