Modern Vespa

It's not called "Wet Wales" for nothing

I just found out a Vespa dealer opened up about 12 miles from my house. They are still getting inventory but it sure beats traveling 75 miles to my old one. Although, they are a good dealer.

Great weight is off my mind, it has just been confirmed that my Rugby team Wasps have met all the conditions required to play next season in English Rugbys Championship league.

Up until now there was a very real chance my team would cease to exist.

Receiving a set of Bitubo shocks for the Vespa.


Bitubo shocks with good looking red springs that alas won't be visible on the GTS.

Of course we'll be waiting for you report!

What's making me happy today?

This coming weekend is Carnival in Brazil. And tonight I am having as much red meat as I can handle. From then on it's Lent and only fish on Fridays.

Got Gabriella back from the dealer today after her 20000km service. I also got them to fit my Akrapovic exhaust. Great to have it fitted properly rather than me lying about on the concrete trying to fit it. Oh to have a ramp and a sliding stool. Fascinating stuff watching the finish of all the work. My tech didn't like that the bobbin that came with the exhaust wasn't an exact match to the original Vespa wheel support. He turned the end down to match the landing point properly. I love those little details, and he found matching fasteners rather than the mix and match that came with the 2nd hand pipe. Then he was playing with variator weights to try to iron out a dip in acceleration from standstill. It's certainly better than it was but we think the fuel map is getting in the way to comply with emissions requirements in Europe.
So, the belt that came out was the original and had worn by about 1mm in width, just sufficient that on full throttle it was rubbing the bottom of the casing. But; you could still see the original white print on the belt. A new Piaggio one has gone in. He also modified the crankcase breather to discharge to air rather than the air cleaner housing. The inlet to the air filter housing is nicely blocked off with a correct size torx set tapping bolt. Was great to bring her home.

I bet Gabriella is going to run like a champion now. Congrats!

The word, "carnival", is derived from the Latin, carne vale, which means, "farewell to meat".

That's fascinating Frank. I've never known that. Did you study Latin?

Nah. (Some French, German, and Spanish).

I just pick up miscellaneous facts and some of them stick.

And in medicine everything and diagnosis are in Latin. Portuguese is the closest of the romance languages to Latin. That's why it makes it so difficult. Both Portuguese and Latin.

Everyone knows Latin is a dead language but I hope that Portuguese will be the next one. It already has one foot in the grave. The ethnocentrism of Brazilians is pretty borderline racist.

She runs beautifully, and sounds fast so that has to be good.

Bought a new toaster that reminds me of an old friend.

I've gotta get me one of those it'll be a nice reminder.

As a shade tree mechanic, I'll probably wait until the trees around here are throwing shade again. Then...

Completed a 2300km road trip this morning and the oil only went down from max to mid on the dipstick. Was feeling a little anxious towards the end but kept only remembering about the oil while hurtling down the road.

Oh yeah and the road trip itself was ace

Yeah, good idea. I've done some garage work again with cold fingers and it has limited appeal.

Fun fact about me:

Back when I was in HS, there was no requirement to take a foreign language to graduate (or to enroll in college/university). Up until my Junior year, we only had one option: Spanish. My Junior year they added Latin.

My Senior year, I decided to take Latin. My reasoning was that, (1) Latin is the root of the Romance Languages, so it should help if I ever need to learn any of them, and (2) I lived in Wisconsin, when would I ever need to know Spanish?

I graduated HS, and went to college in Sarasota, Florida, where there was a fairly large Spanish-speaking population.

Didn't go back after my first year, instead I moved to Los Angeles, California, where I lived for a year and a half.

Moved to Dallas, Texas, where I've lived for the past 34 years.

I guess 17-year-old me wasn't very forward thinking when he chose to study Latin instead of Spanish.

If you had been born in Brazil you would probably have made the same decision. Brazilians have an utter aversion to Spanish.

But unlike you I'm glad I chose Latin. I was going to a private school in high school run by Jesuit Brothers and they had two types of curricula one for sciences and one for liberal arts. You had to declare your major in the beginning of high school. I went on to study Nursing and Latin helped a lot.

Merrell shoes made my day yesterday. Bought a new pair of boots in Dec, wore them a few times and my left foot would hurt after a day of wearing them, like the shoe was too small, but my left foot is smaller than my right foot so that should not be. Well close to two month later they are still bothering me and Amazon return window has closed, so I contacted Merrell, after a few emails they approved a defect claim and are sending me a new pair and asked me to dispose of the defective pair.
Went to a local homeless shelter and donated them. They will fit someone, just not me.

We had a great Friday Vespa breakfast today. Erik's unique Ace of Spades scoot was there too, with seat and grips made from multiple layers of birch ply with laser engraving.

Fud,

Looks cool, but, would not that seat be hard on the a.....?

Bob Copeland

I think a better choice for the seat would have been ash!

For a seat, you would use softwood.

Morning tea outside a supermarket. $2.50 for sausage, bread, fried onion, choice of sauces/mustard. Money goes to a worthy cause. Everyone's happy.

One word - hemorrhoids.

It's a display scoot, I think.
A conversation piece.
The guy is in the kitchen cupboard business.

(Not street legal either)

Sledge, the South African equivalent is the 'boerewors* roll'.
(Pronounced boo-ra-wors)
Just like a hot dog, but the sausage is beef, spiced with ground black pepper and coriander seeds.
Variations of boerewors will include chutney and minced dried fruit like apricot or yellow peaches.

I think I never met hot dog/bratwurst that I didn't like.
Those South African examples look mighty tasty.

Bob Copeland

Did you all know that Robot actually zips around the city of San Diego on a 946 Armani. Now that is not normal but it's cheering me up

Bit of a niche thing, probably...

I just streamed the 50th annual Annie Awards (it's basically the animation industry's equivalent of the Oscars). There was so much stop-motion this year, and it just gives me life to see everyone getting properly recognized for their craft. As expected, Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio took home many awards, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that Marcel the Shell With Shoes On did very well, too. Bummer that Wendell & Wild and Mad God didn't win anything, but at least they were nominated.

Drove almost 800 km (500 miles) yesterday... but I came back home with a Z900RS. Original owner was super cool. He had two original 1970s Z1s in his garage so it was neat seeing the OG with the new gen.



Only 7k km on it (4.5k miles) and it was only $500 US more than what guy selling the cheapest used Royal Enfield 650 on the market wanted (asked for a friend , despite being a far better bike in every way.

Now I just have to figure out how I'm gonna let myself sell my Bonneville SE which has been an absolute sweetheart and doesn't deserve to be dumped like this

Before anyone says "Just keep them all", just know, I have been doing that for a while and this brothel is reaching full capacity lol

adri,

You truly are a two wheeled enthusiast. My blushing bride thought
I was crazy when I brought home just a second scooter. Thanks
for the photo. That Kawasaki looks real nice.

Bob Copeland

Thanks Bob. It's important to find things you're passionate about. I'm a big fan of motorcycles and brunettes.

Congrats adri, the RS is a good looking scoot! That buttery smooth inline four is going to run effortless down the open road. Watch your speed, it's too easy! I had a gen II FZ1 and a lot of good memories resulted from it. I can relate to the full capacity remark. Gotta thin the herd and let one go before bringing in another one.

A few weeks ago, I posted in the "What's Pissing You Off Today" thread about my blown out knee and the premature end to my ski season.

Today I'll post on the flip side in the "What's cheering you up today?" thread. I'm looking to the positive now. On Monday I underwent reconstruction of my left knee. ACL reconstruction + repair of the meniscus. Today is my first day off the pain meds and back to work. I've got the knee out of the brace and I'm starting to put a little bit of weight on it. Physical Therapy is scheduled to start on Monday next week. I've still got a long haul ahead of me to get get back to the level of activity I was at prior to injury. But I'm feeling positive about it and I'm glad to be on the road to recovery.


Relaxing at home on Monday after the surgery. That's one fat swollen leg!

Cat and Dog keeping me company and making sure I stay off my feet.

caschndl,

Glad you are healing. Thanks for sharing your progress.
I share your plight. I broke my ankle on the ice up here
in Frosbite Falls. Nothing like your situation.

I was lucky and did not need surgery. But, I understand.

Heal up and be well fellow scooterist.

Bob Copeland

My mother has been showing her age of 96 recently.

Last week a visiting nurse found her CO2 levels high and sent her to the Mayo Clinic, where she stayed over the weekend waiting for a test.

She passed the test and was able to eat on Monday, released on Tuesday.

Now she is back at her beloved home where she gets care from two women and our family.

She still has a sharp mind but mobility is getting to be limited.

My two grown children live in Asheville, NC and Brooklyn, NY and haven't seen their grandmother lately.

Sam is driving down from Asheville on Saturday morning so he can spend the afternoon and early evening with her, then driving 450 miles back home on Sunday.

He is a good one.

Hope Kylie can make it down soon.

Bill


Mom out with the Azaleas two weeks ago.

Wleuthold,

I just happen to have a photo of you with your good son Sam.
Good on him going to see Grandma. I wish mine were around,
there are so many questions I would like to ask them about the past.

Bob Copeland


I think Sam was living near Chicago on this Wisconscoot Ride?