Welcome to all of you coming over after hearing about SCTRCST on TWIT (This Week In Tech). John C Dvorák mentioned the pod cast and the blog after I sent him a University of Richmond Spiders hooded sweatshirt. I know a marketing opportunity when I see it.
Those of you who read the blog know I am a big fan of the scooter videos. If you look in the blog and pod cast archives, you will find links to a number of rally videos, restorations and scoot lifestyle events. this is all aleadin to say that I have finally gotten around to using my digital video recorder. My first shots were of last week’s Richmond 7 Hills Scooter Club ride out. So as if customary on Scootercast, I am going to share with you both my successes and screw-ups. My weapon of choice is a modestly priced Aiptek HD video camera. The plan was to attach it to my helmet using heavy duty Velcro. You would be wise to use as much Velcro as will fit on the camera and the helmet. When I reviewed my test video, I had taken 6 minutes of crisp, clear video, featuring the pavement. I had calebrated the angle of the camera, without putting the helment on, so after a few Velcro adjustments I had a helmet cam which provided an interesting rendition of the ride, albeit focused a little bit right of center. The video includes clips from the meet up at Crossroad Coffee and clips from the ride I am always talking about here in Richmond, the Riverside Drive ride. What I won’t go into how much work it is to edit a video, but it’s a lot. Hope you enjoy the results.
Music for this show comes from the Podsafe music netork and features George Thorogood, a long time purveyor of blues music and specialist on the slide guitar. He did the scooter classic, “One bourbon, one scotch one beer”.
Cold weather doesn’t start in Richmond, VA until January and is usually over by the end of February. That’s not a season, that’s cold snap. So scooting here is mostly a matter of bundling up and staying warm. My prep consisted of purchasing a new riding suit.It is a First Gear one-piece, medium weight, lined and has reflective material sewn into the suit. It is large enough to step into and to fits over any of my other riding gear, without feeling like a wet suit. You know, the kind that you have to peel off? If you order one, be careful not to go too large, they are big.
The new and old bike both appreciate a little winterizing with Sta-bil. The treatment is good for running in cold damp weather and if you are going to store your scoot for any length of time as it keeps adatives in the fuel from detriorating and removes water that might get into the tank through condensation.
SHOWNOTES: Like most of you, I have developed my scooter interests over a long period of time and have been influenced by the things I have read, people I have met and the unexplainable. There are many scooterist who are utilitarian. They ride for lots of reasons, but mostly because of the efficiency or the ease of commuting. Where I am going with all of this, is to talking about what motivates each of us to take up an activity that sometimes is dirty, sometimes dangerous and other times just an outlet for never having really grown up. In my case it is definitely the last thing I mentioned.
For the past three months I have perused the scooter magazines like I use to do with the Sears Christmas Catalog, marking all the pages, circling the things I wanted, weighing the pros and cons of this scoot over that scoot. Two weeks ago I ended up on Craig’s list. Did I mention that I and a chronic window shopper? When ever I get questions about looking for used scoots, I suggest, “first go to Craig’s list”, because you get a good idea what is available in your area and as long as you steer away from all the Chinese junk, you’ll be fine. Well, in my case, a dream machine appeared. It was a 2006 Vespa GTS. I knew that I couldn’t afford a new GTS, so this seemed almost too good to be true. It was fairly priced and had only 1300 miles on it. After an email and talking with the owner, who had the interesting name of Fox, I rented an Enterprise cargo van and headed up to Maryland. Of course, on the way there I got lost, that is to be expected, but when I arrived Fox proved to be a fascinating character who is a bit of a celebrity in his community. Fox has quite a history, although I didn’t hear all of it. He appears to be an adventurous type who walks with a slight limp from his motorcycle racing days. He apparently has owned just about every brand of motorcycle or scooter around. So why dump this beautiful scoot? “I am tired of it and I’m on to other things.” I considered Fox’s ADD, my good fortune and with the help of his friend Mike, loaded the scooter up for the trip back to Richmond. All I could think about when I left Fox was getting back and eating, but every time I looked in the review mirror, the headlight of that elegant bike stared right back at me. It was then that I realized that after all the dreaming and talking and even your suggestions, I had come back to the Vespa for one specific reason, it is beautiful. I have aways been a sucker for the Italian sense of style and this new scoot has it. How do these things happen? In my world things happen for a reason, and although I don’t know why this has happened, I plan on enjoying it. I’m not giving up on my old classics, but at least I will have a scooter that feels like a part of the family and will fit in with all the rest.
Blog Posts
The new 2008 Amerivespa site up and running. The site has a beautiful art deco picture for this year’s event.
Jon, who runs the Yamaha Zuma Forum sent me an email several weeks ago to reminded me that there are other scooterist out there. Take a look at their forum and join their Friday or Saturday evening Chat.
Sorry for the delay in this week’s podcast. I haven’t been able to get back on track since the holidays, but since my liquor and drug intake has been negligible for years, I don’t have that to fall back on. Let’s just say, don’t worry, I’m all better now and have a dynamite show planned for this weekend, covering the demise of a 1990s scooter shop and how I got a hold of my restored 1967 Vespa 180ss.
In the mean time, enjoy the newly posted Youtube video which is exactly what gets me salivating about going back to Italy and visiting the Piaggio Museum (as I talked about in Episode 42)
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