Vespa Obsession

I wish Neil's wrist was better and he was riding (and writing), because he has a more day-to-day, grueling commute type of story with his new GTS.

There is no doubt, the GTS kicks some serious a**. It has spunk in its takeoff, it feels incredibly solid and smooth when riding (that extra 90 pounds comes in handy), and those extra 100cc's and fuel injection just feel good. I feel confident on corners, and on the straight-aways, it's the first scooter I've ridden that I feel like I'm hanging on, not just riding. Even though I haven't reached the break-in mileage by a long shot, and haven't tried to reach top speed, I can feel it wanting to go there. Before you can say kashniddle, it's going 50-60 mph. I have to keep watching the speedometer to make sure I'm not speeding.

The most common thing I hear from people is that once I ride the GTS, I'm going to want one. They are right. If I were a long distance commuter like Neil, or were going to be doing long tours, the GTS would be ideal as an addition to my scooter fleet. And if I had the money for it.

From a specs point of view, there are two things I don't like: the weight and the seat height. I've muddled around with the seat as much as I can (it's a loaner, so I have to use the seat I have for my business), but if I actually owned it or were considering owning it, the very first thing I'd do is buy a lower seat (if they existed) or have this seat cut down/reshaped by an expert. I can tippy-toe the GTS, but I don't feel all that comfortable at stops, and find myself dreading routes where I don't have to stop on hills or slants.

The GTS seems weightless when I ride it, and it is perhaps the easiest Vespa ever when it comes to putting it up on the center stand. But trying to push it to park it or back it up is very difficult for me.

The most interesting aspect of using the GTS is that I've learned more about why I love scootering. This is an amazing machine, that's for sure. Do I want one? Yes.

But I'm sorta glad I didn't have it in Vermont. I've taken my Honda Metropolitan II there, I took Ilene before she was 70cc, and now 150cc Rosa, and there is something about the challenge of doing long distances on these scoots that is lost when riding the GTS. The GTS was made for this kind of riding. It makes long distances easy, and I don't know if I'm ready for that.

So, I probably won't be buying a GTS any time soon. But they can't have this one back yet. ;-)

I've stubbornly kept my ET2 for nearly a year longer than I really needed to, because I had the ulterior motive (or rather, secret wish) for my bf to suddenly embrace scooters as much as I have. He hasn't. So my beloved Vespa ET2, Ilene, has done a lot of sitting around this past year. Off and on I've told people that I'm putting her up for sale, but I always hesitate when they ask me "How much do you want for her?"

What a silly question, right? If I put on my cut-throat salesperson hat (ha ha), I want as much as I can get. She's in great condition, as you can see, and has been lovingly cared for. If I put on my I-want-good-people-to-have-good-scooters hat, I think that if the right person came along who loved scooters and would take care of her and ride her all the time, I'd be more than willing to give them a good deal. After all, that's how I got her. And she deserves to be on the road.

But where do I even start? I'm trying to be realistic. The current Kelly Blue Book value of a 2003 ET2 is a respectable $2,280, but real-world prices are often different than the Kelly Blue Book. I've added a bunch of upgrades - Malossi 70cc kit and a Sito exhaust to start with. That's over $500 of stuff before labor costs, but most buyers don't base purchases on these kinds of extras. Even more obvious accessories like cases and chrome will make a seller more money if they are sold separately.

Of course, I can't put a dollar value on what she's meant to me. She's named after a friend who is my driving guardian angel, and has been therapeutic since even before I got her. She helped me grow my business, helped me learn more about titling scooters than I should ever have to know. She's helped me to write more about scooters in the past two years than I had about bicycles in the previous 10.

And of course, she's my first Vespa. Without her I wouldn't be here. How do I put a price on that?

My first ride on Ilene, Dec 2004

Just wanted to share a photo from my rides in Vermont and New Hampshire. Here's a photo of my ET4 on main street in Orford, NH.

The below article appeared in the NY Times Metro Opinion pages (9/17). Much thanks is due to Crystal. Without her recommendation, and editing assistance, I would never have had the chance to write this piece.

Op-Ed Contributor
Scoot Over

By NEIL BARTON
Published: September 17, 2006

SCOOTERS are quickly becoming the vehicle of choice for many in New York City. This is not surprising, given that they are inexpensive, fuel efficient and easy to maintain and they provide tremendous personal mobility. They are legally considered motorcycles but their smaller size and step-through design set them apart from the bigger bikes, making them ideal for city life. Imagine no longer being at the mercy of a subway or bus schedule, or never having to hail a cab or get stuck in a car during gridlock again. Scooters make New York City life easier, more fun and more accessible.

But as far as the city is concerned, unfortunately, scooters don’t fit in, and they are being towed, ticketed and fined more than ever before.

The main problem, of course, is parking. There is almost no officially designated scooter or motorcycle parking in Manhattan. While cities across America — from Annapolis, Md., to San Francisco — are encouraging scooter drivers by offering parking spaces, in New York City, it’s a free-for-all: if you park on the street, you’re liable to have your bike damaged by a driver using the “park by feel” method or even picked up and moved elsewhere without your consent.

Some of my nonscootering friends have suggested that I avoid all this by using a garage or parking lot. This sounds like a good suggestion, but most garage owners don’t allow bikes because they aren’t insured to take two-wheeled vehicles. And those garages that do take scooters or motorcycles insist on charging the standard auto rate, which doesn’t seem fair.

At the moment, sidewalk parking is really the only alternative. Those scooterists, like myself, who park on the sidewalk are usually pretty careful about trying to find unobtrusive spots, out of the way of pedestrians and automobiles. This, however, eventually results in a ticket since parking on the sidewalk is in fact against the law.

In reaction to the ticketing, a lot of scooterists remove their license plates when parked so that there is no way to identify them. But this trick no longer works now that parking enforcement officers are armed with scanners to read registration stickers and issue summons. Recently the city began towing bikes parked with their plates removed, treating them as abandoned vehicles.

I may not be speaking for all scooterists, but I’m sure many, like me, don’t enjoy breaking the law to park somewhat safely. We want our scooters to be there when we walk outside; not knocked over or stolen or moved or towed.

The reality is that this parking problem is not going to go away. Scooterists are a growing constituency. According to the Motorcycle Industry Council, a national trade association, scooter sales in New York City, Long Island and northern New Jersey grew 310 percent from 1996 to 2005. Last year, there was a 64.5 percent increase in scooter sales nationwide.

Aside from providing scooter-designated parking on the street, separate from cars, New York City needs to require garages to provide parking for two-wheeled vehicles. And the city needs to regulate what rates garages charge. After all, if garages can charge a premium for S.U.V.’s because they take up more space, then shouldn’t they provide a discount to a scooter for taking only a sixth of the space of a standard car?

And although sidewalk parking is controversial, the city should consider this option. By looking at underused areas both on the street and the sidewalk, the city can find the space. Designated sidewalk parking also has the benefit of providing a structure to which scooterists can lock their bikes. In many cities around the world, sidewalks are where most scooters are parked.

As a final thought, consider Toronto. Until recently, the city also ticketed and towed its scooterists. But last year, the Toronto City Council passed legislation to make motorcycle and scooter parking free. The legislation also called for increasing the amount of parking space available for two-wheeled vehicles. Toronto obviously realized that it did more harm than good to punish those who reduced congestion and emissions in the city. It’s only a matter of time, I hope, before New York City comes to the same conclusions.

I wrote to the folks at Corbin to tell them about mentioning them in my previous blog entry, and got two letters back.

Michael writes...

Thanks for writing and thanks for the mention!

We are looking for someone to loan us a GTS 250 so we can tool up a new seat for this nice little ride (we've had a few requests for a seat since the middle of the year) so if you happen to know anyone or don't mind spreading the word - we'd appreciate it!

Only catch is that we need the scoot here in our Hollister, CA factory and I promise we'll take good care of the Vespa - we even provide the first production part free as a way of saying 'thanks' for loaning us the scoot.

...and then Kerry over in R & D reiterated:

I read your article. Thanks for the mention. We are actually looking for a Vespa GTS 250 to test the fit of our seats. If you happen to hear from anyone located close enough to our corporate office in Hollister, California that would like to let us borrow their Vespa for a couple of weeks, we'd reciprocate their loaner with a free saddle.

So go on over to check out Corbin's "most wanted" list here, and click on the email link at the end.

In the meantime, while the rest of us are waiting for you to get your scooter over to Corbin, check out the ideas we're coming up with over at ModernVespa.

The GTS is here! Thanks to the folks over a Vespa Columbia for setting up the scooter, filling out paperwork, and arranging to help have it delivered. Also thanks to Ashton (sales manager) and Bob (owner) for giving me a tour and telling me a bit about a few of the bikes in Bob's BMW museum, including the BMW C1 scooter on display (by the way, I was a lot more thrilled than I look in the photo!). Yes, a hard-top, roll-caged scooter with seat belts. It's worth a trip to the shop just to see this.

Vespa Columbia is not only selling a lot of scooters, they're also building a new building on the property just for Vespa and Piaggio products. Now Vespas are in a small area through the featured BMW section of the store. They are also highlighted outside near the front entrance (see photo). I was told that they've  had customers come in intending on buying a motorcycle that walk out with a scooter or two.

What I was most excited about (besides getting the loaner GTS, of course) was finding out about a local veteran MSF instructor who now offers private scooter safety lessons. I haven't had a chance to talk to him yet, but that'll be a post in itself once I do.

The GTS got home without incident (oh, wait, there was one incident). Once I got home (and my headache subsided), I took it for a ride. First impression - wow, this thing sounds great! :-) Second - wow, this seat is high! (31.1" - high for a shorty like me). Third impression - other than being a bit wobbly at stops (I had to tippy-toe it), it runs like a dream. It was so much fun taking it around sharp hairpin corners, and it felt incredibly smooth and solid. I didn't try to see how fast it would go, since I just wanted to get a general feel for it the first time out. Plus, it needs to be broken in. When I got it, it had 8 miles on the odometer so I still have some breaking-in miles to go.

The GTS is 326 pounds dry, while the ET4 is a mere 236. I was worried about being able to handle it, thinking it would be tough get it up on the center stand. It was tough pushing it, but putting it up on the center stand was no problem at all. It's also wider, longer, and taller, so it doesn't fit in a minivan as I was told earlier.

I guess I'll just have to ride it, instead of haul it. :-)

So, if this were my scooter, the first thing I'd do is figure out how to make or buy a lower seat. And even though it's not my scooter, I'm still trying to find an option. Corbin makes a seat for the GT, but I'm not sure if it fits on the GTS, or if it is shorter. The seat pan on the GTS seat has a removeable "hump" under that front bump in the nose of the seat, but even if that is removed, there's still a rise in the pan and not much leeway in the thickness of the foam - plus it slants downward toward the front. Still, there's got to be a way to get it about an inch lower and still be comfortable.

More on the GTS once I'm able to put in some more miles. I've also got to get a scooter seat cover on it...

1) Neil was NOT injured on, near or by his scooter! His arm is in a cast so he can't ride.

2) My GTS pickup plan is delayed because the darn thing is too big to fit in my van.

After whining for a year or so, I'm finally supposed to be getting a GTS from Vespa to try out for awhile. I've been whining on and off since Neil got to try out a GT way way back in September of '05. I gave up for awhile, but then got back into whining mode about a month ago (I may have inadvertently added some cajoling and/or wheedling), and I'm suppose to be going to the dealer today to pick it up. I have to sign and initial a Vehicle Use Agreement in many, many places. There's a lot of fine print in there I don't really understand, but I'm told by Vespa marketing that "even celebrities and reporters" have to sign one, so I'm in good company.

The only concern about this loaner is that I've been warned by many GTS owners that I won't want to give it back.

By the way, Neil has a broken limb which is keeping him off his GTS, so send out some healing karma his way.

I have to admit, when I think of Salt Lake City, "Italian heritage" isn't the first thing to come to mind. Now I'll have to think differently. Salt Lake recently hosted a 2006 Ferragosto Italian Festival in celebration of the the traditional Ferragosto (Assumption Day) festival held in August in Italy. Besides lots of Italian food and bocce ball games, there was a display of vintage Vespas along with Italian cars. Check out a local news story here, and here's the festival's official site.

I'm sorry I've been so quiet over here. I've been totally swamped doing a server-n-software swap over at girlbike.com, and at the same time, trying to get out scooter seat cover orders. I did get a chance to meet with some scooter friends over crabcakes and hamburgers this weekend, and my scooter buddy Carl said that he's trying to get Karen to ride their PX150s back from California across country.

Riding cross-country via Vespa is a fantasy come true for a few lucky folks. I wrote on this blog about one of the luckiest people alive, Shreve Stockton, who rode from San Francisco to New York in two months on her Vespa ET.

The hard core registrants of the 2006 Scooter Cannonball Run are upping the pace a bit: These folks are riding from Pacific City, Oregon to Orange, New Jersey in nine days, starting September 10. That means 350 - 500 miles a day, 8-12 hours a day.

But they don't just do it for the love of a challenge. Many are doing the ride for causes they believe in. Here are a couple I've heard about:

Mike Garrett, a Navy yard contractor, is riding a 1964 Vespa VBB he restored to raise money for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation. The Special Operations Warrior Foundation (SOWF) provides college scholarship grants, along with financial aid and educational counseling, to the children of Special Operations personnel who were killed in an operational mission or training accident. article here

Mark "Bobo" Bobotek is riding to raise funds for Canine Partners For Life (CPL). CPL trains service dogs to aid people with impaired mobility and other disabilities. Just to get warmed up, he's already ridden the other way across country, from Miami to Portland. Read about his trip so far at his blog, here.

"Renegade Pilgrim" is riding her 1980 Vespa P200 and donating any left over sponsorship funds to the Oregon Burn Foundation. Here's her myspace page.

looking for someone to sponsor? check out the forum on the Scooter Cannonball web site.