Busted

Well it had to happen sometime, I guess. My first Vespa repair*. When commuting last week I noticed the steering was a bit notchy. Thought it was my imagination (as it usually is) at first... but... turns out a bearing fixture in the steering failed. :-( As Boz would say "Danger there's a break down dead ahead". Bummer.

A call placed by my ace mechanic to our parts vendor MOTORSPORT SCOOTERS in San Diego had the offending part shipped to our house (arriving today, yea!!)... all for the low low price of $28.95. A lot to pay for that tiny ring of ball bearings, but not bad for 11,000+ miles.

* not to include normal scheduled maintenance: Oil and Filter, Tires. (I'm particulary hard on tires.)

The Vespa ET-4 rolls 11,000 miles

It's hard to believe but my Vespa is now 5+ years old and through lots of commuting to work, the grocery store and around town errands, I rolled 11,000 miles on it yesterday. (The photo is me commuting to work one February during a rare Dallas snow day.) I've never had to do any repairs on it, other than scheduled maintenance.

Economical? Let's see... the Vespa gets 65 mpg. The Benz gets 23 mpg in town. That's a delta of 42 mpg savings... that's a savings of 262 gallons. Assuming an average fuel cost of $3.00 / gallon (they both use Super Premium), that's a savings of ... well only $786 over 5+ years.

Hmmmm.... I guess I do just ride it for fun and lifestyle after all. :-)