Modern Vespa

I hear B & Q are offering a discount on bird tables at the moment. Maybe you could feed the pigeons.




(happy birthday! for tomorrow )

Happy biiiirthdaaaaay! - for today, now!

Thanks Alice. I'm now, as planned, at B&Q and I've really pushed the boat out by stopping at Homebase en route. There's actually still snow lying around the place so I might make a snowball before I leave.

Do it!

And then throw it at someone!

It's your birthday!

happy birthday TheJ!

i hope homebase and b&q bring you everything you desire.

Cheers Kam.

We ended up going over to a mate's to watch the fitbaw (Scotland Vs Czech Republic) and I hardly watched a frame of it. Too busy catching up. I used to work with the couple whose flat we were at and Scotland have been getting progressively more boring to watch for the last 30 years (which is longer than I've lived). Not that there haven't been good times, just that things can safely asuumed to be rubbish and pleasant surprises should be recognised as such. Viz Scotland battering France twice during the Euro qualifiers.

Anyway, they won tonight, and I was only a couple of hundred yards away from Hampden when they did so that's nice. Good Birthday looking back over the day.

Back to the grind tomorrow. I'm planning follow-ups.

Saw this Tmax whilst out shopping for new boot laces ( how exciting)
today.

I think I'm in love. Thank god it won't fit in my parking space.

I prefer the black n' red ones, but I see your point. (Though I'll always maintain the Nexus tops it for style.)

Mmmm... only 536 days left until I can buy a super-scoot. Mind you, I'd settle for consistently dry weather so I can use mine more fully instead.

David

I couldn't wait and had a restricted Nexus. Which turned out, when it was time for the little washer to be removed, not to be restricted at all...

They're a nice machine.
I had one and sold it. Bought a BV500 to replace it. Worst move I ever made.
I made money on the Max, but believe me, it wasn't worth it.(IMHO)
I'm sure there are more opinions out there counter to mine, but try the Max, you'll be impressed.

hello peeps ..
sorry cant make sunday ...
but today was the first time i rode my GTS .. cant believe how much i missed it ..
roll on summer

You will be missed Spider but glad that your ride went well.

See you on the 4th instead ?

Bill X

oh yes mate .. me and Tracy will be there ... with some new stories

She'll be about 30 minutes after you I'm guessing ?

Don't worry I'm going to book somewhere really easy to find.

Bill XX

OK the 4th of April is a really bad day for restaurants to be opening ie they aren't opening at all so its either going to be the 3rd or the 10th or 11th of April.

I like the 11th. What do you say all ?

10/11 of April I'll be riding with our French friends in Brittany. But don't let that make any difference.

10-11 is Help for Heroes.

I honestly don't believe that every restaurant in the greater London area is shut on the 4th. it's just not possible.

Well then the date stays but the search begins for a restaurant that we all like and is open on the 4th.

This is fun !!!

Billy no Restaurant.

Sorted -

Bella Itailia
Leicester Square
London
WC2 HLE

020 7321 0016

04/04/10 from 1230 onwards.

No reservation needed as there are plenty of tables available the nice lady told me.

See you then

Bill XXX

Excellent.

Requesting advice from the experts, in advance of being able to see the problem for yourselves this weekend.

Since yesterday, my scoot is making a squeal when pulling away from a stop, typically between 2-5mph. It doesn't correlate with the brakes, and only seems to happen at low-medium power settings from a standstill. It sounds vaguely like a car fan-belt slipping.

If I pull away very slowly, it's not there, and if I pull away very quickly, it doesn't go on for very long. Sometimes it's fairly loud.

The sound seems to come from directly below and slightly ahead of me.

I'm guessing it's the belt making noise as it slips, but I'm not sure. I've got about 2200 miles on the scoot now, 500+ of which are motorway or other >60mph miles. The oil level was just below the bottom of the dipstick when I checked, so I've just topped up (with no effect).

Thoughts? Should I still be riding with it making that noise?

Thanks,

David

the GT and GTS make an awful howl like a braying sea lion when enough dust builds up on the clutch. this doesn't seem to correlate in any straightforward way with mileage. the solution is to open up the transmission and clean everything out - the quick fix is to jam an air hose into the transmission case and give it a blast. it's worth trying.

I get the same kinda noise from the GTV sometimes....no idea what it is though!

That's the noise! I shall take a look in the book and see how involved that is. I'm assuming it's just a matter of taking the case off the side, which will then expose the belt/pulleys etc.

What would you recommend cleaning with? Just a dry cloth, or should I use product?

Cheers,

David

Hey! Missed you guys!

Genie - that pic of little Orky had some tears welling up - sorry I can't come along on Sunday....

David... Honda will strip and clean your SHitty for you. Mine did the same and they sorted it out in half an hour. Complain like hell. Interestingly, unlike all my other scoots (too many), my current baby has never done the sealion trick. I think that's to do with the Dr Pulley sliding weights - which are fab btw. Kate and I still need to do a little drag race to see how a 250 performs against a 300 with these installed. I reckon it'll hold its own...

Exhaust now painted for the second time with rustoleum. Bloody Piaggio. I'm not going the LV route after Kam's stud debarcle. (That sounds naughty). Might eventually go PM with dB killer....

PM is neighbour ruiningly good.. get it get it get it

Mmm. I really lurve my GTS. So pissed off with rusting (and I MEAN rusting) exhaust after four months. I might just treat it, although my last experience with PM was just TOO super noisy!

Odd how my pipe is 7 years old and it only gets a little surface rust at the header pipe.

Rust annoys me.

I've been thinking of a 300 but it will pass.

Edit OK I Araldited the lug back onto the inside of the left lower panel and a week later carefully slotted into place and snap it came clean off.

Yeah not happy so I'm thinking about getting a whole new panel unless you guys can come up with a "solution".

Doug, How easy it it to get the front mudguard off so I can glue that other lug back on the inside of the wheel arch ?

I think that one will hold.

Bill X

That's a forks out job Bill.

Thanks Baz. When I've got some spare time I'm going to take the wheel out and try and glue it back on where it is.

It doesn't need to be done because it's screwed on in two other places but I just want it done. Get me ?

Bill X

You mean your just being fussy.

Forks out is easy if slow.... but not worth the effort for lugs. What lugs are we talking about exactly and why are they broken? Epoxy glue is good but you need to overdo it in these cases me thinks. Best way is to use another bit of ABS plastic to reinforce the joint, along with the epoxy.

Its the fwd of the two lugs on the inside and underside of the mudguard.

It's snapped off where it meets the main body of the wheel arch and I'd like to reattach it somehow.

I was thinking about gluing back in place then waiting for it to dry then packing more glue around it just to make sure.

Too much free time on my hands huh ?

Bill X

Yep. Reinforce is what I say. And the Bond thing is all mine.

What you need is a hot glue gun.
And put plenty on it.

Clean off all the araldite (which wouldn't have worked in the first place)

Snip off 1.5cm of a ordinary 'sewing' pin - careful when you do this!

Hold in small long-nose pliers in the middle, heat until *very hot* over a gas flame. Hold in place to ready to 're-inforce' the two bits of plastic (piercing both up the arse), press the plastic bits together, letting go with the pliers at the last second or so.

Allow to cool, then apply some specific "hard plastic" superglue to the join.

Job's a good'un.

The lug was pretty secure when I gave it a good heave ho before I located it but it just went shopping when I eased it into it's hole but hey it was worth a try.

Jim I don't think that there's enough depth in the lug or the panel for your idea and I don't have enough patience so I'll probably end up buying a new one.

Thank you regardless.

The old one had a bit of a flaw in the paint which I was never really happy with so I'll have a spare going soon.

Bill XX

The Hornet is at the repair shop because the temp gauge almost went into the red as I was joining the motorway this morning and stayed there for a couple of junctions while I waited for the air flow it to cool down which it didn't.
I'd just come through alot of traffic and thought that it would settle once we got the air flowing around the radiator but nope, the needle started to kiss the lower end of the red bar.

It did this a few weeks ago in the cold weather and it adjusted itself once I speeded up but this time it didn't budge.

Once I'd stopped I noticed the water pump housing wasn't warm and neither was the coolant in overflow tank in the leg shield which gives the impression that the thermostat isn't working because surely if it was the fan would have come on ?

What you fink ?

I'm still going coming for the ride tomorrow though.

Bill XXX

Correct - the switch for the fan is up front near the radiators, whereas the engine temp gauge is on the motor.

I doubt you could suddenly have an air-lock, so it's either a duff thermostat or the impeller has failed somehow.