Introducing: Rocinante

Named for the re-named Martian corvette featured in The Expanse, she's no broken-down horse. A 2013 Honda PCX150, she is missing the backrest (such as it is), and has a couple of scrapes from being dropped (not my doing), but she's mine, and she runs like a scalded ape.

Wintertime is the time to buy bargain scooters, I tell ya.

ISO

... gear upgrades. Need a 3/4 helmet with a hinged faceshield, ala Fulmer AF-655 (my go-to from the past), rain gear,etc. The borrowed brain bucket is DOT, but the wind is killin' my ears. WHAT?  And the $2 safety glasses keep most of the wind out of my eyes, but not all. Yeah, we gotta fix that.

It's Been A Long Time.

Meet Goldie Hawnda, a 2002 Honda Reflex. She's mine, now.

NW Ruck

Repost from the Catblog

Wink is deceptively simple... for morons, apparently. If I hadn't seen this screen 100 times since Friday evening, I wouldn't have had to viciously cockpunch that old man for innocuously uttering "uh-oh" in my presence, today.  ;)

Eighth and Roast's hipster/quasi-vegan (not) biscuits are small, pricy and delicious.

Landlady felt guilty, gave me this.  :)

There are good people doing good works in Nashville. Click to, well, you know. h/t Ed.

Honda kicks major ass, forever and always, ramen.

Mormons can  be people, despite the majority who present as advanced androids with can opener personalities.

Awww, KITTEH!

Awww, HOPPY BEER!  I want the 12pk/2-flight "Deconstructed" set... brewmaster preparatory classes!

Steve is a fellow Smyrnan, rides a kickass Vespa 300ie Super and knows some awesome backroads in Roofie County. Also?  Hell of a Nice Guy, and newish friend. Here's our ride today, map junkies!

Steve and I are considering a counter-club alternative to Nashville's The Snakes SC. That would be the Volunteer Scooter Cooter Collective of Middle Tennessee. Must be age 40 or over to enter. And if your main ride is Chinese, under 100cc or pink and/or flowery, you must have a visible tattoo.  ;) Face/neck, preferably.

GoodYear is spying on me. I knew I shouldn't have started with the Michelins and the Wink mesh net.
.

1P1P, Continued. Midori!

Ed's Midori (Suzuki GS650). Lovely condition for a... 1980-82?  I should record these details. I know it's a 650cc (actually a bit more) inline 4-cylinder. The previous owner did some restoration, and someone painted it, but did a great job of it.

1P1P: Ed's Head

... in a leather-wrapped brain bucket. Here's his newest baby: a Kawasaki Suzuki GS650 from the early '80s. He traded the baby blue Genuine Buddy of his even for it. He SO wanted me to ride cupcake and shoot video. Uh... NO.

1P1P: Burgie, Burgie, um... Hayabusa?

Stopped by America's Motor Sports (no link -- never a sponsor!) on 8th to see if they had a replacement visor for my Fulmer AF-655 (they did not, damn the luck). My present one is scuffed up, but serviceable. I had to look at the bikes, which is also where I got the GROM photo. WANT.

Here, L to R, we have two Burgmans -- the 400, and the new (to U.S.) 200. That 200 must weigh in at 400lbs., and it has a seat as wide as Missouri. Can't imagine it's a great performer. Last bike is another 'Zuki of some sort. A nekkid sport bike.

1P1P (One Post, One Photo, First of Many): Honda Lust

My next scooter... is not  a scooter, at all. It's a small displacement motorcycle, the $3199 125cc 5-speed Honda GROM. How badass is that!

Halfway

Wanda's got a new front tire!  Ross & I wrestled with it for hours, and then a guy named Joe showed us a trick, and then another, and finally the bead popped, and the tire was mounted.

I was so exhausted after that, I didn't even want to start on the rear. So, here we are.

Puzzlement: the sipe pattern, make, model and size on this replacement are identical to the OEM tire that came on Wanda, yet this one says "rear only." I hope that doesn't mean anything.

I Forgot About It Being Seven Years

... since I went scooter-only. So I missed that by a couple of weeks.

That Ymoto Vortec 150 was, of course, a monumental cluster, but it led to smaller, then bigger and always better thangs.

It'd be pretty tough to find a worse scooter than this one for people who need reliable transportation, anyway. Thanks, China!

Anyway, here we are in shitty, cold weather again. Whoo-hoo. Here's something I've done to Wanda to make that more bearable for me.

Those li'l "bark busters" really help keep the hands warm, let me tell ya.

Ugliest, Heaviest... Safest? Cheapest!

I got off work at noon today for a long weekend, and decided to stop in a local shop to see if they had any decent rain gear. They did not (not at a price I could afford, anyway), but they DID have a closeout on this Fulmer modular helmet, with day-glo orange and reflective white paint. It's fugly, and heavy, but for $50, the price was right!  This is my new cold weather helmet, and it's pretty comfortable, disregarding the weight.

8400

I'm finding new respect for the Thai tires.

Still, I need to fit that Michelin soon.

Magic Juice

... and I have a lot of the bottle left, 2+ years on...

Great for anti-fogging on the inside of your visor... great for making the other  side shed rain like a boss.

You need some.

New Shoe

... is on its way!  Just flipped over the 6500-mile mark this morning on my way back from eggy burritos, and the stock IRC SS-560R has performed very well, and may have another 1000 miles in it, but given that the Michelin City Grip was $5 cheaper than the stock IRC, I had to at least try it. Everyone raves about this tire. We'll see!

Horny Toadz

They look to be well-made, large enough to go over layers of warm stuff, and high-quality, with lots of reflective piping, as well.