Modern Vespa

As a Buddy 125 rider, how far did the gentleman riding the Buddy make it? What was his eventual reason for stopping?

Great thread!

Rob made it till ~280 miles left in the entire race, so he was almost, almost there. He was having some odd issues... in St. Louis there was some thought that he was having fuel / carb issues, but I think that was a red herring. He finally bit it by snapping his exhaust valve.

So the only scooters to 100% complete were liquid-cooled?

Thanks!

Well, there were three vintage bikes that made it all the way across -- they were definitely air cooled.

I watched an old 70's movie last night called The Gumball Rally and kind of thought of you guys

wasn't the SYM air cooled?

The HD is liquid-cooled. I think someone did the 2006 CBR on a Vespa LX kitted to 190, though, that's air-cooled.

For real, OZ.
We will figure it out... and we will have some serious fun when it happens.
I wanna come back out there, though. as you said, the roads really are better for the most part, except I know some scary good ones upstate....

You can borrow the SYM anytime you get out here.

In '06 there was an LX kitted to 190 that spent 4 days on the truck due to a variatior issue, and an ET4 kitted to 190 that spent 3 days on the truck due to a bad fuel tap. The LX was really fast and finished alongside the bulk of the 250s on the days it was running.

I think the issue the buddy has was choice of oil and that was it. I think the buddy is plenty capable on the cannonball. In fact if you're looking for a tire that can last through a cannonball I'd look at what they put on the buddy. 6000 miles so far and it still has plenty of tread.

The adventures of "the beer fairy":

While the CBers were having the evening of Day 9, I was packing up the truck, trailering the GTS, filling a giant styro cooler full of NEWCASTLE BROWN ALE AND SHIPYARD EXPORT ALE<<from Maine. and driving to Ocean City MD. a 12 hour trip, I arrived at 2 am and stashed the beer behind the front desk at the Days Inn.
I then drove to Easton MD, 70 miles east of DC and got about three hours sleep before heading out around 7:30 am... destination WHITE'S FERRY.

I crossed the bay bridge and hit the Rev limiter for the first just the other side coming down towards DC>>>. big ole lump in the throat!!

I got LOST in DC and FINALLY got some decent directions and rolled into whites ferry about 20 minutes before the whole gang rode down to Vespa Washington... What a blast!!!
Had some pizza, said "Hey ya Bastard" to OZ...... he said NO!... ( I had noticed his smug badge) NO he said .... funny.
we looped through DC it was quite warm, I was following a few scoots behind Roy and he was jump starting the whole way...
we ended up at a gas station and said goodbye to the other MVers i had met, I paid for a splash of fuel in Rocket's P. and we were OFF!! Heading for Ocean City.... I stopped to pick up one more Bag as we passed Easton MD ( where my truck was parked) and then on in to OC... what fun.
total 500+ miles by truck , 365 miles by scooter.

I was happy to supply some well earned Cervezas for all of you Cannonballers. You are all certainly welcome.

My only regret was not INSISTING that "SVHess" and his wonderful wife share my room at the Days Inn...( I had offered earlier) I had a "suite" I could have giveen them the bedroom, they stopped in late "no room at the Inn" and I had just taken off my "wicked smelly" riding boots and I think the smell drove them out LOL. Damn. Steve, I hope that you didn't have to go too far for a room...

I am working toward the 2010 and plan to do it as long as my fat arse and busted up legs and knees will allow.
Cheers,
Murray

thankgod for this thread im getting old my memories fading, the ride was pretty awesome, the scooters were memorable. but really at the end of the day the riders and the comararderie[sp] well that was everything.