Sunday, May 04, 2008

The Vespa comes home!

Today I picked up my Vespa from the shop. It's the first time I've been able to ride it as it was previously immobilized while getting a new engine, shocks and speedometer among other things. On friday I managed to get my motorcycle permit, so today I was able to drive it home! It's a fast little thing and I put almost 80 miles on it today! I love how it feels like a perfect extension of my personality. I drove it home from sherman oaks, then drove it down the sunset strip and then took it up to the griffith park observatory. There were some snags along the way, but at least neither my bike or I got hurt. One time I stalled the engine while at a stop light - it almost stopped my heart since you have to get off the bike to kick start it up again! Thank God I managed to get it started right as the light turned green. Then, I lost the ignition while on Lankersham blvd, thank God I found a small construction road to coast off and see what was the matter. After some frustration I fianally discovered a metal bracket that holds a wiring circuit had snapped and the circuit was hanging by four wires - one of which had disconnected and cut my spark. I found a piece of chain link fence that I bent into a makeshift bracket, reconnected the wire and managed to get back on the road. However, my bracket needed some adjustment since it happened all over again while heading down cauhenga! I'm home safe and sound and the bike is locked up out back - but it sure was an adventure. Oh, and besides being wicked cool looking and totally retro, I still have what looks like a bit more than half a tank of gas! It has about a 1.75 gallon tank and I travelled 80 miles today - you do the math!

3 comments:

Mark said...

wow doode - you're eons past me on the cool-o-meter! i'm uber impressed with the vespa! even more impressed with the mcgyver-ish fix up you did on the fly. wow. you might as well have just punched our third-grade selves and given us busted glasses! :)

great stuff is coming togehter around here: trina and i are moving to chicago at the end of may! i'll fill you in more in a few days.

Professor Zoom said...

Congratulations! Sounds like you've gone through some of the trials I went through with my classic Mini. She still has some issues when it rains- an issue in the Midwest, not in So Cal. Best of luck!

Anonymous said...

Old scooters are always going
to be testing, I'm sure the
teething problems will pass.

Cogratulations on the new
job sounds like a great
opportunity. Does that mean the
rigging tools are on the back
burner, I would love to test them.
I use TSM2 for most of my production
work. I'm looking for a cheap and robust
alternative for my short film.


darren