Gunge on My Stuff

This summer a couple times, I used Armor-all to do the black plastic on my scoot.  The only place where I ran into any trouble was the handlebar plastic.  I has developed some whitish gunge or oxidation which I think is a result of the Armor-all.  I asked around a couple forums and multiple folks recommended Mother's Back to Black.  I researched it on Amazon and it got mostly really good feedback.  I figure I'm not going to bother with that this year and I will just hit it really good this summer when it warms up, but I think I might give the stuff a try.  The best advice I can see it to make sure you follow the directions to the letter or it will run in the first rain.

Motor Scooter Parking Only!

The place where they had scooter-only parking was ValuMarket in Mid City Mall in the Highlands. It looks really nice and is up front next to the handicapped parking spots. Finally helping out the earth pays off a little! I saw this when I stopped to pick up a few things after the ride on Saturday with Ralph. Kat pointed it out to me or I would have missed it! I wrote an email to corporate to see if they plan this sort of thing with the other locations also. ValuMarket rocks, and they have my customer loyalty!

Reserved Scooter Parking

Wouldn't you know the Highlands would be the first area in Louisville to have dedicated scooter parking!

Objects in your mirror...

Take note, and please comply.  The life you save could be mine!

 

Suzuki Fuel-cell Scooter...

The Burgman 125 Hydrogen fuel cell scooter sounds still non-practical,
but it is nice to see companies still moving forward and trying to get
away from so much fossil fuels.

Full article is : http://techon.nikkeibp.co.jp/english/NEWS_EN/20091023/176757/

The Jokester

This is my buddy Ralph. He has a Piaggio MP3...its looks like a scooter with training wheels in front...really cool machine. Well the other day I got off work and I am stopped at a stoplight. I pump my breaks at stops so it draws attention from cars. I am at a complete stop, and I feel this *thump*! I immediately think "Some stupid cager wasn't paying attention and just tapped me!" I was pretty pissed...so I turn around and there is Ralph laughing his ass off!! I gave him the appropriate greeting (wave with special finger, and a "nice to see you" that started with "F***!!!") After he got his laughs out and I checked to make sure there was no extra Fruit in my Looms, we left as the light turned green. Its like two days later and now I can laugh (a little!) about it. Watch out for this tire-kicking jokester!

Oil change, ride & 11K

I met Vince over at Skyline Chili for lunch. We both needed to do oil changes today, and he was nice enough to volunteer his garage. We went to Walmart after lunch to get oil. I got two quarts of Mobil 1 full synthetic oil 10W30. We went back to his garage and did our oil changes. About when we were done he had some folks coming over to look at his Honda Reflex, which he is selling for a steal at like $2200. While he was showing the bike, my friend Jeremy called to see what I was doing. The three of us ended up going on a ride out toward Grundy that Jeremy had routed. It was a good ride with perfect weather (only a little cold) and I tipped 11,000 on my odometer. That puts me really close to the 20K mile mark! Back in town we stopped at TK's pub and had some bacon cheddar fries, and a beer. By this time it was dark, and I headed for the barn. ;o) It was a really good fall day.

Weekend coming up

I need to do my oil change this weekend, but the weather looks good,
so I hope I get to ride!! I don't have the kids this weekend, and
have not a lot going on.

Seat Cushion

One of the things I've done recently is to work on a custom seat
cushion. My friend Kathy, who is good at sewing, had some durable
black polyester material. Together we made a basic blueprint of my
stock Majesty seat and adjusted it to cover the area where I sit (my
arse is big, but not as big as the ENTIRE seat...). Next, she sewed
together a basic pocket-like sleeve where I could stuff various
materials to see what works best. The first attempt, which was
slightly more comfortable than the stock consisted of 3 layers. The
base was closed-cell foam (they blue mat used to put on the ground
under your sleeping bag). The center was your basic foam rubber. The
top layer was another layer of the closed-cell foam. As I said, this
method will allow me to try different materials to see how they
perform before I turn the pad into a finished product. If you have
any suggestions, please let me know. I have about 3-4 inches to play
with. I am thinking about trying some stiffer foam rubber, memory
foam, sponge, etc. I think I will keep the closed-cell foam base as
that seems to work pretty good. When the pad is all done and glued
together, I carve/bezel it down with an electric knife (yes, in this
case, it is my turkey-knife) which seems to work very well for this
job.

Saturday ride-forgot to mention the distilleries!!

I forgot to mention this...

 

We rode by at least two seperate distilleries on Saturday. I'm quite sure I smelled Barton just throught Bardstown on 31E...  Not my favorite, but drinkable and there is some in my cupboard right now.

Overcoming scooter stigma?!?!? Yeah, ok...

I started to be annoyed at this web article by Will Johnson, but ended up liking it.  In his article Johnson states such facts as...

 

"I understand scooters aren't the sexiest vehicles ever." of which I would have to disagree.  Lois is about as sleek a vehicle as you'd ever see...curves and everything, man.

"They just don't have that badass quality motorcycles do."  True here, I just can't bring myself to care about it.  I guess it's what you can do with a little scooter that is much more difficult on a 'big-boy bike' that makes me all meh inside about bigger bikes.

"One problem is scooters make you look fat." This statement is heavily moderated by the size scooter you buy.  You have to get one that doesn't make your ass look big (i.e. a 300# guy on a 50cc just looks silly.  Put him on a Honda Silverwing instead...)

"If your parents are too stingy to buy you a Honda Civic, chances are they can afford a little Yamaha Jog." Man, this could be me in 6 years!"

"I can comfortably fit a second person on the back. It works, because I can offer someone a ride home from a party but there's no way I'll be swamped by a crowd of party-goers looking for a designated driver." This is the type of think that makes a scooter a smart vehicle...a thinking-man's motorbike.

"Scooters may not have the same sexual kick a motorcycle does when you pick up a girl for a date, but she still spends the trip hugging you from behind." You hit the nail on the head, Johnson.

"Rain sucks on a scooter, though..." One word.  Gear.  Learn it, love it, live it.

"Seriously, you should give it a shot."  Unanimous agreement!!!

Full article can be viewed here:  http://www.martlet.ca/article/20041-overcoming-scooter-stigma