Warning: Do your eyes deceive you??

Check out this link:

http://www.tfl.gov.uk/tfl/corporate/media/newscentre/motorcyclists.shtml

Where I've Been - Hillview, KY (Bullit County)

I was going to go all the way to Shepardsville, KY (which was only about 9 miles away) but between my severely limited ride time, and the wind gusts up to 40mph, I didn't feel like I should.

Where I've Been - Louisville, KY

I know what you're saying (duh) of course I've been to Louisville. But I'm going to start a collection.

Oh well...

Looks like I'm not going on my ride today. Bummed about that, but my girlfriend is off too, and wants to spend time together. She won't/can't/don't ride, so...

The 411 on Oil Changes

I was at 411 on the odometer, which is actually closer to 370 miles, so I changed the oil last night after work. I'm going to put some miles on this morning after I get the kids off to school, and I wanted fresh clean oil to do so. I'm going to try and flush out the radiator at my girlfriend's house this weekend if I can. I also want to change the gear oil again. It was pretty cold when I did it last time at PDI, and I may not have gotten it all out. Same for the radiator--I drained it and added new, but I didn't actually flush it out. With any luck, I'll be posting later today: pictures of where I've been. There is this really friendly forum I visit called powerscooters.org. Rich and Earl moderate the boards, and Earl had this cool idea. He lives in TX and he's making an A to Z collection of place names where he's been. He takes pictures of his scooter in front of the "Welcome to Austin" or "Austin Pop. 250,000" (or whatever-I don't know the population of
Austin). I'm gonna try and do the same thing.

This makes a fantastic point

I'm recently on two-wheels part time. Please take a moment to do this...

http://www.dothetest.co.uk/

It could save my life, or the life of some other 2-wheeler you know.

Kelly

Photoshop Madness

This picture was made by Dana. It's pretty funny.

Ran out of Gas

I was purposely running very low on gas today coming home from work. I wanted to cycle through all the (possibly questionable) fuel in my tank, plus I wanted to see how the gauge was reading, and also how many miles before I have to fill up. Well, here's my conclusions.

1. When you run out of gas, you should be prepared for your engine to die without warning. I was not. I thought it would sputter or something and give some indicator that it was going down. I was in the left hand lane of a 4 lane road. There was (luckily) a gas station directly off the street, but to the right, so I had to beg to get over.

2. My odometer reads 1.1 miles for every real mile (approximate), so I had 191 miles on the odometer, but that was actually about 172 miles.

3. I used 3.363 gallons to fill up (the YP260 manual says 11 liters which is 2.9 gallon tank capacity) all the way to the top, which I believe is where it was when I hit the trip meter.

4. That gives me 51.1mpg. That in itself is nothing to sneeze at, but I had hoped for closer to 60mpg. I'm told when I get to 1000 or so it should improve? Also, it should run better and get better acceleration.

Pictures

I finally got around to taking some pictures of my scoot. Enjoy:

http://s270.photobucket.com/albums/jj115/the1weasel/?albumview=slideshow

Miles

Note on the previous post--zoom out to see the whole route if you need
to. I don't know why Google Maps does that.

I am approaching 400 miles on my scooter odometer now. I have 180 on
the trip meter--and that was set at my last fill. I'm going to see if
I can get to 200 without filling up. That would put me at about 180
actual miles!!! The tank is supposed to hold 11 liters--that's 2.91
gallons. That would be 62mpg! I am carrying an emergency 22oz. fuel
can of gas just in case I feel like I'm running out.

My trip Sunday

I took a 60 mile trip Sunday. Here it is:

http://tinyurl.com/2n8q8c

First I rode from home about 10am, to have coffee with my sister, then
lunch at Skyline Chili on Bardstown. I went across the 2nd street
bridge (35mph) to Indiana and stopped about 1pm at an old comic book
shop I used to hang out at when I lived there, called Empire Comics.
After that, I went to see my brother who lives over by the library.
Then I went for a ride down by the river all along the length of New
Albany. After that, I went to see Joe & Dana--this was about 2:30.
From their house, I went back towards home over the Sherman Minton
bridge on I-64 (55mph). The scooter handled fantastic the whole time,
but I like the in-town driving much better--it's enjoyable rather than
the highway where you just want to get somewhere quick. I got off at
the 9th street exit, took my route down through town to Bardstown road
again, turning this time at Taylorsville road and riding nearly the
entire length of it (the town portion anyway..it goes all the way to
Taylorsville, KY). I drove back down Hurstborn and stopped for a
sandwich at Culver's. I didn't have much time left, but I took
Watterson trail to Hurstborne over the Fegenbush and rode the back-way
to Outer Loop and home. It was really nice. Then I got in the car to
drive over and get the kids.

River Road, Ohio River, Rail Bridge

This is the Indiana bank of the Ohio River under the rail bridge.

Highlands

This was in the Highlands...

Alarm problems...

I am officially disappointed with my dealer. I sent him an email about how my alarm is not working properly. He said the old standby "just don't use it." Well I am of the mind that if you pay for something, and its not working, you ought to get a new one or a refund...just as if the tire was cut, the seat was broken in half or the carb doesn't work. I know some of you are saying "but it's a Chinese scooter dealer" and to that, I say I know, but I did months of homework, asked probably a thousand questions before I purchased. I went with the one that I found most highly recommended by the most people. Scootdawg forum praises my dealer up and down...

Anyway, the thing that I am mad about is this: I sent him another email asking for instructions because I felt like I was just not using the fob right to arm/disarm/start the scooter. Everybodys had trouble and most people don't use them. He said "just call me and I will walk you through it." Well, this morning, when I arrived at work, I thought I would just TEST the alarm. I armed it using the lock button. I went in to work. Came back out just now at lunch and guess what? It was still armed, but none of the buttons on my keyfob worked. I could not shut it off. I called my dealer on the cell phone and he answered. We went through all the steps on how to use the alarm and (of cours) nothing worked. He had no clue what to do any more than I did. I was very disapointed. He suggested getting up under the scoot to try and take out the fuse that goes to the alarm. That was not happening in the parking lot at work while the scooter was screaming at me "thief! thief!" Finally we come to the pearl of knowledge of this post:

IF YOUR SCOOTER ALARM IS ARMED, AND YOU CAN NOT DISARM IT, THIS IS WHAT TO DO:

You should very carefully pop the seat on your scooter to get to the battery compartment, and take off the negative or postive lead. This will kill power to the alarm and "reset" it. It may chirp at you if you are not careful enough...you can't put much pressure on the scooter at all.

Note: Starting the scooter with the key will not work. It will continue to happily alarm and shut off the engine.

Update: My dealer replied that "electronics are not under warranty" and that it would cost a lot of money to special-order one from China.

Warning: Please read through my blog if you are going to buy a scooter from Valley Scooters. They may yet be the best of the dealers out there (which probably isn't saying much), but I am disappointed in the lack of knowledge from John D. about my particular scooter. Its like he's never even seen one--which since he's mainly a drop-shipper, may actually be the case. He does talk like he's been working on them for years.

200 "miles" on the Odometer

Today after I got the kids to school, I drove back to the apartment and (with a little starting fluid) got my scooter running. I drove it to work. After work I had to give it a little more starting fluid then I drove it down Grade Lane and Fern Valley Road to Shepherdsville Road down to Hollywood Video to drop off movies. Then I drove from there, back down Shepherdsville Road all the way to Outer Loop and back to the apartment. I jumped in the car to go pick up the kids. Here's a link to the route I took today: CLICK HERE. Google maps says it's about 24 miles. I now have just a little over 200 on the odometer. I will probably change the oil again this Sunday if I get up to 300 on the odo.

No more Almost-Frostbitten Fingers!!!

There is this web site for m/c gear called www.jafrum.com and they
have stuff SUPER CHEAP. I got these leather gloves with 3M Thinsulate
and waterproof covers for $14.95 and free shipping! I have some thin
leather roper gloves for when its warmer, but by the time I got to
work, my fingers were really sore and felt almost locked in place.
This morning I almost couldn't get my gloves and helmet off! These
ought to do the trick!

Valley Scooters Customer Feedback

If you follow this link, it will take you to the customer feedback for
the dealer I ordered my scooter from. Overall, it seems they are
doing above average. On a scale of all internet scooter dealers this
may well be outstanding.

http://shopping.yahoo.com/merchrating/user_rv.html;_ylt=AkByVkRN1tkLp3oA7U1Fa48T08Uu;_ylu=X3oDMTBxNTNwbHVrBF9zAzc4NDcxNjU2MwRzZWMDbWVyY2hpbmZv?merchant_id=1017291

Snowmobile???

We are getting four to six inches of snow, so the next possible day
for me to ride is probably going to be Monday. Then again, just
because there is a little snow doesn't mean the roads will be bad. As
long as its not too wet and sloppy I will be ok. I have determined
that I will not let cold alone stop me from saving money on gas!!

This was my first night run on the scooter

CLICK HERE! I went from home to return some movies at Hollywood Video. It was getting dark, and it was dark by the time I got home. About 40 degrees and rainy, but not pouring. I was intending to test my weatherproofness of my jacket. It works but it is not suitable for low temperatures. Well, I did remove the liner, but... Also need better gloves if I'm going to keep riding in colder weather. My hands still hurt and I have been home for about 15 minutes. The speed varied from 35 to 55 mph. The scooter kept up well, but I ran with the brights on all the way home. It was almost necessary just to have adequate visibility. It was only about 13 miles round trip and it took me about 45 minutes. There was some pretty good gusting of wind. It supposed to get down to 33 degrees tonight. I hope its tolerably warm tomorrow. I want to ride the scooter to work.

My first 100 Chinese "Miles"

Generally speaking, the odometer on this scooter is not going to be real accurate, at least not in U.S. miles (probably closer to kilometers) but I've got my first 100 down now! I used it today to deliver Girlscout cookies for Lexie. I still have to go over into Indiana and deliver more, but I don't think I should drive it across the bridge just yet. I am not going to press beyond my skill level, which is currently negligible. I'm taking the car (or 'cage' as m/c people call it... Perhaps in a couple weeks...

Legal!

I finally got every last scrap of paperwork and was able to register and license my scoot! Now if I can get it mechanically lined out...its at about 90%.

Still not Registered to ride

The dealer for my scooter answered my email yesterday and said (regarding the MDO and paperwork) "They are on the way". When I sent him the stuff, it took two days. I guess I will probably get it tomorrow or Monday. I hope he followed my instructions and sent it to my work address. If he didn't, it might get shredded. I got my Netflix out of the mailbox yesterda and they looked like a dog had chewed them up. I don't think I will be able to return them in the envelopes they came in.

I just found out that the carb that is on my scooter is the one they generally use on the CF Moto 244cc engine. I am having a bit of a time figuring out how to adjust it while it is still attached to the engine. The adjusts are on the bottom and buried...

WARNING: KEEP BACK 300 FEET!

The other day (when I blew out my disc again) when I was putting my
scoot back together, this piece was the hardest to get back on.
Beware, if you take this off, it will TOTALLY suck to put back on. My
friends in the scooter/help group told me that it was bad (really bad)
to have a handful of screws left when I got done putting things back
together. I'm keeping my ears open for rattles... Like I told them,
the good news is no missing screws up front, so if any body panel
detaches at 50mph, it ain't gonna hit ME! WARNING: KEEP BACK 300
FEET! DRIVER NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR FLYING DEBRIS!!!

Dude, its starting to feel like the Millennium Falcon!

Scooter Update -MCO and Dealer info

I have not started the scoot in a couple days due mainly to ice storms. It is supposed to be [relatively] warm today. What do you want to bet it doesn't start??? Well, I've still got a bunch of starting fluid...

Here's an update on what's going on with registration: I went in tothe county clerks office and they said that since the certificate of origin was not signed by the importer (Goldenvale, Inc.) then I had to get it signed by them first. Since John and Linda of Valley Scooters are on vacation until Sunday, I contacted Goldenvale directly and they were happy (for a $20 fee) to overnight me a new MCO signed. To their credit, they did not charge anything for doing it, just for the overnight charge--and they didn't mark up for handling or anything--the reciept was $20 even and said "Airborne" on it.

I live in an apartment and the postal carriers are not too particular how they shove things into my tiny mailbox (as witnessed by my Netflix DVD's showing up almost ripped out of the envelopes) so any time I have a package of any importance, I get them shipped to work. I left at about 11am on Thursday because of the ice storms and didn't get my package until Friday. I put the MCO into a priority mail envelope also with specific instructions and a copy of Kentucky's registration form (the TC96-182) which is mandatory. The instructions basically said to fill out the back of the MCO (I put hot pink post-it noteswith arrows saying "fill out this section" and for the TC96-182 "sign here" and "fill out this section") and also had notated to get the sections of the MCO and TC96-182 notarized. Does this sound complex or tedious? Well, I sent the form once, and Valley Scooters didn't fill it out completely OR get it notarized. Then I sent them an email with a PDF that contained instructions with pictures of the sections they needed to fill out and get notarized. What they did was (on a scrap peice of paper even) fill out the instruction sheet, and get IT notarized and then priority mailed to me. This has been going around and around and I am getting really sick of not being able to ride on good days. I hope that everything goes perfect this time (because it looks like for KY it has to be perfect).

The only problem I forsee is that Goldenvale siged it, but did not notarize, so I'm looking at possibly spending another $30 or so to send it priority mail BACK to Goldenvale, plus charges to get it notarized, and then also overnighted back to me (they only offer overnight service or regular mail).

This is sooooo tiring. Hey, at least it's not Georgia!!! From whatI hear, this could go on for months (instead of just a month).

This Morning (i.e. Bobbie Holsclaw hates me)

I just thought I would entertain my wonderful readers with the details of my clusterf*ck this morning...

Got the kids to school and then I came back home. I geared up, drove the .5 miles down to the County Clerks office. Waited in line for about 10 minutes and went up when the lady called my number. I told her I was there to register the vehicle, and she said "You need it inspected first." So I went out and the county police officer was getting something out of his SUV right beside me and I asked him "where is it you're supposed to pull in to get the inspection." and he said he would do it right there. So he took my drivers license and the MCO (Manufacturer's Certificate of Origin), verified the vin, checked the lights and then told me to come inside and he would call my name. After a couple minutes he called me over and handed me the paperwork. He said "Nice bike. How much you give for it." and I told him. He seemed impressed.

Well, that was the good news and here lately it seems there is always bad to go with. I went back and got another number. They called my name. I went up and the lady looked at my paperwork. The MCO had not been signed by Goldenvale (the importer) when they sold it to Valley Scooters (the dealer). She said I have to get it signed and come back. Well, Goldenvale is in California, and Valley Scooters is in Connecticut. I called Goldenvale, and they are going to overnight me a new MCO. THEN, I have to get Valley Scooters to re-sign the damn thing and they are on vacation this whole week. Plus, they have to get it notarized, and also fill out this other stupid document (which they have done wrong three times now) that is required by Kentucky on all out-of-state vehicles. I swear, if I get all this done and go back in--and they find SOMETHING ELSE wrong, I'm killing somebody.

MCO Fiasco, Version 2.0

Well, I rode the .5 miles down to the county clerk's office this morning to register my scooter so I can start riding it back and forth to work.

....DENIED>>>

That's right. The original seller of the scoot (Goldenvale) sold it to my dealer (Valley Scooters) but never signed it, so in the state of KY, it's invalid. Also, Valley Scooters did not fill out the required form and have it notarized like I instructed them, so that mandatory paperwork is also invalid.

I have no recourse but to wait on my dealer and hope for the best. If he is as helpful as he's been on my last two issues, then I don't think I'l be riding the scooter anytime soon.

"Its not a DAMN MOPED"

I was irritated today. It was cold as hell, but decent weather so I decided I would go in a little late and run to the county clerks office to register my scooter. I dropped the kids off at the bus stop (actually I waited until the bus came) and went home to get my helmet and paperwork. Well, the scooter wouldn't start!! After talking with some of my buddies online, they were advocating making sure the carbureator was tuned in by the air and fuel adjustments. You have to have it running in order to make the adjustments. I tried starting again and no luck, but it was trying to start. I gave it a little starting fluid, and it began to idle. I got it running and took both kids (one at a time!) slowly and carefully around the parking lot. I brought the battery upstairs to charge fully overnight. I hope I have a little better luck tomorrow AM.

Not starting--AGAIN!

I am very irritated and frustrated. The bloody scooter will not start. I got it running Saturday after a lot of trouble and tearing up my back, and I rode it several times Saturday and Sunday. Left it alone yesterday. Get up this morning, get the kids off to school then I was going to drive it the measley .5 miles down the road to the county clerk's office. Well, I cranked and it did not start. Gave it a little starting fluid and it started and idled for just a couple seconds. Then it would not even get going after that. I'm disappointed that after all I've been through (which compared to others is still probably not much) it will not run long enough just to get it registered. I DO have insurance starting today.

Allergic reaction

I turned around while riding my scooter--still not 100% used to it yet making turns. I got too close to the edge of the road and went off into mud. Both the scooter and I must have some sort of allergy to mud. I broke out in a rash on my knee, and the scooter's paint on one side got a little scuff. Hmmm....

It's Alive!!!

All other things aside, I'm doing better. I went to the immediate care center, and got some drugs for my back. I got the scooter running and I have been riding it around the neighborhood behind the apartments. It's not registered yet, so I'm keeping off the main streets, but I feel the need to run it a little every day. I wanted to register and title it tomorrow, but the clerk's office is closed for the holiday (President's day).