Modern Vespa

I see you're on the same fitness program that I am......NOT! Congrats on this amazing feat!!

doggonit, john there you go upping the bar again. helluva job.

That is some serious persistence there. I get tired riding a scooter 200+ miles in one day.

200 miles in a day is absolutely nuts… Doing it on a Huffy is certifiable.

Ps - I did not mean to insult your PK by calling it a Huffy.

I bicycle about 10 miles most days, sometimes 20 miles. So, can easily imagine what 200 miles is like,....never going to happen. Amazing

Picking up the shitbox for mayhem at Casa Lambretta. John is good people!

Is that a Riverside parked behind you? If so, can you steal the cowls and floorboard for me?

Most I've done is 93 miles. Leg cramps ruined my 100 mile attempt. Was a messenger for a while, rode 40-60mi every day for a decade.

I thinks that's John's personal ride. Don't wanna burn that bridge!

You'll only be burning it if you get caught.

I bet it was, I can't even imagine it! Kudos, good sir!!

Amazing. No wonder you look like that when you snatch lift Vespas as part of your training schedule.

I have to know though. On a scale of one to ten ergonomically, where does the BMX lie?

Finishing the green PX...

Found the problem. Guess for my style of riding, the 10mm rod bearing isn't going to hold up!🤣 Oops.

Ouch. Was that the stock bearing or did your kit come with one?

Did you already swap the crank? They do make a 12mm option.

Poor chainsaw. Can't say I'm surprised it let go considering the way it gets wrung out. Any cylinder damage?

Get it all bandaged up, planning another trek in October and need ya on board.

He should have a proper vintage bike to ride by then. Isn't the P already back on the road, Rob?

I bought the Stage6 hpc crank and realized later that I should've gotten the 12mm. Oh well. I'll throw a new crank in there and a new top and be right as rain. The Minarelli engine is easy to work on.

Im trying to get the frame painted on the GS and start assembly. Engine is done. I've been getting blasted by all kinds of crap lately when I should be getting this scoot done. I should be over the hump now.

Figure you have two months to pull together something suitably vintage and zippy to keep up with us.

I'm trying to kick some serious ass on it!

Ummm...

10 to 20 miles is definitely a far dry from 200+, but i would say that it actually takes more dedication and commitment to follow through with a day in day out workout routine like the one you're doing, than a one time long ride! Good for you Jack for creating the time to get in your workouts!

Pickle juice. Pickle juice is the miracle pill for staving off the cramps. I wish i had known this 20~25 years ago when i was getting more serious about racing marathons.

Pedaling 40~60 miles a day is pretty amazing. Especially as a messenger. I'm attempting to envision how many calories you'd have to take in after all that exercise. I'm guessing that bicycle maintenance and repair would really add up to quite a bit of $$$$!

I assume that the BMX ergos are fairly far down on the scale. Considering i don't own a road bike, i don't have anything to compare it to. I used to compete in triathlons locally. I would ride all sorts of different bikes. I once strapped down a little girl's 16" pink bike to the back of my lambretta and rode about 60 miles out to a triathlon race. Like the bike was REALLY small. I would say that bike's ergos were around a 1.

I did another triathlon on an adult tricycle (yes, the bike had a huge basket on the rear). I would say that bike had ergos around 1.5.


My current PK Ripper has much better ergos, bearings, crank set, tires…everything. It's still inefficient as all get out though. Because of its gearing, it has incredible acceleration, both on flat roads and on steep hill climbs. I've entered MANY non-BMX cycles races over the years (cyclo-cross, mountain bike, triathlons, criterions), and i'm usually right there with the leaders at first corner holeshot. Of course after that i get passed by most everyone.

Pedaling the bmx while sitting down pretty much only activates the hamstring muscles right where it connects to the glutes. The quads on see a little bit of use. Only once standing up do the quads really come into play.

As inefficient as a BMX is, there's something about the visceral feeling of how a 20" bike like that can transport you back into a time to your younger self when your life and the world was much simpler and carefree.

215 miles. The official ride was 207, but my ride with GPS phone app voice commands kept leading me off course multiple time in the wee hours. A good hour was lost backtracking and riding in circles between 12:30~3am.

I was kinda hoping to see if i could pedal and additional hilly 30~ish miles back home, but my long time ailment of Chronic exertional compartment syndrome reared its ugly head at about 105 miles into the ride in my left calf muscle…then it manifested into my right calf muscle at around 130. The last 7 hours were VERY painful to pedal, but quitting wasn't an option. I'm hoping i can eventually get a surgery to get it sorted.
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/chronic-exertional-compartment-syndrome/symptoms-causes/syc-20350830

I took salt pills and they didn't help. 6 of them. Guess I needed more! As a messenger I really just went through a lot of tires, which were tax write offs anyways! All the maintenance I did myself. That way there's only me to blame if something goes wrong. 200 miles is insanity. I love it. Congrats!

Today I....

Panel beat a frame for a friend of mine.. its nearly ready for paint 😀

I also sorted the floorboards back to flat while I was at it

Yes I know I need to sort the steering stops.


*the white you see is primer coat amd no filler yet, that's the painters job. I just bash metal and chuck spanners

Nice work with the hammer and dolly.

Thanks Chandlerman. Im no expert, nit learned a lot from watching YouTube videos 😀

Any specific you'd like to mention? I used to watch Wray Schelin and Lazze to get an idea.

None i can remember off the top of my head. I just put in a search query and watched

This is my metal bashing setup

Hah! So did I! I think the most useful (albeit lengthy) were from Eastwood, a manufacturer & reseller of paint & bodywork tools and supplies:

https://www.youtube.com/@eastwoodco

I also bought my hammer and dolly set from them.

This is me, one day after I go back to big bikes after decades of driving a Vespa. 😁

https://www.facebook.com/share/r/1F5Vm58raW

That's a very clever modification

Very nice work!

You should try a slap stick (there may be other names for it), they're incredibly useful. This guy is the first time I saw it. The slap stick is made from an old file!

?si=WY-imOPJTDcrjcnk

Here in the US they're called slappers (quit snickering, ya limey bastards ) and I love mine.

Today, I did one of those things you never want to do. We said goodbye to Travis Barker, our faithful hound of almost ten years.

He'd lost weight, but we'd put it down to him being a skinny old man and a lifelong picky eater. Today, we came back from lunch and errands and something was not right, so I took him to the vet and he was in the final throes of liver cancer.

Nothing to be done but say goodbye.

Anyways, sorry to be a morbid buzzkill. Give all your human and furry friends a little extra love tonight, because it might be the last chance you get.

Sorry to hear about your loss. Been there, done that - it's pretty hard when you lose a beloved pet.

Condolences to you and yours.