Closer to Cucumber

I worked at the shop yesterday, and it was a busy day. Near the end of the day, it slowed down enough that I was able to remove the front cowl (10 screws!), and hope to "bleed" the air out of the cooling system. The service manual admonishes one to do this, but does not describe the method for doing so. So, trying to be logical, I noted that the radiator cap is the highest point of the cooling system, so I opened the cap, and started the scooter.

LOTS of air came out. I added the coolant that the air had displaced. After a while, the scooter got hot enough to want to start splashing coolant out, so I shut it off, waited a few minutes, and repeated the process.

The ride home: Generally, the temp gauge stayed in the low-to-midrange, but did occasionally go quite high, even hitting full "hot" once for a couple of seconds. So, I think there's still air in there.

If I have another bad head gasket after only nine months, I may go postal.
.