Modern Vespa

The Days Are Just Packed: It's been a month - oh, my, exactly a month - since bringing Thelonica home with me. In that time, the bike has clocked some 277 miles (according to the app...more on that later), and it's been one revelation after another - some small, some significant, almost entirely all-good. Almost all riding has been on secondary roads, with just a tad of highway mileage, while I'm still breaking in the engine.

Some observations:

- Get-Up-and-Go: Yep, off-the-line, this thing has a bit more oomph than Melody had. The big surprise for me, however, is rolling-on from about 20-25mph: the thing really does rocket, in relative terms, to 50-60moh PDQ. I'm actually needing to pay attention to my speed on faster routes since I'm still breaking the engine in; 60mph seems to happen noticeably quicker than I remember with Mel. And this was before I put on the Euro-spec Flyscreen yesterday; today, making a quick run down Rte 35 to pick up an external drive enclosure from Best Buy, Nica felt that itsy-bitty bit more slippery against the wind, as well as a bit more surefooted. (It was very windy today, but at least I missed the rain.)

As mentioned in another thread, the aftermarket rear-wheel tone ring has made the speedo dead-nuts accurate, as referenced by on-board GPS and at least five roadside electronic speed signs in the area (we've had something of a speeding epidemic in these parts recently). Haven't had the chance to check out the bike's top end yet, of course, but I came across something that sort of reinforces the idea that the bike's top speed is limited electronically, rather than by other means; this link is especially interesting as I've heard it mention that the heart of the HPE's powertrain was gently "breathed upon" by Piaggio stablemate Aprilia:

(The video itself is crazy entertaining–as usual, from these guys–but it's the discussion of the Apriiia's engine-control electronics that's the big deal for me here.)

- Instrumentation, Continued: Definitely loving the TFT dash more and more, and still plumbing its depths in terms of capabilities and oddities: the former in terms of additional features, the latter in terms of quirks and compatibility issues. I've sorted out a good deal of the phone-bike-helmet comm matters, but for the moment I'm limiting MIA's functions to following the bike's vital signs via Live Tracking; I confess that it is sort of cool (however unnecessary) having the tach gauge on the phone's screen, while the rest of the bike's vitals a read out below it in real-time. I still want to check out how well, or badly, MIA's GPS system works, as I've only given it a tiny workout, where the only issue I picked up was a bit of lagginess, which might be tolerable of you're just toodling along, but not so hot when you're hustling along, especially in unfamiliar territory.

As a side-note, Samsung finally gat around to offering an upgrade to Android 12 for my Galaxy S10e…the very version of Android that Vespa's apps having fits with. Unless anyone knows of any changes that have taken place to improve things, I'll be holding off on that upgrade for as long I can.

(Bonus Section: On my way home from my scooter club's participation in a nearby town's St. Patrick's Day Parade–fun!–I was streaming music while on a local road I wasn't terribly familiar with, but was riding with a few club buddies who did know the territory. On two occasions when I was signaling for a turn, I heard the most amazing thing: the bike's audible turn-signal sound was being piped in through my speakers. I had a true whiskey-tango-foxtrot moment, but in a wonderful way. Is this a bug, or a hidden feature? Please let it be the latter, and if it's the former, make it the latter, but more reliable. This would be sheer brilliance, and justifying having a BT headset almost by itself.)

- Accessorizing: Pretty much done: yesterday I installed both the Cuppini crashbars and aforementioned Flyscreen, with relatively little trouble. Had a i read the instructions more closely, I would've discovered (since I didn't remember from when I put the same bars on Melody) that there was no need to remove the trim skirts from the GTS, and therefore wouldn't have gone through the bit of hell trying to remove the right-side skirt, and end up snapping off a tiny tab that helps hold said skirt in place. Fortunately, it's holding just fine regardless, but I'm just that wee bit irritated at myself. The Flyscreen makes rolling along at upper speeds that much nicer, just as it was on Melody.

- The (near-) Future: Before terribly long, I'll be bringing Nica in for her first scheduled (600mi) service, where I'll be handing off the Buchsenfuchs-modded oil pan to my dealer to swap with the original. At this point, the bike should be fully cleared for Parkway/Turnpike takeoff, and I'll once again be journeying to Gotham and Beyond. I'll likely be buying a replacement pair of moto-sneaks to replace my cheap-but-worked-in-the-crunch Bilt Dexters.

In short, things are looking up.

What makes the windshield particularly European?

having live tracking only on the phone screen is no fun that's why with my app I can show it on the TFT. press hold joystick to the right for a few seconds to change layout (or enable the 'switch dashboard' setting in my app) and then you'll see rpm, coolant temp, air intake temp and voltage where you'd normally see distance to next turn, eta, etc so yes it will have wrong units but just read the numbers instead.

don't worry that piaggios gps won't work with 12, just use google maps combined with my app which is able to monitor the notifications from gmaps and relay to the TFT including turn arrows etc.

I've no doubt that samsung won't be giving anymore security updates for android 11 instead they'll expect you to use 12 to get future security udpates.

them sounds for the indicator ... you're probably hearing my app as I'm pretty sure the standard doesn't do that

Versus the "standard" Flyscreen (offered in North America):

1) Smaller/lower-profile

2) Grey tinting

That's just what I'll be trying out next. Thanks for that info!

The Android Update Cometh...

Consider this an oddball corollary of Murphy's Law: Before getting hold of Thelonica, I was grousing about the idea that my several-generations-back Samsung Galaxy S10e, which I happen to like lots, might never get a system update beyond Android 11. Then, after Nica's arrival, I get word that Vespa's MIA app doesn't play well with Android 12, leaving me to shrug my shoulders and say well, guess I can count myself lucky then. Then, just a handful of days ago, I get a cute little alert on my phone, essentially announcing: "Hey, there! We know it took a while, but Android 12 is coming to your phone right now, ready or not!" This leaves me muttering, as the progress bar advances across the screen, welp, at least I have the app from Steelbytes...

But, guess what? Everything seems to be working. In fact, connectivity appears to be a tad faster between phone, bike, and helmet comm. Maybe someone got the message between Pontadera and whichever Valley/Alley the app developer does their thing, or maybe there were some under-thehood tweaks with A12 itself that I'm not privy to. And maybe I'm just friggin' lucky. All I can say is that when I switch everything on, Good Stuff Happens. We'll see how this continues to shake out.

it's the nav that is broken. the rest such as live updates works (not 100% sure about recording).

I actually tested the nav first, and (so far), it seems to work with my phone. Consistency, of course, is key, and I've only tried it out this one time.

for me with their app I can setup a nav and click start and the dash shows a placemarker icon but it never actually starts displaying "1km to next left turn" etc.

Calvin and Hobbes reference there?

Nice write up! Glad it's going well for you.

Mr. Waterson has always been the proverbial treasure trove to quote from.