Bring Me Another Convert...

I took some time away from the blogsite to square some stuff away. I basically needed to get refocused on home life, work life, and whatever extra stuff that is thrown in to make up my days. So a few things had to suffer, and this blog ended up being one of them. Stuff just piles up you know, and pretty soon you end up looking up at this huge pile of issues, and say, "Oh crap, I gotta get things figured out." So thats what I've been doing.

Now, where am I?

I don't know how things are in your town, but around here, scooters and small motorbikes are being scooped up left and right. If the trend of rising fuel costs continues, the local riding population will continue to grow with the fuel prices. The local motorcycle dealership is having a hard time keeping the 50cc scoots in stock, and the after-market parts and repair shop that my buddy owns is now bringing in a line of scooters as well. It blows my mind to think that the preferred local Harley repair house will now be selling scooters. I guess that day has come.

My Pa-in-law was looking into buying a cheap-ass scooter on-line for $699.00, and I told him that he was probably going to get boned in some form on the deal. I mentioned an ad in the classifieds for a 1985 Honda Elite 250 going for $1100.00. I didn't wait to see if my in-law was going to make the call, so I rang the dude up myself. The cat seemed real cool on the phone, and said to swing by in about an hour. I gave the old Corndog a ride to the dudes house in my pickup, and met Cliff out back washing his brand new Yamaha V-Star 650 Classic. No wonder he isn't riding the Elite anymore.

I was real pleased when Cliff pulled the cover off the Honda to unveil a very well kept ride. It had a fresh coat of metal flake blue paint, and everything just seemed to look nice. Old Corndog hesitated when Cliff offered up a test ride, but not me, I was on it, and gone in about two seconds. Since the starting procedure is just like my old Helix, I knew just what to do without being shown. And boy did this scoot want to get out and run!

I knew that this was the deal not to be missed, so I went directly to my in-laws house to show my mother-in-law the scooter, so she wouldn't have to come up with a mental picture when Corndog tried to describe to her what the scoot is, and looks like. A sly move, but it paid off.

After Corndog finally took a quick spin around the block, he told Cliff that he'd let him know the next day what his decision would be. About this time, Cliff's cell-phone is jangling, and he flips it open to speaker phone. The cat on the other end wants to know if the scooter is still for sale. Cliff says, "I'll call you back." And here we go down the road with no decision. Geez!

I told my father-in-law that he was a "dumbass" for not pulling the trigger on this deal. He was willing to gamble on an on-line purchase for a 49cc scooter with a max load rating of 165 lbs, and a top speed of next to zero, and then take his time to ponder a sure deal that will do well over the speed limit, while still saving on fuel. So yeah, I called him a "dumbass."

I dropped him off muttering swear words under my breath (loud enough to hear) and ran an errand, and by the time I got home, he was waiting in my back yard...the deal was done. Corndog bought the Elite 250, and has been happily riding almost non-stop since.

Another convert to the magical world of scootering. I've scored again, and am damned proud of it. I may have been gone from here for awhile, but I'm still getting my job done as far as preachin' the good word of scootering. You see...I've got The Secret.

Have fun,
Bill

Welcome To Juneuary

Juneuary. That's what the folks around here are calling this month. I think its pretty much right on point considering the fact that we had Winter type weather warnings with a 2500 foot snow level yesterday, and 40 mph winds with rain and hail. Hey, no more talk about global warning for a few days!

My friend and fellow blogger/podcaster Dave Mangano was in town this past weekend to visit with his mother, and took some time to hang out with Geezer JayBee and myself. It was a pleasure to shoot the breeze with Dave and get caught up on what's going on in his neck of the woods back in Richmond Virgina. This is the best scootering time of the year where he lives, and we are apparently still struggling to break free of Old Man Winter's grip over here.

Dave took some photos of our scoots parked in his mom's driveway, and I think he took a shine to my "rat rod" influenced Vespa. I've yet to square my camera situation away, and who knows, maybe he will share a photo over on his blogsite. He can be found on my blogroll, or by tapping into www.sctrcst.com

This was the first time that JayBee had seen my scooter in its new get-up, and admitted that the Vespa now has my character. He said that he didn't want to insult me by saying he "didn't like the color" when my 125GT was painted blue, so now that it wears red oxide primer and pin-stripes, he says that he really digs it. Who knows, maybe we can follow the same route with his P200E, and get a cool look going with it too. I have even drawn up a paint scheme incorporating the use of both gray and white primers, topped with some red pin-stripes. If he's into it, I'm all over it. Just think of my approach to what I want a scooter to look like as a mix of traditional Vespa styling, topped with some hardcore kustom kulture rat rod flavoring. I guess my leaning is more toward the Ed Roth, Robert Williams school of kool design.

More to come later on these boss projects...photos too! (Maybe)

Have fun,
Bill

Clearing Away The Fog

I almost started by saying that there wasn't much going on around here, but I caught it in time. On the contrary, there is a whole lot going on, and my head feels like it is in a constant fog from all of the junk that I have to think about all of the time. Thats why they call it "work," and not "fun."

My pal Oilcan Kurt is grinding away on the Simplex project, and I spent a few hours the other night heating ,beating and sanding on some fifty year old parts, and enjoyed every moment. On my side of the fence, I have been working at honing my pin-striping skills, and now realize that I have about a million miles to go before I can say that I don't suck. It is fun though to try to pull off some straight lines, and then run parallels and flares. Every now and then I surprise myself.

When not soaring with the seagulls at work, being dad and husband, I do get some time to bomb around on the Big Ruckus. It just seems like I don't do it as much as I used to. I do commute to work consistantly though. That will not change. And its good to see five scooters lined up at the fence every day, and know that I had a hand in putting riders on every one of them. And I'm still not done. I still "bang the drum" loudly to send the message of the beauty of two-wheeling to anyone wishing to hear it. It does not matter to me one bit what their personal reason for riding may be. I will continue to speak positively about riding scooters and motorbikes. I believe in the MSF courses, and encourage those that I speak to, to take the class. I speak about proper riding equipment. In a nutshell...I am still playing the role of "Scooter Evangelist," and it is working.

Now that I'm off the soapbox... On the lighter side, the weather has been real nice lately, and has given the family opportunities to get out and about. Yesterday we attended a car show at Seven Cedars Casino, and saw some sweet antiques, street rods, and hot rods of all kinds. Since my camera hasn't been repaired or replaced, I didn't come home with pictures. I did however get caught up with some patch holders that I haven't seen since I stepped away from the biker world. It was good to see these guys again. In my head I will always be on the fence wondering how things would be now if I had followed through on my dream of wearing their patch. I guess that is pretty remote dreaming now that I don't even own a Harley anymore. Dreaming is free though.

Now its time to get busy in the yard so I can sneak in some riding time this afternoon. Maybe a ride out to the Elwha bridge project will clear some of the fog from my head. We'll see...

Have fun,
Bill