Thinking Of An Upgrade

... and the one I keep coming back to is the Yamaha Majesty 400.

Now don't get me wrong -- Bad Penny has never run better, and I will likely ride her until her wheels fall off. I hope I'm not riding it when that happens, now that I think about that for a minute.  :)  But on the interstate, I have to give it 80%+ of the throttle just to stay safe in the right-hand lanes.

What I want is to not sacrifice excellent, near-70MPG fuel consumption, and the fuel injected Majesty seems to fit that bill. Fuelly records show an average of around 57MPG on the Majesty 400 in real riding.

It will be a while, and I probably will buy a high-mileage beater Honda Civic for this winter's commuting first, but I will keep coming back to this one.

I really like it in white, don't you?

Even better with the cowl the rest of the world gets. Be watching for one for me!

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Well, I Missed It. I Missed It All.

... except for Friday night's screening of Larry Crowne (which I keep wanting to call "Larry Craig," for some reason, which makes me larf momentarily, inwardly). Yes, I have been in a fiercely antisocial mood for days, and avoided all human contact, preferring the company of cats, online (play-money) poker and the open road. Who can say why? Probably some fucked-up shit about serotonin that no one really understands very well, I'm guessing.

At any rate, I really want to apologize to all my scooter people for being a complete non-participant these last few days. Working the shop today really snapped me right out of it, but not enough for me to remember that we had a meetup scheduled for tonight, apparently. My first clue came when Ross texted me, and it didn't sink in until I saw his post about the meetup some minutes later, online. D'oh! So, I apologize to him, 'cause I was just bitching to him about the lame-ass levels of participation we've been getting lately... and then I forget to show up, altogether!

And really, big apologies to Jason, who is so sharing of his time, and to whom I owe small money (and larger debts of gratitude for his free advice and support in regards to my starting The Business) who put together the ride to Antique Archaeology for Saturday morning, and for which I was a no-show. And also to Willy, who, along with his enchanting wife and awesome infant son, hosted a cookout Saturday night less than three miles from my place... and again, I stayed home in my black cloud of "Piss Off, World"-ness.

Anyway, it's all temporary, and I'm getting back on track getting this demon stuffed back in its little box. So, I'll see you soon.

In the meantime, the graphic above is meant to piss off the oil companies, who despite record fucking profits -- and I mean profits that have never been seen in the HISTORY OF HUMAN EXISTENCE -- still seemingly have the support of Republican legislators to suckle at the taxpayers' collective tit, in case you haven't been following the news (which might explain in large part why I am so fucking pissed at the world... maybe I need to be ignorant, and maybe bliss will follow).
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Hoppy New Beer!

It's not Chinese New Year, but... I thought I should show one photo of the detail of Josephine's Demon Buddy that I first mentioned back in October. It's a screamer... it even has a crankcase breather. Danged compression is so high, the starter barely turns the beast over! :) It's a blast to ride, I tell ya, and I know Ms. Josephine is going to be Hell On Wheels this spring.

Be safe, and whatever you do, call for a ride if you get out a-drinkin', please. I've lost three friends in the last six weeks, the latest a DUI fatality -- her own fault, apparently, but it hurts, nonetheless. Please be safe, and conside the safety of others.
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So this is a call to arms

If you like your local dealer, they need your support now more than ever.

Amen.
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Oooooooooo-Kla-Homa!

Smack yer haidbone, like you coulda had a V-8:

Grady Maples was fed up with high gas prices.

Maples, 54, of Tulsa, took matters into his own hands and exchanged his car for a motor scooter.

The Owasso native is just one of many Oklahomans opting to use motorcycles or motor scooters as a primary method of transportation instead of an automobile in an effort to save money on gas.

"I save hundreds of dollars each month by using a scooter," Maples said.

And yet Glen Dean will say I just hate the oil company executives.
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As If We Didn't Know

When analysts at Piaggio ran the numbers, they found that if Americans used modern gasoline scooters for 10% of their travel, 14 million gallons of gas and 324 million pounds of carbon dioxide would be spared each day. After commissioning a study on traffic flows, Piaggio also estimated that if 20% of the vehicles in a central section of midtown Manhattan were scooters, total delays would decrease by more than 4.6 million hours per year.

Read the whole article.
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Oh Noes!

These poor bastards. Feel for them.
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The Awful Truth