Modern Vespa

Sorry, wrong place.

People.

People who give advice that they assert is the definitely the solution after listening to the first three words of your symptoms and ignore the rest which contradicts their claimed solution.

(The usual nice staff member at the local Vespa dealer wasn't there today)

Dr Z advises either a new scooter, a kitten, or a divorce. Covers all bases.

Amongst other things he did suggest getting a lotto ticket (and win) so he could sell me a new gts.

Bruno is enough kitten for the whole community.

I'm single.

Then get married.

OFG

Marriage has been determined to be the prime cause of divorces.

Back in March/April one of the classes I took was Digital Graphic Design for Web. In it we did HTML coding in Visual Studio Code. We weren't quite hard coding the websites, as most of the code was gleaned from Bootstrap and CSS coding sites. But still, it was HTML coding.

I'm now taking Advanced Digital Graphic Design for Web. The purpose of the class is to create a personal portfolio website, to help further my career when I graduate in December. We're creating them in CampusPress, which is WordPress for Education.

It's like having a Beginner Driving Course use a 1973 AMC Hornet with three-on-the-tree manual transmission and no tachometer to teach the students how to drive, and then once they complete the course and move on to Advanced Driving, giving them a Tesla with Autopilot.

I had a calculus course in HS, spending days chopping up curves to find the area. Smaller and smaller pieces, thinking there must be a better way. The next day teach tells us there's a better way. Sheesh.

Not necessarily pissing me off, but disappointing.

On my last ride on Rocket, my 2006 Vespa GT that I have had since new, I noticed exhaust noise coming from the gasket between the header pipe and exhaust.

So I pulled the exhaust and checked the gasket, finding it good, then reinstalling.

Yesterday I was on my usual Monday ride to Baldwin for lunch at Everybody's, riding at a reasonable speed down I-10 when I passed the exit to Hammond Blvd.

I soon heard the sound of the gasket blown out, emitting lots of noise and heat.

And the next exit was another three miles down the road.

First thing I did was slow down a bit and check the rear brake as the heat from the now open exhaust boils the brake fluid and can melt the line.

Sure enough, the brake lever soon pulled to the grip with no braking.

I pulled off at Chaffee Road, skipping the lunch stop and headed home down US 90, where luck would have it, I found it closed with a detour to Commonwealth Avenue.

But of course that wasn't enough as a train had traffic stopped on the road to Commonwealth.

The stop allowed me to turn off the scooter, letting the brake line cool.

Running slow, the brake continued to function and the slow roads helped.

I finally made it home and swapped scooters for the remainder of the day.

I had a gasket in the glove box but hadn't carried the tools to make the repair on the road.

Bill

Apparently, In America roughly 42% of marriages end in divorce. The other 58% end in death.

A rather bleak outlook either way.

Which makes me glad I have never had the misfortune of nuptials.

Just looking at my parents and their siblings:

Dad's side (my aunt, dad, and two uncles):
7 marriages, 5 divorces.

Mother's side (my mother, uncle, and three aunts):
6 marriages, two divorces, two marriages ended in with the deaths of my aunts.

But when you look at their children, on my Dad's side I have myself, my two brothers, and four cousins. Two of the cousins never married. The rest of us have only married once, and never divorced. On my mother's side we have myself, my two brothers, and 7 cousins. Three of the cousins never married, and one of them died in his 30s of a brain aneurysm. The rest of us have only married once, and never divorced.

To recap, the previous generation:
9 people, 13 marriages, 7 divorces, two deaths (which ended marriages), and four still married.

My generation:
14 people, 9 marriages, and 5 never having gotten married.

The younger generation (which are all Gen X or Xennials) are staying married, while the older generation (who are all Silent Generation or older Boomers) are the ones racking up the divorces.

We need a comprehensive Pareto analysis.

No, actually we don't. Please ... nobody do that.

Burned my hand at breakfast.

Our usual routine is oatmeal on Fridays. For some reason I've taken to putting piloncillo on mine (the irony is that it's in the house because my other half is Mexican. ).

Anyway, if you've ever used the stuff, it gets hard as a rock and is hard to grate. Solution is heating it just enough to soften it. So I popped it in the microwave for a minute right on the glass tray, as I checked on it realized it was melting already, instinctively grabbed it, and the melted sugar stuck to my thumb and ring finger like napalm, and now I have second degree burns. Small, but looks like I'll be in Band-Aids for a while.

Good news, oatmeal won't be back for a week....

Bummer! The important thing - did you get to eat breakfast?

Lol, yes. At least it wasn't an emergency room visit..I'd miss lunch too!

The oh so slow wait for my order for a new fuel injector.

I really want to be able to trust my scoot again so I can ride in the country (and not have it stall at the lights when cold etc)

I hear that! I ride in some very out-of-the-way places, no cell service and very little traffic. If my ride dies, I'm in pretty deep shite.

It's one day into autumn.. ONE!

That's freakin' insane! Greedy bastards!

Dude, this was Hobby Lobby on May 18th ... They've had Christmas stuff up since early July.

Don't get me going ...

But don't you have to plan your crafts a few months in advance?

I do find it funny that Lowes has Santa and Satan sharing an aisle.

Maybe the stock person was dyslexic?

love that term. Makes me wonder what sorta aftermarket upgrades you could add? Malossi sells merc like tshirts

Vespa tattoos and a Bieber haircut. Does Dr. Pulley make implants?

I've recently bought a bargain 2024 GTS 300 with only 2878km (when I got it) on the clock for €4500. Came with the extended warranty (2+2 years), a factory alarm, a seat cover and a disc brake lock...

I ordered through my supplier, a set of SIP levers and a small Pordoi flyscreen. Parts came today, got them home and unbuttoned the handlebars to first replace the levers. Apparently SIP's QC is on constant vacation. Levers don't fit without having to modify them. First off the hole for the bolt got narrower cause of the process of electroplating. OK, no big deal, passed them with a drill and bolt fits fine. And then, the second problem came to. Comparing the SIP lever to the stock one, it needs to be ground about 1mm at its edge because it keeps the master cylinder under pressure as it is...

Why the hell do they sell parts that don't fit?? Supposedly these levers have a KBA / ABE certification for the German roads and they're TUV approved...

I remember a post about their levers not fitting correctly on some FB group a few months back but I didn't care at the time since I didn't own a GTS and wasn't planning buying one so soon...

I've already informed my supplier and he's going to contact SIP. I don't know if I'm going to modify them further or ask them for a replacement / solution...

The levers in question...
https://www.sip-scootershop.com/en/product/sport-lever-set-brake-sip-mk-ii-left-right-for-vespa-gts-gts-super-125-300-310ccm-2023_MV007044C

The fact that it's the "Mk.II" version doesn't help their case.

At least they didn't have the chutzpah to put "Grade 1 - Perfect Repair" in the description.

"They" told us LED bulbs would last for many years saving us money on replacing incandescents and on electricity bills. The Future" of lighting! "They" said! "They" even banned incandescents by making any bulbs that put out less than 45 lumens per watt, which incandescents cannot meet, illegal taking away the only other real viable option. Well it was partly true. They do use less electricity.

I started replacing my bulbs with LED's before it was cool. Those did last, not for a "lifetime" or 15 years or whatever originally claimed but respectable. But I have a bunch that I have purchased in the last couple years that have failed in UNDER A YEAR! The actual diodes are fine, it is the cheap circuit components (mainly the caps) and ineffective heat sinks that cause the premature failures.

"They" sucked us in and now we are trapped!

And power bills haven't dropped at all. Quite the opposite.

Our current house (rental) has skylights in the bathrooms, and whatever we buy in a couple years we've decided needs big ones as well.

I think it's misguided to blame the mysterious "they" for this. Energy efficiency is a perfectly cromulent thing to aspire to.

And I don't think you can reasonably blame LED technology, either. The LEDs aren't failing, as you point out.

Blame the actual culprit: manufacturers putting shoddy power supplies and heat sinks in LED bulbs.

Or better yet, blame consumers for buying only the cheapest, shittiest bulbs

What are you talking about? "They" have been screwing us over for years! Don't be a sheep jess.

Kidding aside, yeah it is a matter of cheap components and poor design that is not readily apparent to the average consumer. Especially consumers that have only a basic idea how an LED bulb works (me back when I bought the crap ones). My mistake was trusting the big box stores to have better than junk bulbs. I know silly me.

But Philips, GE, and Cree make reliable LED bulbs. The key is to look for the ones that are labeled "Enclosed Fixture Rated" because it is heat that is the biggest degrading factor for circuits especially ones using cheap components.

Big fan of Phillips and Cree.

Just replaced a Creek floodlight that experienced an IC failure. Considering that the bulb was an early "dimmable" LED, it worked well for the twelve years it was in service. The newer ones have better dimmer response and I look forward to not replacing them for a good while.

Kevin Trudeau tried to warn us.

Sure, if and when the electricity usage drops, the providers will want rate increases to cover the lost income due to less usage.
Hell, they want rate increases now. Our electric rates are among the highest in the country already.
And, the "hidden taxes" built into the billing, such as "public benefits", whatever that means, just adds to the costs.
And while I'm at it - the DMV has all sorts of extra fees such as state park fees, and other fees that have nothing directly to do with motor vehicle registrations.
Rant is done.

cromulent

Yeah, caught my eye too.

Income Tax

I've recently had my company car changed from a 6 year old diesel to a 2 year old Hybrid and the Government are hitting me with a new tax code that is costing me an extra £100 in income tax per month. WTF?

Clocks.
I just realized I have to adjust our alla cameras to same time with our phones, to get rid all the picks and videos taken be just a mess with diff times on them.
But, I have to do this again on diff timezone, as only phones does it by themselves. And as the bloody "daylight "saving" comes again, after a month, do all this again.

-The only good thing is, to change all our homes clocks to right time comes actual after we come back.

Garage doors are pissing me off.

Had a side mount Lift Master installed last year. Failed for the 3rd time in 18 months on Friday. Installer blames the dealer. Dealer blames the installer and meanwhile I have multiple calls to wallow through before it gets fixed. Mmmrph.