Modern Vespa

I must've done it the wrong way. I have YOM plates on all my bikes and paid a pretty penny. I got issued 1 year tags and have to renew. Still figuring that out around my move to Florida. Dammit, those old black on white Texas plates sure do look nice.

Clauss Studios top mount is here and found me some unobtainium NOS black fuel levers...

That Clauss top mount is a PITA to install if you can't flip the frame over to drill it, but it's really nice for good, tight handling.

Yep, they are lost...

Removed some parts, added even more and now it's 1.3k€

Are you responsible for the lost parts cost? Was the shipment insured? Please tell us you haven't lost all that money!

Nope. It's the responsibility of the seller who will in turn make their claim to the shipping company.

Hoping for the new parts to arrive some time next week but will likely have to wait for the week after that.

Getting ready for the Rally Glovebox Rally

OG sticker ftw! Just wow.


Found a great, vintage key chain….can't decide if it belongs to the SS or the smallie.

I'm leaning smalls.

OK! We need a keychain thread. I'll post up later today to start it off.

Needed some feel good after the tough garage day yesterday. Went and pulled the p outta storage. Didn't start first kick, but started first bump and showed herself well on a quick 10 mile ride.

My longest owned and biggest survivor.

Working on the VBA a bit today, wanted to clean up the inner braking surface on the front drum before I paint it and what not. Was trying to figure out how to make a jig to hold the drum and then realized I had a jig, the front axle! Just mounted up the drum backwards set the drill press to a slow speed and went to town with some emery cloth. I'm not worried about a machined-perfect surface, just clean off the old glaze and gunk.

Hal

Wow good sorting!

Started 12k maintenance on my ninja250. Brake fluid change, air filter cleaning, lube stuff. Ordered all new coolant hoses, they are original to a 2004 as far as I know. Next up oil change, coolant change, and valve adjustment.

It looks so weird without fairings!

I dig the sleek open look without fairings. Maybe swap out for a shorter seat & tail, and rock a trimmed up street-fighter look.

Those little ninjas are so much fun, I have owned 3 of them, 2 picked up as projects. I would own one now if it wasn't for my wonky back problems. Do the battery box mod the first time you have to remove the carbs, makes it a lot easier to get them off and on again.

I keep forgetting I have a spare air box to mod, have had to take carbs out a few times, it sucks to do. The carbs get unhappy if you let it sit. If you ride it regularly it's a rock of reliability.

My god man , cover that poor thing up it's naked

Got the valve adjustment portion done on the Ninja. It's not so hard once you get in there. I started by moving the clearances to the minimum side and then realized I needed to do the maximum side so I got extra pratice. After I got the intake valves done I did the exhausts and figured out there was no way in hell a torque wrench was happening on those lock nuts due to access, so I had to do the old "that feels as tight as the intakes were".

Just waiting on my spark plugs, oil filter, and new coolant hoses to button it up. That's roughly $500 or more saved. For this bike I've been farming out the big services but I guess that's over now. I might even be brave enough to try the next major service on the GTS once it rolls up, but that will be a while. It's weird how I'd rather rebuild a whole vintage engine than adjust valves and deal with coolant on a modern...

Whipped up a logo with DALL-E for the merry folks who have have been having challenges with being either too advanced or retarded

I got a trial of DAL-E but the link wouldn't allow access. Great image.

I feel you pain John. I used to have a KTM RC390, and the manual spec'd out 500 miles for the initial valve adjustment. It took FOREVER to strip down the bike just to get the valve covers off. Then it was just about impossible to fit any sort of wrench in there to actually loosen or tighten the valves. It was a short lived love affair with that bike. I loved the way it looked and i did look good on the bike, but since the RC390 was built in India, it literally felt like i was riding around on a 4T Bajaj Chetak. I said, "no thanks to that", and I sent her packing after a short couple weeks.

I had to look up a RC390, reminds me of those sports bikes in Japan. Looks like a 1000cc bike until it starts up then you know it's not. Kind of like a push up bra, as one of our esteemed members here put it.

Received information yesterday that my package is ready to be picked up from a collection point - Yay !

When picking the box up, noticed it has been really beaten up and had a big hole in the bottom - Doh !

The later sent package was also scheduled for delivery today via another courier before 6:00pm so no problem - Yay !

No problem right? RIGHT??? Clock is now almost 9:00pm and guess what, no package... DOH !

Opened the banged up box and inspected the contents. Uncle Tom crank had almost gotten through the box, threads on main shaft damaged, cylinder cowl and fan cover scratched plus the Ultrastrong clutch box looks like someone stomped on it. Also one out of three small-parts bags was ripped which is likely the reason why cylinder studs, nuts and DRT cruciform are missing. Double doh indeed...

SIP is a mess lately. I was at my supplier yesterday. They received 50 batteries in boxes that couldn't handle the weight. From the 50, 8 batteries were beaten to hell resulting in leaks. He's pissed as hell cause he paid 130€ for shipping only for the batteries and they came damaged…

It wasn't SIP where I ordered my parts. Even if it was, this kind of nonsense is completely out of the sellers control. I supplied the seller with pictures to do a claim with the shipping company. Hoping that they get the most out of their claim and possibly I get some grade B parts

Found this beauty while diving off Thailand yesterday.

^ "Vespas that have left the house" ^

Absconded with another batch of goodies from Kajiit's House of Wares.

-2 port 3 speed motor with multiples of parts to choose from
-2 pair p series loose gears
-a couple top ends
-VBB wiring harness, regulator, switches
-a few rims
-a Bajaj electronic ignition setup

And some bonus jam

The jams and jelly's are the snazz!
Jelly of your jelly!

Bought a Lego from Costco. Actually, my son got it for me

Saw that at Target and thought about it. It's pricey though.

Only $17 for the cheap china ripoff on Ali.

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/3256803890830625.html?spm=a2g0o.ppclist.product.4.18a0cJfjcJfjdv&pdp_npi=2%40dis%21USD%21US%20%2430.27%21US%20%2417.25%21%21%21%21%21%402101f6ba16617122769311108e1b64%2112000028895587071%21btf&_t=pvid:a7e08c64-cc14-433d-ae0c-f489e58e8fcc&afTraceInfo=1005004077145377__pc__pcBridgePPC__xxxxxx__1661712277

always a good time hanging with John! he also takes a lot of parts and/or bikes when he swings by!

had to sweeten the deal with some home grown and made jam! come October it might be canned marinara sauce from the tomatoes here.

Have you used this seller / source yet?

I had to check the receipt because I was suspicious. Kajiit forced those top ends on me for free - you gotta watch that guy, he will cram your minivan full when you aren't looking

Have you ever heard of a guy called Murphy? I'm starting to think he has something against my engine builds

The status of the package sent later via different courier didn't arrive that day and just changed state to "delayed" later that night. The next day I got an email "package delivered". The only problem is that I was not at home until late that night and neither was anyone else. Guess what? No package to be found...

And the plot thickens once again. According to the proof of delivery document the package was even signed by me, which is definitely weird. I've contacted the dealer to see if they can get an image of the signature from the courier...

Change dealer, install a camera…

a little something extra always finds it's way into parts purchases and outgoing boxes. or I overtly foist additional items upon you.

I like my dealer who has been very helpful and always responds quickly. My hat is off to them for patiently handling the mess caused by two different couriers.

Actually I do have cameras but when looking for the records of that day I found out that the computer running the NVR software had been crashed since the thunders few weeks ago without me noticing it

Oh, that's the worst, when you *think* you have the evidence, and then you don't.

For a change, all my scooter adventures have been relatively uneventful of late. I was out of town for a while, but now that I'm back, I've been riding the GL a fair amount and finding that the 1/4 throttle lean spot, while annoying, is still not dangerous.

Last night, at one point I did about ten miles non-stop at 40-45 MPH, so 1/4 throttle, and temps were rock solid at 318-320 on the CHT. Took it up to 55 and the temps actually dropped to 310. Cranking it up to 65-70 only took it up to 340, but I didn't hold that speed all that long because while the road was straight and mostly empty, it was also pitch black.

The closest I came to a misadventure was getting close enough to running out of gas that the motor was starting to miss a little through the last mile or so to the gas station. At the first station I went to, the pumps were out of order, which would have made running out extra-frustrating. I really need to get a little jerry can for times like that.