January 2013

Normally we would not expect to be able to ride the scoots in January, but for our first meet of 2013 we were blessed with unusually mild weather. It was even warm enough to persuade Lesley onto the bike. Pete Mesiano was unable to attend as he was going up to Manchester to see Watford get thrashed by Man City (3 goals to nil DOH!).

We had a great turn out with 7 scooters being ridden. It was great to see Fred again after a long absence, alas he is suffering from a back problem so may struggle to ride much this year. Paul brought his friend Bob along who rides a Gilera runner SP180, but has recently acquired a Vespa small frame, so hopefully he will become a regular. The last time I rode to Gustard Wood my PX decided to leak petrol everywhere and I had to return home and pick up my trailer to recover the bike. Would you believe it, it happened again! We came back to the bike, turned the fuel on and the bike decided to have a wee in public, have you no shame I cried J. This time I called Carole Nash recovery, they were great, I was picked up within the hour and taken home.

The next day I took the tank out to investigate. I had fitted a new fuel pipe following the previous incident. The new pipe had turned rather cloudy but I could not find a hole, and it had not detached itself from the tank as I had suspected. I put some fuel in and turned the tap back and forth but could not replicate the leak. I fitted a new pipe, one that was printed with “compatible with unleaded fuel” and put the whole thing back together, added petrol and waited for a leak. No leak, turned the fuel on and off, no leak, left the fuel on overnight, no leak, puzzled, you bet. It could only be a random fault with the tap, I have left it in the on position and won’t touch it unless I need to. This problem has only happened twice, both a Gustard Wood, the first was a split tube, this one who knows? Maybe my scoot does have feelings and just threw a hissy fit to draw my attention away from my new Rally 200. Can metal have a soul, sometimes it feels like it J.

Tony

Dec 2012

Just had our Christmas Lunch meeting. A very convivial time was had over a traditional Christmas lunch provided by the Cross Keys where we meet each month. Our best wishes to everyone for a Happy Christmas and prosperous New Year.

May – June –July- August – Sept – Oct

Yes we have been out and about. When we have met on the 1^st Saturday monthly we have generally had a bite of lunch at the Cross Keys then headed off for a ride out. We have been on various local afternoon runs to: Codicote Garden Centre, Ashridge Monument, Dunstable Downs and Tring Reservoir. A good many of us have attended VVC events being the Essex rally at Ashfields in May, the Andover event in July and the Ashbourne event in September. A few attended Vespa World Days in London in June.

Sept Meeting

April 2012

April arrived with the promise of a more or less dry day, although a few more degrees up in temperature would have been nice.  I was on my own today as Lesley was laid up with a migraine.  We managed 4 scooters, My PX 200,
Mikes GS 150, Pauls Primavera 125, and Peter with Carole on their new PX150 limited edition.  Piaggio have added some nice styling touches to the PX, so hopefully they will be able to support it through sales numbers for a good few years to come.  Rogers GS is still in the St Albans Museum so He and Ingrid were in their Figaro.  Anyway we had a quick snack and set off to Dunstable downs for “afternoon tea” It was interesting riding behind Peters bike as he has the same screen as I have on my PX.  As far as I could see it rode very steady, yet I find with mine some disturbance when the screen is fitted.  I have examined the front end and can find nothing wrong.  I went to the museum to see Rogers bike; It is the centre piece of a very nice display about 60’s culture, this is an interesting exhibition and Rogers bike really does steal the show “ Fantastic”

March 2012

Here we are again, to ride or not to ride.  The weather forecast was a bit iffy, text and telephone calls made and the decision was to go by car.  Of course by the time we got there the weather had cheered significantly, and we all felt riding would have been a good idea.  To make matters worse, Paul turned up on his little 125 small frame vespa, and a new guy Russ with his girlfriend arrive a on a very tidy P200.  Russ used to have a twist and go ET4, but wanted something more classic and with gears, the P2 a good choice solid and reliable.  Everyone has plans pretty much sorted for the year ahead with many scooter related events included, the first one being at the ace café at the end of March.  Peter is still running in his new PX150 and is generally happy with it.  He has fitted a genuine Vespa screen, I tried one of these on mine and found it great up to about 40mph, much beyond and the bike feels like its weaving, and in a wind it was a nightmare, so I have taken mine off.  Bit of a shame because they do look good.  I have just fitted some new Schwalbe weather man white walls to my PX200, I must say it feels great, I have always quite like the normal Michelin S83, but I do think the schwalbe are better, maybe I’ll try the screen again.  Anyway hopefully April will see us on the scooters and getting a ride out, April Showers, lets hope not.

Februray 2012.

With the unseasonably mild weather we thought we might be able to use the scoots this month, but all hopes were dashed at the last minute as snow was forecast for Saturday.  Although it did not snow during the afternoon it did turn pretty cold and by the evening it was snowing heavily.  Even without the bikes we had a good meet talking over plans for the coming year.  Peter has had the SS panels repainted and is very pleased with the colour match.  Peter also brought along our metal cog badges, these look great, and it is very pleasing for me to see my original design made up as a metal badge.  We are all hoping for better weather by next month, see you there.

January 2012

Well here we are 2012 has arrived, this promises to be a big year for the UK with the Olympic games and of course Vespa Worlds Days!!

For our first meeting we did not manage to use the bikes, although Peter Rose and I were pretty close.  If I could have arranged a lift by car for Lesley I would have ridden.  If the winter carries on in the relatively mild mode we should be back on the scoots very soon.  That said I have used the X8 to travel to work a few times. 

At our meeting the talk centred on the coming year and what our activities will be.  Where possible we will be attending the VVC events at, Essex, Andover, and Ashbourne.  Roger as always will be going to the IOW.  Peter and Carole are planning a French trip in their motor home taking their PX150 for travelling around.  Peter is still debating whether to have the SS180 re-sprayed, maintaining the red, but ensuring all the panels match.  Rogers GS is still enjoying the winter in doors cosseted in St Albans museum so any riding is on his TV175 Lambretta. 

Last year a number of our meeting days clashed with rallies, this year none of the rallies are on the first Saturday of the month, so other than holidays our attendance should good.  All we need now is the weather.  In the mean time the scoots will be cleaned, oiled, adjusted and generally prepared for another year scooting about, see you there

July August Roger & Peter (R) spent a few days riding around the Lake District with their other halves before joining 8 others (5 couples) at the VMSC rally at Derby. The rideout was to Crich Tram Museum where we spent the day on the Saturday. The evening in the marque involved a barbecue and a quiz. 4 couples attended the IOW rally and have spent a week’s holiday on the island. Some of the time together, at other times with family and other friends.

May & June For May we stayed in the pub and had the usual natter in preperation for our visit to Cheddar with the VVC. Great weather for the June rideout to Leighton Buzzard/Ivanghoe Garden Center.

We only had a small gathering for April, Peter/Carole, Peter/Jacqui and Tony/Lesley, however we had a nice ride out to Vanstone Park and enjoyed a light lunch, followed by a bit of look round the garden furniture section, pricey or what!. This was my first try of the adaption I had made to my passenger foot rests. My wife enjoys rather short legs and like the rest of us 50 something’s is not as flexible as she used to be. She did not feel too secure on the normal passenger pegs that are used with florida bars. After seeing this modification on a scooter for sale in scootering, I thought, “that’ll work”J, and they do. Lesley was quite comfortable, the PX looks much better with the florida bars in place. I probably ride the most out of our group as during good weather I commute to work. The PX is really good at this but sometimes I feel car drivers think it is no more than a moped and don’t give me much respect.

To fix this I have rejoined “the dark side” (you may remember I used to have a GT200). I have brought a Piaggio X8 125. I was really looking for the 250 but this one came up and I really liked the colour (my goodness how girly is that LOL). I have now been using the X8 for two weeks, and I have to say it is fantastic. It has great presence on the road due to its size, and it handles like a dream, winds up to 60mph very easily and been a 4 stroke is more economical than the PX. That said it is a functional motorcycle, which is what I brought it for, the PX is still my favourite, I always enjoy riding it, the sound, the smell (two stroke nectar), and the character of a Vespa, there something very special about them. I have owned and ridden bikes as diverse as a Honda PC50 up to a Kawasaki VN750 cruiser, but I have had more fun and made more friends on a Vespa then any other bike, so there you are, buy a Vespa, look after it, and you will have fun for a very long time.

Tony

March

March 2011, is it spring yet? Probably not, certainly not judging by the temperature outside. Will anyone be riding? again probably not. However, it was dry, unlikely to rain and I felt like a ride. So I donned my riding gear and let the girls go in the car, Pete was going to watch Watford (how that can be more enjoyable than riding a scooter I will never know, but I am not a football fan)

I did enjoy the ride, but it was cold. A very warming bowl of home made vegetable soup soon had me feeling human again. I was the only one brave enough (or is that foolish enough) to ride, so the planned ride out to London Colney was cancelled. As ever we talked about widgets, rallies and things generally scooter related. Plans for rallies are in full swing, the first being Cheddar in May, lets hope spring has arrived by then. We are also attending the VMSC rally in Derbyshire, which is a great opportunity to look at an area we have never visited. Our third rally will be IOW, which is always quite a spectacle. Peter Rose has sold his very nice GL to Delbasos of Hitchin, it will go on display in their new boutique window, it will certainly set off their display, as it is a lovely bike, but with two other machines Peter found he was not riding the GL so reluctantly he let it go. A few will be going down for the first real national get together at the Ace Café on 27^th March, this pretty much starts the season off, and is a time to catch up with winter goings on for everybody. Hopefully for our April meet the weather will be kinder, and we can get a group ride out, see you there.