Modern Vespa

Ending our 4th of July tour that took us from Folsom, down Grantline, 99, over to 5, 580, into Danville for a party for Friday night. Saturday we started back on 580 into Castro Valley, up Redwood Road (a really nice slow cruise!) down into Oakland, up though Berkeley, and then up 80 all the way to Davis where we stopped for some dessert.

Well as we go to leave the parking lot we take a turn going only a couple of mph, something feels very wrong so I pop straight up and smoothly coast into a open motorcycle parking spot dead in front of me.

We get off the GTS and I check the back tire, flat. A closer exam finds a nail buried to the head(I almost couldn't even see the head).

At this point we are tired and don't want to deal with it that night, we get a ride back to Folsom from my family and call it a night.

I started looking into options, and while the nail was dead center I didn't really want to go across the causeway on a plugged tire. My girlfriend didn't like the idea at all either. Lucky for me I got the roadside assistance option on my insurance.

This is when it gets interesting. The tow truck guy pulls up on a Vino about 20 minutes after I call the insurance company. After a moment of confusion where I thought he was just a fellow scooterist that saw me pumping up my rear tire (I wanted it to roll a bit better, and it was holding air just not for long). He says he will be back in 15-30 minutes. Then we both got the joy of figuring out where to put the straps on the bike so as to not touch the paint. We got it strapped up with 1/2 the straps he puts on a normal bike and I followed him all the way to A&S where it will sit until later this week when their service department is open and free. There was a small bit of damage on the front fender where the paint started to peal up a bit from rubbing on the tire guides, but I think it should be fine with a touch of glue.

All in all after this rather harrowing (and a bit traumatic to a new Vespa owner, seeing my baby up on the stretcher as I called it) experience I should be only out the cost of replacing a tire that was pretty close to the end of its life anyways.

I think the moral of this story is make sure you get roadside assistance, and the tow track guy from Davis is pretty cool. Oh and even 2-up the GTS kicks but on the freeway, I got quite a few shocked looks from slow moving SUVs on I-5.

And carry a plug kit. It can get you home. Most people recommend an inside patch or replace the tire after a puncture.