Rain Test

I know people call the part of the country where I live the Wet Coast rather than the West Coast, but, come on! It's July! The rains have been here, off and on, for weeks.

When I scheduled my latest appointment for my GTS, I booked about 3 weeks ago thinking it would be a nice sunny day and that I could wander around Kits (Kitsilano a nice part of Vancouver, near the beach) while the Vespa got services.

Imagine my disgust when I got up and it was absolutely pouring! Well, I thought, time to test out just how good my rain gear truly is.

I wore my MEC hiking boots, MEC rain pants and Corazzo jacket. It should be no problem arriving dry and warm,  I thought. Boy was I wrong!

To be fair, it was absolutely pouring most of the way, and about 12° C. I got through Maple Ridge and Pitt Meadows and even into Coquitlam feeling pretty confident. By the time I hit Port Moody, though, I felt a strip of water right down the front of my shirt. My feet, however, were still nice and warm and I thought my lower half was dry.

A few minutes later, as I approached Vancovuer, I felt definite dampness in my shirt but the outside weather had warmed to 14.5°C. so it wasn't so bad. My feet were still dry but I had the feeling that perhaps my pants weren't quite as dry as I thought....

I continued riding through Vancouver, realizing now that my shirt was soaked. I was early for my appointment so I stopped at Mark's Work Wearhouse and bought a clearance T-shirt for 10 bucks. It was at this time that I realized that my pants were definitely wet - I just didn't know the extent.

I then road to the Urban Wasp and parked my scoot. I started to take off my rain pants when I realized that they had leaked right at the crotch - it looked like I had peed myself! Great! I put my rain pants back on and headed into the store.

After setting up my appointment, I went into the washroom and changed shirts. That solved one problem. Interestingly, my Corazzo Tempeste jacket is advertised as being waterproof - and I guess it is - but the zipper is definitely not! I was not happy about that.

My MEC pants, however, were a more pressing problem. Have you ever wandered around in a wet bathing suit for several hours? That's what this felt like. I couldn't take the rain pants off or it would look like I had had a very big accident and leaving them on gave the moisture no opportunity to evaporate. The pants have taped seams but are about 6 or 7 years old so maybe they have outdone their usefulness - or maybe they aren't good for higher speed water....

I spent the next 4 hours sloshing around Kits in my wet pants but, on the bright side, there were no major issues with my Vespa. I had asked for an oil change and to look at the transmission because of the shuddering problem. There was no mention of metal in the oil and the shudder, although not gone, is much better. It is hardly noticeable most of the time now but, on the way home, through rush hour traffic, I still heard some loud noises at time when doing a lot of stops and starts. But definitely better than before.

I finally made it home, and feeling like a 10 year old who had spent the day at the lake, I took a long shower, had a nice big glass of wine, and felt much better, and much drier.

Hi-Yo Silver! Metallic oil....

Last night was my staff party. I decided to get a ride because the temperature was -3°C. at 5 o'clock and I was worried that when I came home it would be even colder. As it turned out, it was a wise choice as it was quite frosty and icy. Unfortunately, I ended up having a few too many tequila shots (I consider one tequila shot too many) so it was a good thing to get a ride home.

The reason I mention this is because I had an appointment at Urban Wasp (Vespa Vancouver) to give my new (to me) scoot a once over and a major servicing. It's over an hour there and I had some unpleasant reminders of the previous night in the form of a sore head. The temperature in Maple Ridge was at freezing but it warmed up the closer to Vancouver you went, so I decided to carefully set out at 8:30 this morning.

Once I got out of our parking lot, it was actually pretty good. I did slow down on the curves and made sure to be extra careful on the road. As for warmth, for once I was fine! My father-in-law bought me hand muffs when he went to China a couple of weeks ago and those, combined with my thin cycling gloves, kept my hands toasty warm. My core was kept warm with a long sleeve shirt, fleece, down vest, ski jacket and rain over jacket. The GTS 250 performed very well at many different speeds, not showing any problems with loss of power that helped precipitate my servicing request.

I actually arrived a bit early but Urban Wasp was open. I went in and  talked to the mechanic who is a very nice guy who enjoys talking about Vespa engines and seems extremely knowledgeable. We decided to go ahead with the 20,000 km servicing but he would give me a call if anything came up. I had a brief chat with Bob, the owner, commenting what a great deal I got, and then I left to explore Kitsilano.

A couple hours later, just as I was finishing my latté, I got a call - come down to the shop, please....

I have never seen a mechanic that seemed so genuinely apologetic. He had only changed the oil but had come across a problem. I guess he didn't want to spoil my day and I do appreciate the sentiment.

He had saved the oil in a clean container. There was a layer of silver fluid on the top of the oil, from metal inside the engine. At that point he gave me a couple options - do an oil change and see if it was any better in a couple thousand km or have him try to find out what the problem was. While I was thinking about it, he showed me lots of parts and described what it might be. I had a hard time following him but that's fine, I really just want the scoot fixed and ready to go so it doesn't have a problem down the road. Keeping that in mind, I opted for the second option.

He (sorry I don't know his name!) said that because the scoot was running well, it might be something that only grinds during start up or maybe it was a problem that was at the beginning. He said that once he figured out the problem, he would fix it and also perform the maintenance which would save me a little bit if a particular part was already accessible due to the repair. He also said that because the GTS has two oil filters (!) the metal might have collected in them rather than wrecking parts of the engine.

My feeling is that just hoping in a couple of thousand kilometres that it would all go away is not the best solution - and the mechanic also felt this way. I have really enjoyed trouble-free driving with LX50 so I want the same kind of start with the GTS. I know that buying a Vespa - or any other vehicle, for that matter - without an inspection is a bit of a crap shoot but with such a good price, and the fact that there wasn't any Vespa store in Kelowna, I took a chance. Now I have to live with my decision and make sure that the scoot is reliable.

I haven't tried anywhere else but I really do think that Urban Wasp does a good job. The mechanic really seemed to know his stuff and that is always a good thing.

Now I have to wait for the call back to tell me exactly what's wrong... fingers crossed. At least my head isn't sore anymore....

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….

A grey palette paints the day

When we lived in Scotland on my year long teacher exchange, so many days were grey but also beautiful. It looked like God had decided just to use a palette of greys, but still painted a masterpiece.

Yesterday, the rains stopped and, as I had some appointments in Vancouver, I rode out on my Vespa. It seemed that the Scottish palette of greys was in use again, with the occasional splash of fall colours.

Some dark clouds were brooding over Burke Mountain as I rode through Coquitlam. I had a hard time riding in traffic as I saw so many different cloud formations so I ended up pulling over several times.

One of the cloud formations had sun behind it and I was hard pressed to find a place to pull over. It amazes me that I seem to see so much more on the Vespa than when I’m in my car. I really try to take advantage of the many traffic lights on this route so I can rubberneck safely.

The traffic was fairly light as I headed onto the Barnet Highway. This photo of the sulphur piles in the Port Moody Arm of Burrard Inlet is OK - in reality the sulphur is such a deep and saturated yellow that it almost seems to pop out of its surroundings.

Further on up Barnet Highway, I pulled over and took a photo of the inlet looking west. The colours of the palette had definitely gone beyond grey at this point. Unfortunately, my camera kept shutting of at this point because the battery needed recharging.

I continued on into Vancouver with the sun providing some actual warmth. There were no near-death experiences and a bus driver actually honked to let me pull ahead!

In Vancouver, I stopped at the Kits Coffee Company and had an excellent latté and a Sicilian grilled sandwich. I had brought my laptop so managed to mark most of my students’ work that was done online.

My final stop before my last appointment was Granville Island. I never tire of the views from there. The public market is great there as well - I grabbed some sort of French sausage to supplement my dinner - and then walked out towards the water. Luckily, my camera had enough life in it to fire off a bunch of night photos - of which one or two were pretty good.

Unfortunately, at the end of my Vancouver time, I got a phone call that one of my good friend’s father had passed away. A tradition with this particular group of friends is to buy a nice bottle of Scotch and then spend some time with the person who has lost a parent. I stopped in at the fancy Cambie Street liquor store and bought a bottle of cask strength Laphroaig.

An hour and a bit later, I was at my friend’s house, toasting the memory of his father with a couple of wee drams. This “grey” end to the day, sort of a “pre-wake”, was actually a pretty comforting way to end off the day.

Wet, Grey Ride to Vancouver

If I were an artist - and I’m not - and I had to paint the colours of today’s ride, I’d only need black, white and maybe a bit of grey.

It was time for another servicing so today I rode into Vancouver. I take my Vespa in every 2000 km or about 4 months to get an oil change and to be checked over. It’s certainly more often than suggested but I l only really want to ride my scooter, not tinker with it, so this has worked well for me.

My youngest daughter is in Japan - I head there on Thursday - so she has my camera. The photos I have posted today were taken with my video camera so I apologize for the lack of quality.



I meant to take some photos on the way but the rain, which was not bad when I was still, completely soaked me while riding. Luckily I have good gloves, waterproof clothes, and I was even wearing my gortex overbooties!


After dropping off the Vespa, I headed into Kitsilano - a trendy section of Vancouver where Vespa Vancouver is located. There’s lots of good restaurants., cool stores and loads of interesting people.


I stopped at Kits Coffee for an early lunch (panini) and a latté while I read a couple guidebooks on Japan. Between the library and the Book Warehouse, I’ve accumulated a number of books about Tokyo - you’d think I hadn’t lived there before - sheesh!


I saw this interesting mutant bicycle - looks like some sort of Harley - Peugeot hybrid. It caused a few people to stop and look.

While talking to my favourite Vespa dealer, Bob, I found out that, much to my surprise, Vespa Vancouver was not rebranding but, in fact, now had a competitor. A couple weeks ago, I was at the Green Living Show in Vancouver and saw a display for Vespa Metro. I assumed that this was a new name for the old store, especially since I vaguely recognized one of the people at the display.


No, Vespa Inc. has decided to open another Vespa retailer in Vancouver, near (but not in) the area known as Little Italy (Vespa Metro is pictured above). Bob is not particularly happy as people think that the two stores are owned by the same people. He’s also a bit worried about a price war which could be good for the consumer if prices drop and could be bad for the consumer if they both go broke. For the time being, I’m very happy with Bob and the service at Vespa Vancouver so I’ll stick with them.


Vespa Metro does have a cool mural in progress, though.


I left with my serviced Vespa and headed home, stopping at Coquitlam Centre to pick up some Chinese groceries at T and T market. Lo and behold, when I left the mall, the sun was almost breaking through the clouds. It was definitely worth a photo.

So now, I am getting ready for my upcoming trip to Tokyo. I will hopefully be reunited with my still camera (or might even get another one in Tokyo) and have some interesting photos for this blog. Until then, sayonara!