Owen B. Mehegan (![[info]](http://l-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} owen) wrote,@ 2008-11-15 21:53:00 |
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Wherein we learn about the Vespa
More long-ish Owen news here, which you can feel free to skip over. But it includes pictures of my scooter...
Ever since I was about 16, I've wanted an old Vespa scooter. Living in Boston, though, it never made much sense to own one. You don't want to ride a motorcycle during the rainy, snowy, or just freezing-ass cold months. When I decided to move to San Francisco I remember thinking, "Yes, NOW I can get a Vespa!" But then I got into credit card debt and spent some time digging out of that, and then when Danger got bought and I made some money on my stock, I thought it would be better to pay off my car loan and dump some in my IRA, and then I'd been wanting a new laptop and digital camera for a long time...
Finally, back in July I got a mid-year bonus at work, and I decided it was time. I'd been trolling Craigslist looking for the perfect scooter for awhile, and had passed up some gems when I didn't have any money. In the last few years they've gotten really popular, and classic ones in good condition aren't as cheap as, say, a nice old Honda motorcycle like Nick has. And in fact, Nick tried in vain to convince me to buy something practical like a '72 Honda Scrambler, which would have cost about half as much as a Vespa. I was having none of it, though.
The week I got the bonus, a beautiful 1975 Vespa Rally 180 showed up on Craigslist. The asking price was reasonable, and it seemed in good condition, save a nasty scrape it had taken along the engine cowl. But I emailed the seller as soon as I saw the ad, a day after he had posted it, and he already had a buyer. In a stroke of luck, though, a day or two later a 1976 Rally 200 showed up for sale. I called the guy immediately, and he hadn't sold it yet. Like the other one, this one was fairly beat up, but in good mechanical condition. When we talked on the phone I mentioned that I didn't have a motorcycle license, so I was going to bring Nick to test ride it for me. He said, "Have you ever owned a motorcycle before?" I said no. "Uhhhh... OK, you need to understand that this is a beautiful machine, but it's not the most reliable bike on the road. Are you sure this is what you want?" I told him I knew what I was getting into, that I do a lot of my own work on my car and I'm more than happy to have a somewhat fussy old bike to work on.
I took a work from home day and dragged Nick over to see the scooter the next day. The guy selling it was Irish, and selling it because he and his family were moving back to Ireland. He had owned the bike since 2000, when a friend had _given_ it to him. The friend had smashed it up by popping the clutch while the scooter was in gear and he wasn't on it. It took off across a parking lot, uncontrolled, and took a bunch of scrapes and dings. The guy then let it sit for several years, and passed it on to the last owner when he expressed an interest in it. Nick took it for a ride around the neighborhood and declared that it was in good working order. Following a vintage Vespa buyer's guide I had found online, I went over the mechanics of it and everything checked out OK. I talked him down $150 on the price and we had a deal. I gave him a $500 deposit, and came back with the rest a couple of days later (issues transferring to/from my ING account held things up). Nick rode it back to my house.
So at this point I had essentially bought a motorcycle, not only without having ridden it, but without even knowing HOW to ride it. The first thing I did was go to the DMV and take the written motorcycle learner's permit test, which I failed because I hadn't studied. Nick told me it was easy! I didn't expect to get asked a bunch of questions about safe lane positioning! So the next night I studied up, and then passed the test the following day. Then I went and got myself a helmet, rushed home, and got Nick to come over and give me a first lesson. This mostly consisted of learning where the friction zone was on the clutch, and then riding up and down the block a bit. Whee!
During the next couple of weeks I went for some short rides around the neighborhood, with and without Nick, to get more comfortable with it. My main goal was to be able to ride to work, to the rowing club, and back home on the days I usually go there after work. I decided I didn't want to attempt that until after I took the MSF safety course. The Motorcycle Safety Foundation is a national non-profit that provides a three-day course curriculum to franchised motorcycle schools. In California, and maybe everywhere else too, if you pass their class you get a waiver on taking the DMV road test. It's an automatic upgrade from learner's permit to full license. There's a classroom session on a weeknight, and then two half-day riding sessions in a big parking lot. They provide bikes. I passed this a couple of weeks ago, and I feel like I really got a lot out of it. I have my waiver card from them, I just need to go to the DMV and submit it and then I'll be fully legal.
In addition to taking the MSF class, I tried to buy some decent gear to keep myself safe. I got a full-face helmet, not one of those dopey 3/4 or 1/2 head ones that don't protect your jaw in a crash. I wanted a bright one so it would be more visible, but that unfortunately meant getting one with all kinds of "tribal" rice rocket designs on it. Not exactly a match for a 32 year old Italian scooter, but it sure does stand out. When Nick saw it he said, "Wait a second... does it say VENDETTA on the side?" Apparently that's the model name. That's right, I'm out for JUSTICE. On my scooter... I also have gloves and boots, and a pretty nice orange, black and silver riding jacket that has armor in it, which my friend Chris gave me. I got something called a helmet halo, too. It's a strip of reflective tape that goes around the base of the helmet, and it shines bright in car headlights. Between all that and the loud-ass two-stroke motor, I won't be sneaking up on anyone.
Of course, I've had it for less than three months and I've already had to do some work on it. In the beginning I was wondering why the brakes sucked so bad. I had been told, "Oh, the old Vespa brakes are just really bad." But then one morning I was riding it to the DMV and then a physical therapy appointment, and I noticed it was leaking some oil. When I looked underneath, I saw there was oil EVERYWHERE. It seemed to run OK, but clearly this was something that needed further investigation. The oil seemed to be coming from around the back wheel. The Vespa is direct-drive; the driveshaft from the motor turns the back wheel directly. The hub it connects to is also a brake drum - no disk brakes on this baby. My friend Fred, a Vespa enthusiast, said that the hub seal around the drive shaft could be shot, which would let oil leak into the brake drum. "Hmmm. That would explain the crappy braking," I thought.
The guy I bought the scooter from gave me all the maintenance records back to when he originally got it, as well as two repair/restoration manuals, so I took all this stuff and got to work. After a hell of a lot of fussing and fuming, I got the back tire off, and then took the hub apart. In doing so, I noticed that the nut that held the hub onto the driveshaft was awfully loose... Inside the brake drum there was oil EVERYWHERE. The brake shoes, the axle, the surface of the drum that the brakes make contact with... everything was SOAKED in oil. "That's not good," I thought.
The next day I went to First Kick scooters, San Francisco's venerable vintage scooter shop. They gave me a new hub seal, new brake shoes, and a can of multi-purpose solvent to clean everything else up with. When I took the old seal out, it didn't look worn at all. No nicks or cuts in it at all; it seemed like new. In the maintenance records I saw that the old owner had had this EXACT problem (the mechanic's notes on the repair literally say, "Brakes soaked in oil") two years ago. They replaced this seal then, so I was dubious that this was causing the problem. Still, I dutifully cleaned the whole braking system, replaced the seal, replaced the brake shoes, and put everything back together. I tightened the hub nut down to 65 pounds, which was a hell of a lot tighter than it was. Then I took it out for the first time in a couple of weeks. I got to the end of the block, braked, and locked the back wheel up good and hard. "Whoa. So that's what normal brakes feel like..."
Since then, I've ridden to work twice, to the rowing club once, today I rode it to my friend's wedding reception, and tomorrow I'm going to ride it to see another friend's band play. It seems to be running fine, but I'm still stumped about the oil leakage. I'm going to take everything apart again in a couple of weeks and see if it's still getting into the brake drum. If so, it'll be time to take it to the professionals.
The rest of the pictures are here.
More long-ish Owen news here, which you can feel free to skip over. But it includes pictures of my scooter...
Ever since I was about 16, I've wanted an old Vespa scooter. Living in Boston, though, it never made much sense to own one. You don't want to ride a motorcycle during the rainy, snowy, or just freezing-ass cold months. When I decided to move to San Francisco I remember thinking, "Yes, NOW I can get a Vespa!" But then I got into credit card debt and spent some time digging out of that, and then when Danger got bought and I made some money on my stock, I thought it would be better to pay off my car loan and dump some in my IRA, and then I'd been wanting a new laptop and digital camera for a long time...
Finally, back in July I got a mid-year bonus at work, and I decided it was time. I'd been trolling Craigslist looking for the perfect scooter for awhile, and had passed up some gems when I didn't have any money. In the last few years they've gotten really popular, and classic ones in good condition aren't as cheap as, say, a nice old Honda motorcycle like Nick has. And in fact, Nick tried in vain to convince me to buy something practical like a '72 Honda Scrambler, which would have cost about half as much as a Vespa. I was having none of it, though.
The week I got the bonus, a beautiful 1975 Vespa Rally 180 showed up on Craigslist. The asking price was reasonable, and it seemed in good condition, save a nasty scrape it had taken along the engine cowl. But I emailed the seller as soon as I saw the ad, a day after he had posted it, and he already had a buyer. In a stroke of luck, though, a day or two later a 1976 Rally 200 showed up for sale. I called the guy immediately, and he hadn't sold it yet. Like the other one, this one was fairly beat up, but in good mechanical condition. When we talked on the phone I mentioned that I didn't have a motorcycle license, so I was going to bring Nick to test ride it for me. He said, "Have you ever owned a motorcycle before?" I said no. "Uhhhh... OK, you need to understand that this is a beautiful machine, but it's not the most reliable bike on the road. Are you sure this is what you want?" I told him I knew what I was getting into, that I do a lot of my own work on my car and I'm more than happy to have a somewhat fussy old bike to work on.
I took a work from home day and dragged Nick over to see the scooter the next day. The guy selling it was Irish, and selling it because he and his family were moving back to Ireland. He had owned the bike since 2000, when a friend had _given_ it to him. The friend had smashed it up by popping the clutch while the scooter was in gear and he wasn't on it. It took off across a parking lot, uncontrolled, and took a bunch of scrapes and dings. The guy then let it sit for several years, and passed it on to the last owner when he expressed an interest in it. Nick took it for a ride around the neighborhood and declared that it was in good working order. Following a vintage Vespa buyer's guide I had found online, I went over the mechanics of it and everything checked out OK. I talked him down $150 on the price and we had a deal. I gave him a $500 deposit, and came back with the rest a couple of days later (issues transferring to/from my ING account held things up). Nick rode it back to my house.
So at this point I had essentially bought a motorcycle, not only without having ridden it, but without even knowing HOW to ride it. The first thing I did was go to the DMV and take the written motorcycle learner's permit test, which I failed because I hadn't studied. Nick told me it was easy! I didn't expect to get asked a bunch of questions about safe lane positioning! So the next night I studied up, and then passed the test the following day. Then I went and got myself a helmet, rushed home, and got Nick to come over and give me a first lesson. This mostly consisted of learning where the friction zone was on the clutch, and then riding up and down the block a bit. Whee!
During the next couple of weeks I went for some short rides around the neighborhood, with and without Nick, to get more comfortable with it. My main goal was to be able to ride to work, to the rowing club, and back home on the days I usually go there after work. I decided I didn't want to attempt that until after I took the MSF safety course. The Motorcycle Safety Foundation is a national non-profit that provides a three-day course curriculum to franchised motorcycle schools. In California, and maybe everywhere else too, if you pass their class you get a waiver on taking the DMV road test. It's an automatic upgrade from learner's permit to full license. There's a classroom session on a weeknight, and then two half-day riding sessions in a big parking lot. They provide bikes. I passed this a couple of weeks ago, and I feel like I really got a lot out of it. I have my waiver card from them, I just need to go to the DMV and submit it and then I'll be fully legal.
In addition to taking the MSF class, I tried to buy some decent gear to keep myself safe. I got a full-face helmet, not one of those dopey 3/4 or 1/2 head ones that don't protect your jaw in a crash. I wanted a bright one so it would be more visible, but that unfortunately meant getting one with all kinds of "tribal" rice rocket designs on it. Not exactly a match for a 32 year old Italian scooter, but it sure does stand out. When Nick saw it he said, "Wait a second... does it say VENDETTA on the side?" Apparently that's the model name. That's right, I'm out for JUSTICE. On my scooter... I also have gloves and boots, and a pretty nice orange, black and silver riding jacket that has armor in it, which my friend Chris gave me. I got something called a helmet halo, too. It's a strip of reflective tape that goes around the base of the helmet, and it shines bright in car headlights. Between all that and the loud-ass two-stroke motor, I won't be sneaking up on anyone.
Of course, I've had it for less than three months and I've already had to do some work on it. In the beginning I was wondering why the brakes sucked so bad. I had been told, "Oh, the old Vespa brakes are just really bad." But then one morning I was riding it to the DMV and then a physical therapy appointment, and I noticed it was leaking some oil. When I looked underneath, I saw there was oil EVERYWHERE. It seemed to run OK, but clearly this was something that needed further investigation. The oil seemed to be coming from around the back wheel. The Vespa is direct-drive; the driveshaft from the motor turns the back wheel directly. The hub it connects to is also a brake drum - no disk brakes on this baby. My friend Fred, a Vespa enthusiast, said that the hub seal around the drive shaft could be shot, which would let oil leak into the brake drum. "Hmmm. That would explain the crappy braking," I thought.
The guy I bought the scooter from gave me all the maintenance records back to when he originally got it, as well as two repair/restoration manuals, so I took all this stuff and got to work. After a hell of a lot of fussing and fuming, I got the back tire off, and then took the hub apart. In doing so, I noticed that the nut that held the hub onto the driveshaft was awfully loose... Inside the brake drum there was oil EVERYWHERE. The brake shoes, the axle, the surface of the drum that the brakes make contact with... everything was SOAKED in oil. "That's not good," I thought.
The next day I went to First Kick scooters, San Francisco's venerable vintage scooter shop. They gave me a new hub seal, new brake shoes, and a can of multi-purpose solvent to clean everything else up with. When I took the old seal out, it didn't look worn at all. No nicks or cuts in it at all; it seemed like new. In the maintenance records I saw that the old owner had had this EXACT problem (the mechanic's notes on the repair literally say, "Brakes soaked in oil") two years ago. They replaced this seal then, so I was dubious that this was causing the problem. Still, I dutifully cleaned the whole braking system, replaced the seal, replaced the brake shoes, and put everything back together. I tightened the hub nut down to 65 pounds, which was a hell of a lot tighter than it was. Then I took it out for the first time in a couple of weeks. I got to the end of the block, braked, and locked the back wheel up good and hard. "Whoa. So that's what normal brakes feel like..."
Since then, I've ridden to work twice, to the rowing club once, today I rode it to my friend's wedding reception, and tomorrow I'm going to ride it to see another friend's band play. It seems to be running fine, but I'm still stumped about the oil leakage. I'm going to take everything apart again in a couple of weeks and see if it's still getting into the brake drum. If so, it'll be time to take it to the professionals.
The rest of the pictures are here.
