FundPCX

I have a bit of a dilemma.

As many of you know, it took me a long time to find this awesome job that I started in March, 2012. Now, because of the crushing boot of the state, I find myself without a vehicle. Fortunately, I've had use of a borrowed spare car for the last month, but that can't realistically continue much longer.

With the attendant horrible credit score and no money saved up, one option would be to buy a car at a  buy-here-bend-over-here lot, paying too much for the car, paying way too much interest, and then having to carry insurance that I can't possibly afford on said car. Then of course there's the fuel economy issue, where I would be paying at least double to fuel a car every week compared to what I've spent on Bad Penny's gas (a beater car that gets 35MPG is probably hoping for quite a lot).

So, I would like to propose to my readers this: An investment fund that will yield 15% compounded interest annually which will finance a new Honda PCX scooter. The 2013 PCX150 that Sloan's has in stock can be had for just under $4200, gets over 100MPG, and it's a Honda -- the most reliable machines on the planet. Sloan's also has a 2011 (new, in-crate) PCX125, like the one pictured above, that they are willing to deal on, but I couldn't lock down a price over the phone on it, this morning but $3923 doesn't sound like that great a deal.

If, say, the PCX150 were $4200, and "shares" were made available to you, my friends @ $100 each, each share would pay out $152.09 in August, 2015. I know it's a high-risk proposition, but I would rather pay my friends this money than some sleazy car lot, and I think 15% is a fair return (and less than I would be paying the sleazy car lot for a questionable, overpriced beater of a car).

Anyway, I'm not sure how to get the ball rolling on this, or if enough people would even entertain the idea... I have relied on your kindness far too much over the years. That's why I would definitely only want to do this as a loan/investment deal, if there's enough faith left in me out there to make this happen, that is.

I would welcome all ideas, concerns, criticisms and commentary in the comments, here, if you would be so kind. Thanks.

UPDATE: At the catblog, where I originally posted this to spitball with my pals, some commenters suggested more shares at a lower price. That makes sense to me. And with an annual payout, too, so the risk gets further diluted. So, if this idea moves forward, I think I'd look at 168 shares for sale at $25/ea., with an annual payout per share of $12.67. That's a 152% return over three years. Two years, break-even; third year... profit!  :)

If interested, please contact me @ jprestonian@gmail.com, and state how many shares at $25 each you'd be willing to buy on the above terms.
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A Spectacle Quite Unlike

... any I have ever attended.

I knew Rooster had this thang planned for some time, but his reminder text this morning, "Free booze, strippers..." brought the reminder home. And I knew there was near 100% certainty that he wasn't bullshitting about any of it.

I pulled in around 9:30 p.m., a bit late, due to solving a neighbor's computer issues (which was itself quite an interesting adventure). Already, there were well over 100 people in attendance.

Within a minute of my trying to back my scooter in to park, at least 100 fucking mopeds showed up, right behind me (some blocking me in). 2-stroke smoke filled the air. Oh, yeah. It's that weekend. Man, what a scene.

I have no idea what this shit is doing in Rooster's bathroom, but it looks terribly freakin' important.

Rooster completes the OSHA inspection of the stripper pole.

This is truly as naked as they got while I was there, folx. Relax.  :)

To Rooster: I swear, man, this was a 13 on a scale from 1-10. I've not had this much fun without throwing up in 30 years. We're going to write books about this shit. It was astounding.
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The Saturday Evening Post... Delayed Until Sunday Afternoon

The second pull-off-cool-down session as I rode to the shop Saturday morning to reattach the wing on the plane in mid-flight (read: fixing QBPOS so that people could transact business on the busiest day of the scooter shop week).

One of the three happy new Buddy owners we helped create on Saturday.

Scooter Guy has a near-tearful goodbye moment with the Blur SS 220i. I was there until 6:15 completing the paperwork for this sale. Steve and I stayed behind and had a beer after the customers left, so it was nearly dark by the time we pulled out.

Hot enough to make a stop at Wendell Smith's Lucky Corner. Rest, smoke, love.

Bobbie's Dairy Dip is doin' booming business near closing time on a warm Saturday night in April.

Where I get my Powerball tickets: Lucky Corner! Heh.

Some guy mixin' up some drinks (in a 1 gallon plastic jug) after a visit to Wendell Smith's.
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Winning The Big Lotto

Yes, the big jackpot games are definitely a tax on the mathematically-innumerate, but it's still fun to dream (and throw an occasional $1 at). Two scooters I'd pretty much get right off the bat:
Kymco Downtown 300i. This would replace BRU for all intensive porpoises. The "get from A to B quickly" bike.

Honda PCX125. The everyday grocery-getter, errand-runner. Gets fantastic gas mileage, and I bet it's really fun to ride.
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Hiatus

Sorry for the hiatus, folx, but the neighbor with whom I had a connection-sharing arrangement has moved, so my access is limited. I'll be around, just not as much for a while.

The graphic above is a proposed graphic for a potential local scooter club, the "Y'allkuza." :)
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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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The Only Scooters

... that haven't turned to shit under my ass in May, 2009:

A toy modern Vespa, of some sort (who can keep up with them?), and...

... a toy Honda Metropolitan.

When I returned home today, after a wonderful ride through Percy Warner Park (and then, the breakdown of Josephine's Fiddle), there was an envelope on my doorstep from a neighbor kid, containing these 1:24 replicas -- and damned detailed they are, too. That was awfully nice of him to share his toys, like that. If he won't let me give 'em back, I'll have to come up with something nice for him... he's being raised by his grandpa, who has cancer, and just lost his grandma to cancer, a few months ago.
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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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Last Week For Better Karma

I'd really like for you to consider clicking this link, signing up with if.net, and voting for my video in the contest.

Why?

'Cause I'm going to give it to this guy, if I win it. As bad as I seem to need wheels right now, I think Bez needs them worse. He's got a family to support, whereas I just have a couple of cats (and they're great cats, but they don't eat all that much).

So, please -- consider going over there and voting for my video, and voting against the other losers in the Top 5. ;)
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Six Days Later

... and I'm pushing that 367lb. biotch up this hill, again. Fortunately, I was a half-mile closer, this time. :)

I don't think this has anything to do with the previous repair(s), so let me be perfectly clear: I don't think this is ESS' problem. I think this is just my "string of good luck" for May, 2009 (which includes frozen bank accounts and other stupidity that's all conspiring to TRY to prevent me from getting to a really good job interview on Tuesday afternoon, it would seem).

This time, I was riding up this hill, when suddenly I heard a quiet "thunk," and the bike shut off. I went to try to start it, and the starter motor came to life, but spun quickly, unburdened by engagement with the flywheel.

Push, push, push. Rest. Try the starter again. Same thang.

I'll be glad when my luck changes.

UPDATE: Here's what it was.
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Battery Update: Good, So Far

Get 'er started, rode around the neghborhood for ~45 minutes (so if there WAS a problem, I wouldn't have so far to push it!). Gettin' ready to head over to ESS, so we'll see if it starts on Try Number Two.

UPDATE (to the update): The scooter gods seem to be smiling on me. I've stopped and started the scooter at least a dozen times, today, so I'm hoping the trickle charge overnight resolved the battery issue. It'd be odd, since it really doesn't take much to kill a motorcycle battery, but right now, life is good.
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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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Scooter Club?

UPDATE: Click the image below to see the proposed artwork for patches and decals.

I think there's a critical mass of riders in Nashville, now. On any given ride or event, we seem to get around 20 people participating, out of a group of 40 or 50. Not being one to join clubs, etc., I thought it'd be cool to do something to identify ourselves as a loose affiliation of riders. No manditory meetings, no obligations... just a chance to buy some patches, decals, etc. to let people know you're a local scooter monkey. 

Let me know what you think by taking the poll, over to the right.

Now It Can Be Told

A series of three videos, re: Chuck Mead.

Here's his new video for "I Wish It Was Friday":



Now, here's the behind-the scenes video (which I have posted here, before):



AND!

The OUTLAW OUTTAKE!


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Buy My Vino!

C'mon, people. My rent's due.

$1000 this week, and I'll throw in my awesome Icon Pursuit perforated leather jacket (size L), very lightly used (a $260 retail value). You'll be glad you did!
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UR Vespas B-Long 2 US

Here's an interesting question: what does American beef treated with growth hormones have to do with the price of European motorcycles in the United States? The answer, surprisingly enough, could be plenty. It seems that the European Union has refused to lift a longstanding ban on the steroid-infused beef from the US despite a World Trade Organization order to end it. In retaliation, the US Trade Representative is considering adding a 100 percent tariff to European motorcycles with engines sized between 51cc and 500ccs.

Learn to love t3h Kymco, kids!

:lol:

Hey, I have a Vino for sale...
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Behind The Video

Hopefully, this betrays no secrets. :)
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V-D-O

I don't know Chuck Mead, but he's the dude singin' and playin' in the commercial, above. I gather that he was once a member of the band BR549.

I did, however, meet him today. James Duer from ESS sent out an e-mail, asking scooter riders to meet up at his place of business for Chuck's next music video, which heavily involves scooters.

We spent about four hours, hanging out at ESS and Shelby Park, me and about 20-some-odd other scooterists, riding different circuits for differently-placed RED cameras, generally in packs.

After the shoot, Chuck bought us beers at Three Crow Bar. Chuck rode his blue and white Honda C70 all day, and told us the story of how he came to love scootering. He grew up in Kansas, and had a C70 when he was younger. When he got to Nashville, he got the bug, again, and found a pristine C70 on craigslist about 20 miles from his father's home. So he bought it, arranged for his dad to pick it up, and when he came through town, picked it up, and hauled it back to Nashville.

Due to unexpected cloudiness, the shoot isn't done, and we were asked to come back next weekend (I'll be there; it was fun!).
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Now Nearly FIVE Dollar Footlongs

Posted yesterday at the cat blog. Less than 20 hours later, the price went from $3.999 to $4.699.

I gotta say, this is alarming. This is at my nearby new Pilot station, who throughout the summer, held prices at $3.699/gallon or lower for the most part. As far as I know, it's about as cheap as one can buy on the west side of town.

Oil closed today at around $103/bbl. The second it spikes upward $10/bbl, every gas station jacks the price 5-20 cents/gallon of gasoline.

When I was 16, gasoline was below $1/gallon. I recall paying $0.699/gallon, at that time (yes, I remember the panic that gas stations went through when they had no digit to the left of the decimal on the pump... have you recently seen one of those "$1" stickers?). All the pumps' displays were analog -- big, Bakelite wheels with numbers and tick marks, white on black. Most places had no "self-service" -- you pulled in, a guy cleaned your windshield, pumped your gas, and didn't expect a tip! Sometimes, they'd offer to empty your trash or ashtray, or do a quick vacuum of the front floorboard.

Granted, minimum wage was $2.85/hr., and I was working a job that paid $3.15/hr. I lived at home, went to school (walked, every day, or later rode with a friend -- never drove myself to school, ever), and drove my dad's 1978 Pontiac Bonneville some evenings and weekends... 400 cubic inches of four-barreled Detroit fury. It was fast, fun, and a complete gas hawg, the way I drove it (sorry, Dad). :)

Fast-forward to 2008. Now, the largest engine I own is 250cc, and it gets over 65mpg on its worst day. I use that scooter about 10% of the time, these days, preferring the 50cc Yamaha Vino, which is even more conservative on fuel use.

Folx, we HAVE to re-think this petroleum-based global goatfuck. If we don't, it won't be long before many millions of people die, both trying to defend and/or acquire (read: steal) what's left out there to be had, cheaply.

I think what we're seeing right now is a near-last-gasp, record-breaking profit-taking, through sheer greed and indifference to the needs of future generations. We have to stop this madness.
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New Poll

Over to your right, dumbass.

Fast food, banking, pharmacies... how often do you use drive-thru windows when riding the scooter?
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