Modern Vespa

Nope, mines a boring (thanks Kate) silver one:



genie - oops, the MOT has just run out. I knew there was a reason I hadn't suggested it before. If you have time to get Kelvin to sort it out, I'll pay you for it - I don't have the time before I go away.

sure i can sort out the MOT - Kelvin doesn't do them but there's a garage on mare street that does, it's where i get mine done.

It's pretty smart, although I must admit I never find silver paintwork massively inspiring either. Not to worry, yours has enough in the way of nice detail to "interesting" it up a bit.

Is the horncover black or chrome? Chrome on mine would look so gash it wouldn't even be funny but I can see that working on the silver. Would kinda make it look like the headlight grows out of the legshield rather than peers over it. I do like the peering though.

I'm about to conduct an involuntary experiment with some bodywork mismatching. Funny story actually: got caught in a late night monsoon on the M8 and my sparkplug access hatch got so spooked it jumped right off onto the hard shoulder. The bargain replacement I found is "cobalt blue" apparently. Can't wait til that "mod" arrives...

Also I notice your seat lock's on the other side - surely a more convenient location for it. Is that pretty interchangeable? I'm assuming the seat's off a different model.

Sorry to hijack, folks. I'll return to occasional injections of nonsense after, promise!

there's no such thing as a hijack here .... that's the beauty of the daily donk

contrast engine doors can look great - here's one of my former ET4s with a very smart black 'n green theme going on:

It's an LX seat which fits straight on. The black and white chequers have gone, to be replaced with multipe pin stripes which make it look less like a police Vespa. I think I might do the black hatch thing too. Looks cool.

The contrast effect does look pretty cool. Doug, I know a stretch of motorway with a black one lying at the side of the road if you're watching the pennies.
Loving the glovebox too.

Hey, I had one of those tobacco-brown ET4s! I loved it because you hardly ever saw one that colour. It got nicked from outside my karate class in Catford, written off, and dumped back where they found it

I considered detaching the glovebox door (more or less the only unbroken bit left) as a souvenir - I wish I had.

Edit: Just seen one on Oxford Street at lunchtime - funny!

CBS Whitton have aced again. New tyres all round on the Fuoco, all balanced, and a new rear brake disc. So you're good to go genie.

wooo hoo! doug's lending me the ET4 so i'll ride that down to yours and leave it there. how does 8:30ish sound for an ETA at yours? too early?

i got some bad news today - the twist on the interloper's legshield is too bad to simply be hammered/jigged out... it's gonna need a whole new legshield panel in there ££££££

That sucks, does this mean you can probably consider the respray too?

hell no. i can barely afford this. a full respray in a custom colour is out of the question. good thing i like 'ocean blue'

I did some bizzare maths in me noggin (it's been a long day)

Sounds just right. Bummer.

Thats it ... im going to buy a Lambretta GP 200 ... think im going to pop up to TASS Scooters in the new year to order one ...

will be the second time i have ever owned a lammy

Bummer on the 'Loper Genie. Still it will look lovely once done. I'm of to t'pub so let me know what time you are gonna do the dirty deed. I've just fed and watered myself with a friend it a little Italian restaurant in Islington and got caught in a 30 second squall and am truly drenched. Now off to complete the watering.

So not too too early, but no doubt I will still rise early.

Off to Brighton in a moment to buy a Vespa Mug.
Oh yeah I'm also going to buy some new pants.

Bill X

What a great ride down to Brighton I've just had. Nice and fast and only cocked up a few entry speeds. I started at 8.30am to miss all the traffic which worked but as I arrived it started to rain which put a little dampener on it.
As I dismounted I put my foot into a big pile of dog shit which kind of put another dampener on it but then I walked up to Carluccios and had a lovely breakfast and the nice waiter flirted with me which lifted my mood.
I then went shopping for a Vepsa Mug at the Mod Shop but it wasn't opening until 12.00 so I bought a Union Jack one next door instead.
Does anyone know where I can get a Union Jack bandanna ?
Went searching for pants, bought some pants almost met up with Christos but had to rush back to Tunbridge Wells to meet friends.
On the way back I slowed down a great deal due to the amount of people carriers on the road and by 1115 the traffic was starting to build.
I'm going to do exactly the same tomorrow morning.
I'll see the early birds at 10am.

Bill X

Oh my god I have some Karma ! How the bloody hell did that happen ?

I can't believe that you gave Carluccio's the time of day let alone your custom after being made to wait fifteen minutes to take our order the last time we went in there for coffee..

To those of you not present, I had a major sense of humour failure and a hissy-fit at the waiter and stormed out, leaving Bill sitting at the table looking perplexed.

To be fair I was right behind you ( so to speak ) when we didn't get served but what I think sparked you off was the mad old lady trying to earwig our conversation when we tried to find a quite corner to hide in.

Mind you though it was thier loss because we had an superb Italian meal just around the corner with some of the most friendly staff I've ever met.

OK Doug I promise not to go to that one again but the one in Brighton has some really attractive staff and seeing as I'm as deep as puddle I'm going back.

Bill X

i've just made fresh pesto with basil from the garden

oh. my. god. it's all i can do not to gobble the whole bowl up before the pasta is even finished cooking. it's absolutely delicious.

Yeah I made a sort of pesto sauce with your basil too. I just threw some torn up leave with some olive oil and lemon juice onto some spaghetti and topped off with some parmesan. Yum!

Mmmm! Mmmm! Mmmm!
Try it with black olives and garlic added.
AND of course, a good Chianti, might I suggest an Il Grigio??

it was jamie oliver's recipe: http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/vegetarian-recipes/basic-pesto )

he takes the 'less is more' approach to the use of garlic and recommends only half a clove to three big handfuls of basil leaves.

i'm on a pesto roll now ... we've got fresh rocket in the garden too, i'm thinking fresh rocket and black olive pesto next time

dayum it was good [trots back to kitchen to get another bowl of pasta]

And all I can add to that, after reading his recipe, is "Jamie, eat your heart out (and lose the garlic, it's overrated)".

garlic overrated????? sacrilege

Genie - tomorrow, if you get no answer to the front door bell, ring the land-line number. That 'phone is right by my ear when I'm still asleep...

That pesto sounds yummy. But don't go too easy on the garlic - Jamie's a wuss.

The Fuoco is sublime on the new tyres - now pretty well scrubbed in. It is looking forward to its new lean limits being explored on the way to Brighton and back.

Route down:

just woke up!

had a great night out with my family to celebrate my mum's 70th. after a meal we ended up in the pub until closing time and then helped my dad drink all his expensive brandy.

whilst waiting for a taxi at my brother's house we drank all his single malt and i vaguely remember walking to the petrol station to buy some fags at 3.00am.

got home at 4.30am and was in no fit state to ride down to brighton at 8.00am despite having my gts poised to go, parked on the pavement outside the house.

really sorry i didn't make it. i'm off to the pub for a big lunch with friends this afternoon.

Mr WM, genie and Muad'Dib duly arrived. I do like Doug's ET4! The route we took had a middle section which used to be dreadful tarmac but at least it was NSL. Now the tarmac is beautiful but the speed limit was 40mph nearly all that bit. Still great roads though, and sleepy country villages. Genie looked completely at ease with the Fuoco.

We got to Brighton just about bang on when I had predicted - just before 11:30. I wasn't that warm, so I kept my coat on. After breakfast a saunter to the 'Mod Shop' preceded a walk on the pier. By this time the sun had come out and it was getting hot - we all realised we needed to shed some garments, so back to the bikes to stow these - then after purchasing some much-needed water it was back to the pebbly beach. We soaked up some sun, and had the usual Donkie-banter with an interlude when genie got her toes (and some other bits!) wet in the gentle surf.

Back home via a faster route up the A23/A264/A24 and a cuppa at Ryka's.

Lovely day - Muad'Dib has been firmly told he must get his test passed so we can pick up the pace a bit!

Less splendiferous here - Mr Wonder hit by errant BMW driver on the way home.

He has the bumps and scratches but thankfully not more seriously hurt. However the SH forks look out of whack and the whole of the right side is scratched and generally mangled.

Bloody hell.......do you know one of the last things he said to me before me and the Mrs left was "best thing WM did was get me into this scooter thingy" Hope he still feels the same way.


Nice to meet the rest of the motley crew too.

Eggs Benedict........mmmmmmmm

Bugger. For a Sh1tty it looked really good.

Dave, I hope you aren't too shaken up by this. Bloody beemers. Likewise.

oh shit. i'm very glad to hear he's okay but what a complete and utter downer. as alex has just noted - what a way to break in a new scooter

did the twat stick around?

give mr. wonder hugs and general commiserations from us. i hope he's back on the road soon.

apart from that it was a wonderful day ... and the fuoco was a joy to ride thank you again jim.

Do I get a DSSC sticker for the GTV yet?

of course you do! why didn't you say something before? i'd have brought one down for you. if you don't want to wait for the next meet, pm me an address and i'll pop a couple in the post

Well i'd only turned up to Duxford the last time and then only really spoke to Mr Control Freak.....that's Billy boy.

pm on it's way.........

Shit! F'ing BMW drivers I hope he's ok.

Yes he did and seemed concerned, though confessed he had just settled on £4,000 damage done to his car "by a biker".

Police attended and told David that he thought riding in bus lanes was a stupid idea and they had no intention of doing anything.

Despite the helmet having scratches all around the base, the ambulance did no more than a preliminary check of his right knee and declared him fit to ride home. That really pisses me off.

Pretty poor show all round. He came home with that babble that people who are in shock have.

My lawyer hackles are up and I've just taken a proper statement. David is comprehensively insured so he will get a new scooter (the damage looks to be at a write off level due to the forks). He still wants to ride. Good for him.

The police aren't interested ?

Glad to hear David is okay.

Mercedes driver, not a BMW.

I was on the A23, heading towards Streatham, riding up the bus lane at 25mph. Cars going the same way on my right were stop and go. Suddenly a blue Mercedes bonnet appears about 2 car lengths in front of me. Hit the brakes, swerve left, bump, back of bike stepping out to the left, leaning a bit too much right. Accept that I'm going down, steer left and hold onto brakes to try and make it as painless as possible, then relax as the bike goes over.

Find myself lying on my back on the road with the scooter on it right-hand side on top of me. Consider getting up. Think "f*ck that, someone can lift this off of me". Realise scoot is still running, and I don't know where my left leg is, so I hit the kill switch.

Front wheel points about 5 degrees out of true, right fork leg has a fair size chunk out of it. Front right corner of bike is almost all the way through the plastic, legshield panels are all twisted a popped off, seat is scuffed, plastic under seat is scraped, grab bars have big scrapes and top-box has a scuff.

Gonna be expensive, but thankfully I only have to pay the first £200 while the claim is sorted out.

More important is sorting out a bike and my gear for commuting and going to Bestival in 10 days - the ferry tickets are for two PTW, not one car!

On the plus side, at least I don't have to worry about the first scrape on the new bike any more, and I'll be taking a day or two off work.

Finally, I have a witness who reckons it's the driver's fault, but we'll see where that goes.

Be careful out there.

David

what a rotten end to an otherwise lovely day. i hope your witness comes through - that merc had no business being in the bus lane, by the sound of it - and what a hopeless knob of a policeman - nice of him come to your aid with sweeping pronouncements about traffic laws. very helpful.