Modern Vespa

Inflation

BD, do you prounounce that "maid-stone" or "maids-tin"?

Maid Stone as in a stone that belongs to a Maid.

Famous for not very much.

Kent is really close.

I can imagine that these guys at the other side see the business opportunity.

Just a question out of interest: since october 1st we need an international passport for entering the UK. Is that also needed for you in the opposite direction?

I did the math.

That is really cheap.

RON 95 comes to 1,051€ inland and 1,010€ coast.
50ppm diesel comes to 0,889€ inland and 0,852€ coast.
I guess these are maximum prices. Maybe in practice you will pay even a bit less?

Compare that to official maximum prices over here in BE:
RON 95: 1,647€ and diesel: 1,680€. These prices are reviewed and adjusted on a daily basis.
They are the maximum prices. In practice at the pump you will pay some 1,5€ for RON 95 or diesel.

I remember seeing gas for $.19 a gallon in Detroit, Michigan in the summer of 1969. Was a gas war going on, stations competing for business.

But my new 1969 Pontiac GTO Ram Air convertible required Sunoco 260 at $23.9 a gallon.

I was not complaining

Sunoco 260 is a race fuel. You mean it was $23.9 a gallon in 1969?

You could buy it at the regular pumps back in 1969.

Yep, Sunoco 260 was $23.9 for a short time. They might have been losing money even as they tried to run other stations out of business maybe.

The price went up several cents a gallon more a few weeks later.

Was 50 years ago, hard to believe.

Yes, a Passport to travel in Europe plus a declaration of where you are staying which can prove difficult if your destinations are multiple.

Plus PCR tests in and out.

I'm waiting for the bullshit over the declarations and tests to stop before I travel.

Indeed, that is very hard to believe.
$23,9 at that time in 1969 is today some give and take $120. Who would ever pay $120 for a gallon today?

I drew breath when I put £26.00 in the BMW for the first time then I remembered it's got a 225 mile range according to Miguel.

Can't wait to put that to the test.

Sounds like you got it serviced and ready to roll. My 2001 R110RT consistently gets 42 mpg (US miles obviously). I get 225 miles to the tank and usually fill up when the fuel gauge drops to two bars. Let us know how you first ride goes.

Miguel

Sadly the Air Cooled Boxer Tech is still booked up so it's going to be a couple of weeks until it's reborn.

To say I'm drumming my fingers is an understatement.

I bought my Yamaha 175 trail bike from a shop in Maidstone, owned by Paul Smart

That shop is probably long gone.

I know Paul Smart.

Don't get him talking, you'll be there all day.

He eventually sold the shop and retired but Ducati still give him a bike every couple of years.

His son Scott now makes looms for racing bikes.

It is sad and it should not be like that. Switserland and Norway are also non EU members but travel is free.

Today in the newspaper an article about school visits to London.

It is a tradition here in BE that schools organize a 2-3 day cultural visit to or London, or Paris in the 5th year of high school and a 7-10 day visit to or Italy or Greece in the last year of high school (at least that is for the pupils that follow Latin course in high school). With school I visited Paris and Italy. (Italy made a big impression on me) My son went to London and Italy. My daughter to Paris and Greece.

But this year many schools decided to not organize the visit to London. Has become too difficult.

7 months and one war later, I just paid $5.65 per gallon at the same Arco (one of the cheapest spots in the Bay Area). First time I've spent more than $10 on one tank.

Last night, it was $5.45. It rose 20¢ in one day, and it isn't the first time it did that since the war started. Makes me wonder how far we are from Mendocino prices being standard. Also makes me wonder how the composition of the streets will change. Are motos going to become more popular? Will noticeably fewer people be out recreationally? Will electric cars dominate?

All of this is compounded by the supply issues we've faced for the past couple years. Even if someone wanted to change vehicles, it's harder to find what you're looking for now than typically.

That is still relatively cheap. In the Netherlands we have to pay 9.37 $ per gallon from today.
(2.48eu/liter)

It's now the equivalent of $9.56 dollars per gallon here in the UK

Luckily I only live a couple of miles from work and use my bicycle

Filling up the moto was double digit dollars for the first time yesterday. I'm really glad that I've been working towards adventure and returning to car-lite/-free. I'm debating between filling up the van and "winterizing" it vs just putting in fuel as needed.

Bicycles are still scarce. I've had one on back order since last summer with no idea when it's going to be available again. The shop actually put orders on several models as both complete bikes and just framesets to increase chances for first available, but still nothing.

I know it's relatively cheap compared to elsewhere in the world, but I feel for other working class families. I picked up a siphon hose this week and I've started regularly carrying spare fuel, even on routine errands. I've helped several side-of-the-road people already and I prefer to minimize my time roadside in rush hour traffic.

Price of fuel at the Pump,

My good old USA has really let Europe and the rest of the world down.
We are knee deep in available fossil fuels and could have supplied fuel
and LP gas to everyone at a excellent price point.

I do understand and appreciate the need for Green initiatives, but, I am
afraid we slammed the door shut to fast to early and have screwed our selves
along with other nations.

Also, as a business man, we gave up run away profits from not supplying
Asia with LP natural gas. They are starved for it and it impacts their
economic development. We product the cleanest LP gas on the planet.
Just profits from this LP Asia initiative could have reduced car fuel in half
for both the USA and Europe.

We have met the enemy and it is us.

Bob Copeland

While trying to steer well clear of Politics, we in the UK are sitting on gas reserves for the next 100 years and yet we still buy natural gas from the East.

I believe that approaches are being made to Venezuela to buy crude oil from them rather to tap the US's reserves.

Interesting times when it's £7.88 a gallon over here, or $10.40 if you prefer.

For the record

Travelling into the US from the UK you need

1 An ESTA
2 Proof of Vaccination
3 Fit to Fly Covid Test
4 International Drivers Licence if the Rental Co's are on the case
5 Passport

On return

1 Passenger Locator Form
2 Passport
3 Proof of Vaccination
4 Sense of Humour when the plane blows a hydraulic line on the runway prior to take off.

Last edited by Bill Dog on Wed, 09 Mar 2022 19:10:22 +0000; edited 1 time

Dog,

On this forum, I have promised Jess that I would stay out of politics.

I just think we made a tactical mistake in our timing of moving to renewables
The cost of fuel is eating every ones lunch on this side of the pond and we
are half the price of Europe. Joe average guy is in for a economic crap storm.

Hey, back to scooters and bicycles.

Bob Copeland
Frost Bite Falls Minnesota

Formally staying away from politics, but there is no relation between the timing of moving to renewables and this invasion in Ukraine.

Why is it so high?
Here is BE it is 8,77$/gallon, and that is for diesel. Gasoline E10 is a bit cheaper: 8,4$/gallon.

Tax. Lots and lots of Tax. That and a War.

Yesterday was the first time I've ever put over £10 ($13) worth of fuel in a Vespa. It still had 2 bars showing on the guage when I put the nozzle in.

Why do you think we close-to-the-border Dutchies try to fill up in Belgium whenever we can?

As do the French!
The extra fuel duty in the UK is high, but hasn't been increased since 2010, at ~ 58 pence IIRC. However, VAT at 20% is levied on the total cost including that fuel duty.

When you're only getting 200km/10L on a tank anyway (e.g. on a Vespa), it would have to be quite the difference to justify going out of your way.

Just dropped my car off to get serviced and the nearby gas station was $6.19 for regular and $6.49 for premium. But San Diego is always more expensive than the rest of the state.

What's really crazy is that I filled my car up at Costco less than a week ago and it was $4.49 for regular. The jump in less than a week is unbelievable!

There was a time–I think it was about two years or so into my ownership of Melody–where I was getting some change back from a tenner when filling up around two gallons (and this was at Costco), when there was also an upward blip in gas prices, due in part to a refinery issue (flooding in Louisiana, I believe). Up until our most-recent calamity, there have been various reasons for prices waxing and waning, the general oil supply being at the bottom of the list.

In spite of Le Wife's car* being relatively thrifty with a gallon of gas, she agrees that Thelonica didn't arrive a moment too soon.

(* A 2013 Honda CR-V, which also has a name: Harriet.)


Melody Gassing Up, 2019. There weren't many Vespas in these parts back then. Things have changed.

Filling up and leaving the pet carrier flush with the fuel opening. Living dangerously.

Yeah, 'twas a few more months - and a spill or three - before I got hip to the gas-cap trick.

I paid $6.69 for premium fill up my BMW MC yesterday with 5-ish gallons ($36) and it's not a Chevron which always seems to have the most expensive gas.

OTOH, my Ebike gets the equivalent to 800 mpg. Fuel cost is about $0.25/fill up, about 50 miles per charge. I LOVE my ebike. It's my most used vehicle by far.
Miguel

What you put in your BMW ($36) I put in my BMW in £'s which means I paid $47.50.

It didn't matter because I rode like a demon yesterday.

The good news in all of this is that finally driving my very old Volvo somewhere is getting more expensive than running to the same place (yes, running shoes are expensive).

Logic is finally returning!

Arco has gone from $5.45 to $5.65 to $5.85 in three consecutive days. 20¢ per day changes don't seem sustainable, yet they keep happening. I wonder what the local maximum will be - $1.40 per gallon per week would be an unheard-of change.

I don't see many scooters doing that, but when filling up a 70l gas tank, people see a pretty fair benefit!