Useful Hand Signals for Scooterists, Part I

This one helps with tailgaters. The ones paying attention, anyway... who aren't complete assholes
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No Rides To/Through Brentwood

... until the many good people and business owners in that town put a stop to this extremely un-Christian, un-American harassment of the homeless. Done, said, finished. Not a dime until, Brentwood. Not. A. Dime.
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Today's Traffic Hazard

Smashed punkin' and wet leaves. Be careful out there, folx!
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Is All Gas Created Equal?

Well, who can know, without labs and shit?

Anyway, since using Fuelly, I've noticed upward ticks in my mileage after filling up with Exxon and Shell, rather than the usual fuel I get at Pilot (which is nearby, and several cents cheaper than just about anyone else in the neighborhood). I noted that Exxon did not have any ethanol notices on their pumps, and so the next-to-last fuel-up was at a small, nearby, independent station that proclaimed they were dispensing ethanol-free fuel. My mileage was only average on that tank.

So yesterday, I filled up at Exxon, again. Let's see how this tank goes.
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Another Story From The Road Less-Traveled

Being on two wheels is a viscerally different experience from being in a car. Most of one's senses are more engaged on two wheels, including tactile sense.

Something that all but perhaps convertible drivers miss: The small-but-quite-detectable differences in temperature out there on the road.

When the nights start to cool off a bit, as they have here, recently, it's a neat feeling to dip down into a valley, and feel a noticeable bite in the air -- a crispness one can both feel and smell. Or to ride under an interstate overpass, still warm from the sun's rays all day, and to feel the temperature rise for just a moment as one rides underneath it.

I live for those little moments.
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Open Apology To KymcoUSA

Mea Maxima Culpa.

Although I didn't intend to go over the top with my open letter to the CEO of KymcoUSA, my dealer reminded me today that in fact, KymcoUSA has never denied me a warranty claim, and he's right. I haven't lodged one, as of yet, but I will.

I just assumed that any claim would be denied, because I'm a second owner, without all of the paperwork that I've read elsewhere on the 'net would be necessary to file such claims.

However, both my local dealer (who is handling the repairs) and I feel that KymcoUSA is a stand-up company, and willing to "work the problem" through to a mutually-satisfactory resolution. If my previous comments were seen as disparagement of Kymco, I sincerely apologize -- I did not intend for that to be the case. To forestall any misunderstandings, I've deleted the post describing what I thought had been a very fair description of my experiences with KymcoUSA (which have been overwhelmingly positive!), to date (including their dispatching of Mike Hancock to look at my Agility 125, a couple of summers ago).

I'll keep the blog updated with further news, as it comes in, but I think KymcoUSA is willing to work with me and James to "do the right thing" where my latest issues with the People 250 are concerned. I appreciate their help, and James' help (really, no one could hope for a better scooter dealer), throughout, and I hope that is very clear to everyone reading -- thank you for staying with me on this.
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Verdict

Broken.

Cam.

Chain.

At 8600km. Right after a blown head gasket at 8400km. Major, major repairs on a bike that should be under warranty. To replace this, the engine has to come out, the case cracked, and many, many hours of hard labor.

Up next: Open Letter To KymcoUSA.
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It's A Wonderful Life

This has been an eventful day.

I'll not cover the part prior to noon, where I had a good job interview (yay!), and got to walk a lot and take buses, etc.

Instead, let's go straight to the scooter stuff, since this is, after all, the scooter blog!

Okay, let's catch everyone up (if you're caught up, click here): On Friday, Chris at ESS fixed a very troublesome and nefarious issue on the People 250 -- the completely busted head gasket. I am happy to report there is no more leakage, and when the scooter is running, it runs like a scalded opossum. Head gasket repair = AWESOME.

As I was riding back to the homestead with the newly-fixed head gasket, I ran into traffic for the TSU graduation ceremony. Crawling traffic. As soon as I let off the throttle, the engine died. "Okay," thinks I, "Chris may not have gotten the air intake tightened up, etc., when he was quickly re-assembling the bike so's I could ride my sole transportation home that day, which was very thoughtful -- shit happens." :) I figured I could resolve that in fairly short order on Saturday.

Saturday morning, the bike starts up, no problem. I still have to keep some throttle applied to keep it going, but I haven't even looked at that, yet. I run a short errand, and back to the homestead before the storms rolled in. After the storms, I went to run another short errand, and the bike won't start. The idiot lights on the "dash" come on, as does the headlight. Hmmm. Okay, I reckon I need a jump, but no one's around to offer one.

Sunday morning: Now, the bike won't start (surprise!), and no idiot lights or headlight. Uh-oh. Battery must be daid. Really, really DEAD as a doornail. That ain't right.

Today, James calls to suggest that his brother-in-law (who lives around the corner from me) stop by to jump the bike, and that I ride it straight into the shop (which is closed, but James, being the great scooter dealer that he is, offers to come in on his day off to help me figure out the issue). His BiL comes by, and we jump the bike. It starts, and he notices some white smoke, and we both smell that sickening burnt insulation smell which indicates a much scarier problem. Needless to say, as soon as we disconnect the jumpers, the bike dies again. Uh-oh.

I decide that it might be a good idea to disconnect the battery, on the theory that if it isn't totally wasted now, it sure will be if I leave it in-circuit. While I'm doing that, I also reckon I might as well undo the four bolts that hold in the seat bucket, and pull it out, so I can inspect for electrical fire damage. :)

The first thing I noticed was this: There was a vacuum hose disconnected from the intake manifold (at least I think that's what that is!). Aha... that would probably explain the whole "dies-without-throttle" thang.

The vacuum line (highlighted) was misrouted so that it was pinched between the bottom of the seat bucket, and the plate at the top of this photo. This caused the connection indicated by the circular portion of the highlight, above, to pull free. I reconnected the line, and re-routed the line under the plate (as shown in the photo).

Now, onto something that was clearly my fault.  :)  

This is the connection to the cigarette lighter adaptor socket. on 5/8, when new-guy Josh and I were trying to get the seat bucket out at the shop, we could NOT get the connector to let loose. So, Josh helpfully suggested that we unscrew the li'l brass nut on the back of the socket, which freed up the whole thang (and caused us to have the socket in a half-dozen little pieces). Anyway, we taped up the loose connectors, and when Josh was re-assembling it later that afternoon, I specifically recall telling him not to worry with putting that back together, since we'd have to dick with it again when the head gasket came in.

So, off I rode, with these connectors taped up... but they, too, were trapped between the bottom of the seat bucket and the frame. D'oh!  You guessed it -- my fat ass sitting on the scooter eventually wore some of the electrical tape through so that there was an intermittant near-dead short to the frame. Well, now we know what happened to the battery.  :)

I went inside to call James and share the good news -- I think if we get the battery to hold a charge, we're golden!  Yay!  Another local scooter guy, Oliver, was enlisted to bring me a jump and a battery charger, and/or a haul into the shop in the back of his truck, if all else fails.

Oliver arrives, we jump the bike, and eureka!  Life seems good!  Bike runs like a top, doesn't die when we disconnect the jumpers, and is idling normally. Oliver goes on his way, and I go for what I thought was a long enough ride to charge the battery.

That's what I get for thinkin'.

I wound up my ride ~2.5 miles from home when I went into a store, and shut off the engine. When I came out, nada. I was close to a Pep Boys, though. They helpfully jumped the bike for me, but as soon as we disconnected the jumpers, the bike died.  :(

So, I pushed that 367lb. mofo all the way home, uphill, both ways.  :)  Actually, I did "coast" it on the few stretches of slight-downhill slope... which leads to the funny. A cop got behind me on one of those short coasting jaunts, and pulled beside me (rolling at 2mph), berating me for not having my helmet on...

"[huff-puff] I'm not [huff-puff] riding [huff-puff]... I'm [huff-puff] PUSHING!"

"Well, get your helmet on!"

He drives off, and I decide I don't need heat stroke on such a nice day, and ignore the cop's well-intentioned but bad, bad advice.  :)

The battery is on the slow-charger, as I type. We'll see where we are tomorrow morning.

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Tip o' the Hat: Metro Works

A lot of routes, I ride time and time, again. It's good practice, if you can manage it -- it helps you know where potholes and other road hazards are (or are developing), such as that one driveway that always has gravel or sand washed out of it after a rain. 

This morning, I had to go to the bank, and happened to notice a missing utility cover at the corner of Delaware and 51st Ave. N. Even with 16" wheels, I would not have wanted to hit that bad boy. So, I though about calling 862-8600, but instead, went to the Metro Public Works website, and filed a brief report.

Within hours, a Public Works employee had replaced the cover, and called to let me know it was done. Kudos!

On this past weekend's group ride, pottymouth and I both hit the same frickin' pothole on 8th Ave. S... it caused his exhaust to break loose, and he had to end the ride, there. Folx, please make note of that website, and report any dangerous road hazards for us two-wheelers. We pay for this service, and from this account, I have to say they seem to be responsive to the public. Let's all use it to make Nashville's streets safer.

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Frosty Saddles

Don't forget to put yer covers on!

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Meta-Blogging: Scooter Training Wheels

This is a phrase that's been bringing visitors to this blog for some time.

Please, please, PLEASE! If you came here querying this phrase, simply click this link, and live long, prosper.

Thanks!

UPDATE: No; I am serious. If such a thang existed, I would question your ability to pilot a scooter, as surely you must!  Leaning the bike is 85% of handling it, effectively and safely. I'm not talking about these freaks who buy special-pants-with-Kevlar-hockey-pucks-in-the-knees-leaning-over. Just everyday leaning, like a bike with a motor. Get in a class, now!
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Thanks, MNPD!

I was coming back from a trip to the Harpeth River State Park yesterday, when a landscaping truck (big Ford pickup hauling a trailer loaded with lawn care equipment) rolled a stop sign, and pulled out in front of me without looking. Now, the driver did this far enough ahead of me that I was able to react calmly and safely, but c'mon... this is a neighborhood.

We come to the next intersection, where the driver rolls this stop sign, too. He wasn't paying as much attention as I was, 'cause I saw the Metro police cruiser pull up to the left perpendicular of this 4-way stop, and clearly heard the officer announce over his P.A., "Stop sign!" Well, it took another half a second for the cop to whip in behind our landscaper, blue lights ablaze.

Thanks, officer. Get these fuckers to think about their driving.
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Boo-Boo

Me gots boo-boo on my knee-bone.

I was facing the camera as I stopped at this intersection, right there behind the stop line. For some reason (the lean of the road?), I started falling downhill, to the north, and I couldn't stop it. All I could do was slow it down. No damage, other than what you see above.
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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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The Agility Comes Home

As always, a day late and a dollar short. And, depending on the willingness of Enterprise Rent-A-Car to be reasonable, I will either be declaring absolute consumer jihad on them on the intarwebbs, or not.

See, they rented me a truck, understanding that I was going to load a scooter in it, and haul it home. Problem? They just got this truck days ago. It wasn't prepped to be rented. It had a temp tag, taped behind dark tinted glass (a TN violation); it had tags on the tires. Worst yet, it had a cheap Chinese plastic bedliner in it, with no fuckin' holes for access to the tie-down loops in the truck's bed...! Now, the manager said I could cut the holes, but is this marked on the liner? No. And why am I doing their fucking job for them? I'm not comfortable with cutting on a bedliner that ain't mine. I'm pretty sure the Full Monty insurance I bought would NOT cover that modification.

Four plastic clips are all that held the liner in, so I said "fuck it," and took it out. Left it at sittenpretty's, called Enterprise Rent-A-Car to give them the address where it could be retrieved, which they didn't take down. Enterprise employee said the liner HAD to come back, or I'd be dinged. I told 'em I'd let our attorneys work it out. "buh-BYE!" :)

Loaded the scooter, and on my way.

This shows not only where I was, but where I was born, and a lot of other places I've both been, and not been. :) I've lived my entire almost-45 years inside this map!

Thang is, Mologogo can only track like the last 100 minutes of a trip at any given time, unless you reset the polling interval (which I haven't looked into doing yet).
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Administrivia

Under the terms of ICANN 1702.07(a), spammers may now suck my balls.

Comment moderation is ON, and will remain on.

Please feel free to comment. Your comments should normally be visible in an hour or two.

Sorry for the inconvenience, but there are some real assholes out there.
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She's Dead, Jim

Those idjit lights on the panel? They have a function.

Not so much the lit one -- the one to the right of it.

Yep. Left the seat latch open, and the battery died.

Luckily, the VU police are on top of their game, and gave me a boost. So, I was an hour late getting home. So what? I didn't have to walk!
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The Good Samaritan

I'm a dumbass. I dunno how many times I've seen a P250 owner say, "Dood, when that light comes on, you're coasting on fumes." I was about five miles from home, and just a couple from the exit where I saw cheap gas advertised on my way out.

I was doing about 65mph down BrileyParkway, when suddenly my speed dropped, then jumped, then dropped... uh-oh. Out. Of. Gas.

You can see from the cluster to the east of Scottsboro where I shut it down, and coasted to rest on the shoulder. I called my buddy in Madison, whose house I'd just left minutes before, and got his voicemail. I forgot that I had the Boost phone rigged to forward to Skype... d'oh! So, I walked towards the Ashland City exit, maybe a half-mile away.

Then I remembered: This is the middle of Bumfuck, Davidson County. :) Very underdeveloped... no gas stations near this exit.

I waved down a good ol' boy in a beat-up work truck, who was more than happy to cart me. He wouldn't even let me buy him gas or beer. He'd seen the P250, and saw me in my Star Trek uniform, and put two and two together. Our return trip went north up the southbound shoulder... hilarious! Dood said he does work for the DOT, and he's had a lot of practice. :)

So, next time this goofy two-part fuel tank thingie gets off "F," I'm fillin' it up.
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Hazard

Watch out for wet patches of gravel and mud, folx. This one nearly dropped me, yesterday, riding home from work in the light rain.
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Day 56, 496.2km

The day started with an unsuccessful bid to reinstate my driver's license. Apparently, there's some doubt as to whether I am still a citizen of the United States (I know I shouldn't have blogged so much about the stupid fucking Iraq fiasco!). I was when I got my license here in Tennessee some years ago, but that was, of course, when the U.S. still had a functioning government that respected the Constitution, and wasn't completely freaked out about Messicans. It seems like a lifetime ago...

Anyway, although I have a duplicate birth certificate here somewhere, I ordered another, since it will probably arrive before I can lay hands on the one I have. I need it so often, dontchaknow?
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