Riding this weekend

I went riding this weekend (of course).  Ralph, Dale and I went out in Indiana, Borden, Deems Lake, etc.  We stopped at the Chicken House for lunch.  It was a pretty good day Saturday.  Felix met us at Sister Bean for sendoff. ;o)

Waterford

Here's the Waterford sign.

Taylorsville

Went on a quick route this past Wednesday.  I saw three places on the map that I wanted to try and get pictures at.  Yoder, Thixton and Routt.  Alas, all were too small to have city signs, post offices, schools, or churches of their own, so no luck.  I did get Taylorsville and Waterford.  Here's the Taylorsville sign...

Devastation Ride End

After all the crazy riding conditions, Ralph split off to meet his wife at the mall, while Jim and I sat at Flanagan's (power was out), had a beer and talked for a bit.

Jim & Ralph coming home

We decided to cut the ride short and come home while we could STILL get home. So many downed trees and lines...we even had to detour and take a second choice bridge. The wind on the bridge was very treacherous! Kids, do not try this at home!

Devastation Ride

The two guys here, Jim and Ralph, very stalwart souls--took a ride with me Sunday when we had some really serious weather here in Kentuckiana. Good experience, but caution was definitely required!

Jeffersonville, IN

This is the shot I took right before the LSG Devastation ride on Sunday afternoon when we had hurricane force gusts at 80+ mph.

La Grange, KY by the tracks

Sunday morning ride with Ken.

Skylight, KY

Sunday morning ride with Ken.

Buckner, KY

Sunday morning ride with Ken.

Smithfield, KY

The following pix were from the Sunday morning ride with Ken.

Waddy, KY

This past Saturday, Ralph and I took a ride out and around Shelbyville Kentucky. When we passed through Waddy, I had to take a picture. I want to get a shot of my scooter "everywhere from A to Z"

High Winds

Got some high Winds today!

Master Cylinder Boot

I have been busy riding a lot lately.  I'm up to 5000+ miles on the old Chinese scooter!  I replaced the CVT belt with a Athena Kevlar belt I got from oregonvintage.com  Also I replaced the roller weights with Dr. Pulley sliding weights (11g).  Both old belt and weights came out in pretty good shape with little wear.  This makes me believe that the quality has come up some since '06 and '07 (mine is a 2008).

 

I bought a boot for my master cylinder from the local Honda shop.  I just took a shot in the dark and ordered one from a 2004 Honda Reflex.  It fit, and works great.  Let that be a note to all you Roketa, Tank, etc. owners.  I may see about how much brakes cost also, but I'm not sure they would be 100% compatible.

 

No other major issues except for my seat, which doesn't latch.  I had a friend take a look at it, and he thinks the latch mechanism is damaged or missing a peice...

[name omitted] Scooter Club vs. Louisville Scooter Group

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Brake Master Cylinder problems

When we were replacing the rear tire, Jeremy couldn't help but notice how squishy the rear brake was. I took it all apart and could see the boot was torn up pretty badly letting brake fluid slowly leak out. I cleaned it and put it back together with a rubber gasket but that did not help. I asked my dealer (Valley Scooters) about getting a warranty replacement part and they requested it from Roketa. The email he got back said they need the VIN and "i'll ship it out personally", so that is pretty cool. The boot on the front is broken too, but it's not leaking so on that side I just requested only the boot.

Right now I have a mechanical napkin (as opposed to a feminine napkin) inserted into the small 1/8" gap. I have some plastic deteroriation from where it was leaking. Might need more parts yet again, but I don't think body panels will be under warranty.

Tire issues

I had a tire that got a hole. It was well repaired with a professional plug, but eventually just wore completely out. I got 2 replacement tires on ebay for like $25 each. They are INNOVA Meteor tires...nothing special. I put one on with the help of my good friend Jeremy. It was a struggle never having done it before. We actually had to cut the old tire off! What we didn't realize was that the valve step was cracked pretty bad. Add to that all the filling and checking...

...this past Saturday I rode it over to Jeremy's again flat. It ruined the tire. We replaced the tire again, and added a new valve stem I got online from Parts for Scooters. Another pal--Felix stopped by while we were doing this. Between the three of us we got it done a lot quicker--it was mostly an experience thing, not a physical thing.

The scoot is now running pretty good except for one small problem with the brake.

Dead End

The TomTom, following my Google map tried to take us down a road that said no outlet. The map clearly showed it was supposed to run through to a state park. Weel....nope. Had to backtrack. The broken pavement gave way to gravel and ran smack into a big rusty chain link fence that said NO TRESPASSING.

Oddity

I saw this TANK Chinese scooter this weekend with an Aprilia trunk. That's sort of like putting a Jaguar hood ornament on a Yugo. There's been a lot of craziness in the scoot group lately. I'm hoping everything is back to normal very soon. Made a lot of good friends this summer and put on a lot of miles with several of them. Unresolvable disagreements and being immature (myself included) led to harsh words on all sides. No further detail is needed because it just would not be constructive. At the end of my road, I want only to ride with good people and have fun. Hope I get to keep doing that. Hope everyone has that chance.

Other Scooter Club

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Weekend Ride-No love for Will Smith

This weekend I planned a Dinner & Movie Ride. We had 8 or 9 scooters show up to ride! The weather held well and we rode out east odd Louisville then came back in towards Shepherdsville. We stopped at Mazoli's to cool off then since there were no takers for the movie "Hancock" with Will Smith I decided to go by myself. After the movie I grabbed a quick bite and made a pit stop at home. I went over to see my friends [name omitted] and [name omitted] and hung around with them for a bit.

Parts for Chinese Scooters 2

Update!  I had TWO packages.  The first was ANOTHER carb (finally the correct one) and the 2nd package was my bolts.  I will do an oil change and also replace the bolts this weekend hopefully.

Parts for Chinese Scooters

I contacted my dealer (Valley Scooters) several weeks ago about getting a new carb because I have had so many problems with starting/running even after it's been cleaned, etc.  They forwarded my info on to Roketa.   Last week, I was unsure weather I would ever see the carb, so I decided to order it online direct from Roketa.  First I called and spoke to a lady.  I told her I was wary to use the online system and she said she would check to see if the parts I needed were in stock.  She said they have pretty much everything for my model except for windshields.  I asked if she could take  my information and she said no, that I   would have to use the online system. I heard from more than a few sources that it is a joke and they just take your money and you never see your parts, so I looked at the cost of the carb and decided to test it with something much less expensive.  I needed a couple exhaust bolts and I ordered four of them so I would have spares. Yesterday my carburetor arrived.  It was at no cost to me provided under warranty.  When I got home last night, there was a UPS notice on my door that they had another package from Goldenvale.  I assume it's my exhaust bolts.

I know many parts for the various Roketa models and the TANKs are compatible.  If you have not tried using Roketa as a parts source lately, you might try again.  As with their assembly process, I believe they are slowly making company-wide improvements that will only benifit them in the future.  They have IMHO a long way to go, but better is still progress.

Baccio at Hi-Tech

Dan at Hi-Tech has these 50cc Baccio scooters he sells for around $1495. They are Chinese but he vouches for the quality. He told Kevin and I that they are easy to work on and parts are readily available. The 50cc is his staple, but he sometimes has 150cc, and can get 250cc's. The prices he told me today range from $1495 and up for the 150's to $2600 for a 250 (average of $3000). I didn't get into brands, but he seems to be choosy so probably carries the better Chinese brands. Hi-Tech is located at 126 W. Bell Ave. In Clarksville. Their number is 812-280-0516.

Stripped down

Dan, the very knowledgable man who owns Hi-Tech Scooters agreed to work on my bike, even though he did not sell it to me. He seems like a great guy and is very friendly. Hi-Tech sells both gas and electric scooters. Some of them are recreational type scooters, but he also has 49cc street legal scooters.

My replacement carburetor

I got this replacement carburetor from Roketa today--a very good sign. It cost nothing because it was under warranty. I took it to Hi-Tech Scooters in Clarksville, IN to get it put on.

Visit to Don Spencer, V.D.

After work, my friends [name omitted] and [name omitted] and I met at Don Spencer's house. Don is the self proclaimed V.D., the Vespa Doctor. Well we gave him a shot for the opportunity to help figure out this "Chinese puzzle" that has baffled one small engine mechanic, two motorcycle mechanics, and three Aprilia scooter techs. Don asked if it was a Vespa, and what year. When I explained it wasn't, he told me flat out that he didn't want to work on it, nor even help by supervising my working on it. He did give us a ride in his 1920-something car. End of the visit left me feeling frustrated and angry that I had wasted both my time and also my emotional energy being positive--hoping for a solution. I have three other shots to get it fixed...

Followup on Stranded

Well, the hitch did not work out.  He had some electrical issues.  I ended up renting a Uhaul truck one way for an exorbitant fee (with about $75 in gas too).  I am supposed to be the founder of the Louisville Scooter Group, and now I am questioning the wisdom of it all.  I know I have to get this scooter running, or get on another one soon.  Its the summer and this is prime riding time.  It's also a heavy hit to the household budget to go from $20 in gas per week to $50.  I am starting to feel for the first time that perhaps it was a mistake to go with a Chinese Scooter.  My decision was based on the fact that I could do the mechanicals myself, so I'm not feeling a lot of shame for the decision.  This scooter has been to 4 mechanics and none of them know what is wrong with it.  One was a specialist in both vintage and modern Vespas, two were motorcycle mechanics, and one was a general small engine/motorcycle/scooter mechanic.  If none of those people know what is wrong then I refuse to feel stupid.

 

This is a very bad weekend and a bad week.  I have to attend the regular Tuesday night LSG meeting tonight.  My laptop is needed if nothing else.  I am starting to consider weeding myself slowly out of the club.  I can delegate things bit by bit until I can just fade out.  They have voted to make meetings later anyway, and that is going to cut me out from attending through the week when school starts.  Might as well get them used to not seeing me around.

Failure at Gasoline Rally

My scooter had been having some problems...it would die at stops. I didnt have the time before the rally to run down the problem so I took it to a mechanic. Well, I believe they did something to the carb to compensate for the problem, and it ended up stranding me. Friday up was ok, but still had the initial problem. Friday night after check-in, I had a LOT of trouble getting it started. It took me like 45 minutes and I was seriously concerned at that point. Well I rode back to the hotel and went to bed. I got up on Saturday which was the actual day of the rally, and although I got it started, i had to hold it at full throttle to keep it running. If I let off any, it foundered and died. So I knew I was in reality stranded. I told the rest of the club bye, and they went to the ride, except for Jeremy who was sick and came back to the room and went to sleep. Stomach virus must have gotten him because he was still feeling nauseous this morning. Well they came back and told me how awesome it was, and then took a break for a couple hours, then went to the dinner/after-party. I just stayed in the room and watched TV (all day Saturday). Well I called my girlfriend to ask if she might pick up the kids and dog if I dont make it home in time and she was concerned. She had stuff to do with her daughters and I told her that I would try to figure something out. She called me back later and told me to call her brother who lives up here in Indianapolis because he has a trailer hitch. He said he could come get me and the scooter this morning! I called him when I woke up at 8am. He did not call me back for a while so I called my girlfriend. She said he forgot he was on call, so cannot take me home. I'm very worried now about getting back to the kids on time.. We'll see what happens.