"shop-teacher" (shop-teacher)
10/07/2019 at 11:45 • Filed to: Born to be mild, two wheels good
8
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"shop-teacher" (shop-teacher)
10/07/2019 at 11:45 • Filed to: Born to be mild, two wheels good | 8
| 24 |
Consider this write up a formal request for a moderator to give SpecsGTP authorship. That’s the Kinja name for my buddy and fellow Born to be Mild Scooter Gang member Skim Milk. He would like to share the story of prepping and just getting to and from !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! .
The words from here on out are his:
Skim Milk had an adventurous lead up to Idiot Fest 2019. I decided to get the valve stems replaced on the Chinesium 150 as they were severely cracked, even though the scoot only had 800 miles on it since new. Not wanting to gamble with a blow out, pulling both wheels and taking them to local dealer for replacement was on the menu. Everything went well until I reinstalled them and went for a test ride only to find a horrible out-of-balance vibration at 30mph. Instead of ordering fries with that shake, pulling the wheels again and heading back to the dealer the night before setting out was the only option.
Unfortunately by that time they were closed so it would come down to the slimmest of margins (or skimmest), of getting out of school tomorrow, racing to the dealer in time before they closed, heading home to reinstall them, and heading out to Cottage Cheese’s place. The tech at the dealer was honest about not balancing the wheels initially because I asked him to only replace the valve stems, and honestly that part is my bad because I decided to throw around my “I’m an ASE certified tech...”, oops! The rear needed so much weight that if time weren’t of the essence I would have replaced it, and the front wasn’t much better. Did I mention this was going to be 400+ mile run with a completely untested scooter? The tech and the manager were both laughing their butts off when they heard of the upcoming Idiot Fest and wished me the best of luck (and safety) as I raced home.
Once home the wheels were reinstalled, but there was no time for a test ride. It wouldn’t have mattered anyway: Friday was a rainy day. Even better than that is the weather went from rainy to full-blown thunderstorms. Not sure of how to proceed I consulted with Cottage Cheese, whose weather report indicated that if I were going to make the 25+ mile trip to his place would require me to leave immediately to avoid the next line of severe weather. Time to send it!
And send it I did. Rain gear on, Skim Milk began his first leg of Idiot Fest 2019 in a drizzle with continuous lightning in the sky. Within minutes the drizzle became rain, which became heavy rain, and then a full on deluge. Not 4 miles from home and the roadway was becoming flooded. Following the tire tracks of the panel van I was behind was literally the only option as the one time I tried to slow to pull over nearly led to the front washing out as the water had become that deep.
So let’s see: torrential downpour, cloud to ground lighting now surrounding me, nearly no visibility out of my visor, front end getting twitchy, not being able to spot the potholes or uneven road surface, and it’s night out. It was at this point I thought to myself “You are scared. This is THE stupidest thing you have ever done. If you wreck you have no one to blame but yourself you idiot.”
[OK, I lied, Shop Teacher/Cottage Cheese here for a moment. This may have been the dumbest thing Skim Milk ever done on two wheels, but I could reel off literally dozens of other dumber things he has done … I’m not going to do that, but c’mon Skim Milk … REALLY???]
After a bit of the strongest pucker-factor that my sphincter could possibly muster the weather actually improved, and by improved I mean the deluge was now only raining, still plenty of cloud to ground lightning, and visibility had improved to where I could see more than 30 feet in front of me. The lightning while terrifying was helping me to see down the road a bit so it was actually appreciated, although some of the close ones were loud!
I miraculously arrived at Cottage Cheese’s place after about an hour of riding; we loaded up both of our scooters in his truck in the rain, so that we would be ready to head out at the buttcrack of dawn the next morning. Once I had time to start pulling off layers I believe I would have been drier if I had just jumped into a pool and climbed out. The rain gear did an admirable job but I don’t think it was intended for naval use or hurricane force rain levels.
The end of Idiot Fest didn’t occur until minutes before midnight on Sunday. After getting back to Cottage Cheese’s place, Skim Milk had to ride back the original 25+ miles back to his house. While it was a little misty and cold out, the biggest issue was that the Chinesium 150 has a nearly useless headlight. At one point while riding down into the river valley where there are no street lights I had slowed to 25mph (in a 55mph zone) and still couldn’t see the roadway, lines, or basically anything else. After nearly running off the road into a ditch and trees, I relied on my memory of the road which was accurate enough to guided me back towards the sweet glow of city street lights. Arriving at home is when I came the closest to dropping the scooter over the whole journey: riding through mud straight into the garage. Luckily the shiny side stayed up the entire trip and the odometer showing exactly 409 miles rode in just over 48 hours since leaving. From severe thunderstorms, sunny weather, overcast skies, to fog and heavy mist, this was an Idiot Fest that may never be duplicated.
SpecsGTP
> shop-teacher
10/06/2019 at 12:32 |
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One of the dumbest?! Such as on last year’s ride when I put the Helix down in a ditch not once, but twice!
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shop-teacher
> SpecsGTP
10/06/2019 at 12:50 |
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Yeah, one of my favorite conversations ever, was about that.
Skim Milk: Speed was not a factor in that crash.
Cottage Cheese: Oh really? Would you have crashed if you were going slower?
SM: No, likely not.
CG: *blink blink blink*
SM: *shrug*
Chuckles
> shop-teacher
10/06/2019 at 13:54 |
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Did he try requesting authorship here yet?
https://oppositelock.kinja.com/clubopenings-propaganda-1836633896
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SpecsGTP
> shop-teacher
10/06/2019 at 13:59 |
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Gravel was a factor along with discovering that the front tire was mounted backwards were probably bigger reasons why. Although riding like a jack-wagon may have contributed just a tiny bit.
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shop-teacher
> SpecsGTP
10/06/2019 at 14:00 |
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Mmmhmmm.
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Chuckles
> shop-teacher
10/06/2019 at 23:24 |
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I haven’t bugged you about scooter opinions in a while. Didn’t you use to have a Super 8 150? This one is for sale at a place that services and sells scooters:
https://www.smwx717.com/details/used-2018-kymco-super-8-150x/58890987
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shop-teacher
> Chuckles
10/07/2019 at 07:36 |
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Yeah, my first scoot was a Super 8 150. Good scooter. I had the older version though. The one in the ad is the newer one, which is basically a rebadged Kymco Agility, we the a bigger engine. Which isn’t a bad thing, by the way, just different from what I had. The older version had a design flaw that would lead to cracked exhaust pipes. You should do some digging on the Kymco forum and whatnot , and see if you can find out if the Agility suffers from that as well.
Kymcos are good scooters. Not quite as good as a Japanese scooter, but WAY better than a Chinese piece of crap. The only real problem I’ve had, is when something breaks, parts are harder to track down and tend to be pricey.
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Chuckles
> shop-teacher
10/07/2019 at 10:07 |
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Thanks. I'm getting close to my goal so I'm hoping I can find something before it's too cold to ride this year. I think I'll be at 300 by Halloween.
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shop-teacher
> Chuckles
10/07/2019 at 11:45 |
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Awesome! You can do it!
Honestly, this is a great time to buy a scooter. A lot of people are looking to dump them before they have to store them for the winter. That Super 8 is pretty pricey IMO. Around here that’s a $1200 scooter all day. $1850 should get you a Zuma 125, which is a touch slower in top speed, but it’s quicker getting to speed and an all around higher quality machine. It’s fuel injected for one thing, which is fantastic to not have to deal with carburetors.
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Chuckles
> shop-teacher
10/07/2019 at 11:53 |
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I think part of why that Super 8 is a bit pricey is because it’s being sold at a shop, not from a private seller on craigslist. So you’re paying for a little peace of mind since the scooter has been serviced by them.
I think in general, the prices I’ve been seeing in my area are a touch higher than your area, but not too far off. I’ve been keeping an eye out for Zuma 125s. I haven’t seen many for sale, but I will keep watching. My local dealer just got a 2020 Zuma 125 in, but it’s considerably more expensive.
Weather permitting, I'll be taking the MSF course the weekend after Halloween, but they provide the motorcycles for that.
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shop-teacher
> Chuckles
10/07/2019 at 12:40 |
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Good luck with the MSF class!
My local dealer has a leftover 2019 Zuma 125 on special for $2500. It’s send you a link, but their website is atrocious and only has 4 scooters listed in inventory.
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Chuckles
> shop-teacher
10/07/2019 at 12:46 |
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Thanks. My local dealer has a 2020 for 3499. I like the idea of buying something new with a warranty, but that’s outside my price range unless I financed it. I’m thinking that I buy something now for 1500 or so, and then I can plan on buying something nicer in a few years as part of a larger goal. Here's the link:
Did you see my other comment about authorship? Your friend should reply to that thread.
XJDano
> SpecsGTP
10/07/2019 at 13:11 |
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You must do this in order!!!
https://oppositelock.kinja.com/join-oppo-the-blog-for-car-goobers-1833132611
I’m surprised the Shot-teacher didn’t just direct you here already.
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shop-teacher
> Chuckles
10/07/2019 at 13:20 |
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Yeah, I wouldn’t advise financing something new. Used is definitely the way to go for scooters, es pe cially your first one.
I did see that, I’ll let him know.
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Chuckles
> shop-teacher
10/07/2019 at 13:34 |
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If I was going to finance something, I'd probably just get a personal loan through my bank and pay it back over 6 months. It would only cost me like $120 in interest on a $5,000 loan, which isn't terrible. But I agree that used is a better way to go.
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shop-teacher
> Chuckles
10/07/2019 at 13:38 |
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Yeah, why pay $3500, when you can pay half that or less for something that’s just as good?
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Chuckles
> shop-teacher
10/07/2019 at 13:41 |
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As someone who has never spent more than 7500 on a car, I agree. This 125cc Yamaha popped up on my Craigslist for 1,000 but now is 800. It’s a bit older but still might be worth it:
https://allentown.craigslist.org/mcy/d/lehighton-1987-yamaha-riva-125/6985961551.html
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shop-teacher
> Chuckles
10/07/2019 at 15:49 |
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I’ve never rid den one, but I think that Riva would be a great first scooter. The only disadvantage is, it has drum brakes front and rear.
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Chuckles
> shop-teacher
10/07/2019 at 15:56 |
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It also is lacking in terms of cargo space under the seat compared to newer scoots. Even the cheap beach rental had room for my beach towel and a small bag under the seat. That Riva has pretty much no underseat storage. But for 800 bucks, it's tempting.
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shop-teacher
> Chuckles
10/07/2019 at 16:11 |
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Yeah, that’s true. You’d want to get a trunk to mount on that rack. It’s a good cheap one to start with. You could always sell it for more or less what you pay for it in a year or two, is you decide you want to step up to something nicer/newer/bigger.
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Chuckles
> shop-teacher
10/07/2019 at 16:17 |
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As long as it can get my large (but not as large as I used to be) self up the hills around my house, I think it'll serve my purposes well.
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Chuckles
> shop-teacher
10/07/2019 at 17:00 |
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I emailed the seller. I asked about inspection, the tires, and if I could take it for a test ride. Here’s what he said:
“Not currently inspected. It’s been off the road for a while. Tires are original and need to be replaced. Otherwise it’s good to go. I’m 240 and no problem on hills. It’s can be test ridden as is”
Any thoughts?
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shop-teacher
> Chuckles
10/07/2019 at 17:34 |
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So, I’ve never dealt with inspections, as those just aren’t a thing around here, so I can’t comment on how much of a pain or expense those are. If the tires are original, I wouldn’t hesitate to take it for a test ride, but the seller is correct that they should be replaced. Inspection I assume would mandate that anyways, but you don’t want 32 year old rubber under you for more than the length of a test ride, that’s for sure. It’ll probably cost a couple/three hundred for a shop to replace the tires. You be the judge if that’s worth it or not, or offer accordingly.
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Chuckles
> shop-teacher
10/07/2019 at 18:25 |
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Thanks for the input. It turns out that while this scooter is listed on my local CL, the seller isn’t as local as I’d hoped. He’s about 32 miles away, which poses some logistics problems in terms of getting the scooter home. That’s farther than I’m really comfortable riding on old tires, and I’d have to do some real planning to avoid roads with higher speed limits. I’ll talk to my brother about the inspection part and see how much of a pain it is.
I did stop by my local cycle gear store and pick up a helmet and gloves today. I’ll need them eventually.
An d thanks for letting me bug you so much.