Caviar and V-Power

Jun 20, 2008 by Kristin

Recently I’ve been doing a lot of recreational riding. I’ve had Aphrodite, my Vespa GTS, since February and this week hit 2,000 miles. It seems like just yesterday that I was sitting victoriously atop Queen Anne Hill, smugly cherishing my 200th mile on the third day of ownership.

Last week I was revisiting old journals from my cross-country drive in 2004 when I moved from Boston to Seattle. A few weeks before I left for the 3,049 mile trip by Nissan Altima, I wrote, “I picked the wrong time to move – gas is TWO #&%ING DOLLARS a gallon!” I giggled to myself for a few hours after reading that. A laughable complaint, in the face of this week’s $4.50.

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Out, Damned Spot!

Jun 19, 2008 by Kristin

Here’s some New Math for you:
Seattle=rain
rain=rust
rust=unhappy Stella

I wasn’t fortunate enough to have a garage until five months ago. My scooters wintered outdoors. I rode them in the rain, so I wasn’t terribly concerned about parking them in the rain.

The Northwest doesn’t employ salt on the roads like they do back East. Boston was heavy-handed with the sodium chloride application, so metal parts start to rust after awhile. It’s common and expected. You can minimize the damage by washing the vehicle regularly to rinse the salt accumulation off, but if you drive in the snow, it’s a losing battle. Luckily, almost everything’s made out of plastic now!!

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Seattle All City Scooter Day 2008 in the P.I.

Jun 18, 2008 by Kristin

All City Scooter Community Day was written up in the Seattle Post Intelligencer. We are definitely getting the word out! Of course, gasoline at $4.50 per gallon helps.

I’ll try to be a good sport and not get my panties in a twitch that the journalist refers to scooters as “miniature motorcycles”. And that he calls Amerivespa an erroneous “Vespamerica”. Oh, and Ducati doesn’t make scooters.

But Mama always said, you gotta pick your battles.

“ Scooter enthusiasts and dealers filled a parking lot on Westlake Avenue for the city’s first All City Scooter Community Day to swap stories, compare notes and extol the virtues of moving about on scooters, streamlined miniature motorcycles that are growing in popularity as gasoline prices increase.

With an estimated 200 people and some 150 scooters gathered at midday, it was the biggest scooter party since last year’s “Vespamerica” gathering, which attracted hundreds more when it was held in Seattle. Scooter clubs had tents, and several dealers displayed their wares. “

Read the full article here.

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StellaSpeed and Seattle Scooter Central

Jun 17, 2008 by Kristin

I’m a big believer in the online scooter forums and I find them an essential source of information, inspiration, entertainment and drama. Each forum offers these key elements in varying amounts. StellaSpeed is packed with useful tips, and the users will immediately jump in to help you troubleshoot – if you can weather the abuse.

It’s not a forum for the faint-of-heart and the testosterone can run a little high. But using the search function will turn up just about any issue you could ever have with your two-stroke, followed by a dozen possible fixes.

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Seattle All City Scooter Day 2008 Wrap-up

Jun 16, 2008 by Kristin

All City Scooter Community Day was a smashing success, despite being run completely by volunteers and tossed together in less than two months. Susan Richardson of Scoot About did a bang-up job organizing the shindig, which brought together everyone in the scooter community: riders, dealers, vendors, gear peddlers, clubs and even politicians.

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