Modern Vespa

It's a front. Were all pussies.

The women however.........

Bill X

The World over.......

Coming back rom Matlock today, when the GTS decided to do an impression of Bills old GTS... zoom, zoom, zoom, cough, zoom, cough, zoom, zoom, cough, zoom, cough... mind you, it was it's first serious ride out in 4 weeks as it's been left standing for a while......It's due for a service and belt change, I'll see if a HT lead and spark plug cap change will do it any good....
Graham

I rode the TIWYCHW to Hitchen today to catch up with an old friend from my clubbing years and I've come to realise that this is the scooter that I should have bought in the first place.

It does many things really well such as handle, brake, consume fuel and generally remain stable under heavy braking ie it doesn't dive.
Because of that big front wheel you can pitch it into corners at faster speeds than you can a GTS and because it's higher you feel like you're leaning over further.
It has brilliant mid range grunt around 50 - 70 mph which is brilliant for overtaking but you can really feel how much heavier this thing is compared to the RWO.
The good news is that the weight is low down which helps the stability while filtering and it's complemented by a light throttle which I really like.
The bolster in the seat is a blessing under acceleration but a curse after a couple of hours when you want to move your ass back to stop your legs from aching.
If I'm going to do anything endurance based on this thing it's going to have to go so Doug you were right.
It's failings are it's fuel gauge which will read full one minute and 3/4's 5 minutes later and it's screen which I'm convinced channels the worst of the air right into your face.
It's looks are growing on me but it's still named after a girl.

Bill X

Crackin weekend getting up to Derbyshire with Graham, riding some of the dales and high tops in bright sunshine and blue skies then doing the Beat The Bikers mass ride this morning before a fast ride back 8)

My RAM bolt turned up in the post right on cue before I left from the nice guy at Any Mount, so quickly fitted that. GTS never missed a beat and hit 8000km on the way back, but the front rim balance weight fell off its adhesive strip recently and I could feel some wobble without it so need to get that fixed soon

Will post pics and tot up miles soon but yawning too much for now

Get the highway pegs.

BV 350 riders highway pegs(SOLD OUT)

Oh how we laughed.

Funny how Piaggio don't make them eh ?

Bill X

Back from Bike Normandy. What an amazing weekend, and it hardly rained at all.

Report to folllow when I feel less frazzled (in at 11:30 last night, back to work this morning).

Function over form. I bet if you had them on your next ironbutt you wouldn't be hatin' anymore Plus they get a little air up where a man can appreciate it if you do it right.

After a lovely weekend I am right now stranded on the m25 awaiting the recovery van. We successfully nursed a minor oil leak all weekend (caused, we think, by heat from a knackered exhaust gasket which we replaced), and 25 miles from home it has decided to go pop. I am hoping/praying that it has just shat out its oil sensor, which is where we think the leak was coming from. There is still oil in the sump so fingers crossed that's all it is. If I have seized the engine I may cry

Ooof. It didn't lock up did it? Fingers crossed for ya.

Bloody hell Genie, you couldn't buy any luck at the moment could you?!
Fingers crossed its a cheap fix.

Genie has been recovered and is on her way home.

Fingers crossed its a cheap fix.

Bill X

Oh, that's lousy luck Been there so mny times I sympathise utterly.

You said it Sticky, they look so out of place on a scooter.

It's a BV not a DynaVeestaCroozaChromaThumperVStarWidaGlidaEbip.

I want to move my hips back not my feet forward.

Bill X

Sorry to hear about the breakdown, Genie. Here's hoping it is a simple and inexpensive fix.

Speaking of expensive...

We are staying in a part of Manhattan's upper west side that seems to only contain people with more money than sense.

Case in point, I ran out to the organic emporium that passes for the local store to pick up some fruits vegetables, bread and paper goods, and nearly had to take out a mortgage.

Who knew that the only option for toilet paper was the free range, cruelty free, recycled, grass fed, organic variety?! Seriously, single ply, slightly scratchy, crepe paper at the pricely sum of $8 for a pack of four rolls!!!

I feel so ecologically enlightened, but poor.

And we all know that hips don't lie.

Bugger - sorry to hear that genie.

Sounds like a cue for...

Fingers crossed for you and Girlfriend, genie

give it a day or two and you'll be able to add 'chafed' to that list. i've been down the ecologically correct loo roll road, and all i can say is that i'd sooner use a handful of leaves

Hope you get it sorted soon Genie. Scooter fixing mojo coming your way x

Oh @~$*, and there was me thinking that between some of us and in different places, we'd clocked up some great, fun trouble free riding over the weekend.

Hope its a quick fix. If you get a min, interested to know how the exhaust gasket caused the oil leak? Am assuming the gasket had a poor seal, and the escaping heat was directed onto an oil seal, which expanded (or the area around the seal did), creating the leak?

Have looked at this but guessing a little...assume your 'oil sensor' and the 'min pressure oil switch' shown in the diagram are one and the same?
http://www.vespaspares.co.uk/spares/epc2.asp?ModelID=2234&pageID=01.15&m=VESPA+GTS300+IE+SUPER+Oil+Filter&uid=0

almost. i've got a picture of the old gasket. you can see exactly where hot exhaust gases must have been escaping directly below the filter and the sensor/switch. either a seal was melted, or the sensor/switch itself was damaged by the heat. yes, that looks like the part, or close enough to it (i've got a 250). the 'element' (part 23) looks like some kind of metal washer, but the pressure switch (part 22) has plastic parts to the outer surface, which could easily have been deformed or compromised by the excess heat. we'll know in a few days

Ah, gotcha, that sequence of events and symptoms sounds quite possible then. Sorry to go to school on your problem, but always good to know this stuff for future reference

Good luck with the fix. There's always something isn't there (says he, sitting here surrounded by tax calculations and paperwork because HMRC think I've underpaid, are demanding £2.5k, £100 interest on what they think I owe and a £400 penalty for allegedly submitting an incorrect return. Not much of a screw up then for only 7 monthly pay slips - I was out of work from redundancy for the other months of that tax year - when my employer(s) did all my PAYE )

It is the joy of bikes. After last year's Bike Normandy trip, the ferry arrived in Portsmouth at 11PM and Howard's bike wouldn't start. He had to push it off the ferry and call the AA.

So guess who ran out of petrol on the way to work this morning, like a n00b?

*raises paw*

I thoroughly recommend pushing an Integra up Battersea Bridge Road for your early-morning full-body workout. OH WAIT NO I DON'T.

Whoops.

Alice, I nearly ran mine dry the other week and had to half ride/half drift on fumes to a petrol station. I fill up so rarely that its easy to lose track on the NC.

I hope your GTS is okay, genie. I saw one go past my office as I stepped out to get some lunch today and thought "damn, I wish I still had one of those".

i almost ran out on the péage on the way back on monday. i was frantically signalling to doug that i needed to exit, and by the time i filled up i had been running on zero bars for about 15km. we'd both assumed that there would actually be petrol stations along the way, but we didn't see a single one for nearly an hour.

in other news ...

i have decided to take an IAM course. after the thoroughly demoralising realisation that my riding skills have suffered badly due to my lack of recreational riding over the last year, i was faced with two options: 1. give up recreational riding and stick to commuting only, or 2. work on building my skills back up. after a bit of deliberating and feeling sorry for myself, i have chosen option 2.

and finally .... i have been given a sabbatical in term 2 this year!!!!! this is bloody fantastic news as i was coasting towards a meltdown due to overwork. that means no teaching (other than my PhD supervisions and a handful of Final Major Project students) from January to October 2014. i'm grinning like the Cheshire cat

So, Cannonball?

Brilliant news on both counts! Elaine from the Normandy trip was asking me about the IAM course, so maybe you'll both be Associates together

(I should mention that all the strange bikers we rode with at the weekend were thoroughly impressed by the scoots, including genie's - perhaps especially genie's, as Vespas just look like toys to the uneducated. One guy admitted that he'd almost cancelled his booking when informed he'd be riding with scooters, but had his mind thoroughly changed.)

you know, i would actually consider cannonball if it weren't for the fact that it would put me in the poorhouse having done a 250-mile day on Monday (most of it in very strong crosswinds) i could imagine adding another 150 or so to the end of that without suffering too much.

Gary and Elaine both confessed to being amazed by the speeds i was riding. that bucked me up considerably, as i felt i'd been riding like a fanny for most of the trip (with the exception of Saturday afternoon). mind you, they probably never knew that scooters could go over 40mph

my engine has not exploded. the top of the spark plug had broken off - how, exactly, i'm not sure, but the engine is fine. It'll need a new oil pressure switch as well, and it's getting a new front tyre, but I should be out the door for under £200. what a relief.

Phew - I was worried for a while there!

What a weird thing to go wrong but I'm glad it's no worse!

does that raise the possibility that we may see you in June for the Greek Islands Rally?

Great news on Girlfriend.

that'll depend on finances Al. i'm hoping i'll be able to go, but will have to see what sort of shape my bank account is in. bah.

Hey by then you will a least have a sexy orange Vespa backpack to take.

actually i was planning on using that for skiing