I've gone on the Lougheed hundreds if not thousands of times before. But it was dark and there seemed to be rush hour going every which way. I gripped the handgrips tightly as I putted along at 50 km but it was an 80 km zone so the cars and trucks were zooming around me. One truck driver did the "I'll pass you and then accelerate like I'm trying to break Earth's orbit" and I certainly felt the pressure of drivers behind me. Thing is, I was going too fast for the breakdown lane and if I had made that choice, it was too dark to see the road properly and I know there is lots of junk on the side of the road.
It was somewhere during that knuckle whitening ride that I realized that I was definitely ready to put the LX50 behind me. I'm tired of crazed drivers trying to zoom past me to emphasize that they can go wayyy faster than me! I'm also tired of slipping into the breakdown lane once I get a line of more than five cars behind me. It's been a great 5 years on the 50 but it's now time to move up!
Today, I ran a lien check at Service BC on the Kelowna Vespa GTS 250 and it came back clean. I took out a whack-o-cash from the bank and, armed with that, my Carfax report and my riding stuff, I am ready to take a serious look at the potential ride. Sadly, Kelowna's Vespa store shut down in 2009 so I'll have to trust my own (gulp) judgement as to the suitability of the scoot.
I'm not completely taken with THIS Vespa (although I am taken with Vespas in general) so if this does not seem to be the one, I'll go back
3 comments:
Dave,
I have been riding a 450 motorcycle for a solid month, the other day I took my blue beauty (my 50cc scoot) and I sadly and suddenly realized I have outgrown her. I felt awkward and she felt too small. I am used to my new riding position on the 450 versus the small space of the scooter. I also noticed the manoevrabilty on the bike when I need to make a quick move in traffic. I don't think I would be feeling the same if my scooter had more cc's. That is one reason I made the move and took the motorcycle course and bought the motorcycle.
As for buying a scooter without a mechanical check, I did the same thing with my vino. My hub has been riding for forever and maintains his bike excellently. He just made sure that there was no oil leaking and took it for a rip around the block. She has run perfectly since we got her with the exception of needing a new battery, which we knew and he replaced it with a dry cell and put synthetic oil in. She runs like a dream.
I fully get where you are coming from needing to upgrade as I made the same conclusion myself. Good luck I Kelowna and I hope the scoot is everything you hope for. You should have a look on Used Victoria, there are tons of scoots on here.
Good luck. I ride a 100cc Symba and now exactly what you are talking about . . . both the experience of traffic and the sense of needing more. My Symba really is the perfect bike for my daily commute -- great gas mileage and I have a route where only those who are exceeding the speed limit more than I am pass me . . . on the right where there is no lane :) Oh well. You'll find the bike you need. This is a great time to be hunting a bike/scoot deal.
Dave:
I also came to this same conclusion years ago but I thought that a larger scooter would do the trick so I bought a larger scooter, but I love to shift gears, for me this is the thrill of riding. Gear down, accelerate through the corner, hear the engine wine into the high RPMs then click up a gear onto the straight-a-way.
I hope that GTS works out. It is safer to be able to travel with the flow of traffic
bob
Riding the Wet Coast
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