My Baby's Alright!

I wanted to wait a few days to be sure – but my baby is definitely in great shape now.

My last entry detailed how, for the past few weeks, when I’ve been starting from a standstill, it feels like my Vespa has been slipping or riding rough. I was worried that something was seriously wrong.

I arrived at Vespa Vancouver bright and early at the crack of 10 last Saturday morning. I had a great chat with Bob, the owner, and we talked about a variety of subjects from upgrading to a bigger scoot to electric bikes to fundraising.

He was setting up for an open house event so I dropped off my scoot and wandered off to Granville Island.

I spent a good part of the day wandering around Kits, enjoying a day of doing nothing for a change. Two lattés and an order of sushi later, about 3 pm, I headed back to Vancouver Vespa.

There was quite a party going on when I got there! The little store was packed with people looking at different scooters and electric bikes and noshing on packs of chips and soft drinks.

I made my way to the front counter and, while I was waiting, a guy walked up to me and said, “Hey, Big Guy, Small Scooter!”

It was a very odd feeling, being recognized for my blog. I’m often recognized around Maple Ridge because I’ve taught so long there but not in Vancouver and not for my blog. It was kinda cool!

It was Bob from Bobskoot. We had a nice conversation about, once again, a variety of topics. Although I love my scooter, I do not have connection to the scooter culture that he has. He told me about all these people he had seen at the open house and, although I had a vague notion who they were, it was obvious that, in the scooter culture, I don’t get out much. A very nice guy, though, and I may try to get a bit more involved during the summer. We’ll see.

Of course, the point of this entry is my scoot.

The mechanic gave it a clean bill of health. After checking all the mechanical parts, doing the maintenance, and giving it a test ride, my baby was feelin’ good. It was $130 – the usual service fee – and I was back on the road again.

Now that I’ve got almost 12,000 km on it, I wonder, if I service it regularly (about every 2000 km) and make sure all the fluids are up and try not to ride it too, too hard, will I et another 12,000 kms? 30,000? What’s the life expectancy of a 50cc scoot anyway?

I guess time will tell….