Modern Vespa

Hey All... Need some ideas on how to handle written directions when riding your scoot. I have been a highway driver for years, but now that I take the scoot just about everywhere, and avoiding those highways is more the norm, I am always having to take directions for the "new" route.

I have put them in the glove box, but then you can only refer to them at a stop light (or pull over). I have taped them to the scoot with removable tape, so I could glance down, when necessary, but they blew off half way through the trip.

Just wondering what everyone else has come up with...

post deleted by Salima

I've just taped the paper with regular Scotch Tape to the top of my headset. I haven't have any problems with it blowing off.

I was worried about the tape residue being an issue...???

I don't let the tape sit for too long and I always remove it when I get back from the trip. If any tape residue did linger, you could use some Goo Gone or other product to clean it up.

Or you could get one of these fancy do-dads!





Pretty sure it hooks up to your speedo so as you clock on the miles it rolls over.

Painters tape and a sharpie.

No residue.

Simple, cheap, and color options. Blue and lt. green IIRC.

Fold over a teeny bit, at one end so you don't need to scuff a fingernail trying to pull it off.

I write them on a small sheet of paper and tape it to the inside of my fly-screen. Works like a charm!

Close.

Top view:


The rally roadbook holder is either human powered or electric. Knobs or motors move the scrolled rally route from one roller to another, with the current directions displayed in the window. It's the motorcyclists modified version of the rally tulip map, because the drawings of the roads, look sorta like tulips

Genius and a cheap solution. What a great idea.

Huh.. always thought they "moved with you". Would of loved to have one though I've used the tape idea but on my long trips (1000+ miles) it was a pain carrying a roll of tape around. Finally just found a white dry-erase marker a wrote on my (black) tank.

+1 I refer to it as my analog GPS

use one of those forearm things football quarterbacks have , water proof also.

I use a waterproof map case....

http://www.amazon.com/SealLine-08701-Map-Case-Medium/dp/B000FVRFUW/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=sporting-goods&qid=1280982331&sr=8-1

or, if you don't mind risking your directions or maps getting wet, a small pencil case with a clear window will do. I used to carry my directions this way a lot (until that unfortunate rain incident ) with the pencil case clipped to the curry hook or hanging from my keychain.

I fold my "mapquest" directions down to a small rectangle (then in 1/2 so there's a front and back with the directions) and keep it my unzipped left jacket (outside "hand warming") pocket. Then I pull it out while riding as needed. It's small enough and has some density thanks to the folding to keep it from flapping as much as a single sheet.

Great for city stop and go, a little more challenging at full speed on the freeway or open roads because in this and most all cases at speed you're taking your eyes off the road "a bit' - so be quick and split your vision between the two. Just hope that won't be the time there's a huge 1/2 big rig tire tread in your path. I seem to keep dodging those on the freeway lately - hidden by the cars in front of me.

Here is how one of my riding buddies did it ..

Write it in bold type and tape it to your forearm then turn it as you go or write it on a post-it-note and tape on your clocks.

Couldn't be easier.

Bill X

I use Post It Super Sticky notes and stick them to the inside of my windscreen. For longer trips you can make multiple pages and just tape them one above the other so that you can just pull the completed page off and shove it in a pocket or whatever.

Write it in simple bold print with simple directions that you will understand with a glance and if you use multiple pages and there are stops make the pages end at the stops, even if you end up using an extra page or two.

-v

A lot of potential London cabbies in training (the knowledge) use a small clipboard attached to the headset or screen. Seems to work for them.

Tape them to your arm?




Or your legs?



Real life solutions from real life MVers

+1

You can get a Garmin Nuvi at Wally World for under $100 now. Get a RAM mount to attach it solidly to your mirror stem. Runs on internal battery or one of those cigaret-lighter outlets you install on your left leg shield.

GPS is life-changing. Honest.

Some great solutions.

Before I got the iPhone mounted to the head set I used to study the route on google maps. For every hundred or so miles there is normally only 3 or 4 tricky points to remember. I would then look at them using the street view. Bingo your riding along then you get to the tricky junction and it all comes back to ya. It comes down to a lot of planning though.

Good luck with you trips.

You can tie a plastic document wallet to the curry hook with a spot of string. It doesn't obscure anything, is faintly waterproof, and you can replace the paper as required. Works quite well, except for the instance when the paper flies off because you forgot to seal the wallet, leaving you with nada.

I am too cheap to get a GPS.

Thanks for all the ideas. My husband has a garmin for his Harley, but it's just way too big for my scoot! I like the idea of the painter's tape and sharpie..... so simple. Don't know why I didn't think of it.

+1000000. Sticks to the headset, even in the rain. And the sharpie won't run, either.

A trick I picked up from a fellow Bella Italia member: wrap a length of painters tape around a tic-tac box (or other similar plastic item) to make a portable roll that lives in your glovebox.

I found a map holder designed for bicycles in a £1 shop (Poundland, for UK readers - hurry hurry!). It has Velcro straps designed to go over the handlebars; they're too short for the Vespa's faired bars, but I've tucked them into the glovebox and it's held OK.

The Oxford scooter bag, if you can find one, has a map pocket on top, can hang from the curry hook and also holds your stuff!

Sure is. The more you use it, the more brain cells you'll lose.

I'd have to agree with that. My navigation skills have deteriorated since I started using a GPS. I was on a trip recently and midway through it realized that I hadn't even looked at a map before leaving (nor did I have one in my car) and was relying entirely on the damned GPS to tell me where to go. As someone who flirted with the idea of going into cartography many years ago it was somewhat disconcerting.

Great ideas. I'm not a garmin kinda person. Another thing to misplace I will say some people should have one. Had this guy coming out to give an estimate on the floors in one of the condos by me that my friend owns. He called me no less than 7 times. There are only 2 main roads out to my area and one goes to another small town. On the 5th call i said "dude you need to get a garmin and added him into my phone contact as idiot Number 6 was a call because he did what i told him not to do and 7 well after that call let's just say he found my place. Oh and i was standing out by the road to wave him down and he still couldn't find me

I don't believe it for a minute.
I didn't forget how to drive when I bought a scooter, and I didn't forget how to walk when I bought a car.

And I didn't forget how to use a map when I bought my GPS...assuming I knew how to use one in the first place, of course. Which I do.

A GPS is a great convenience. Not perfect, and frankly I often leave it turned off when I'm riding unless I get myself lost (street signs are not always reliable either...sometimes they are not there at all.) or decide to make a side trip. I'm not lost without it, but I like it much for the same reasons that I use a calculator for my business although I still know how to add.

Speaking of paper maps...
Although I always get a gas station map of the states/areas I'm touring in, I like to do my planning with a road Atlas.

I'm still using a Hall's Motor Transit Road Atlas (a trucker's atlas) from 1984. It comes along on every long trip and, although it's missing some major highways (which I avoid anyway)and other minor things like that, It's a really, really good atlas.

My wife say's it's time to get a new one.

I was at the book store and was looking at the Rand McNally road Atlas. Good, but not as easy to read as my ol' truckers atlas.
The Michelin Atlas looked nice, however the maps are not ordered by state, but by regions, which was confusing and rather arcane.
I heard National Geographic made a very good one, but it's out of print and only available used, and expensive.

Does anyone have any road atlas they are particularly fond of?

I haven't seen a road atlas that I've really liked for years.

When I do remember to carry a map with me, what I like a lot is the Delorme state atlas series. They cover each state in great detail. Since I like to travel off the beaten path they are great for showing all of the secondary and smaller roads. It wouldn't be practical (or inexpensive) if traveling a long distance, but for regional travel where you only need one or two of them they're fantastic.

+1

You can tell the people that own a GPS, because they can't drive anywhere without going on the specified route. If I know where I am and the cross streets and a general direction of my destination, I can find my way around, even in an unfamiliar town or area (this applies to short trips). I see a lot of GPS owners that can't even make short trips anymore without using it. I don't even like using Google directions sometimes.

I tape a plastic see thru sleeve to the lower section of my windshield.
This way I can rearrange the maps around to the one I need at the time. 8)

Does anyone have any road atlas they are particularly fond of?[/quote]

Thomas Guides are pretty handy. I always try to get county maps as well whenever I travel.

A GPS has a bonus feature for when traveling around the British countryside in the summer. Zoom the 3D view out and you can see where you next opportunity might be to over take the caravan in front, ie after the sixth bend straight coming up...

much more relaxing than thinking around the next corner might be a over take opportunity, oh no, ok around this corner, no...

(please don't go off topic, I do use my eyes to read the surroundings and don't take any unnecessary risk. It's just another string to the bow.)

MOCKER i use Rand-McNally.

That's why I like Bavaria, They have a 2 lane passing point every couple of miles.

Man, I miss Germany.

+1
but I am behind a flysceeen

I've got one of these:

http://www.chalmet.net/

Click on Fotos to see what it's like.

Shite, I'm still in the dark ages.
I just read the map before I leave, and take it from there.

Haven't gotten lost yet.
Had to do a couple of repeats around the corners though.