October 2008 Archives

Roger Tango and me at the VCOS meeting, trying to out-bling each other.

Celeste the Frankenstella is now running like a dream, and looks like one, too. So I've been riding her exclusively for a few weeks. Partly because starting her up is a consolation prize for the crappy weather, partly because I didn't get to ride her last fall, and partly because the GTS is due for 3,000 mile service with nearly 4,000 miles on the odometer.

Two weekends ago we had actual Certified Sunshine™, so I jumped in and finished the remaining details (glovebox, turn signals, etc.). Then I spent two hours with a toothbrush and a bucket of hot water detailing the scooter. It was wonderfully obsessive, and reminded me of the Harley guys I would see hunched over their bikes for hours, dabbing at miles of chrome with a fistful of cloth diapers. I washed and waxed her, buffed her up, and glossed all her shiny parts until you could apply lipstick in the crashbars.

For a few months now, I've been searching for tassels for my handlebars. Ever since the 5th grade, when Susie Morgan had pink sparkly handgrips on her banana seat bike and I didn't, I've had tassel envy. Now that I'm (in theory) an adult, I decided I would once and for all end the decades of pining by finding my very own handgrip decor.

A few months ago I foolishly left Aphrodite, my Vespa GTS, outside in the driveway overnight - a moment of laziness proving to be both expensive and time-consuming. The GTS took an ill-fated tumble into the rock wall outside my apartment, cracking the new Faco mid-size windscreen in half.

I wasn't in a rush to replace the windscreen over the summer as I mainly use it to deflect rain. But I did find that long trips on I5 lacked their usual comfort; the day after a lengthy journey on the highway, my neck and shoulders ached from absorbing the sustained wind pressure of 75 m.p.h.

I wondered if motorcycle riders experienced a similar discomfort, especially since they tend to spend longer periods of time at higher speeds. Then I realized it's likely the upright seated position of the scooterist that makes us less aerodynamic and therefore more prone to wind drag. And maybe I would build up muscles in my neck that I don't presently have. (And maybe I should get a full-face helmet that doesn't scoop up the wind like a sail, so I must tighten my chin strap lest it fly off my head at high speeds.)

In any case, with the impending Seattle rainy season (September through July) upon us, I realized it was time to admit the windscreen dilemma must be solved or I was destined to continue showing up for work like a drowned rat.