Getting out and moving

Spent some time with my camera over the July 4th holiday. This set is from Plainfiled, IL. The highlight item from the ride was seeing a Ural 2WD motorcycle. This thing was too cool for words. I also saw Dodge Dart running NOS. This thing was a beast. Anyway enough of than on to the pictures.

Another reason I stopped getting fuel at BP

Looks like they are on their holiday gouging price a little early. $4.17 for premium. Everyone else is at $3.89 still. Even at 70mpg that still sucks.

Red sky in the morning...

Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning. is an old saying about the weather. Tell you suit up because a storm is comming. Well I woke up to one today. At least it didn't happen when I was half way to the train station without my rain gear. So I guess today is a 4 wheel day instead of a 2. I really ought to sign up for the gym in my building. It would make rainy days less of a problem. Can win them all.

Windscreen day 1

I am back on 2 wheels today after a soggy week pushing me to 4. Things are a little different thanks to the guys at Amazon.com. I cashed in some of the gift cards I had and used it to get a windscreen for the scoot.

Since no one makes a specific unit for it I ended up having to combine a couple of pieces together to make it all work. Turned out pretty well the only issue was fitting it to such a small set of handlebars. Instead of the simple flat bars used on most scooters this one has swept back motorcycle style ones.

The ride is different with it on. It takes a lot of the wind off your chest but because of my height I am looking over it instead of through. The wind pulses a little now so I will have to play with the angle to eliminate that.

Day 1 complete. Time to do a little tweaking.
 

Getting back to normal

Just a quick picture from the train station.

Morning update

Well it is still a little damp but that wasn't a big deal. The ride to the train was mostly smooth. They are resurfacing a section of road I go over. The bike handled the grooved surface with only a little wobble.
I just hope the rain holds off until later. Nothing sucks more than a wet helmet.

Scoot! Magazine collection

I love it when packages like this arrive. The complet Scoot! Magazine collection with all the buttons and stickers. Looks like I have allot of reading ahead of me.

BMW Concept C coming stateside next year

The BMW Concept C will be entering the US market sometime after being unveiled at this fall’s bike shows. BMW’s second scooter will attempt to take on the worldwide maxi scooter segment leader, the Yamaha TMAX.

BMW is also announcing that all its models in the US will be equipped, as standard, with ABS starting next year. It’s not currently clear how that will affect pricing — the non-ABS S1000RR starts at $13,950 to the ABS and DTC-equipped model’s $15,880, but we’ll find out first thing in the morning.

Linkback - http://hellforleathermagazine.com

Al's Beef my new favorite place to eat

Al's Beef in Chicago just bumped to the top of my favorite lunch spots list when I spotted this out front yesterday.

Chicago suburb gas price

If there is any reason to ride my scooter more this is the main one.

Gas is up and ...

Gas just hit $4.10 for the good stuff, 93 octane. Kind of sucks though because I am back on 4 wheels instead of 2. When I bough the scooter the existing plates had a month left on them so I figured no worries I would just renew them. Never been a huge fan of custom plates. Yes you now stand out above the crowd, but you stand out above the crowd. Well the new sticker hasn't arrived yet. No sticker + patroled parking lot = expensive ticket. Hopefully it arrives soon, the weather is starting to improve and gas isn't dropping any time soon.

Vespa Scooter made of Balloons

I would love to learn how to make one of these.

More weather woes.

Well I am getting tired of the Chicago weather. It is still cold here, I take that back, not cold, freezing! It warms up throughout the day and is fine by 5:00pm when I am riding home but at 5:45am when my trip starts it is insanely cold. It is moring like this that I think back and say "Maybe that sale they were having on end of season cold weather riding gear was a bad thing to miss." I think I am going to start looking into a scooter blanket and moving up my windscreen purchase a few weeks. I will be glad when this cold snap is over.

I hate Chicago weather!

Well we are now into day 3 of crappy, anti-scooter weather and it is supposed to continue through the end of the week.

Chicago gas price

Went to the north side to check out Scooterworks store and passed a gas station. Ouch! Glad I filled up at home.

Back to the begining

It has begun, my commute to the office is forever changed. I finally picked up my Lance Cali Classic 125 scooter yesterday from Second City Scooters. My first taste of riding it was more like chugging a couple of pitchers with a shot or two washing it all down. 45 miles in Chicago traffic is a great way to learn the limits of a bike. In those 45 miles I got go deal with construction (suspension=good, seat=ok), stop and go traffic (remember left hand is the rear break), wind (really need a windscreen), using the horn (cool but kind of weedy), passing (pretty decent get up for a 125cc), hill climbing (nothing to really fear if you are used to riding bikes) and driving at night (need to aim it a little better). This was one great shakedown ride. It took 30 minutes to get the grin off my face when I finally got off the bike.

So what do I like about it. First up is gas mileage. I pulled into the gas station near the shop and looked at the $4.13 price for premium and unlike with my WRX I didn't cringe. $2.68 later the tank was topped off and I was on my way. Actually couldn't fill it up because I didn't use the center stand to level the tank. Going to get a 5 gallon gas can for the house and just fill up at home going forward. It feels silly using my credit card for such a small purchase and I hate going inside to pay. Jerry cans and crank pumps are cheap and look cool.

Second is the size of the thing. You sit lower than most motorcycles so you are actually looking car driver eye to eye in most cases and even SUVs aren't that much taller. This way you can easily see what they are doing when they should be driving.  Still looking at adding an old school antenna flag because it fits the look of the bike.

Third the performance is really good. As I said it is a 125cc so not super big but still fast enough to hold its own in traffic. I am still running the stop exhaust, intake and carb so it is good to know that I don't have to upgrade things day one. Though that new exhaust with the titanium tip looks quite tasty and sounds great.

Ok, enough of the good time for the bad. The color is white and showing a little bit of age even though it is a 2010 with 2K on the clock. I suspect a good waxing and buff will bring the shine back so no worries. The mirrors are too short and a little small. This is a safety issue and I am going to have to change this one this weekend. Should be cheap to fix just need a simple one and most I have found are under $40. The seat is flat and hard. Maybe my butt needs to adapt a little but that first ride had me cringing a few times. Storage sucks. Normally scooters have a bunch of storage but engine placement on this one is directly where that storage should be. I have enough room for gloves, a lock and a few small odds and ends but my full face helmet isn't ever going to make it in there. And no I am not going to those tiny skullcap things. I like my teeth too much and need them to chew with. The final thing is the speedo feels tiny. It is about 3" dia and needs to be a little bigger, 4-5" would be perfect. At least it leaves room to add a phone mount so I can verify my speed with GPS and not get lost.

What's next? Upgrades of course. First up is a top tank/trunk. I need one that will fit a full face helmet. They have one model and are checking if it will fit my melon head helmet. This will be followed by a windscreen. This should improve the performance and my comfort a little. Once those are in place I will start investigating the support and performance sides of things, battery tender, intake/exhaust, shock/seat upgrades.

Anyway enough typing for now, I need to go for a ride.

Commuting

Commuting is regular travel between one's place of residence and place of work or full time study.