Modern Vespa

Hi, my name is Chris and after browsing around in here and commenting on a couple posts I have decided it was time to formally introduce myself. I am a 63 year old man happily married with 5 wonderful kids. I am semi retired after a long career in construction. My user name "Skids" is the nickname I got in my teens for my penchant for bodysurfing pavement, legendary in my group of friends for somehow managing to walk away...

For as long as I can remember I have loved anything to do with two wheels and dogs. It started out with bicycles and progressed to mini bikes and dirt bikes, street bikes and scooters. Like a lot of us in here I bet. I was so little when I began riding that I needed to prop my 20" wheeled bike up against a wall or fence so I could climb on and push off to begin riding. I could stop and get off fine but too little to just jump on and ride, at least at first.

I grew up in a family of bicycle/motorcycle enthusiasts and my happiest memories of childhood were on the back of my Dad's Heinkel scooter when I was still in elementary school. My dad would have me on the back, my younger brother in front, and our german shepherd on the floorboards. I am sure if there was youtube back then he would have gone to jail for the video evidence. To be honest we were never on the scooter all at the same time as far as I can remember but I definitely remember going to the county fair on the scooter with both my brother and me at the same time, and my Dad and our dog on the scooter many times. Definitely not legal now and probably not back then either.

My Aunt and Uncle used to own Checkpoint cycles in Reno Nevada, and many happy days in my early teens were spent working at the shop with my Uncle during summers and of course riding bikes every chance we got.

I worked all over the country in my career, following the work in an industry that is feast or famine a lot of times. I started framing houses in the tracts in southern California in the mid 70's and not long after my start got a job with a small remodel contractor who encouraged me to pursue other crafts so I learned the piping and electrical. I took time out for military service, another family tradition I am a second generation Marine, and as the union work in housing went away I moved to heavy highway and industrial. It wasn't as fun but I had kids and needed insurance. I was working in the S.F. Bay area when the earthquake hit in 1989 and when they found out I could weld I couldn't get out of there for over a decade, everything had to be retrofitted and a bunch of it got torn down. I was one of the main people responsible for bringing down the Embarcadero Freeway as the company I worked for got the job after the first contractor had some uncontrolled demolition occur and got fired.

We finally got out of there as the pace of life and cost of living got too fast for us and ended up on the east coast for several years and then the midwest following the work in the power generation industry. In 2016 we moved to Reno NV from northern rural Missouri so my second youngest daughter could attend the Davidson Academy on the UNR campus at 13 years old and have been here ever since.

A couple years ago I found a really good deal on a Liberty 50 that one of my neighbors here in Reno was selling on craigslist and I thought it would be perfect to introduce my kids to my lifelong passion but alas they did not take to it. I loved the little bike more than I thought I would but it is a little underpowered for the hilly area and so when another one of my neighbors was selling a Liberty 150 for a bargain price I jumped on it, I guess they are not very popular here for some reason but I was happy to buy a 700 mile fuel injected 50 for $1,000 and then a 2,000 mile 150 for $1,800.

I have had a bunch of bikes over the years and usually had to sell one before I could get another because bills/budget but used it to commute with as much as I could, I rode a bike in LA and SF for over twenty years dodging the cars and I have had a couple pretty cool bikes including a 1975 Ducati that I spent a ton of time working on (Lucas electrics don't get me started) and a 1996 KTM Duke that almost caused me to lose my drivers license. Its a hell of a lot of fun to be sliding the back wheel through a turn with the front wheel about 3 inches off of the ground on the pavement but the cops seem to think this is uncontrolled and dangerous? Go figure. I thought I had it pretty well under control but the judge didn't see it that way either.

I still have a sportster that is set up for hooligan class flat track racing and the two scooters now and I have to say that the scooter bug has bitten me really hard. Part of the reason for the long winded introduction was to explain that the thing I really love about the scooters is being able to put around town on short rides and get my fix without having to go on long rides or day trips that take me away from my family and dog. That and I really want to have someone to share the passion with. My kids and wife just don't love it like I do and while I am close with a couple buddies from my youth one is a hard core Harley snob now and the other has had some balance issues what with the cochlear and all so doesn't ride anymore and they both live too far away to hang with anyway so internet friends it is!

I am not the expert mechanic that some of you in here are I am sure but I know some things as it has been a lifelong hobby and I think I do qualify as expert when it comes to welding. The last few years I was the quality guy at work with high pressure steam and my CWI is still active, 08090581. That being said there is always more to learn and just for example as a rookie mistake just topping off the oil in the 150 I thought what I had was a pretty good funnel setup going but that stinking filler hole is so small I ended up with $15 dollar a quart oil all over the floor. Of course being overconfident I had no rags or drop cloth down and felt kinda dumb. Always more to learn and looking forward to sharing with you all what I can and learning from you all as much as I can and just in general making friends with the good people who share my passion for stuff on two wheels!

Cheers from Reno, Skids.

First off, welcome! Second, nice choice in scooters! You'll learn all sorts of tricks for service work, educated suggestions for accessories and all sorts of other great information. I'm coming up on my next major service at 24,000 miles. Nothing on the Liberty is hard for a DIY mechanic. Again, welcome aboard!

Welcome!

I grew up in Northern Nevada, but I can't imagine riding up there: too many long, straight, high speed roads (not to mention the snow); plus, the lack of lane splitting would drive me crazy. I suppose it's a bit different if you just use them as an alternate way to putt about town. There's plenty broken about SF, but the byways meandering through monumental nature are part of what has been keeping me here.

As for oil, I've had good luck with this pump top. Replaces the cap on a bottle of oil, and makes it easy to both control the quantity of oil and make sure it makes it in the hole.

Hey thanks for the welcomes guys! cead mile failte!

I was looking at one of your threads with much interest sc00ter, I have a thing for two strokes myself. I will be following along and may possibly look for a two stroke project. When I read Greasy's response about getting into a baddass ET2 for under $2K my ears definitely perked up. I really love the little bikes! Did you know that Kenny Roberts trains the worlds fastest road racers with Honda XR 100's on 1/8th mile oval dirt tracks? I think they even had a series back in the day called barnstormers if memory serves. The techniques and skills are the same you are just removing a lot of the fear factor on the little bikes, and the expense for us low budget types!

Yo mayorofknow, SF is a great town to ride in no doubt. Lots of awesome things about that city, no other city like it. I am not kidding at all when I say it is, or at least it was "my town".

I was a bridge builder there, union gig of course as it is a strong union town. Got to work on some landmarks that's for sure. In the mid 90's retrofitting the Golden Gate I remember one morning we were having our plan of the day meeting under the bridge on the Marin headlands side (got to be careful of the butterflies) and I glanced up to see the top of one of the towers disappear in the fog as it rolled in, and then it rolled back out again, I am standing there looking up with my mouth agape at the beauty of it all totally missing the plan of the day...but I couldn't help it. Just amazingly beautiful especially for someone who builds things. just wow.

After we had our POD meeting we would load up the truck and go across the bridge to our fabrication yard that was set up on the old Presidio grounds and right behind the asphalt laydown yard was all of the tunnels that were built way back when for defending SF from invading armies. I had my run of several places where the general public was not allowed.

I really liked working downtown also. One of my favorite things was eating lunch on the sidewalk in front of Rincon Market. They would set the tables up on the sidewalk and a bunch of us brown carharrt construction types would walk across the street for lunch and take over a couple tables. One year we were working in the fall and I was really looking forward to watching the people on halloween from our Rincon Market sidewalk perch and that's when it hit me. Halloween is just another typical day in SF, and that is the beauty of my town!

Welcome, skids!

Congrats on getting infected by the Scooter Variant and your scooter deals. I love hearing about The City. I grew up in Sonoma Co. and lived in Santa Rosa when the quake hit. The San Andreas certainly has built some breathtaking vistas in and around the Bay Area.

Post more pics and tell more stories. You've got the nack.

It reminds me of this iconic picture that was made probably in 1969 in Milano, Italia.
The whole family on the scooter.
Today you'd go to jail but back then no problem at all.

Same problem here.
They love their car but nor my son, nor my daughter show interest in the scooter. I have a BV.
As you say alas.

Hey, welcome, skidz!

Great introduction! What a story.

As far as mechanical wizards here, it's not all of us, but we can get things done. Sometimes entertainingly.

Thank you Guzzi Gal for the very nice compliment. I do rather enjoy telling the stories and am glad to hear that at least some are entertained by them. This seems like a really good group in here.

Thanks for the understanding Peter. I would think growing up in Belgium where they actually have a huge two wheeled culture it be more natural to be drawn to it. To each their own I guess.

Thanks for the welcome and the compliment fledermaus! I enjoy reading about the entertaining endeavors and will do my part as best I can to keep up the tradition.

What an awesome picture! Thanks so much for sharing that. No helmets even, wow!

"Helmets?? We don't need no steeking helmets!"

Well, but he said it in Italian...

Is there a place to ride flat track in the neighborhood?

Hey Garthhh, I live in NW Reno just outside of the McCarron loop in one of the tract houses and there is nothing in my neighborhood. I have heard about a private track at KE Motorsports out by Stead but I have not been there yet.

While my family moved here in 2016 I did not get here until 2019. I had to stay back in the Midwest working and only got to visit my family here a few times until early in 2019. So I am relatively new here and while I did have relatives here and visited as a kid it has changed a bunch. I know they used to have speedway races here in Reno but can't remember where they were located. Might have been where they have the rodeo's now but that was in the early 70's. It would be awesome to connect with some old timers who actually remember that stuff I haven't been able to find out anything about it.

The flat track bike is a 99 sportster sport with the Phil Little steering head and some other parts. I am still trying to put together the wheels for it and while it runs it has been a back burner project while I am working on the house and a couple other things. Yet once again my alligator mouth has bitten off more than my sparrow butt can carry although I do like to be busy! Since I got the original offset steering head bracket from Phil he has come out with another one that works with a Davey Durelle triple tree setup that is wider to better accommodate the wider Mitas tires so I am considering heading in that direction.

How long have you been in Reno? Did you grow up here? In checking the threads I see we have similar fond experiences with Lucas equipped bikes! At least the Ducati didn't have the shakes that exacerbate the problem. I like your posts, and am hoping we can be friends! Are there any other Renoites in here?

I think perhaps there are still plenty of parts of rural Italy where this would still be considered a normal way of getting around the local neighbourhood.

We were in Mariposa on 33 acres with attached "rustic" house, horses, dogs, cats, rats & squirrels, state of jefferson, the otherside of the mountain
We can't tolerate the woodsmoke, pollen & such

My wife & I retired & downsized to a nice concrete box with a hepa filter downtown, in 2020, closing about 2 weeks before everything shut down
We started off fresh with a couple of Liberty's, but traded one for an MP3, which is easier to 2 up than a two wheeler

There's a dirt track in Carson City no signs of life
I only ever slid around on dirt roads

I just got a used Liberty 150 about a month ago from a guy in Reno through a craigslist ad. He told me he had bought it used from Eurocycle in Reno last summer. Now I am wondering if I might have your old bike? It had the windshield installed on it when he got it he said.

Yeah the smoke here in Reno, and I am sure the other side of the hill as well really sucks. Pretty nice when its not smoky though, and I like the "neighborhood" in Reno. My wife's family goes back a few generations in Mariposa. At grandma's house they have a history of the area book and my wife's family was mentioned. And when Grandma's Mom, Nana passed a lot of the family gathered in Yosemite to spread the ashes. I Guess Alice grew up there as a young girl, that being my wife's Grandmother.

Here are a couple pics of my new used 150. It had right around 2,000 miles on it when I got it and the guy I got it said it had about 1500-1600 when he got it.

It is true, there is a two wheeled culture here, mostly in the northern part of the country which is flat, but in the southern part there are hills and mountains and biking is not popular there at all.

But once 18 there is a shift from bicycle to car. Some people keep on using a bicycle for daily transport but most cycling you see is for leisure, mostly in the weekend on a racebicycle with adapted outfit or on an e-bike for the somewhat older.
Riding a motorcycle or a motorscooter is not that popular over here.

The BV is there. My children are not allowed to drive it on the road. They need an A2 drivers licence, which is a handicap that I do not have. But if they were interested there is enough opportunity to make a test drive somewhere not on public roads, but they never asked for that.

I have never been to Europe and only know about it from what I read. I thought all of Europe was extremely bicycle, motorcycle, scooter-centric.

I can remember reading in an American publication about a young Italian motorcycle racer, and how when he appeared on the podium young women would toss articles of undergarments...in the article they were trying to illustrate how much more popular it is in Europe for bicycle and motorcycle racers where as we here in America reserve that hero status for (American) football and basketball players.

I was born in the wrong time and the wrong place.

We travel a lot to Italy. I like it there.

What I observe in daily scooter traffic is that:
- the clothing you wear as a pedestrian on the street = the clothing you wear on your scooter. So in summer when temperature is 30 - 35°C you ride the scooter with slippers, shorts and a T-shirt.
- most people wear a helmet, but in many cases the chinstrap is not fixed
- people in their riding the scooter are incredibly skillful, maybe because they are used to scooter driving since birth

In pre-corona 2019 summer we were staying in a small village somewhere south of Naples. The house we were staying was along the road to the village center a few km away.

There was an old woman with a bag walking towards the village center. She heard a scooter approaching and asked for a lift. No problem. Grandma as passenger without helmet or whatever and off they went.

Great intro !!!
Bienvenue from Montreal !!

First on bicycles:
There is a big difference between bicycle racing on the one hand and bicycle for daily use on the other.

Bicycle racing is a very popular sport all over Europe. Number 2 after football (I mean the real football what you call soccer).
The first races are held from beginning of February and it goes on week after week, race after race until end of October.

Bicycles for daily use is concentrated in countries or areas where roads are flat. Denmark, the Netherlands, the northern part of Belgium. Elsewhere it is more motorized vehicles. It seems e-bikes are broadening the daily use of bicycles, logical since an e-bike is a motorcycle.

Motorcycles you will find everywhere but compared to cars the numbers are much lower. As an example in Belgium there are 5,5 million cars and half a million motorcycles.

Scooters you find a lot specifically in the south of Europe with its busy city centers, and hilly roads combined with nice weather. So in Greece, Italy, Spain, south of France, and I believe also in Austria very popular. Here in BE you don't see them so often. I ride a BV and so far in 3 years time I only met 3 other BV's on the road. Most motorcycles here are or very fast stuff or BMW GS (market leader) or tough Harley, or Harley-like things that make a lot of noise.

Warm welcome form the Jersey Shore, skids!

I think cycle racing is in the DNA of most Belgians. It's all encompassing in the national psyche. Not just road racing, but cyclo-cross and track racing too.

I absolutely love the Cobbled Classics from the 'Omloop' to 'La Doyenne' they all test the riders ability, not just their fitness and endurance, but also their bike handling abilities. On a wet day, watching the riders tackling the many sections of often steep cobbled 'pave', trying just to simply remain upright is awe-inspiring.

Those are the races held in spring sort of around easter.

Traditionally and as long as I know we always had family gathering at easter. And most years at that day it was or the Tour of Flanders or Paris-Roubaix (this year it is Paris-Roubaix).

After a good meal at somewhere 2 or 3 in the afternoon the TV was switched on and everyone gathered around the TV to follow the race. At around 5 it was the finish and then it was time for cake and coffee and for comment and discussion on the race.

I think it went like this in many, many family's over here.

Paris~Roubaix is the weekend I traditionally dig-out my copy of 'A Sunday in Hell', savouring a bottle of my favourite Belgian beer as I watch it.

Welcome Skids….love your nickname. And thanks for sharing your story. You've found the right place for scooter pals. Most of my friends and family aren't bit by the 2 wheel bug either. But here we are….this is a great community. Welcome to MV