Modern Vespa

JKJ-FZ6,

I passed the FIT down to my daughter Kelsey. The front wheel
drive is good for her - she drives all of 8 city blocks to work.
Yes, I stepped up to All-Wheel drive with a 2022 Honda HRV - love it.

Max6200/Tierney

I have stayed home in bad snow weather - this is when the heavy
snow is accompanied by high winds causing blizzard conditions.
We refer to this as a white out - when you can not see 10 feet in
front of your car.

The metro Twin Cities area has +1000 heavy dump trucks with snowplows.
They also dispense salt out the back with the dump box slightly
elevated pouring roadsalt into a circular spreader.

After 14" of snow over two days, my city had every street cleared
down to bone clear in one day.

Despite this effort, there still are many accidents and folks in the ditch.
Some never figure out that 4-wheel drive is worthless on sheet ice.
Good overall in snowy conditions, but not on ice.

Bob Copeland
Current snow levels as of 1/20/23 are already equal to the whole season.

Internet scammers and their ilk.

Just about to leave with the kid to return them to college when they announced that they got a text about an undeliverable package and needed a 3 dollar fee to get a complete address or some BS. So they whipped out their debit card to pay, then right after doing so got nervous.

We called the bank, card will be cancelled in time, but they have to return in person to get a new one reissued. That'll be a month, I guess.

So we had "the talk:" You won't be texted for that stuff. Never pay from a link, go to the official website to take care of business, yada yada. I guess 20 is still a bit young to be jaded. I usually delete on sight, occasionally worry about being trigger happy, but I've pretty much batted a thousand on things lately, so I'm doing something right.

Glad it got sorted out. Sorta proves the point in your sig line.

On Monday I got an email at work with the subject line "EXT: Assigned Training - Participants - ALL Staff".

The sender's email address was nothing even close to our URL/email address format.

The email wanted me to login to the training link with my user credentials to access the training.

There was even a CAUTION box at the top (This email originated from outside of the organization. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.) that was auto-generated by Outlook.

I immediately smelled a scam, and accessed the training site through our website. Turns out the training was legit.

Later in the week our office manager sent an email around about the mandatory training, and that if we ignored it because it looked like a scam that we weren't the only ones to do so.

That email from the office manager should have said something more like "if you didn't do the training because the email looked like a scam, you don't need the training."

I get one of those delivery email scams every other day. Scams from fake Social Security too.

Argh. Just got an email invoice from PayPal that I know nothing about. Usually I can sniff out these things (for entertainment if nothing else) by a wonky email address, misspellings and the like, but this one looks pretty legit. Fortunately PayPal seems to have a pretty functional help/reporting function so I turned it over to them.

Wichita only getting an inch? Is that a problem? If I only had a inch I would probably not bother cleaning off the driveway. This winter I'm actually bored with the lack of snow here in what used to be a major snow area of Central NY.

If one wanted to have a snow ball fight here you would have to have a shaved ice machine to make one!

I can remember winters where I would snowblow the drive to get out and go to work, come home and have to snow blow to get back in the driveway and repeat again the next day!

Are you sure?

Nope. Still pissed off. ^^^^^

KShansan it just came out on the news that we are right on the cusp of one to three inches. Funny how news changes. Rain first and then snow. The city put out a communique that they are not even brining. It might be like an ice skating rink out there.


I just came back from the store on a mad dash to get groceries and beer

Except the training was titled "Putting the "I" in Equity" and was "...[aiming] to increase your knowledge and build upon your understanding of what it means to possess an equity mindset. It will also present reflective practices for continuous growth and development."

Sorry that happened to you Dave. And then there was the misinterpreted emoticon on my part and I ended up sounding flippant instead of funny. I just couldn't resist the double entendre. Mea culpa. Friends still?

Aside from my pair of Vespas, I also sometimes ride a trio of BMW's.
I was going to do a recce ride on Sunday on my R9T.
I got it out from under the covers on Saturday afternoon, to just rinse the dust off and be sure it starts. With the motor running, I smelled fuel !

I saw fuel dripping at the rate of 2-3 drops per second from below the tank.
My ride gets cancelled with much embarrassment as I had organized it around my diary. I posted a short video to the guys and they understood.

Instead of riding, I searched YT for vids about removing an R9T tank. Empowered by YT instruction, I started wrenching away. I got to the point where I can identify where the leak is coming from - a quick coupling in the fuel line.

Modus Operandi:
Unclip and reclip firmly.
Still leaks.
Repeat.
Same result.
I tried a few turns of PTFE tape on the male spigot end.
Same result.

I searched the web for a BMW parts diagram and locate the likely cause - an O-ring in the coupling...

This morning I Vespa'ed 25kms to the BMW dealer to source the part.
1x O-ring at the equivalent of US$4-56
(USA list price is $7-15!)

I rode back and commiserated the matter over coffee with my Vespa guru.
He gave me the name of a nearby specialist bearing / seals vendor to compare price. I Vespa'ed out to said specialist with my OEM part as sample.

They whipped out the vernier and measure. Off the counter assistant went into the stock room and returned with a pre-pack of 5 identical O-rings.

Price?

5xO-rings for US$1.45 !!!

More than 15 times the price !

Why didn't you just take out one of the other two BMW's ?

Two of the BMW's are 'in the shop' - one has body panels that are out being repainted. The other needs a new battery.

A follow up...

I started the fix today.
Remove the rear mudguard.
Remove the seat.
Remove the side panels.
Undo the front tank mounts.
Lift the tank up and slip in a 40mm (1.5") PVC pipe to keep it up to let me work underneath.
Uncouple the coupling.
No sign of the place to put the O-ring.
Investigate further...

The O-ring in perfect condition.
The male coupling (13) has sheared off inside (11) the female coupling.
A failure of a critical component after only 2 483 kms on the odo.

Outcome:
The dealer is collecting the bike tomorrow afternoon for a warranty claim.
I also want a refund on the unnecessary O-ring...!

Fud,

You are working hard. There are some general statements that
are earned. Germans: Superb engineering - Average reliability.

Good luck - love the warranty.

Bob Copeland
Cold as a "Well Diggers Behind" here in MInnesota

Pretoria is hot enough to melt tarmac...!
This week's weather Deg C !)
(in Deg F...)
Today 90
Wed 86
Thu 84
Fri 88
Sat 90
Sun 90
Mon 77

Fud,

I think you are in summer there. Below the equator kind of
flips the seasons. During your Winter - how cold does it get?

This weekend, it will be -11 degrees (your -23.8). When I
grew up here in Minnesota the worst was -30 degrees or your
-34.

You have to stop walking your dog - their bare feet will freeze.
Some actually put small boots on their dogs.

Bob Copeland
Minna-so-cold


Since marring my blushing bride 42 years ago, it has been all cats.
This is "Jack" the cat at out house. House cat that never goes out -although he would like to.

Not to minimize your experience, because everyone is acclimatized differently.

Here's the temperatures for the equivalent season (one month after Summer Solstice) for where I live:

High Temp 101°F (38°C)
Low Temp 82°F (28°C)
Historic Average High 97.9°F (36.6°C)
Historic Average Low 78.4°F (25.8°C)

For me, the temperatures you've posted are comfortable.

I'm taking a language class, with the goal of knocking that out as a prerequisite to a BA. All of the 100-level classes are the same times and days for the entire academic year, and then it switches for the 200-levels. It's only via Zoom, and it's in the evening.

The building I live in has sketchy wifi, and more often than not, I can't get all the way through a class without having to completely re-start Zoom multiple times because the wifi causes it to skip and hang so much. So I can't do it at home. The public library does have study rooms you can reserve, but not for as long as my class runs.

I've tried hanging out at the main campus, off in a corner or a study nook, but the class runs late enough that I end up getting kicked out when they want to lock all the buildings up. I thought I had a solution going to a satellite campus building, but this evening I was kicked out of the only room I thought for sure would be available... because apparently it wasn't (I've been using it the past two and a half weeks, so this is news to me). I've even called security to ask if they knew if any space would be available for me to use, and they literally couldn't even understand what I was trying to tell them, so I gave up there.

I have been trying and trying to find a solution to this stupid problem since September. Apparently, it's too much to ask to be able to use school resources on school property to actually take this freaking class. I'm so frustrated, and I've tried to get help from every department I can think of. I feel like this is just going to be a constant battle for the next year and a half. I don't understand why this is such an issue.

Verizon Jetpack or similar? https://www.verizon.com/internet-devices/

Nah, I'm running prepaid. The public library does loan out 4G wifi hotspots, but I haven't been able to snag one yet. I think I'm on the waiting list for the waiting list.

I can handle heat up to blood heat if it is dry.
It is a total lack of air movement that gets to me.
No wind and no fans (no power - loadshedding)


Bob, I recently adopted a cat from yet another family emigrating to Australia.
Here is Asha playing cat and mouse right now...
interfering with my MV surfing

Oh, yeah, humidity will affect those temps drastically.

Years ago I visited family in Wisconsin in July or August, and we went to a Street Fair and walked around. The air temps were in the mid-80's (°F), like what you're experiencing. But the relative humidity levels were also in the 80% range. The heat index had to be well over 100°F. I kept complaining about it, and my family couldn't understand how I could easily handle 95°F-100°F in Texas, but not 85°F in Wisconsin. I also explained to them that everything is air conditioned in Texas. We go from our air conditioned home to our air conditioned car, which we drive to our air conditioned work or other destination.

Apparently neither the lambretta or the pigeon is very reliable.

Maybe tomorrow.

My third offer of someone with a junction box for the SS180. chadted12 is a scammer, I'm sure the moderators have them in their sights.

I placed an order with an online supplier here.
Paid for it with a credit card.
Email confirmation.
"Thank you for your order... blah, blah, fishpaste... Delivery will be made within 7-15 working days. Have wonderful day."

Silence for two weeks (i.e. a fortnight in imperial units)

No tracking number.
Zilch.
After 10 working days I politely follow up.

E-mail: "Apology... late supplier... load-shedding etc. etc."

I respond that time is of the essence of the contract. If not delivered within the 15 day period, I'm cancelling my order and wanting a refund.

E-mail: "Your order has been shipped. Tracking number XXXXXXX. Please contact if you have further queries."

I ask what tracking website.
Silence...

I google the "Buffalo" tracking number.
Yes, you are right - it is Chinese and they are unable to locate my package tracking number at this time..."



UPDATE:
Data delving resulted in me establishing that "Buffalo" is to be found at:
1st Floor, Building A, No. 71, Huagang Avenue, Huadu District, Guangzhou PRC.

They have a warehouse in Johannesburg who told me the shipment will be here early next week...

Banned after a separate report...

As much as I love german engineering, INSTALLING german parts/accessories always makes me want to pull my hair out at least once.

I'm trying to install a Hepco & Becker center stand. I can't figure out how to get a washer AND the spring hanger onto the bolt they go on. There doesn't seem to be clearance for both bits together...one or the other, sure: both together? Nope. There's probably some magic trick to it I'm ignorant of.
I know I'll love it once the install is finished... but I have to get through it first.

Airports and TSA. 'Nuff said.

No cavity search, I hope.

Back already?

Got back Saturday night. Good trip. We liked Costa Rica. Airport incident had more to do with trying to exchange excess Costa Rican currency. The map of the currency exchange's location led me to believe it was on the departure level, behind security. "But you CAN'T go there without a boarding pass!". Turns out they were hidden in a far corner behind the baggage carousels. TSA didn't seem to know that, or wouldn't simply tell me. Currency exchange was closed this morning, anyway. Wasted $5 on parking.

A unceremonious early end to ski season
Left knee, ACL torn and possibly the MCL too.

I guess you won't be kick-starting the Pan for a while. Sorry, brother, heal up quick.

Ah, but I kick start the panhead with my right knee!
<EnableSilverLining>

Oh, man, that's not a view anyone wants. Heal quickly.

Dude! That's the worst view on a ski slope ever. Hope you get back to normal soon.

CASCHND1

No fun! Heal well.

Bob Copeland

That sucks! My wife did the same thing on the slopes six year back. She opted for a no-nonsense ortho who, surprisingly, told her he thought she could self heal. Took a solid six months but the surgeon was right. Hope your healing process goes just as well.