Possible trade

Talked to my buddy and fellow Scarab today. His name is Mike Stirrat and he (along with his sweet wife, Shelby) owns "Scoot Over", a scooter shop in Tucson, AZ. They have a Stella scooter there that they may be willing to swap for my Bajaj. A Stella is essentially an 80's P-series Vespa with a disc brake, Continental tires and Bitubo shocks. It has a 5-port, 2-stroke engine (I have always loved 2-strokers...ever since my first Yamaha RD and Suzuki T-500's) which would make it easy to work on. Another plus...every accessory from performance parts to dress-up stuff from a Vespa P would fit. And manufacturers for that stuff will always be around. Bajaj has ceased production of the Chetak manual-shift scooters and parts will only be available for another five years. Something to think about.

I'll probably do it...if only for the adventure!

S#*T happens...

Okay, so about a month or so ago, my Bajaj scooter began making unpleasant banging noises down in the crankcase somewhere. I tried to ride it over Mingus Mountain to Prescott, where the dealer is, but about 5 miles up the hill, in the town of Jerome, it began banging in earnest! Fearful that the world famous "Noise Police" in Jerome (yes, they DO issue expensive tickets for too loud of...well, ANYTHING!) would fire a warning shot through my spleen, I turned around and took it home. The following day, I loaded it up in a buddy's pickup and dropped it off at the dealer. Come to find out, one of the main bearings disintegrated, taking the crankshaft and connecting rod with it. Major rebuild time!! Fortunately, it was still under warranty...and nobody ever SAW me play boy-racer on it. Anyway, my dealer sent the engine to BajajUSA who proceeded to do a complete rebuild and sent it back to the dealer.

I picked the scoot up last Saturday and spent the week driving like Miss Daisy to re-break it in. Nice and gentle. Five miles to work and five miles back each day, never exceeding the recommended speeds in each gear. Run around town paying bills, etc. Then this Saturday, since I had 100 miles on the rebuild, I changed the oil and cleaned out the screen. Good quality oil, diligent cleaning.

I then decided to have a "mental health day" and just ride the scooter all day. I rode the 20 miles to Sedona where I made a payment on my wife's Helix, stopped and visited my wife, since she was at work there in Sedona and rode home. I re-checked the oil. Checked the tire pressures. Fiddled here, fiddled there, adjusted the shift cables...you know...just stuff! Jumped back on and fired it up. Sounded good. Better even than when it was new. I rode up to Jerome (which is a MAJOR Harley hang-out on weekends) just to annoy the Harley boys. I was successful. Also checked out a new guitar player who may be interested in joining our band. Fine day, so far. Just before dusk, I climbed aboard again. Fired her up. Sounded great. Nice fast ride down the hill to Cottonwood. I didn't want to go home since it was still about 65 degrees out, so I went to WalMart where I got a toy Vespa ET4 scooter and a package of socks.

Climbed aboard and started it. Sounded good. Smooth.

I headed up the hill towards my house after leaving the parking lot and got about 200 yards up the road when BANG!! Clunk-clunk. I had to push it home about 1 1/2 miles. Uphill. Discovered I really AM 50 years old. Took about two hours to recover. I thought for SURE there had been some malfunction during the rebuild. The engine was toast.

Took it to the dealer today where we dismantled it. Come to find out, the flywheel is riveted to the mounting hub for the flywheel and said rivets sheared. Nothing else was damaged, but they didn't have one in stock so one is on order. I'm hoping I can pick it up again this weekend.

New Scooter Blog

I've never done any blogging before...it's a first for me. I intend, simply, to make this about scooters. The scooters I own, what I have done to them, what I intend to do to them. The rides I go on will be posted (and I go on a LOT of them). Most of them are by myself, but some of the roads and countryside I cover are spectacular. I am a member of the Scarabs SC based out of Phoenix, AZ. and we have our club rides as well that I will tell you about. I WON'T get political (unless they outlaw motorscooters...then we'll have a problem!). I probably won't get to update this blog everyday since I have to work for a living, but it will be updated everytime I have something to say...

To start, I currently own a 2002 Bajaj Chetak which I dearly love and a 1996 Honda Helix which I got for my wife. She even sometimes rides it! I am currently trying to talk a buddy out of a mid-sixties something Allstate scooter (a rebadged Vespa 125) that needs total restoration. As that commences, I'll ramble on about the restoration.

Also, the Scarabs is hosting the Skull Valley Rally between Phoenix and Prescott, AZ. on May the 20th and 21st. We have many sponsors including Scoot! Quarterly. Contact me at skutergruven@netscape.com for more info.

Whatever,

Keys