Vespatude - A Vespa Blog: Oh, I forgot the second thing

Yesterday I mentioned there was a good and a bad. I shared the bad which kind of morphed into a good, but forgot to give the good news. Well, here it is...

After much struggling, I have gotten the Vespa running pretty well. I have been able to ride it every day (except for today with all the rain and cold) since I discovered the gas cap problem. To think it was something that simple!

The other day I edged 90 kph (that's about 56 mph) going down East North Street. On Saturday I even spread my wings and drove several miles down Wade Hampton Blvd. to the Super Wal-Mart in Taylors. I went to find the Wallace and Grommet DVD for my kids (unfortunately, it wasn't there) and then drove back.

One of the neat things about driving the Vespa is not the driving, but the parking. I find that I am able to park in places you generally wouldn't find a motorcycle parking. I think that is partly because of the size. It is smaller and you can slip in on a side walk by a trash can so it isn't impeding the passage. People stop to admire it and don't think it that strange that it would be parked in such a place.

At Wal-Mart I pulled back into a storage area and went inside. When I came out, I pushed the bike into position to get started and the buggy boy came up with his long train of shopping carts. "Wow, that is really nice," he told me. It was also fun to see the people in the middle of conversations stop and look. I'm sure part of it has to do with the sound the bike makes, but that just gets their attention. The classic style and uniqueness holds it.

Only two problems face me now. I hope to soon have them straightened out.

1. I keep blowing lights. I can't ride the bike for more than 15 minutes and I will lose all of my lights. Often the 12 volt 35 watt halogen bulb in the head lamp will last the longest. The other bulbs blow on a regular basis.

2. I think I have a problem with my gear cables (at least I hope that is all it is!) When I get up in fourth gear and I'm heading down a long stretch of road, the bike seems to slip very quickly out of gear and back in. It is as though the gears are not getting moved over enough to properly mesh.

All in all it has been great! I'm loving being able to go out, start Heebie up and take off without fear that he is going to stall and leave me stranded. Sure, there are some things left to be done, but if there wasn't something this whole adventure would lose some of its thrill.