Modern Vespa

CBT = Certificate of Basic Training, required for all categories.

AM = Moped licence = <50cc, <45kph, over 16
A1 = Light motorcycle = <125cc, <11kW, <0.1kW/kg, over 17
A2 = Medium motorcycle - two years of A1 or over 19 = <35kW, <0.2kW/kg
A = Full motorcycle licence = over 24, unrestricted.

Each stage requires a test, which may include a compulsory amount of supervised training, a theory test, a hazard awareness test, and a practical on-road test. The age requirements can vary from country to country.

What's cheering me up right at the moment?

Finishing off a bottle of Maker's Mark 46 Cask Strength which has been nursed since early 2023. One of the first ones they made twist-top instead of corked. Which i wholly disagree with especially since they've been using rubber corks so degradation/crumbling/corking the liquid isn't an issue. But that's a rant for another thread.

It's in the top 5 list of "typically readily available and at little to no markup from MSRP" bourbons for me.

It has me dangerously cheerful actually. So much so I'm starting to bookmark various items available at italian vintage motors and considering an import before moving from Maryland to Colorado.....

At 10 years old I got on a powered two wheeled vehicle. I was pretty aggressive on the bicycle so my dad worried for my health held me back on motorcycles. Eventually my uncle got me going.

Of course I was on a bicycle at about 4 or so, a regular 20" wheel kids bike was to big for me to start off on so I had to lean it up against a fence or garage door to climb on and then once situated in the saddle push off and start pedaling.

I have always loved anything with two wheels. I was ridden passenger on my Dad's Heinkel scooter at also probably 4 or 5 years old. I can vaguely remember being on the back with my younger brother in front when dad took us to the county fair.

I commuted for years on a motorcycle in the San Francisco and Los Angeles areas while working there for decades.

My words of wisdom are practice in out of the way areas with little to no traffic on closed course if at all possible on small lightweight bikes. A little dirt bike (honda XR 100 on an eighth mile dirt track) is how Kenny Roberts trains the fastest road racers in the world to perfect the technique so that you are better able to handle emergency situations when they arise.

And as far as traffic goes pattern recognition is your friend! If you ride the same route back and forth to work everyday you get to know where the problems are (mostly intersections). Always remember you are invisible on a motorcycle. People look right at you and just don't see you because they just don't expect motorcycles especially in the US and be ready to take evasive action when they come right at you. Pay attention to how people are driving and try to predict where they are going as a habit so you are not surprised.

When you stop for traffic be aware of what is behind you and try to stop where you can squeeze between the cars as a type of shield when someone not paying attention to the stopped traffic hits the car in front of him.

At 65 years old now I have been riding for over 50 years and still trying to improve. I will be reading the rest of the responses to see if I can learn something!

Tomorrow is a big day. I head off on a 4-5 week long PTW adventure! I've done many long rides over the years and the evening before I'm always a bit apprehensive. What will the weather bring? How will the bike perform? Etc. The bike is loaded with everything except my duffle which I'll finish packing in the morning. Tools ✅ , spares ✅ , rain gear ✅, extra fuel ✅. Looking forward to getting underway and that cheers me up!

Tomorrow is a big day. I head off on a 4-5 week long PTW adventure! I've done many long rides over the years and the evening before I'm always a bit apprehensive. What will the weather bring? How will the bike perform? Etc. The bike is loaded with everything except my duffle which I'll finish packing in the morning. Tools ✅ , spares ✅ , rain gear ✅, extra fuel ✅. Looking forward to getting underway and that cheers me up!

What is cheering me up today is the reaction by the members of the 7 Bridges Scooter Club when one of our riders needed help.

Tanya was riding in the group of around twelve riders from Jacksonville to Starke, FL for lunch at the Call Street Cafe.

When we arrived across the street from the diner, we all lined up in two rows in the parking spaces on the street.

I was putting my Xmax, the Big Ugly, on it's stand when I heardTanya let out a groan and I could see that her side stand hadn't held and she was holding up her Burgman 400, keeping it from falling into my scooter.

Before I could get around my bike to assist, several other riders intervened and got the scooter upright and on the center stand.

Then she felt that her knee was hurting and she felt dizzy.

I helped get her seated on the curb so she could begin to get settled.

The dizzy spell went away quickly, but the knee got worse.

Others helped get her into the restaurant and Cecil got a bag of ice to help the swelling.

As we were eating, Tanya realized that she couldn't ride home with the damaged knee, so Russ and Cecil came up with a solution.

They rode 20 miles to Cecil's house in Middleburg, picking up his truck and trailer.

Then rode back to Starke to pick up Tanya and her scooter where Paul had stayed with her to help the boys get it loaded onto the trailer.

They drove it 60 miles to her house in Jacksonville and dropped her off.

Then back to Cecil's where Cecil was home, but Russ had to ride 40 miles back to his house in Jacksonville.

Tanya went to an emergency room and got an examination that showed a cracked bone.

Hopefully it heals quickly.

It is always nice to find people helping others.

It happens much more than most people realize.

Bill

I'm on a family holiday staying in a house right on the river in the Norfolk Broads area of East England. My day started with a 25 mile cycle ride, then to a afternoon on the beach followed by a BBQ.

I'm not certain but there may of been a cloud in sky at some point earlier?

Hoping it stays cloudless tonight as this place is very quiet and remote and theres a meteor shower forecast for tonight.

Now on my third beer contemplating whether to put the fishing rods out in the river which is literally 5 feet from the patio garden.

Life is good.

Riding solo or with a few others?

Caschnd1

Promise me you'll ride safe.

Keep us up to date.

I always ride solo. I really enjoy my solitude. 😀

i just got a laser engraver (which certainly cheers me up). This is one of my first projects. And yes, it is a Vespa.

It is always nice to find people helping others.
It happens much more than most people realize.

i just got a laser engraver (which certainly cheers me up). This is one of my first projects. And yes, it is a Vespa.

I have the xTool S1 40w. It comes with very good software. It is supposedly the first fully enclosed diode laser, but I think that Glowforge is enclosed, too. xTool makes quite a variety of machines. Mine came with a rotary device to do round and spherical objects. I haven't gotten to that, yet.
xTool makes 20w and 10w units that cost much less than the 40w. So far, I'm lovin' this machine. It seems to be very well made.

So far at work we've mainly used it for contour cutting foamcore cutouts. The Pro has a passthrough slot so we can work on pieces longer than the bed. It is still limited to the 18" width, though.

The xTool has a passthrough, also, but you need to get their conveyor setup. It too is limited in width by the bed.