Kentuckiana Scooter Chronicles: April 2008

Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Tonight's LSG meeting

We had a meeting of the Louisville Scooter Group tonight at the Culver's on the corner of Watterson Trail and Hurstborne. Any and all are welcome! The meeting went well and I got to know a couple really good guys a little better. I'm looking forward to taking a ride with them soon!

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Yesterday Meet at Culver's

Yesterday, one fellow scooterist and I met at Culvers on the corner of Hurstborne Lane and Watterson Trail. I love the pork tenderloin sandwich. We're kicking around the idea of starting a scooter club. I like the idea, because the 1200 miles i've got on Excalibur would be a lot nicer if I had other friends to share it with.

To that end, I have started a Yahoo group:

(http://autos.groups.yahoo.com/group/louisvillescooter/).

It called LSG or Louisville Scooter Group. Might use the same name for the club if I get my druthers. I have the domain http://www.louisvillescooter.org/ forwarded to the yahoo group for ease of reference.

There is at least one more group in Louisville I know of, but they do not give a warm welcome unless you're on either a classic Vespa, or an expensive Japanese scoot. My objective is to turn nobody away based on make or model of scooter. I would even welcome anybody on two wheels, really. As long as everybody shows courtesy and displays some level of friendship, I think they should be able to join this scooter group.

Finally, my mirror is FIXED

If you are one of those people who have been running around adjusting your mirrors at every stop, finally, there is help for you. This minor procedure can fix that problem. Just visit Powerscooters.org at the link below, and the Big Guy Rich will explain how it's done. If it works for you, make sure and tell him thanks!!

http://powerscooters.org/cgi-bin/discuss/YaBB.pl?num=1201200588/23#23

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Gasoline Rally June 20-22

I am going to try and do this. I have decided. I can scoot 1/2 way up on Friday, then get up early on Saturday and ride into the Indianapolis location prior to the 8:30-9:30 registration time. I might even splurge for a 1/2 vacation day so I can go up for the meet and greet at 7:30pm on Friday. How cool would it be to ride around the Indianapolis Motor Speedway track?

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Castrol Syntec

I changed the oil in the scooter tonight. I switched to Castrol Syntec. It is 100% synthetic oil, not a blend. The scoot now has 1200 miles on it! I planned to switch gear oil, and do a flush and fill on the radiator at this point too, but I need to go to my girlfriend's house (she has a hose). Also, I have two installs to do. I want to put in the new Bulldog alarm I bought, and an auxillary lighter plug for running the phone and or GPS. I will need to take the front off to do the alarm and the sides and bottom to do the power cord for the lighter plug.

Friday, April 18, 2008

Update on Jacket from Jafrum.com

Well, a lot of people say "you get what you pay for". I believe thatto an extent, but I did buy this rock-bottom cheap Chinese scooter.It has worked out well, but I was prepared in so much as I knew what Iwas getting into. I found a cool site for discount (read: cheap)motorcycle apparel. I knew my leather jacket would be too hot for allsummer, so I got this textile jacket. Now I can't speak for how wellis protects you in a slide (thank God!) but the quality, while itfirst appeared good, is merely (like the scooter itself) adequate.

Similar to the scooter, a few minor problems have cropped up, but nothing that is just horrendous. The first thing is it had a nylonstrap with plastic cinch strap across one pocket. One side came apartand it was dangling, so I cut off the other side. I think you weresupposed to use it to stow your gloves.

The second thing was a smallrubber tab that came off. They are on each pocket, and there was a bottom strap that went over the zipper at the waist. the tab brokeoff.

The last thing that happened was that the zipper broke. Not sothat it doesn't work (or I WOULD be having a fit)--it was the pullthat broke. I was able to fix this as well to some degree (you can see in the picture.

So overall, it was really cheap--like $50 with free shipping, and it sheds water admirably. It has 600 denier protection, and has hi-vis reflective striping. Also, it has the CE armor at elbow, shoulder, and spine. It clearly will not hold up forever, but I still feel like it was a good deal for someone who needs protection, but doesn't want to pay $200-$500 for it. In my opinion, full body leather just doesn't work out when you're riding around on a scooter. Maybe if I get a Burgman or Silverwing...

Update on Scooter - the mirror

Ok, here's the deal. I have a mirror that keeps coming unadjusted. I
can adjust it at every stop, then after a block or two, I can't see
out of it--i'm looking at the pavement. It's not unbarable. I can
hunch my shoulders to get my neck down to take a quick glance, but
this morning I thought I would take a quick look. Here's what I
found. It has a ball-joint at the part I need to adjust that is
loose. I thought--finally, I find a good use for that blue thread
locker I bought! [Nothing else besides my small chome cover even
THOUGHT about being lose on this scoot]. I put some of the Blue
Loctite in and drove to work. You can see in the picture I have the
boot pulled back to show the line of blue liquid. Funny thing is
this--I don't know if it will work because for one, it's thread
locker, and there really aren't any threads so-to-speak. Also, even
when I got to work and tried to adjust it, the threadlocker was still
wet, acting more like a lubricant than a locker. Hmmm...I guess
another update will be needed later today.

Thursday, April 17, 2008

Did this fall off my scooter!?!?!??!

I got home the other day and was putting the cover on my scoot like Ido every night. I found this thing laying on the ground. I don't know if it's off my scooter or not. I hope if it IS, it's nothing crucial!

Huge Hole!!!!

I was coming out of Festival Plaza (which is on the corner of Outer Loop and Jefferson across Jefferson from the mall) onto J. and there was this monsterous hole nearly the size of my scooter wheel. It was some sort of utility or pipe access that was SUPPOSED to have a cover on it! I was thinking "cool. this is where I get to see how much damage gets done when your 400# scooter flips over." but it was just like thump-thump and it was over. thank God! I could not discern any damage, but I'm surprised!

Sunday, April 13, 2008

When in Rome … but what gear are you in as you scoot on by? - National

This is the exact reason I look like some sort of freak when I ride by on my scooter. It's no guarantee, but when you have no cage, seatbelt and airbag, you must use the tools available to remain as safe as possible. When in Rome … but what gear are you in as you scoot on by? - National