Modern Vespa

It's been a bit. The subject was "motorcycle companies not being what they used to be". I may have been a little hasty, but not overly so. I'll stick to the ones I know about and leave the rest open for discussion. I also want to mention that adding more tech doesn't necessarily make the basic machine better, it just sometimes comes down to giving you options whether you want them or not.
Anyhow, Harley - the new engine is better in many ways. It's like they finally came into the light of realizing that the same old, same old, wasn't going to be working much longer. The actually big improvement was years ago with the Evolution engine. But other engines, like the Two Cam was designed to cut corners on the build and it showed. The cheapy chrome parts were awful, breaking easily upon disassembly to work on the machine. Other parts suffered as well. plastic parts inside the engine would fatigue and disintegrate. What is keeping the company afloat is the big CVO's, but that can't last. I hope the new guy can turn it around and avoid what happened to KTM.
The big four - Honda, Suzuki, Kawasaki and Yamaha always stood for quality. And they still do depending on where the machine is made. Compare a bike made in Japan to one, say, made in somewhere else and it's easy to see the difference. The phrase " Built to a price point" comes to mind, but that has always been the case. Many of these are built in the place where the market is hot with local labor keeping the price down and also avoiding the import tariffs and taxes, making it affordable for the home crowd. But when exported to the rest of the larger world, some of the components just come off as cheap.
I can't tell you anything about Ducati, Moto Guzzi and Aprilia as they are above my pay grade. Throw BMW - a brand I have owned in the past, several times and was always happy with, - in there too,. I just haven't had the chance to ride or wrench on anything newer than an airhead. The used BMW prices seem very reasonable over here, so I may get a chance to own one again.
Royal Enfield had no way to go but up - and they sure did. But they still have a way to go to catch up to the Big Four, but they are gaining. There are a lot of used ones for sale with less than 3,000 miles on them, so I guess not too popular. The younger riders are not used to under square, long stroke engines, so that contributes to it as well, I guess.
Triumph - I had old ones and a newer (2008) one. Nothing with FI. But again, they had no where to go but up. Much like Harley, the lack of quality shows in some of the models not made in the home company. I'll just end this here and say no more.

For at least the past year, I've been 'kinda' looking for a new helmet to replace my aging Scorpion flippy-face one, but haven't been having much luck, they simply fit poorly, intolerably squish my face when closed, or are simply too effing ugly to make me want to spend my money on the damn thing.

There WAS one helmet that I saw at a local shop last year that did interest me, a gloss black and white Bell SRT modular, but it's $400 price tag was just a bit too stiff for me at the time, and I passed on it then.

Day before yesterday, I sauntered aimlessly into the same dealership with nothing more than time waisteage on my mind, but there before me, on a shelf was the same helmet, in my size and....ON SALE at $279, from it's former $400.

By the way, it just happens to (almost) perfectly match both my BMW R1200R, and my white accented black leather jacket.

Perfecto-Mundo!

I'm normally not a fan of matchiepoo but your set up looks good!

I logged in this evening and received a notification that I had been awarded the MV "Paco Taco". Not having any idea how I earned this honor, I searched the MV FAQ and found an article about MV Awards and what each means. This gave me a good laugh and cheered me up!

Link to article: FAQ: What are all the Forum Awards & How do I get them?

Yeah, that particular award just appears with no explanation. Even I don't know what the criteria is. The FAQ is spot-on, though.

Yes, it can get too cutsey real quick if one doesn't exercise some restraint when color-coordinating one's riding kit.

Today a beautiful day here in Pennsylvania! It was a very nice ride on my gts 300 !

Can someone who lives close to the location explain the infighting that's going on behind the scenes at Sturgis ?

This cheers you up?

Off to Spa Francorchamp at the weekend.

Harley riders.

There ya go, summed it up.

Na, there's some kind of bun fight going on with the City Council in regard to the event.

I think that it's an internal issue rather than a problem with the visitors.

As I try to remain patient waiting for my rotator cuff repair to heal, I've spent a lot of time in the garage doing tasks that usually take lower priority (I can't do the high priority tasks, riding, more riding, etc.). Sorting through coffee cans filled with old hardware looking for gold, organizing spare gaskets, basically anything I can do with one arm. I've also been doing a lot of reading. I have the complete collection of Greasy Kulture Magazine, all 103 issues dating back to ~2008 to today. This is a small publication from the UK dedicated to vintage custom motorcycles. In my opinion, the preeminent publication covering this subject. In a day when most magazines have gone digital, it's nice to hold a real print magazine in your hand.

Spending the day staring at vintage motorcycle parts and reading old chopper rags… this cheers me up and keeps me sane while I wait to ride again. 😂

I hear you. I have the British 'Bike' magazine delivered home monthly just because.

I also order the only Finnish printed custom bike magazine 'Kopteri'. Although I don't own a chopper and have basically given up tinkering with bikes myself, I have high respect for the folks who have the creativeness, skills and dedication to do custom bikes.

This Kopteri magazine is really a product of just a small bunch of people, who don't make much of a living out of it - it's a lifestyle. I like their attitude: although the (small) custom scene around here is mostly HDs, Brit bikes are often presented in the mag too, as well as more rare customs made from Japanese originals. The editor himself is a frequent visitor at the bike meets of various kind all around the country, riding his HD chopper - but not sneering at other brands or styles. Peace, comradery, bikes and respect for skilled artisan work. That makes me happy.

Fire sale at the Cyan swag store. Those who know ... know.

Kopteri sounds a lot like Greasy Kulture Magazine (GKM). It is a one man show, publisher/editor/layout/writer. He does most of the writing, although he does take article submissions sometimes. I've written a couple articles for the magazine. He also can be spotted all over Europe on his Harley Panhead Bobber attending shows and events. GKM also features all brands of bikes. Mostly Harley and Triumph but you can find almost anything if it's cool. He's livin' the dream!

More doddering around the garage looking for projects I can do with one good arm today. I gave my Wesco boots a good cleaning. I use bee oil and bee oil based sealant to keep the leather soft. The pair on the left is 17 years old, the pair on the right is 25 years old. Both pair are fully lined with deer skin and have steel toe caps. Heavy and warm, but great protection. I have 2 almost identical pair because I lived in Arizona most of the time I've owned them and with the heat, I had to be able to swap which pair I was wearing every few days so they could dry out. These were not purchased "off the shelf". Wesco has castings of my feet from when I bought the first pair and they custom made the both pair to fit the castings. I'm pretty sure I'll never have to buy another pair of boots for riding. Having these ready to go when my shoulder heals, cheers me up!

I don't aspire to much, these days, but I do aspire to Wescos.

I have been traveling around Italy by train, but renting Vespas for three days in Bologna and Verona, then seven days in Conegliano, where the rides in the hills of Prosecco were exceptional.

We turned in our scooters yesterday, then came back to the hotel to find the Vespa Club of Milan scooters parked out front.

I talked briefly with one of the riders at breakfast this morning.

They are similar to our 7 Bridges Scooter Club, old men who enjoy riding (we have a few women).

They appeared to be having fun.

Bill

Outstanding!

What's cheering me up today is a new Folder! (My first)
The Wife thinks having 8 bikes is excessive
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Have you ever said "what do you mean? l've always had that one."?

She usually says that when I ask about her new shoes and handbags...

There are certainly worse "addictions".

What's cheering me up is the discovery of a particular variety of rabbit, Silvilagus aquaticus - aka the "swamp rabbit" - a variety of cottontail found in swamps and wetlands, which unlike most rabbits is known to both venture into the water and occasionally to swim to evade predators. They've apparently been around since the late Pleistocene.

In ancient Mississippi we called them cane cutters.

OFG

Going down a rabbit hole.

I feel like I was around when they were "invented"

That's the rabbit that attacked Jimmy Carter.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimmy_Carter_rabbit_incident

So today I've had a bellyful of strong Cider, a chinese takeaway, 3 rounds of internet golf, walked 19000 steps and even managed 3 satisfying bowel movements.

That's got to be good day in anyone's book.

Wow, Coddy! That sounds like a great recipe for colon blow, especially if the Chinese was extra spicy. 😉 Glad to hear you're regular. That cider sounds tasty.

Was it succulent?



The day pissed me off (see appropes thread) but the end of the day is enjoyable at least. What a great bottle this were.

You really have a way of cheering me up. Cheers to you!

Made my first frittata. Wife loves it. I'm loving it. Easy and delicious. Boom! And yeah, it's Italian!

Cosi cosi

The Tesla driver who felt obliged to overtake me just before a Toll Booth about 20 miles from Calais.

Overtakes me on the left then cuts across 3 lanes because he's lined up with the wrong booth and then gets held behind another car.

I pull my tag out of the glove box, hold it aloft so the sensor can see it and sail through the gate and I'm off up the road with the minimum of fuss.

Tesla Owners.

Watching 1000cc Motorcycles wheelie on a wet track with wet tyres while racing each other side by side.

That cheered me up.

I've been to the Wesco factory in Scappoose, OR a few times for work. On one occasion, when I lived in Portland, I took my GTS to one of the meetings.

Great bunch of true craftspeople making boots there using the best materials.

They've replaced BMW owners and Audi owners as the new cocks of the road.

Finally.