Retro helmet.

         When I first acquired my scooter I was definitely a two wheeler noob, and in no way could be mistaken for a "hard biker" type. So, in order to give me some street cred, a friend of mine gave me one of his lesser used helmets. It is black with smoky gray skulls and flames on it. He only used it when he was giving motorcycle safety classes for the local DMV.He said it was to make fun of all the guys who come to their first class wearing all the Harley gear and trying to look like they have been riding forever, when ,in reality, most of them are upper middle-aged professionals who are having their mid-life crises'. I used that helmet for about 6 months, until at Christmas I received a Full Face helmet from Father Christmas. Here is a picture of the helmet.It is being worn by one of the Grandkids so that we could take a short toodle to the end of the street and back

As you can see, very scary skulls and , really, not quite my style.

I had also been spending time on a website called Modern Vespa, and one of the main topics, no matter what else was being discussed, was visibility as it pertains to safety. Eventually the "safety seed" that had been planted in my brain grew. Very slowly probably, not very fertile ground. After serious thought about what colour helmet would make me visible and look good too, I decided on the Gulf Racing colours from the 60s and 70s as used on the Ford GT40 and some minor league german cars, Porsches I think.

 

Here is the front 3/4 view of my custom painted, high visibility helmet.

I took the helmet to pieces until all I had was the fibreglass shell, then I sanded all the old paint and skull decals off the helmet. Next I painted the whole outside with a teal blue/green can of spray paint that had been in our basement for 6 years. We brought it with us when we moved!!!! I had to leave it in the living room for 24 hours so that it would warm up enough to use. Our basement is cold. After applying 3 coats with drying periods of 1 hour between coats, I let it sit for a day.

Side view. I can almost see my face in that blue.

The next day I used a pencil and marked out where I wanted the orange paint to go. This took a couple of tries to get it satisfactory. It is more difficult than you might imagine to draw parallel lines on a spherical object. In the end I had a 3 1/2 inch strip from front to back and a 1 1/4 border all the way around the helmet. To get the curves for the front of the helmet I used an old margarine container, it worked pretty well I think.

Front view. Well designed curves, eh!

The back of the helmet had tighter curves. I actually like the look of the back better than the front. I think I used the cardboard tube from a roll of toilet paper to get that curve. Toilet paper tubes, not just for making binoculars for the grandkids anymore. 

Nice rear. Very visible.

The final step was to apply a clearcoat to protect the paint. I patiently waited a full 24 hours before I even thought of applying anymore anything. After the 24 hours was up I perched the helmet on a shovel handle as it was such a warm sunny day outside.The beauty of using a shovel is that you can move it anywhere in the garden if the area you started working in has suddenly been put into shadow by the house, or a tree.

    I started spraying the clearcoat on one side of the helmet and the blue looked great as the wet spray hit it, nice and shiny.

 Unfortunately the same cannot be said of the orange. All of a sudden there were cracks and crinkles appearing all over the orangey bits. It looked like one of those dried out lakebeds you see in movies, usually with a cowskull laying in the dirt. I decided it was too late to do anything about the mess, soooo, I walked away and let the sun dry it out. While it was drying I went back inside to compare the cans of paint.

The orange paint was Enamel and the clearcoat Acrylic and unbeknownst to me, the two do not mix. In fact there is a whole industry devoted to making sure that these two opposites do get to meet and work against each other. It is the antique furniture/shabby chic industry, and the effect is called a "crackle finish.Anywho, Idecided a crackle finish wasn't so bad, so I went outside and applied 3 or 4 more coats of clear. Heavy on the blue and a bit lighter on the orangey bits. I didn't want the orange paint to just start sliding off the helmet altogether.

 Here is a look at the "crackle"

  A couple of people have seen the finish on my helmet and they approve, I really like it myself too. It looks like it has been around for years and is aging gracefully....like me hahahaha.

You can see I also put the edge trim piece back on the helmet too, it really finishes it off and makes the orange border look just right.

So there you go. Basically a new helmet with all the glamour of a vintage race helmet. I might put a thin line of black tape over the joining line of blue and orange. What do you think?

  All the best,
  Superscooter.

Saint Valentine's day ride.

I went out for a short ride today. Took my favourite road up to Roan Mtn.State Park. It's a good clean road surface with some nice tight turns and a lot of long sweeping curves. The only drawbacks to riding this road at this time of year are, the possibility of ice, and the probability of deer.

Obviously most of the snow and ice from last weekend is melting away. This little creek is becoming more of a branch or tributary.

Lots of debris gets washed downstream. Doesn't hurt to be on the look-out for Beaver too, you can often spot where they have been chewing away at the bases of trees here.

Nothing I like better than finding "beach glass" in these mountain streams. White and green examples above.

As long as they are worn or rounded enough to not cut you when you pick them up, then they are "beach glass". If they cut you, then they are trash and you pick em up and toss em in the garbage so some kid doesnt cut their feet in the summer. That happened to my kid brother Craig one summer, in Wales at the beach. There was a broken bottle under a raft we were all playing on. As I remember, Dad took Craig to hospital for stitches while Mum and us other three carried on at the beach. Well, no point in everyone having a miserable time was there? 'Course we had to stay away from the raft from then on. Colwyn Bay it was, we went pony riding too. That may also have been the year we saw Chitty Chitty Bang Bang for the first time. We always went to the pictures when it rained on Holiday.

                 Here are some of the deer that are always to be found grazing at the side of the road.

 They seem to know exactly where the state park boundary is. There is no hunting in the state park of course. It really infuriates my hunter buddies when they see so many deer on their way home from work but cannot take a shot at them.

 I think they have never seen or heard a Vespa before mine because they always stare curiously, and twitch their tails a little nervously at the new noise and sight. Cars do not bother them in the least, and the hoards of big motorbikes that zoom up and down this road in season are hardly spared a glance, but for some reason the bzzzzzzzzz of my little engine and the meep meep of the horn makes them very curious.

 Before this little family of 8 deer decided to move along, I was less than 30 yds away from them. The prick up their ears when you talk to them too.

Deer Rear

 What do you see when you are out riding?

  All the best,

  Superscooter.

     

Superscooter Rides Again

Thought I would throw some piccies out there for y'all to see. These are mostly taken when I am out riding on Sophia. Hope you like them.

Above is a picture of myself and Grandson Christian coming back into the front yard from a trip to the end of the street and back.

                                                              A slightly closer look.

                         And closer still. Hmmm must be two different trips here. Can you tell why?

                              Zipping by on our way to the other end of the street. Meep meep.

Here is the front yard of one of our neighbours' houses. He decorates for every occasion. Every one of those figures lights up at night! He kindly gave me permission to take the photo, and to have my scoot in the picture with the Holy Infant.

                           Sometimes you just have to stop at the side of the road and take a picture.

Here is a gate that I designed for a local guy. It was made by Blue Mountain Metalworks of  Banner Elk.

I used to work there when I first came to this area. Unfortunately I did not get to build this gate, just design it.

Another view of the gate. Up close you can tell that the ironwork looks like rhododendrons or mountain laurel.The wording above is "Vini Vidi", or, I came, I saw. When you get up there you are exposed to some beautiful views.

  All the best.
  Superscooter.

Visiting a Local Dealer

         I had occasion to go to Charlotte N.C. a week ago, so whilst I was there I made a visit to Vespa Of Charlotte. I had good directions to the place but I actually drove right past it. It did not look anything like a motorbike dealers or showroom at all.

     So, there is the store. It looks a bit small, and with the awning over the entrance I must have mistaken it for a beauty salon. Anyway after asking directions, or location, from a passerby, I circled the block and 2nd time was a charm.

The fella that owns the place is called Mike, and a right nice guy he is too. He showed me around and explained all his bikes to me. The place was packed with shiny, gorgeous scooters as he had not had a chance to put them out on the street yet. He handles Vespas, Kymcos and Genuine Scooters, plus he had a Yamaha Vino in there too, on consignment. The scoot that I particularly liked was actually called....LIKE, and is made by Kymco. It is available with a 163 cc engine and is very good looking. Unfortunately the handlebars hit my knees when I am sitting in the driving/riding position, and there seems to be no adjustability to the steering/headset.

Here is the Like. Front like a Vespa, rear like a Lambretta.

The above is the 50cc model, but the 163cc has the same body, bigger engine.

What really fit me to a tee was the 2007 LX150 Vespa. I can really see myself riding down the road on one of those. This one was owned by a lady who only put 500 miles on it before deciding scooters, or two wheelers in general, were not for her. Charlotte is a pretty big city and the traffic may have been too much for her.

Here is the bonnie Blue Vespa 150

Yes, I was tempted by the pink one, but it was only 50cc.and I do not have a helmet to match, so.

It would be really nice to have a modern Vespa to run around on, for the reliability, and extra speed. That way Sophia could be worked on and become more of a weekend ride/show bike. Job situations will have to change before that happens, I think.

I ran into a fellow on line who has a Kymco Like. He is also 5'10", he has nothing but good things to say about the quality of the scoot, but when it comes to ergonomics he wishes he had bought something else. Even at his(and my) average height, he cannot find a comfortable riding position. His legs bump the steering/handlebars, and there is no comfortable way to slide back on the seat because of the way it is shaped.

I had a good time chatting with Mike, and I am sure that if I fall into a pot of money sometime soon, I will give him a visit and come back with a shiny new toy. Oh, and by the way, when I said he was local, what I meant was, I drove for two and a half hours. We need a scooter dealership in Elk Park!

All the best,

Superscooter.