Episode 27 – Scooter news, blogs and taking risks 4

Posted on September 09, 2007 by Dave

SHOWNOTES: Call the voice mail line at 206-888-6174 and tell me what you think of the show or let me know what kind of scooting activities are going on in your area. I have been looking to try to find out how Canadian Hayden Neale from Jacksoul is doing, but there hasn’t been much in the news about him and his website has not been updated. Anybody out there heard anything? Give me a call.
It has seemed that many of the scooter bloggers are slowing down a bit on posting. For me it means searching for more supplemental material and wondering each week what I will be talking about. So this morning, as a jump-start, I took off on my P200/sidecar rig for a ride into the country and some good old fashion open throttle riding. What that really means is pounding out 50 mph on a long downhill stretch. I realized that I haven’t said much lately about what is going on here at home, so in addition to this weeks news and blog reviews, we’ll do a little catching up.
Other scooter blog post that are up have very personal touches, like Honky Tonk Dragon and Ben’s plans to move from Oregon to Connecticut, with no job. How “in the moment” is that! Look at the following posts from and his starting over with his family or Little Billy’s Scooter Tales where Bill talks about his new responsibilities for helping guide their employee run business. An then there is the ever evolving and surprisingly transparent Combat Commuter, who bravely has opened up about his family and talking about what is important to him. These are people living and experiencing life as it is today and what pushes people to be better than we are or better that we were.
Marcel, my wife has been out west in Montana that past few days. Some of you may remember that she has been working in the land of ScooterDave in Cincinnati for the past few years and commuting back and forth on the weekend from here in Richmond Virginia. I think this trip has been a soul search for both of us, trying to regroup and get back to creating more of a life together. I must say that over the time we have been together, which is many years, she also has been much more the risk taker when it comes to employment, than I have ever been. But she has also helped me understand that with risk taking come the potential for great rewards and that is what I am talking about. So best of luck to Ben and Bill and the Combat Commuter and oh, yeah I guess I should say good luck to Marcel and me as it looks like she is coming home and we are embarking on a new adventure with each other and with her work.

Other scooter news and blog posts:
Piaggio continues to move forward in Vietnam
Honda announces lineup for 2008
Piaggio keeps pushing it’s MP3 “it’s fun and stable”
Crystal Waters review of “The Compete Idiot’s Guide to Scooters”

MUSIC
Podsafe Music Network
Steve Paroe from Switzerland with Mary, Mary
Girl stuff from Switzerland with a little hip hop called MI CHIEDO SE (I ask myself)
Italians from Italy of course! with Strong Enuff

 
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Episode – 23 Scooter Rally Videos & Positano, Italy 0

Posted on August 12, 2007 by Dave

SHOWNOTES: Scoot News, Here is the link to Haydain Neale article about his accident. Here is a link to Jacksoul’s website and music. Crystal Water continues to plan for her Vermont ride, leaves August 25th. Visit her website and throw some support her way. Positano Italy is a paridise, but expensive. Check here for news on making it more affordable and renting scooters to get around the Amalfi Coast.

2007 Scooter Rallys Videos:

Music for this show is from the Podsafe Music Network. Syd with On a Friday, Mr Vegas with Youre are gonna need me feat Jovi Rockwell and Jimmie Bratcher with Happy.

 
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Episode – 22 Scooter Blog Updates and Scoot News 2

Posted on August 05, 2007 by Dave

SHOWNOTES: Welcome back to all of you who are subscribers or who are returning. If this is your first visit thanks for joining us. I have been spending a lot of time this past week working on updating the website with a new design and a few new features. I have gotten some feedback that it would be better if I could make it easier to listen to the Podcast on the website. What is interesting is that many of you listen to the show right on your computer. So there are many more choices now, I hope it makes it easier. Another enhancement is the site now also supports embedding video clips and full size pictures right into my log posts. With learning how to do all this and all the website editing I have been doing I have decided that this means I am not yet brain dead and can still some new tricks. All my scooters have been up on blocks in the garage this week. I am doing some repair on my P200e sidecar that will require taking the sidecar axle out for some welding. Luckily it came apart with very little effort and revealed an adjustment that I never knew it had and seems to be for camber. Hopefully when it goes back together I will be able to decrease some of the wobble that comes through the headset. My other scooter are waiting for some carb work. I started on the ‘66 Vespa Sprint, and with Chelsea’s suggestion I have removed the jets to clean them, hoping that this will correct the choking problem I have. She advised me that if this doesn’t work it may mean removing the carb and checking for an air leak caused by warping or a gasket. That’s not too bad, but her third suggesting was frightening, drain the gear oil, if it smells like gas…oh that’s bad! Let’s hope it’s an easy fix. Steve Guzman has revamped The Scooter Scoop Blog. On the last show I mentioned Piaggio’s plans to produce a hybrid scooter and the Scoop has a post with pictures of the engine and more details of technology behind the scoot. I don’t think I have ever said anything about Rush Hour Rambling, but Gary Carpentier is a blogger that a number of us have admired, both for his creative posts and his persistent blogging over the years. His first posts started back in 2005 when he put together The Baron in Winter site. Gary lives in Minnesota and has posted several times on the tragic bridge failure in the twin cities. His post is both descriptive of the scene but goes beyond this to talk about the practical and emotional effects of trying to get around town. The Combat Commuter blog site is an interesting mix of scooting news and personal reminiscence. What I like about this blog is that John Timbes writes about his life in Florida, his wife, his son and his work. This can get personal, very different that the “news” oriented blogs, an approach that I admire. For more information on scooter bloggers checkout the Ride to Work Blogs website that includes many more scooter and motorcycle bloggers. Let’s change focus for a minute. So where do you go to get your scooter news? I’m still fairly new at this so I use Google Newsreader and the Feeddemon built-in. With so many news stories coming down through just these two readers, I sometimes have trouble deciding what to pay attention too, but here are a few of the past weeks stories. There seem to be a lot of stories these days about how scooters are the ecological alternative to conventional vehicles. One example is a recent news story in print and on television in Greensboro, NC, although they probably would refer to them selves as small town. You can take a look at it on their local CBS affiliates website WFMY. And of course, the other scooter news that I like to see is the story that talks about all the good things scoot people are doing. Three stories this past week pointed to scooter rides for worthy causes, one in England with the Midlife Crisis Scooter Club for the Cystic Fibrosis Fund, another a cross county ride for peace by Alix Bryant and the other, of course is Crystal Water’s ride to Vermont to benefit the Gifford Memorial Hospital.

Music for this show is from the Podsafe music network. Dice with Believe, Patrick Harris with Give her what she has been missing and a bonus track, Tom Smith Everything is Dangerous

 
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