Chilly days are upon us

But I'm still riding, are you?

This morning when I went out to my scooter, it was covered by a thick layer of frost. Thankfully my windshield is low enough that its height does not require it to be defrosted.

My ride in to work this morning was very cold and the scooter was a bit hesitant at first. After warming up for a bit, she did just fine.


I went out on the Sabre after I arrived at home and while it was brisk, it was very enjoyable. The leaves have all turned and many are no longer on the trees. It was all I could do to restrain myself from blasting through the piles of leaves on the roadside.

Winter will soon be here. It is shaping up to be long and cold.

Autumn doldrums

First off, I would like to apologize to my readers for not posting in a while. With my wife's illness I had retreated into a bit of a personal funk. It has been hard for me to do anything due to feelings of depression and outright hopelessness.

I have been riding though, and from time to time I still stop to take a picture of the scoot. The bushes in the photo above were so stunning I could not help myself.


I'm a little irritated that this picture didn't come out so well. The sky behind me was striking, but I think I should have turned off the scoot to eliminate mirror vibration prior to taking the pic.

To add more to my busy life, the home I work for moved to a new facility on Tuesday. The gentlemen in the home seem to be settling in, but it has been stressful for all of the staff, myself included.

I'm still waiting for a call from the local Honda dealer about the Elite 11o. They are running into issues with PennDOT since the scoots are apparently made in China and have an "L" vin. I've read conflicting reports about the quality of the scoots from different sources. I'm itching to see one for myself so I can make my own assessment.

Ups and downs

Well...It's been a busy, and difficult couple weeks.

My wife has been in the hospital with a serious illness.

My son and I went north to Massachusetts so my family could help me through a bout of depression due to my wife's illness, this time in my wife's car since it was too cold to travel all that far with him on the back of the Sabre. We had a fairly good weekend, and it was nice to see my mom and family again.

We returned home, and I worked three days in a row, alternatively riding the Sabre or driving my wife's car.

I finally rode the scoot again last night after replacing the windshield. I did decide to go with another Slipstreamer Scoot 30. The price was right, and it would have cost about $30.00 more to buy a Kymco specific shield.


With the new windshied, I finally felt comfortable riding the scoot again. Today, I rode the scoot to Friendship Community's annual banquet. I parked it in front of Yoder's Restaurant so the scoot would be out of the wind. Nobody seemed to mind my parking it on the sidewalk next to a soda machine, and I checked with an employee just to make sure it was ok, and they thought nothing of it.


The banquet was nice enough, though the speech was a bit long. The keynote speaker was Anne Beiler, founder of Auntie Anne's Pretzel company. The speech was good enough I suppose, but I'm not a big fan of speeches anyway.

After the banquet, I followed the house van back to the group home (I'd taken the scooter since the van was full), and it started to rain. Unfortunately, I had not had the foresight to wear my rain gear, so my jacket got a bit damp. It wasn't too bad, but when I was ready to go home, it began to pour. I think I shall start making it a practice to keep my rain gear with me every time it's even a little cloudy. I must say that I was very thankful to have a new windshield. It kept me from getting completely soaked before I got home.

Windshields certainly make a difference. Acceleration and handling are greatly improved. Now all I need is a new basket for the back of the scoot and I'll be set.

No more floppy mirrors

After my scooter's most recent wind experience (being blown over), the piece of metal that holds the left back-plate / mirror mount in place had snapped off. I'm not sure how, since it's a bit more than a 1/4 inch thick and round, but I suppose with enough force and the repeated times which the wind has blown the scooter over, it was inevitable.


I purchased a replacement back-plate and attempted to remove the old one. I had to remove several screws to loosen the headlight cowl so I could get at the screws on the old back plate. It took a while, but I finally got the cowl loosened. Kymco doesn't make it easy to get the plastics off their scooters.


To top it off, the handgrip was well and truly stuck to the handlebar. It took quite a bit of cajoling to convince the handgrip to slide off, but eventually I did. I slid the old back plate off as well (which you can see from the picture was somewhat scuffed from flopping around), and slid the new one on.


I replaced the handgrip, screwed in the mirror, and voila! The scoot is ready to ride again.

I'll take a little ride this afternoon since I have some errands to run. I'm looking forward to it.

All I need now to be prepared for the winter is another windshield (the old one cracked in the last fall). I've been looking at my options and while another slipstreamer scoot 30 would be ok, I'd really like something a little more sleek looking.

For the moment, I'm just relieved my mirror won't flop around while I'm riding down the road.

Another SH-150i review

The November issue of Motorcyclist magazine has a review of the Honda SH-150i. I was unsurprised to find that the article is not mentioned on the cover, and was also unsurprised at their evaluation of the SH-150i in the little "They Say, We say" blurb set into the title photo which states: "They say: 'So hip, so smart, so Honda. We say: True, but it's still a scooter."

Of course, this is from a motorcycling magazine with no real love for scooters. I get the impression that they cover them to keep an aura of complete reporting.

Personally, I have a soft spot in my heart for scooters, but I'm willing to accede to the fact that not all folks share my particular vantage point, and that's quite alright.

Despite their obvious bent toward manual transmissions, they did a rather complete and accurate assessment of the SH-150i, mostly inline with my own. They did state that the SH-150i is "reasonably priced" and I still am not sure I agree with that. While it is probably the nicest big wheel 150 I've ridden, I'm not 100% certain it is worth dropping that much cabbage on. Is it worth the money? I think so, yes, due to its high quality; however, it is the highest priced of the big wheel 150's that I have looked at. Considering that the MSRP on a Piaggio BV-250 is only $400 more for comparable quality with a bigger (highway capable) engine, the merit of the statement "reasonably priced" rests with the individual buyer.

It's interesting to note though that this review concurs with my own (and all the others I've seen), that the SH-150i is an impressive scooter.

I can't wait to see the new Elite 110!