Modern Vespa

I almost took off my pants.

Being able to do this so easily is part of the fun having a scooter! I'm limiting my own risk level to bicycle speeds - below that, I'll wear what I want (helmet always, also with a bicycle) and over that it's the whole armour.

You really do need Mrs. Sully to keep you out of trouble.

She'd have joined me, in Memphis. It was hot hot, not something I am used to.

I have had my LX 50 only a month. I have ridden it to work whenever I could. I have gone for long rides with my spouse while she trains for bike races, and I have gone for long rides by myself to the extent that I could with that 40 mph stipulation I have to work around. In all that time I wore a helmet, whatever street clothes I had on that day, and a hi viz bicycle jacket or hi viz vest.

Last week one of the occupational therapists where I work congratulated me on my Vespa, and then looked at my jacket and my gloveless hands. She said "Have you ever seen a de-gloving injury to someone? They're nasty and take forever to heal. Have you ever seen someone who has had thin nylon melt into their skin? Those burns are awful." I looked at her and said "Suzanne, are you telling me to stop being stupid and get a motorcycle jacket?" She nodded and said "Gloves too." I purchased both this weekend. I went out for a ride, and was surprised how well the jacket vents and that I actually felt more comfortable, more secure. Maybe it is a false sense of security, maybe not.

I spent the last 14 years treating people with traumatic brain injuries, and have been wearing a helmet when I ride a bike, when I ski, and now on the Vespa. You can't eliminate risk, and you wouldn't want to. But I know what kind of a burden--financial, emotional--bad injuries can be to a person and to their loved ones.

Of course, my sister-in-law the neurologist likes to say about motorcycle helmets that "They are really just there to make the clean-up easier."

Propabilities are annoying when they are about your own health A friend of mine is a medical doctor and has a 1100cc street bike. Knowing what he knows (and what he frequently hears from his colleagues in a large hospital), it does not actually make any logical sense to ride a MC - but thenagain, it's not much fun to live in a safety bubble. My friend also owns a moped - and rides it with a helmet only. With the MC, he looks like a space man, full gear always.

Your skin will try to maintain a surface temperature of about 92F by sweating, and this cools your body through blood flow through the skin. In hot, dry, and windy conditions such as on a motorcycle, sweat can evaporate faster than you can secrete it. When that happens, skin temperature rises to the ambient temperature, and that gets conducted to the inside of your body by bloodflow. Not good.

In short, for desert riding: If you're dripping sweat you need more airflow, if your skin is dry you need less airflow. For riding when it's hot and muggy, you want as much airflow as you can get.

Evaporative cooling vests (or even soaking your shirt with water) effectively add extra "sweat" capacity.

I am slowly building up gear for different seasons and temps.

I have two helmets one full face and the other a chips style. An armored mesh jacket. Three different types of gloves and chaps.

Need to add riding pants for cool weather and a good boot with ankle protection without looking like a construction worker.

But there is something to be said for a short ride to the store in a tee and shorts at 25-30 mph. on residential streets with little traffic.

it's alright until shit happens

but isn't that the same with just about every choice we make in life?

whether it's jumping out of a plane at 25,000 feet without a chute or running with scissors, we all need a buzz sometimes

Sometimes when I pull the Vespa from the street into the driveway I don't wear a helmet. And sometimes I'll ride to the end of the block and back without said helmet...

Love that wind in the hair

I've been riding round the Greek islands on an ancient scooter in my shorts and flip flops - and loving it but yesterday evening I was riding bitch on the back of my father's scoot as we rode off into town. I'd much prefer to be riding - mostly because I'm a fairly big guy, secondly my father's nearly 80 now and lastly because he commented while riding round one corner that he'd crashed the bike there only a few days ago! At least that explained the bandage on his arm.

All I know is that if I wind up in the ER from an accident I could have walked away from, there's no way in hell my wife will let me get a KLR 650 next spring.

Minimize risk: put the toilet seat down. Do the dishes. Fold some laundry. Don't fart in bed....

Also, I have a hunch that if I came into class with a bloody bandage on my arm my students would be all, like "ooh, what a badass!" ...

...until I told them it was on the Vespa.

Then they'd be all, like, "ha, Drake fell off his moped! Lame!"

While i realize accidents happen close to home i never wear my helmet when i go into Halewia. It's 5 miles RT. Yesterday i was cruising down the beach rd and a bee bounced off my glasses and the stinger got stuck in my cheek (face one not ass ). Hurt like a bitch and i'm allergic. Came hauling back into the complex heading for my epi pen and benadryl. My friend goes "hurry up". He knows i'm allergic. Got liquid benadryl (absorbs faster but tastes horrible). Thankfully i didn't need the epi pen. Don't know if i would of gotten stung if i was wearing my Diesel helmet. It got me near where my cheek ends and my jaw starts. Won't change my riding habits tho. Glad we have bees. Just wish they'd stay off my face.

Oof!

I really love to ride with my visor open (on a ff helmet) and sunglasses, and only put it down once I either get above 55 or the bugs start really smacking me, but, yeah, I'm allergic to wasps and hornets and do dread where that might end.