Modern Vespa

Add a side trip to DC i'll take you out for whiskey and snacks.

I was an SCCA member back in the mid 90s; ran Solo II and rallies for several years. Never could afford anything competitive back then so it was... let me see... '84 Grand AM, '86 (maybe) Skyhawk, '63 Corvair ("the mosquito fogger"), maybe one or two others.

We did well on road rallies. We ran one in the Aerostar minivan, with all five kids in the back, and took first place novice. Dad and I ran one rally in his Corsica; he wasn't a big fan but we did take home a nice big trophy.

Now we've got a Highlander and an F150 in the stable; not exactly auto-x material. If I ever get the '66 Mustang done I may run it once or twice just for giggles, but it will be stock-ish so not really suitable for track floggings. That said, my son and I have discussed how we'd hide a C6 'Vette track toy from our respective wives...

If you get that part figured out, please post instructions. There's a few toys I'd like to hide away too.

Oh. It could have been read either way. I should have known what you meant just from the thread context (What's cheering you up?). 😂

Going to visit a client that is about 100 miles away so round trip about 200 miles. Nice day so taking the 2006 GTS250 and since IRS mileage rates are $0.67 per mile, beer money this month on the company!!! 😁

This cheers me up.

Why is it I hear this music?

Wish you all the best with Memphis. It was a bit of a shitshow getting my box through Customs. It seemed to be the aluminum bits and Chinese tariffs....

YMMV Hope to see you on this thread ASAP!

Just did the math....75 or fewer days left of work. I'm definitely ready, just keeping my promise to my colleague to finish out the year.....

Out for delivery today. I know what I'll be doing this evening... or afternoon, depending on when it finally gets dropped off.

20 for me, assuming they do what they said they'd do and keep me on until my options are fully vested. I have close to zero confidence that they will actually live up to their word on that -- not that I think it will really matter. I'm pretty sure those options will be worth zero for eternity, but it's like a lottery ticket. You're pretty certain you won't win, but you don't toss it until after the drawing... just in case.

The UK Prime Minister has this afternoon called a General Election for July the 4th.

It looks like the UK will join the US in celebrating this historic date.

Whoa, just around the corner! Best of luck to you...who knows, they just might do things right. Maybe.

Watching this vid cheered me up today:

How Scooters Became Cool:

https://youtu.be/LFoBtfB-ggo?si=2XqLrKfFYSGstDQh

Veerry interesting!

They coulda saved some space and left out the fan if they'd just used a Le Rhône.

About 6 weeks ago, I picked up a 2007 GTS from a buddy's house and brought it back to my garage. This GTS had only been ridden about 100 miles since 2016! With 11k miles on the clock, I went ahead and did all the usually maintenance that would be needed at 12k miles. Everything turned out good, so it took it for a few rides. One day at the gas station, it would not start easily, and quit after running for a minute. After that, nothing. I was a mile from the house, so I walked home, grabbed a spare battery and walked back. Got the scoot back, tested the fuses - good, the stator - good and the regulator - not good, 11.7 volts. Ordered a reg from ScooterPartsCo ( who shipped the same day) got the part yesterday and installed last night. Working great today and that has made me happy.

N/S mirror housing on the BMW fell off today after riding over something hard.

The shoe lace holding it on inside the housing prevented it from exploding on the road.

Result.

Yesterday, Trixie finished the metal seahorse kit that I gave to her on her birthday on April 19th.

She doesn't care for the more traditional hobby things, but does like to assemble and build stuff, so I thought that this kit might keep her busy for a while, and it did. She's patient, organized, and can follow detailed instructions

She worked on it, on and off, for the past month, and except for a final positioning and tightening, it's done.

This kit has 2,100 parts, with hundreds of them being tiny machine screws, nuts, washers, and gear-like pieces, all compacted into an approximately 18 inch tall robot-ish metal creature.

Way cool!

Yikes, that's something! And I thought the 1100 parts Vespa was a lot.

The old Chucks still clean up really well. Went back to the brown laces because they're just dressier.

My SIP order finally showed up. I haven't finished the wiring and stuff, but the engine starts on the first kick with the new ignition. Now I just need to reassemble an awful lot of the scooter... like the handlebar switch, which seems to have mysteriously shed one of its contacts. Drat.

JBacklund- Trixie is the master. Pretty impressive. Not like our old Erector sets as a kid. Well done.

After spending a small fortune to get my wife's six year old Subaru Outback repaired and updated, I felt that it was finally good enough to keep another few years instead of trading in on a new car.

Then, yesterday, as I was heading to the garage to get a scooter out to ride to work, I noticed a screw head in the right front tire.

Usually I would just take it to Discount Tire for a new tire but I started thinking that front tires don't often get long screws or nails in them because long nails don't lay upright on the road.

So I got out my tire patch kit and pulled the screw out of the tire.

I found it to be short.

I checked the small hole with a soapy water spray and found no leak.

This morning I checked the pressure and it hadn't dropped any.

Very pleased that we didn't have to replace the tire.

Bill

She possesses a measure of patience for this sort of thing that I can't come close to matching.

It's an intimidating kit, here's a shot of the four, DOUBLE-SIDED, instruction sheets for this crazy thing, as well as an example of the relative size of the machine screws, nuts, and washers used, by the hundreds, to complete it.

And of course, a secret spy shot of her engrossed in the early stages of it's construction...

Her next 'Cheery' construction project will be, surprise, surprise!...
....(Drum Roll!)....THE WASP!

JBlacklund,

Good on your bride. It has got to be better than playing video games all day. My blusing bride sits at the center island in the kitchen and plays solitary on her computer for hours. That is also why I started taking lessons and took up the Banjo. I really enjoy sitting around plucking that five string Derring Banjo.

Again, good build by her.

Bob Copeland

I heard Rolex is looking for some good, skilled watchmakers.

Single Shifter on the Cub. 170mm. All good.

Looks like it belongs there, too. I like the rubber pegs, too.

It came from a Yamaha Fazer. Figure that one out.

Ohhh - my head hurts now.

Hows it working for you now?

Monday will be the day when I'll find out,

I'll report back then.

Spent the whole day at a race circuit.

A brush up course of all basic motoring skills, including good facilities to practice breaking, emergency swerving etc.

All with feedback from the teachers.

A nice mix of bikes too: from a rigid frame chopper to super sports, ADV bikes, Supermotos....and one Bonnie. No scooters this time, but a Honda with a DCT box did well in 'feather the clutch' practice.

When Trixie gets a hankering for a glass of fine-ass wine, she has no qualms about splurging $1.99 for an entire bottle if it's what she wants.

How much for the corkage?

I found, on my garage floor, three parts to my expensive-as-hell handlebar switch that I'd lost at three different times over the past week. This was after I figured out a new way to connect everything up on the VL1 so that everything electrical actually works as it should, quite possibly for the first time since the early 60s.

I tried some Stella Rosa because it was a "flavor" I knew my wife would like.

Personally, Gordon's and Squirt would have been a better investment.

No offense.

Offense in this case is impossible, I don't personally partake in those 'Grapey-Viney-Foo-Foo-Fluids', even if they do cost as much as $1.99 per quart...or whatever standard they measure that stuff in.