Dr House Calls

The Doctor does house calls. Yip Mark from ME Motorcycles, came round this afternoon to pick up my Vespa. Last Friday, I discovered a bulge on the rear tyre and I could not ride up to Pretoria to fetch Matthew. Now Mark has to come round, pick Scarlet up and get a new rear tyre fitted.

I must say Mark is looking very grey, ja boet, we all seem to be getting old lately.

18 Weeks Skedaddle

Finally after 18 weeks, Scarlet has come home. Four months or 18 weeks or 126 days, whatever way you put it, it was 17 weeks too long.

Scarlet went into ME Motorcycles for a new drive belt, rollers, brakes, and a full service but it turned out to be more than that as the entire variator and clutch had to be replaced. Still this should have only taken not more than a week but from what Mark has told me, his supplier did a quick and dirty on him, took his money and skedaddled.

Good news, Scarlet is home and tomorrow will be my first ride on her in 18 weeks.

Bagheera

Bagheera, the workshop panther, greeted Scarlet and I when we arrived at ME Motorcycles first thing this morning. Scarlet, my red Vespa GTS 300ie Super, was on the back of my pickup, and I was here to drop her off into the loving hands of Mark, who is renowned on the West Rand of Johannesburg for lovingly taking care of motorcycles and Scarlet was in need of some love and pampering. Bagheera will make sure of that.

ME Motorcycles West Rand

What a start to Spring, two rear tyre punctures within a 24 hour period. The latest one made me see my life flash before my eyes as my Vespa started fish tailing on the highway while going way over 120km/h. Thankfully the car behind me started slowing down as I drifted to a stop trying my best not to lose the tyre completely or dropping my baby.

After making sure that I hadn’t soiled my undergarments, I phoned ME Motorcycles on the West Rand at 0825709995, to set the Project Tyre in motion. Mark from ME Motorcycles had already sourced two new Pirelli tyres two months back but I put it on the back burner due to budget. Now I had no choice, and after patching the current tyre I limped the bike to ME Motorcycles.

Mark has many years working on all types of bikes but his passion is for superbikes and as you can see from the photo above that superbikes come from all over Johannesburg to get that no nonsense Mark touch.

ME Motorcycles

In the words of Robert Burns in his poem Tae a Moose, "The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men gang aft agley" rings so true. In other words the best made plans of mice and men often go awry and that my friend is as truth as truth can ever be. Planning to work myself out of this hole that I find myself has not gone as planned as unforeseen circumstances have come along and just pushed me deeper down the rabbit hole.

I have been using my beloved Scarlett, my red Vespa GTS 300ie Super, more often now to cut down on the rising fuel costs but now she has been getting throatier, back-firing, and her fuel economy is starting to go awry. I checked and found that the silencer was blowing near a join in the front section, so off to the motorcycle specialists of ME Motorcycles who would hopefully get my Vespa back on its daily commute quickly and cost effectively as possible. (Check out ME Motorcycles on Facebook)

Another setback in my plans, wee sleekit cow'rin tim'rous beastie.