I have but two simple complaints about my new Vespa Grantourismo. One, that the slightest overfilling of the gas tank sucks fuel into the intake track. And second, that you don’t get any auditory clue when your turn indicators are up and blinking.
Leaving your blinkers on accidentally sends the wrong signal to vehicles and can easily get your arse run over. There’s the dash lights, but the attentions of riding keep my eyes off the gauges for the most part. I’ve taken to over-canceling the switches and more than once I’ve canceled my turn before actually executing it. I had the same problem in my 1979 Vespa P200E. My fix then, as it is now, was to wire a simple buzzer into the turn indicator electrics. For about $5 in parts, I’ve added a nice level of riding safety.
This is hardly timely, but I wanted to capture my thoughts on riding my Vespa GT-200 for the first time.
It’s a strange thing how for a lot of scooters and motorcycles, the first time you ride it isn’t unitl after you buy it. I get it. Motorbikes require a minimum amount of riding experience and skill to operate at a basic level. You can’t just turn motorcycles and scooters over to people willy nilly. It makes a purchase decision difficult, however. In my case, I was coming from a scooter that I loved when I bought it, but came to hate because of the seating position — something that didn’t crop up until I started taking longer rides. Would the Vespa be better? Would it handle worth a damn? Would the brakes get the thing stopped in a controlled way? The best I could do was talk to people who owned GTs, read the online reviews, and trust the advice of the folks I’ve come know so well at Scooterville.
In my opinion, the Genuine Blur 150 is one of the finest scooters available anywhere. Period. In the seven months I owned my Blur, I rode a little less than 5000 miles. During that time, I rode on surface streets, on the freeway, on twisty roads, on hills, in traffic, and out on the open road all by myself. I pushed it to its safe and reasonable riding limits and that riding experience will probably be forever the benchmark in how I grade the performance of every scooter I’ll ever ride.
I’ve been a certifiable scooter crazy person for over a year now. The scooters I like the least still enjoy preference over almost any motorcycle. That is, until I started looking at Triumph. It’s the british thing. I’m such an english petrol-head at heart. From dad’s ‘69 MGb GT to my MINI Cooper S, I’m a fan of of pretty much anything UK and internal combustion.
A few months ago, I got the Triumph motorcycle itch. With the prospect of selling the Blur, the thought of a Triumph Thruxton was looking very tempting. So I headed down to MotoPrimo in Lakeville, MN and got a test ride on a Triumph Bonneville — since the Thruxton is but a modified Bonneville.
I’ve been behind on my blog writing lately, but this is one thing I wanted to be sure wasn’t simply lost to the internet ether. I’m really not any sort of die-hard Keith Olbermann fan. I don’t even watch his show. But when he’s right, he’s right. This “special comment” was in the wake of the passing of Proposition 8 in California, which outlawed gay marriage on November 4, 2008 — the same day we elected Barack Obama as President. My response after the jump, but here’s Keith Olbermann first.
By now I’m late to the party, but thanks to my trusty RSS feed of 2strokebuzz, I found out that Vespa has launched a new USA website. I must say that it’s a magnificent improvement over their old site. More than anything, I have to give them credit for utilizing clean, simple design to really showcase their product line. It’s a great balance of steak and sizzle. Nice subtle touches and real content. Their attempt at community probably won’t go very far, but at least they’re recognizing how big a part community has to play. If you’re looking for the actual Vespa community, you’ll want to start here. Meanwhile…
I’m entirely too young to appreciate this song in its original context, but I’ve come to really appreciate it lately. Today is palpably exciting. The outcome is still unknown, but one way or another the times, they are a changin’.
This shouldn’t come as a shock to regular readers. I’m not going to spend any time trying to convince you to vote as I will. I’ll just simply say why I made the choice.
Why I’m not voting for John McCain:
Eight years of disastrous Republican leadership, a trampled constitution, two wars, less safety, failing economy, and horrid inflation
The Republicans have put greed and staying in power above the interests and needs of most Americans
The John McCain running for President is not the sensible, moderate man I came to respect in the Senate
The choice of Sarah Palin as his running mate is unforgivably irresponsible, and the assumption that she could draw in women voters simply because she’s a woman insults our intelligence. What’s more, beyond the typical “attack dog” job of the VP candidate, Palin has all but openly brought racism and fear-mongering into this election in a wholly unacceptable way
The McCain campaign has set a new standard for negativity and outright deception. Also a new standard in pandering and downright Machiavellian tactics — doing anything to win
A McCain Presidency plus a Democratic Congress means a lot of deadlock and very little change in Washington is likely
At 72 years of age, McCain is both out of touch and a real danger to die or go senile in office. That leaves Palin as President, which is completely unacceptible
More than anything, McCain has positioned himself not in terms of who he is or what he seeks to do in office. Instead, his campaign has existed in the purgatory between trying to look more moderate and sensible than George W. Bush, but greatly more conservative than Barack Obama. The result has been a blurry, vague campaign thin on concrete policy or philosophy, but thick on fear and bizarre claims about Obama ranging from being an Arab, to a Muslim, to a terrorist, to a socialist — all while then recounting and “defending” Obama when pushed.
Why I’m voting for Barack Obama:
He essentially laid out his rather sensible vision for America back in 2005 with the publishing of his book, The Audacity of Hope — long before he started running for President.
After nearly two years of campaigning, Obama has kept his promise to run a different kind of campaign
Obama’s acceptance speech at the DNC — most specifically his vision of a United States of America, and his summation of the principle flaw of neoconservatism: that we’re all “on our own”
Obama is a constitutional law professor — which means he is uniquely in touch with our founding principles
Obama is eloquent and intelligent — the world listens to us. It’s time we started using complete sentences again
Obama has built a ground swell of support from the bottom up — which not surprisingly is also the basis of most of his policies
Obama is not dynastic Democratic royalty ala Clinton, Gore, or Kennedy, but rather someone who has inspired the people around him to action and change
An Obama Presidency, plus a Democratic Congress means that real change is actually possible
Obama’s vision for an Apollo-like program for energy independence
Obama wants to actually talk to other countries who disagree with us
More than anything, Obama is intelligent, thoughtful, and unflappable. He’s an actual leader, not just a politician. He’s shown himself over and over to be someone who cuts to the core of a matter and tells the truth, rather than canned responses and knee-jerk reactionary statements.
@ericalm - See I think there's a side business waiting to happen: funky DOT-approved headwear. Scooterists would totally wear a pumpkin lid! in reply to ericalm2 hrs ago
Those folks at JimmyJohn's make a damn fine sandwich. A damn fine sandwhich. 2 hrs ago
Dammit. Have actual work to do and can't geek out on Keynote stuff. 5 hrs ago
@intheloop - How? The canvassing board came to a decision. Franken made a public victory statement. Coleman camp made "we'll sue" statement. in reply to intheloop1 day ago
@intheloop - Well, I'd hope the MN state canvassing board would have a better reputation than a governor mired in scandal. Makes sense 2 me. in reply to intheloop1 day ago
