Day 1 - Lockdown Begins

 

With all my paperwork in check, I prepare my Vespa with the words "Medical Supplies" stuck on both sides. I hope that the Baroness wouldn't protests too loudly, knowing that she would get getting out regularly. I was a bit concerned though about any checkpoints or roadblocks, and that my papers would be up to scratch as this situation is unprecedented.

So I did one delivery down the hill. A few cars about on artery roads, some SAP and JMPD vehicles about but they weren't stopping anybody for random checks. No roadblocks or checkpoints. Maybe they still to come. Got home safely without any fuss.

Swimming to Work

 

What a Monday ride to work. When I set out for work this morning, it was misty with a light drizzle but not even half way and the heavens opened up. Thank goodness I was wearing my rain suit yet that did not stop vehicles riding next to me from spraying up tons of water. My boots wear soaked and I had to wear wet socks all day.

First thing I did when I got home was strip and jump into the shower. Shower therapy is simply the best.

What Next

 

What next can happen to me, after yesterday? Well this morning as I left for work, I felt that my rare tyre was flat, so I limped to the nearest service station and found that a small piece of metal had caused a slow leak.

I am starting to wonder if the Baroness, the name I call my Vespa is trying to tell me something because since that day I told her that I am thinking of selling her, she started getting all uppity with me. And now this!

I won't let this little piece of metal get me down. I don't want an repeat of yesterday. Today is going to be a better day.

Back on the Road Again

It is good to be back in the saddle of the Baroness. Forget loadshedding induced traffic, and glide through the rush hour blues like a hot knife through butter, awesomeness. This is what dreams are all about, and it is a pity that I am thinking of selling her as I need funds for Matthew's final year. Sigh!

Just 9km

 

I was so happy this morning, setting out on my Vespa when just 9km later it just said "how's your father"and cut out, refusing to start again. I called Dale to come pick me up and to drop the Vespa off at  the mechanic once again. At first we suspected that the fixed injector was still causing problems but it turns out that the lead cable to the spark plug had melted on the hot manifold.

Eish when is this going to end?

Finding the Problem

 

It looks like the mechanic has found the problem, a lose injector. Well lets hope that this is it, and I can be back on the road. Just a flat rear tyre to be replaced. That storm yesterday sure has washed a lot of junk onto the roads. My rain gauge only goes up to 100mm and was overflowing within an hour of yesterday's storm so who knows how much rain actually fell.

Loadshedding Traffic

 

Loadshedding during during rush hour makes an normal 2 hour journey into an 4 hour journey BUT not with an Vespa. Normally on my Vespa I take about 35 mins to work or back but with thes government caused rolling backout, the journey has increased only to an hour. Thank goodness for my trusty Vespa, well it has been giving me problems lately.

Hot Knife through Butter

 

It has been a little over 10 days since I got my Vespa back. At first it still played up but after fiddling under the seat, I narrowed down the fault to a certain area of the wiring harness. I managed to wedge the faulty area to one side and all is well.

My Vespa is now purring and like I mentioned yesterday, she cuts through the traffic like a hot knife through butter. No more rush hour traffic blues, as my trip to work and back now takes half the time. It is just the weather that I have to look out for. Oh and the potholes.

The Baroness Scarlet

 

Yesterday after 3 months the mechanic messaged me, informing me that my Vespa is finally ready. The Baroness has been playing the jerk, with random jerkiness when she got hot. The diagnoses went from fuel to electrical and then back to fuel, with nearly every wire, plug checked, fuel lines cleaned, fuel tank stripped and flushed, and the fuel pump cleaned. Just over 3 months later, after the mechanic did extensive testing, the Baroness was given a clean bill of health and returned to me.

All excited this morning I set out for work and halfway the Baroness started playing up. It was stop start for the next 6 km then went away only to come back the last km or 2. The problem still has not being fixed. I am now very upset and disappointed and everything else heaped onto my shoulders. I don't know what else to do. I can't afford for the bike to go back to the mechanic for another 3 months. A new fuel pump at Vespa is in the range of R8000 but it could be anything from wiring to whatever.

Mauro

 

My Vespa is still behaving like a jerk and the mechanic is struggling to trace the issue. I decided to get some advice from Vespa themselves as to any ideas where the issue could be. It was here during lunch time that I bumped into an old Vespa acquaintance, Mauro. He was here getting his baby's tyre sorted.

Being a Jerk

 

My Vespa started being a jerk and when checking everything, the bike mechanic pulled out the spark plug to find this. Something is not right in the state of Denmark. At least the Vespa is getting a full treatment service and should be back as new.

BMW Sandton Auto Approved Repair Centre

 

17 days after the Baroness went into the panel beaters BMW Sandton Auto Approved Repair Centre in Wynburg, she came out reborn into this beautiful seductress. They had the magic touch by not only fixing the damage sections but went beyond their duty and restored my 10 year old Vespa into a thing of beauty. The Baroness now looks like she is brand new straight out of the factory.

R 17,200 Scratch

 

Yes you read correctly R 17,200 or US$ 1,160 to fix this scratch. Okay I am not being fair as you can't really see it clearly there is also a small dent plus the scratched topbox and some more small scratches in the front plus the damaged chrome beading and a noisy exhaust. So it does all add up. 

A little more than a week ago a delivery driver reversed in my Vespa and pushed it over while it was parked in the parking lot of the office complex where I work. At first glance the damage didn't look much but the panel beater with his expert eye picked up more that what I saw. Anyways the panel beater's quote of R 17,200 has been approved by my Insurance company which means my Vespa has been booked for a makeover this Friday.

Red Baroness down

They say that when things go pear shape, they happy in 3s, and yes Monday I was out for the count with flu yet I was back at work the next day, although in a medical daze, then on Thursday evening when I arrived home water was pouring out of the solar geyser, fearing the worst, the water was shut off to the geyser, and the electricity switched off. 

That was number 2 as unshowered me phoned the insurance company this morning who then promptly sent out the plumbers out to repair. And while I was busy trying to problem shoot a membership issue on a website I was working on, the security guard of the office park walked in and gave me number 3.

A delivery driver, not seeing my Vespa, reversed into the Red Baroness and knocked her over. Oh dear, what else could happen this week? I need this weekend, seriously. 

Who Turned the Lights Off?

Just like last week, this week is just as strange as Wednesday is a public holiday due to the National Elections. I'm actually starting to enjoy the Wednesday breaks, and feel that we should start a political party that aim to make Wednesday a holiday forever.

Anyways with too many deadlines ahead, I arrived home after work on my Vespa only to notice that my headlights of the Vespa was not working. Now who turned the lights off?

I expected the globe to be gone so Dael helped me strip the Vespa dash system to reach the globe but we discovered that the plastic fitting that joined the headlamp to the wires had burned out. Thank goodness it was an easy fix. 

Elettrica in the Rain

Vespa South Africa held the launch of the new Vespa Elettric today and sadly it was forecasted that today would be 70% rain. From the outset I thought that I would be playing with Elettrica in the rain which didn't turn me on in the least. 

The rain held off and I climbed onto the saddle of the 2019 Vespa Elettrica. Now I am all for this greenification of the motor industry but I was shocked to find out that I could not go over 49km/h on the racetrack. Afterwards I commented to the sales people at Vespa, they said that the speed is fixed at 49km/h, why I never got an answer. Now who in their right mind would ride down a busy South African road during rush hour maxing out at only 49km/h while the cars and taxis are flying past you. Surely it must be more dangerous than playing in the rain with electricity. The range of the Elettrica while in eco mode is 100km but eco mode's top speed is only 30km/h, ouch. Range of electric vehicles have been programmatic, that I knew but such low speeds? To follow up I have read that the reason for the slow speed is for the Elettrica to fly under the radar because in quite a few states in America it can be ridden without a licence as it would be classified as a moped.

Yes on the track the sound from the Vespa Elettrica was only the soft whine of the electric motor and the tyres on the road but I really was hoping for more from this little Vespa. I think Vespa is attempting to attract new young riders as no licence means no insurance, I think. Maybe I just set my hopes too high for a electric bike that the Elettrica has brought me down a peg or two. This is Africa not America, unless you can ride this Vespa without a licence in South Africa too, uhmmm. I wonder if the BMW C Evolution will bring back hope for the electric scooter. 

My day wasn't ruined though as I got to test ride the new Vespa GTS 300 HPE on the track, the brand's most powerful scooter yet. Now this was something I could get a grips with.

Fun in the Rain

It is good to be back in the saddle again after been caged while my Vespa was out of commission and it began to rain. Yip we still in the rainy season, yet I didn't mind the rain as I sliced pass the standing traffic. I just had to be a little cautious with the new rear tyre as there could be residue from the rubber molding that can cause a little slip and slide.   

Green and Yellow Stripes

The tyre people tried to patch my rear tyre which was about a month and a half old with not much use until a piece of wire the size of a industrial staple cause the tyre to spring a leak. The patching attempts and 2 blowouts later, I came to the conclusion that these cheap tyres cannot be repaired easily. Oh well, I had to buy another tyre.

On these new tyres there are 2 thin green and yellow stripes. At first I thought they were some manufacturing code but it turns out to there just to facilitate with production.

Flat Monday

Who would have thought that this tiny metal shard the size of a industrial staple would ruin my day. Leaving for work this morning I noticed that my rear tyre was flat, so I stopped at the garage to repair the leak. 

On the way home, the repair job failed and I found myself on the side of the highway in the fast lane in rush hour. It wasn't a pretty sight. Another biker stopped and offered some tyre weld by the hole was too large to seal, so I put another seal in and used the remainder of the tyre weld to inflate it a bit, just enough to start limping, and cross to to safer side of the highway. I then arranged for Dael to meet me with my pickup along the route. Thankfully I did as I only made about 5km before this seal also failed.  

The Pickup

It has been just under a year since my Ford pickup caught on fire and while it was away being repaired the alarm system was stolen. Only now is the alarm being replaced. It has taken Discovery Insure just under a year to pull finger and replace the alarm system that went missing on their watch.

To orchestrate the logistics of getting my pickup to the alarm installer and then get to work, I devised an ingenious plan to put my Vespa at the back of the pickup, off load at the installer and then ride the rest of the way to work.