Modern Vespa

I'm having cabin-feverish daydreams of getting out and riding, but so far no plans for a ride other than Amerivespa and hopefully Wisconscoot.

What great rides are y'all planning for '19?

My wife and I are planning an overnighter on the scoots to a nice country inn this summer. It's a great ride with a wonderful destination. We haven't gone there since the first year she got her license. Packing the scoots is challenge in itself. Really looking forward to that "trip".

Bob

Couple multi-day trips, one to Medford Oregon (about 400 miles away), one down the Big Sur coast. Also test riding a BMW C 650 GT scooter and R1200RT motorcycle. I know. Different bikes but they weight about the same (1200 is in fact lighter) and the cost isn't that much different. I'm just test riding. I'll keep the 2009 GTV. Its only worth a couple $K.

Best
Miguel

We are currently discussing a repeat of last summer's outing: 3 months in the Black Hills. Some truly fine riding!

Renting a cottage with friends in Prince Edward County so am looking forward to that. I'd love to get away for a rally just almost impossible because of the business and when I do get away it is with the wife. Still, I will see if I can steal some time for just me and a bike for a little bit. No better mental release..

Yes, that's really it: I want to ride more...a lot more.

And not just astride Melody, although she's the emphasis these days: the bicycles will get more love too, if only for the sake of maintaining the level of cardiovascular health I seemed to take for granted pedaling all over the place when I lived in Gotham.

I want to do at least one multi-day trip out of the state; I have an old pal living in Maryland I want to drop in on, if for no other reason than to prove that yeah, I can hang with him on his FJ1200, unless he goes seriously hooligan on me, in which case I tattle on his wife about it.

I want day trips...lots of 'em. I had some lovely discoveries via our new (and only) scooter club in the area this past year, and that just whetted my appetite. We actually do have some cool roads and routes around here, but it takes some serendipity (and a riding pal or two) to actually get out there and discover them.

It's time to get a helmet fitted for Le Wife so she can get in on at least a bit of the fun. (We actually fitted her casually when she got a look at my new dealer's for the first time a few weeks ago; we'll see how keen she is on the idea in a month or two.)

Club Rides: Yes, at last (as of last year, I can officially say now), there's a local club: the Jersey Shore Chaos Crew is a grand gaggle of good folk, almost entirely Vespisti (plus one guy on a BV, but hey), and we got off to a sterling start, so I can only imaging more group-ride goodness for this year.

And, yes...writing more about this stuff here. Does that count?

This is kind of funny: I'm going to Spain after a few months. The idea is to rent a motorcycle and do a bit of exploration.

Now, originally I had a certain city in my mind as the starting point. However, it turned out virtually impossible to find a good place to rent a bike from there - BUT, as there's also a bit of tourism (name one Spanish city without... ) there would have been scoots available.

I actually toyed around with an idea of renting an XMax250, but in the end decided not to. The only reason being that I'm focusing mostly on very small roads, some of which are likely to be rough. Also (this with tiny sheepish voice...) I'm now again used to big wheelers and feel more safe riding one in unfamiliar countryside and mountain routes

Still, I'll have to say the very low price of a good scoot (e.g. XMax250) made me think that it would definitely be nice to do a scoot trip somewehere in Southern Europe too... perhaps the next spring!

I have a few plans for rides in 2019.

My new Xmax gives me an extra boost in power, range and storage, so I am planning one big ride on it. Either New England or California, probably late Spring.

The MP3 group (hardly any MP3s anymore) is gathering in the Maggie Valley area in mid May. I intend to ride Max to that one.

Amerivespa is in Wisconsin in June. I want to do that one, either on Max or one of the GTs. If a GT, it might get most of the way there in the back of my truck. Or borrow a scooter from one of my Wisconsin friends, then fly there and back.

Hopefully, Dave will have Wisconscoot at a time that doesn't conflict with the Vespa Club de Mediterraneo ride in Portugal in mid September, so I can do both. If it does fall on similar dates, my wife insists on the VCdM trips (as do I) so it gets preference.

Also, as many Oyster Tours as possible with my friend Ken. I hope Conchscooter can join us on one of the Jacaranda tours. If not, I will ride to Key West on one of my long weekend trips.

And 7BSC club rides on weekends. There are two overnight rides planned every year, so I will do those when not conflicting with the above rides.

Bill

A small scoot group on ADV in Battle Scooters, is now starting to discuss potential rides for 2019. One mentioned is NY/PA, another is OH, another is SE mtns of VA,NC,TN, etc., also westward to CO or beyond to left coast (my notion).

So far the one big definite is going to Amerivespa.

Other than that day rides and want to extend our day ride area since we acquired GTS250's in late fall. I would like to do an overnight ride to a B&B but the challenge will be to get my darling wife to pack light!

I would like to do a ride with a scooter club but the two nearest ones are each about 2 hrs away in opposite directions. If I do so, it would be either a very long day or an overnight. I would have to trailer as we are not keen on a highway.

Amerivespa in June, Portugal in September, as much as I can in between.

The packing and finding a pleasant route is part of the fun! We had stuff crammed everywhere on the last overnighter.- You should see my trips out to the farm markets in the summer.....peppers stuffed in the glovebox etc....

Bob

Looking to do a bit of scoot-camping on either the GTS 300 or the BV 350.

Hope to get out for 4-5 trips this year.

Goal is to make it to 2020

Working on a Coast to Coast ride across the USA in around June or July.

I left it too late this year.

Bill x

Yeah, it is that time of the year. January is when it kicks in, usually. I think that's a significant part of what made Wisconscoot happen.

Yes, planning on doing it again this year. This being year 5, thinking of some recycling....there are only so many small towns in western Wisconsin that seem suitable for a base. I suspect that nobody would complain about that. Although we've settled into September for a couple of years, I'm willing to move things around a bit to accommodate Bill et. al.

Definitely AV, as it's only two hours away.

Everything else is up for grabs. Would love to be part of an Oyster Tour (meeting Ken is on my bucket list too) sometime.

Did a family trip partly around Lake Michigan last year, and spent a fair amount of time wishing it was on a scooter. I keep thinking about a ride with a few others around the northern part of Lake Michigan, through the U.P. of Michigan, bumping up to Lake Superior. Let's see.

Other than that, just a bunch of local riding. Maybe try to lure a few locals out of the woodwork for a few more local rides...

I've got three scooters now, can't just sit around and wash them.....

Well I'm finishing up an excellent Mediterranean pizza for lunch at Enoure Cafe with the red GTS in the parking lot. I'm told you should do things on New Year's Day you want to do throughout the year. So I took a ride.

No specific trips planned on the scoots this year. Several day trips to Aspen and other mountain towns. Another ride to the top of Mt Evans. Maybe a ride to Amerivespa. I enjoyed the last one held in Lake Geneva.

I would also like to ride in eastern Canada but will probably hold off until we know the 2020 cannonball route since several of the route proposals start in the area I'm interested in riding.

First though we need to get our house in Houston sold.

Still no luck selling that house? I was pretty frustrated trying to sell mine, The listing was looking dated after 4 months. I had my agent take it down and wait a few days and them relist it. This caused it to appear as a new listing. We sold a couple of weeks later. Lots of prayers was more likely the real reason!
Good Luck,
Tony in Tn (who likes the idea of a scoot ride to Colorado and beyond)

My sister and her husband are retiring to Overgaard, AZ where they'll begin construction on a house. I told her that I'd help since I enjoy building almost as much as long trips on the Vespa. It makes sense to combine the two.

1. January ride across three countries in West Africa on a 110cc scooter
2. Spring time, something between 3-5000 mile little ride east of the Mississippi up the east coast and back down the the Mississippi
3. A few weeks in Portugal in Sept.
4. As many Oyster Tours as I can stuff in in the rest of the time.
5. Many Jac tours

Then I will change a belt and a tire and think about what to do with the rest of the time.

Run For The Wall - Ontario, CA to Washington DC
up to Newfoundland
a loop around the Great Lakes, stopping for AmeriVespa
then home (maybe via Route 66?)

Thanks for asking. We took it off the market after the listing contact expired and brought all the stuff that was still in the storage units back to the house to sort through now we are trying to decide what goes with us, what goes to a estate agent to sell and what just goes. Then we will put it back on the market. Unfortunately there have been a few "fire sales" in my neighborhood that have reduced what we are likely to get for it and the offers we received were for sale prices. So we are also considering leasing until the local market improves. Is head of Rolling Thunder but not this particular loop. It could be interesting to get a group of folks on scooters to join in.

This for us as well - we'll take it by storm Ken.

And that's about it, the Africa trip takes care of our overseas budget for at least the next year.

Ooh, sounds interesting! Ride report coming up? How far north are you following it? Wasn't there a bit of an issue with an overdue belt change last year?

I am soon to do a trip with a group that leaves Napier on Friday 11 January, travel to Gisborne, then Te Haha, around the East Cape to Gisborne again then home to Napier - except I have to get from Hamilton to Napier, then back again so I will trailer Sofia down the day before and come home on the Tuesday. Map here https://www.google.co.nz/maps/dir/Napier/Gisborne/Te+Kaha+Beach+Resort,+3+Hotel+Road,+State+Highway+35,+Te+Kaha+3199/Tolaga+Bay/Gisborne/Napier/@-38.5185032,177.0525064,8.97z/data=!4m38!4m37!1m5!1m1!1s0x6d69c9d64fb1ca99:0x500ef6143a2e850!2m2!1d176.9120178!2d-39.4928444!1m5!1m1!1s0x6d65c09c41b0ac97:0x500ef6143a29907!2m2!1d178.017649!2d-38.662334!1m5!1m1!1s0x6d6565a11c9973b5:0x38b9cbce6a21fe7b!2m2!1d177.6744953!2d-37.7403239!1m5!1m1!1s0x6d6437738561af97:0x500ef6143a30f90!2m2!1d178.2967888!2d-38.372598!1m5!1m1!1s0x6d65c09c41b0ac97:0x500ef6143a29907!2m2!1d178.017649!2d-38.662334!1m5!1m1!1s0x6d69c9d64fb1ca99:0x500ef6143a2e850!2m2!1d176.9120178!2d-39.4928444!3e0
About 900km of riding over 4 days, it will be very relaxed.

Ride more.

It would be AWESOME if a group of scooters joined in! I've been riding with Run For The Wall since 2011 and have always been the lone scooter.

Rolling Thunder is a separate event. 2019 is it's 32nd and final year of riding from the Pentagon parking lot through DC on the Sunday before Memorial Day. I usually see a couple of maxi scooters there among the 300,000 - 500,000 bikes. At the 30th anniversary, the estimate was 900,000 bikes. Hard to guess how many will show up for the last hurrah. Is this with the Cross Africa Challenge folks? I thought they were using BMW motorcycles.

JimC wrote: Think we will find any cold beer? The vegetarian should have no problem

fledermaus wrote: Yes, the obligatory blog will be posted and a ride report will made here. There will some communications challenges so it will probably not be a daily report. I swear OAD said I could get 14000 miles out of belt that was ridden hard.


ks7877 wrote No this is Scoot West Africa out of Dakar Senegal.

http://scootwestafrica.com/

Hmm...good question.

For the past three months I've done little more than dream of next summer's riding and yet I still don't have a bead on it.

No epic rides, I don't think, other than perhaps Central Oregon (?), and yet I've really exhausted the day rides around here, so tentative plan is to get something more suited to gravel and then do more local/regional exploring. -- there are folks I'd love to see at Amerivespa but a) I'm the world's worst schmoozer (esp. until I get a hearing aid, which, of course, is the cost of a new dual sport, koff koff ) b) I have utterly no desire to ride across the midwest.

Wife has tentatively, reluctantly, cringingly, ok-ed a "real" motorcycle to keep the Vespa company and take on the dirtier routes, and I spend every other week fantasizing about this or that bike (DR650, KLR650, Himalayan, Versys x-300, XT250...) and linking together routes on the state gazatteer....

There's a vibrant adventure riding community here, and of course people come from all over the world to ride Idaho's backcountry...but that's an entirely new world for me and Imma thinking what I'd really like is to simply solo ride the rural gravel looking for barns, cemeteries and ghost towns, rather than risk life and limb out in the wilderness.

So who knows? Let's say next summer's plans, hopes, desires etc. are "exuberantly humble"..."obsessively local"?..."ambitiously humble"...?

If you decide on New England, it would be cool to ride along a bit when you reach these parts.

As for Amerivespa: I'm hoping for them to get within a few states' distance. Maybe 2020?

Keep us posted on the New England ride plans and maybe a few of us from NE can hook up and ride with you part of the way.

Based on past Amerivespa history, it looks to me like 2020 may be on the West Coast since 2018 was East Coast and 2019 is mid US.

I will let both of you know if I end up in your part of the country.

Should I do this, my intention is to pick up my daughter in Brooklyn, then ride with her around parts of New England for a few days.

She offered, and spending a few days with her on the scooter would make me very happy.

Bill

1. Get my Registration squared away so I can be street legal again.
2. Work hard on scheduling a monthly ride with local riders
3. Get my gear for year round riding
4. Attend 1 Scooter Rally
5. Do the Distinguished Gentleman's Ride

Most of my riding activity is in conjunction with our scooter club here in Jacksonville, FL. Not much of a solo rider. No Iron Butts in my future. Fortunately, we ride as a club more than 120 times a year, both short and long distances, so I should cover 15,000 miles this year across 4 scoots. Club ride to the mountains of NC is scheduled for April, then Amerivespa in WI in June (trailer up) and a Panhandle ride in the Fall. Possibly a couple of overnighters in between. 2019 is gonna be great!


www.7bsc.com

Ah, I missed this one: if by any chance you manage the trip this way, it would be cool to rendezvous somehow.

I just traded messages with Kylie. She just returned to NYC after a four month work assignment in San Francisco.

She is still interested in riding around New England with Me.

So that will be my big ride this year.

See you guys sometime late spring or early summer.

Bill

Bill - keep us posted on your ride plans and local lodging may be an option here in VT!

Wow, that West Africa trip looks incredible!

Have heard Portugal is really cool, too.

Can't comment on Africa but Portugal is cool to scoot.
I'm looking forward to the Africa report. I showed it to my husband and he said something like not for me but if you want to go update your will first please.

Make it to 2020... Ride more.. and, as others have mentioned, if Bill makes it up this way I'll see about catching up with them in New Hampshire...