Modern Vespa

When we did replace our furnace / AC unit we went with a heat pump. It will run heat from the AC unit down to a temp of 41ºF, which is more cost efficient than the gas furnace.

So they tell me.

CCM have filed for Bankruptcy.

It's a shame but I've never understood why they actually exist.

It's a KTM in a bespoke chassis.

Just buy a KTM.

Is that the same CCM that makes the hockey skates?

Totally and utterly different.

It's a manufacturer of a Bespoke Motorcycle that cost around £10,000 upwards last time I looked.

It's a lovely looking bike but I'm really not sure what it is.

A Boutique Super-Moto ?

https://www.ccm-motorcycles.com/

Indeed. There are a handful of custom shops over here that will build you something similar. But it's a crazy trend. Road bikes turned into dirt bikes. Dirt bikes turned into road bikes. Super-Moto is in the middle, I guess. Which means it's not really good at either dirt or road. Just for screwing around hooligan stye or posing at the local coffee shop. Yeah, just buy the KTM and be done with it.

They didn't just build Super Moto's, they also kicked out Bobbers and Roadsters.

Yeah that's why I posted the website.

Hence why you said it's a lovely looking bike but you don't know what it is followed by, a boutique super moto?


Try looking at the website instead of just copy and pasting it

Yeah I did and then I shared the link.

We have a CCM Spitfire Cafe Racer locally that joins us for DGR. I don't know how it got to be in New Zealand, perhaps it falls into the area a Welsh friend of mine talked about when he ran classic car auctions in NZ. His view is that if a car has been manufactured then there's one in New Zealand and probably another as a parts car.

fuck

Ouch! That hurts just looking at it!

What happened?

Bruno?

Put a sticker over it.

Bruno?

I've had a 3 out of 5 success rate replacing screens. If the touch-screen bit still works I'd live with it until it gets too annoying to have in the house.

I swear that's not my software doing that.

I have to admit I do appreciate the speed and simplicity of this site not worth replacing the screen as it's a touch screen making it expensive and it's an old laptop that was due for replacing anyway. Yup.

I was walking home from the cafe with folded umbrella in one hand and laptop in the other. Saw Bruno crossing the street and wanted to see if the new tracker had updated his location yet. Tucked the laptop under my arm and checked my phone. Putting the phone back in my pocket was my laptop's downfall.

Walking
Holding umbrella
Holding laptop under arm
Checking phone / putting it in back pocket
Whilst watching cat..

Multitasking - Circus Act Level!

Average car driver:

Driving
Texting
Putting on lipstick
Listening to a podcast

Multitasking - Dickhead level!

Putting on lipstick/picking their nose.

You don't need to wear lipstick to be a dickhead!

Finally got time to swap the AC compressor in the GTI.

Six and a half hours later, it still has a ducking leak "somewhere" according to the 937 year old jackwagon who runs the auto skills on fort meade.

I feel for you. I'm ready to do mine on my tactical assault Suburban. Mine doesn't have a leak though. Yes I've had more fully armed SF players in that sucker than you could shake a stick at.

But at least the 'burban has room under the hood.

Wow! That's a blast from the past. Fort Meade. I visited my aunt and uncle in their house on 2nd Army Drive there back in 1977.

It's a bit different now. Golf course is gone, between DISA moving here from VA and the NSA taking up a HUGE amount of the base for its East Campus expansion for Cyber Command's HQ.

The good news is the housing is now privatized, and the first company that ran it doesn't even exist anymore because they were so horrendous....and the one that popped in to take their place is about to declare bankruptcy too.

Which is weird, since they take ALL of everyone's BAH (which was nearly 3x my mortgage payment off-base, for a house less than 3/4 the size of what I have now) and don't spend it on anything at all. Certainly not maintenance or upkeep that's for sure.

I'm a practical man.

Riding in France and running quite low on fuel.

Asked Waze to lead me to a Gas Station and it did but it was owned by a generic French Supermarket. ( Carrefour )

The pump rejects all of my Credit Cards.

Get back on the road as things are looking a bit dire now and Waze sends me to a slightly less generic Supermarket Gas Station. ( Leclerc )

Cards work. I like Leclerc.

Got to the Eurotunnel with 6 minutes to go before my train was called.

Might be an idea to keep €50 in your wallet/phone case/bag for fuel emergencies. I'm totally cashless nowadays, but still keep a £20 in my phone case for emergencies.

I do too when touring abroad, not that cash would have helped in France on a Sunday as the only fuel stations open are the unmanned card only ones.

France and Germany are a disaster on Sunday. Thankfully Portugal is very secular and most things are open here just as normal.

people who try to kill me

front+rear dashcam at 50kph (I checked trip recording)

I'm friggn stuck behind other cars ya cunt.

how damn close do you have to be?

they did lots of this

Sorry mate, that's rather crap driving on their part.

I will comment that I've encountered a non-trivial number of drivers who just get incensed by the idea of being held up by a scooter, even if you are meeting (or even exceeding) the speed limit.

I had a good laugh a few years back when a Prius passed my P200 on an urban stretch of interstate. They moved back in front of me and promptly slowed down below the speed limit. So I passed them and moved back in ahead of them at the limit.

We played that game three times before they shed a few tears, asked Mother Gaia for forgiveness and finally passed me with purpose, staying fast enough that the dumb smoky scooter wouldn't pass them again. Me, I was content to finally be left alone to run at my chosen pace!

The light bar on that Suzuki looks pretty nasty. Hope you got home before dark.

Belgians seem to tailgate quite a lot but not as close as that.

Cross the Border into France and it stops happening.

Germans get my vote for driving really well for most of the time.

Assertive but not dangerous.

I am, or was a cashless guy too. We were recently in Spain during 'El Cero'..the 2025 Iberian Peninsula Blackout. We were sitting on a fast train in Alacante waiting to depart when everything just stopped. No electricity, no cellphones, no internet, ATMs, traffic lights etc...all out. For the first hour it was quite apocalyptic, confusion reigned but thankfully not panic. Many were blaming a cycber attack and Putin. Turns out the Portugal/Spain/France interconnector for the power system was a little more fragile than they thought.
12 hours without everything in modern day Europe when you don't speak the local language fluently was quite confronting.
I now keep some folding at hand.

lol.

I didn't

sunset photo 15 mins later and city photo an hour after that

With cash, waiting for a friendly local to fill up becomes an option.

The rider of the BMW R1100 who had to be at the front of the queue while waiting in line for the EuroTunnel. Even if he didn't arrive there first, he had to be first.

He wanted to be first so much when the barrier eventually lifted he rode ahead and sailed straight by the doors for the train and had to come back because bikes get pulled to the side and get loaded last.

Hmmm...something like "haste makes waste"?