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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Yes, A Museum

The scootnashville.com gang was hankerin' for a ride, as the weather is ass-kicking, the trees are blooming, etc. So last night, Ross made and executive decision, and we went to Lane Motor Museum, today.

Today was one of the rare event days, where they give out the "basement tour" (the museum only has enough space to display about half of the available collection at any one time), and they fire up some of the old cars, too. Lane tries to keep all the vehicles in running condition, which I think is pretty awesome.

UPDATE: Here's me, Steve (face obscured by rearview mirror) and Tara in the one "photo car" that you can touch and actually get inside, a Citroen 2CV of indeterminate vintage (probably 1970s):


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Draggin'

oellrichm talked me into going up to Music City Raceway this past Friday. I figured it'd be a fun way to see just what my stock, nothing-special scooter could do, and it was, but it was less exciting than I expected. Maybe it was watching the crotch rockets better than lap my time. :)

I made two runs (why waste gas?). The deets:

Run One:

Reaction = +0.3000
60ft = 2.7760
330ft = 7.9298
ET @ 594ft = 11.6947
1/8 ET = 12.5620
1/8 MPH = 51.88

Run Two:

Reaction = +0.3570
60ft = 2.7448
330ft = 7.9020
ET @ 594ft = 11.6639
1/8 ET = 12.5327
1/8 MPH = 51.79

No, I dunno what most of that means. :) It was just for fun, and for $15, I guess it was fun enough just to ride up there with oellrichm and touchton (who's in the photo, above).

Probably won't do it again, though.

UPDATE: Here's some footage of touchton and oellrichm gettin' their drag awn.


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$4 Yamaha T-Max

... and, depending on the value of your time, perhaps hundreds of dollars in labor costs, but still... a papercraft T-Max sounds like a good way to get frustrated on a cold, wet weekend, indoors.

Amazingly, Yamaha has a variety of papercraft projects on their Japanese site, and not all of them are motorcycles and scooters.

h/t to ProvoScooterForums.
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SYM Fiddle: Lovin' This Bike

And again, a big shout-out to Josephine @ ESS for loaning it to me while the Kymco People 250 is in the shop. The parts they ordered for the People 250 from KymcoUSA last Monday didn't arrive last week, so I'm very grateful for the loaner Fiddle.

The SYM Fiddle is a ballsy li'l 49.4cc scooter that really makes me miss my Yamaha Vino. 10-inch wheels do make for a "twitchier" riding experience, but also one that's more responsive. I can flick this bike from one side of the lane to the other with barely any effort -- just a brief lean, and you're where you need to be, ASAP.

Josephine uses IPONE 2-stroke oil in her Fiddle, which is ostensibly strawberry-scented and smokeless. Smokeless, I can attest... but it doesn't smell anything like any strawberries I've ever huffed. :)

Overall, I'm so impressed with the quality of the Fiddle that I'm putting SYM at the top of my tryout list for my next scooter. I really like the looks of the Citycom 300i, so maybe I'll give that one a test ride, soon.
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Night People

Taken with my firmware-hacked Canon A560. Man, this hack is gonna be fun to explore! Thanks to CityEngineer for turning me onto it!

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Absolutely Bad-Ass

Want-want-want-want-want-want-want-want!

Suzuki Gemma. Probably NEVER to be seen in the U.S. 250cc. Now why can't the People be this ugly-cool?

Send me a black one. AWESOME.

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Billy Bad-Ass

Sharp!

This is a CPI 250cc scooter (although it's not "step-thru"). Flyscooter is reported to be bringing this into the states in a fuel-injected model in Spring, 2009. 

Dang... sign me up!

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There Goes The Neighborhood

A brand new Vespa Grantursimo 200, right outside my balcony window? Dang.

UPDATE: Less than two weeks old, and dude's already dumped it. It has a huge dent in the starboard side cover. Dang, again. Noobs. What's this go for, about $6K?

UPDATE II: $5399 MSRP + TTL = $6,200 U.S., brand new, out the door w/free helmet. Whoo-hooooo! Man, sorry. I can get a lot of scooter x2 for $6,200.
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Good Lard

Is it already time to put fresh lard in the People? Dang!
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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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Agility 125: SOLD!

Congrats, Phil! Ride safe, and enjoy!
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Maybe Not So Uglee

The ride feels like... precision. It knows where it needs to go, and does so, effortlessly.

This is an excellent bike, folx.
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Jeffraham The Giant Has A Posse

... or if he did, none would walk!
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Best Speedo

Isn't that the most kick'emass speedo, EVAR?
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Vino Friday

I got a pair of 12-LED 1157 bulbs -- one each for the respective taillights of the Vino and the P250 -- and installed them, Wednesday or Thursday evening. In the case of the Vino, it was "must have" if I were going to ride it, as the lens replacement for the taillight won't be in until later this coming week, 'cause I ordered an oil-filler lid as well, and that was backordered. Yes, Tennessee, like all wise states, does not allow white light to issue from the rear of any vehicle on the road, unless it is IN REVERSE, in which case, it's required (except for motorcycles and scooters). It's a safety/confusion thang. :)

For the P250, I figure everything I can do to lessen the current draw, the better and longer my evil GPS system can operate, unattended.

Anywhoo... where was I? Oh, yeah! Riding the Vino!

I rode it to work, Friday, in a frog-stranglin' rain. I even wore aquasox (Nike; they don't seem to make them, anymore), knowing I'd be splashing through some puddles. It wasn't the rain, I swear... but the Vino just felt... twitchy. It's like I could think of moving my hip, and switch lanes.

Yeah, these two bikes are very different, indeed.

This all still works, btw... but... for how long? Dunno. I wonder if I can glue a Petri dish to the top of it.
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Neighborhood Girls

A Harley (seen one, seen 'em all), a Hyosung (Dang!) and a Gold Wing, here at the home lot.

The Gold Wing's riding partner.

Finally! I got a photo of the orange Buddy with NY tags! A student, no doubt.
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