Modern Vespa

In a little over a week, weather dependent, I will set out on my first long trip on my new Vespa....going to visit family. Traveling from western Wisconsin to the east about 300 miles taking the back roads-no big highways and staying to the less traveled ones. I am excited but need to figure out what I should pack for general scooter maintenance should the need arise...tire pump, wrenches, other?

There's an exteremely comprehensive list about halfway down this thread: What Allen wrench sizes do we need?

As for a tire plugger and pump, I carry these: http://www.stopngo.com/motorcycle.asp#tireplugger and http://www.amazon.com/Slime-40001-Power-Sport-Inflator/dp/B000ET9SB4

Wonderful advice...thanks so much. Interestingly, since my little Vespa is MINE, I find myself kind of enjoying learning to be a grease monkey...I haven't done much yet but what I have done gives me a sense of accomplishment.

i'm in chippewa falls, give a shout if you need anything.

I'm near Milwaukee. Give a holler.

Let us know which roads you take and what you think of them. I may be riding from Milwaukee to Minnesota next month.

Take pictures on your way, and post them along with an account of your ride in the Ride Reports section!

I will definitely update everyone on the trip with some photos. Thanks to everyone "along the way" who offered a hand if needed. Maybe I'll have to set up a meeting spot for lunch along the way for all you Wisconsinites in the area....

My ride will generally take me parallel to Hwy 29 for most of the way...I'll post more details later.

Anyone up for getting together on a Friday for luch? Hard to say where exactly I'll be at that time but I'm guessing somewhere around Wausau.

Hello again, everyone! I have completed the first leg of my trip- 330 miles from Western Wisconsin to Neenah, WI on the far eastern edge of the state. Amazing time and lots of lessons learned in the process.

To my surprise, I did this on a little over 4 gallons of premium gas...! I learned that when my gas guage says I only have 1/4 tank left, I really still have a full gallon left based on how much I can put in at a fill-up.

Had a blast starting out and met many nice people along the way who were interested in my Vespa adventure. The most curious place I stopped was at an ostrich farm....got to see the babies up close and a large herd of adults running in a big pack in the pasture. I bought a roll of ostrich/Beef summer sausage. Have you ever tried this? Nothing particularly different in taste from the regular stuff.

I hit a little yellow finch on my windshield along the way and almost got 2 chipmunks as they scurried across the highway but they are safe...generally I was going the speed limit- on my speedometer, I was going 60-64 mph but I suspect that my speedo is about 5 mph fast since I was always just keeping up with traffic, even at low speeds.

Ear plugs were a great help but the little foam ones I was using were a pain to use and hard to get seated properly so I will be looking for a better option. I spent a fair amount of time wrestling with my map and reality as the map I had didn't always jive with road numbers and because I was taking the back roads (I mean REALLY back roads), many times roads were not marked well and I wasted probably over an hour total looking for poorly-marked roads or having to double back because of closed roads. But, I had no traffic 90% of the time which was great!

Overall, I was on the road for 10 hours and actually driving for about 8 of those. I was glad to arrive and felt tired but not overly sore- little shoulder stiffness but no back problems. Nexk was sore/tired from the constant wind blast. Stopped tons of time to check the map and next time I need to think about a way to mount the map on my dash so I don't have to fumble with it in the glovebox. This would shorten my road time a bit.

Overall, a total blast but the long day was loooong. I would do it all again anyway...in 2 days, I'll get the chance!

I will post a few pics on my next post as I don't have my camera sitting here at the moment. The next leg is going back home-probably will take a different way home just for interest.

Enjoy! I just went from the twin cities across to Door County and up a couple weekends ago (in a car) and it's a great trip. I'm considering another ride down Hwy 35 down the western edge of the state again tomorrow (along with all the Harleys) It's a great ride in a great state. I'll be heading to Lambeau in a couple of months so once more across the state.

If you were riding today you hit some serious bad weather! Good luck with that and enjoy the ride.

Oh, btw, with regard to the little woodland creatures. I was reminded today by a scamperer of what the MSF says to do if one runs in front of you... just plan on hitting it straight on and running over it. Your chances of predicting and avoiding the little furry guys is slight since they move in 'unpredictable' fashion plus if you're swerving when you run over one and loose traction you're going down whereas if you run over it straight on and lose traction you'll be OK.

You can put your map in a plastic baggie and `wear it`on your thigh with large rubber bands. Nerdy, but effective (that`s what WW2 fighter pilots did).

Do you have a windscreen- if you don`t you should consider getting one (or if you have one consider getting a taller one), that should help your neck.

Harvey

I have some great ear plugs I got at the Reno Air Races. They have several baffles, and are sort of rubbery. They're for jet engine noise, yet you can still hear someone talk. I don't know where else to get them. They weren't very expensive.