First long ride of the year...in February!

This past weekend was the annual men's retreat for the Terre Hill Bible Fellowship Church. It was held this year at a campground just over the Susquehanna river in York County, south of the Holtwood hydroelectric dam.


Since the retreat was closer to home this year and the weather was nice, I decided to take my scooter. I loaded it up with all my stuff and headed south out of town on route 741. Everything was going well, until I got to the intersection of Rohrerstown Road and Columbia Avenue. Suddenly there was a popping sensation from the front end. I still was able to stop, pulled over to the side and checked the forks. Everything seemed fine, so I wondered if it wasn't all the weight. My pastor had already agreed to meet me at the junction of 741 and 272, so, thinking it might be just the weight disrupting things, I slogged on and leaned forward a bit to keep the weight more toward the front. The popping seemed to subside after this, and I made it to my meeting with my pastor, only to have my front brake fail completely when I stopped the scoot on the side of the road right where we were going to meet.

My back brake was still working, as much as rear drum brakes ever do on a scoot, and I'd just had a new drive belt put on so my engine braking was excellent. I loaded my guitar, backpack, duffel and sleeping bag in the pastor's truck. and followed him south, giving a ton of distance between us. A short while later, I discovered I had my front brakes back, but they were weak and spongy. At this point it had started to drizzle and my helmet's visor was fogging up. Despite this, I made it to the campground with no further incidents. I parked the scoot and left it for the next day.

Saturday morning found the front brakes of the scoot almost completely restored. One of the men from my church is a competent mechanic and he suggested the brakes might have some air in the lines or there might be some other issue with the fluid. After consulting with Trans-Am Cycle's mechanic, they suggested I change the brake fluid since it hasn't been changed in three and a half years.


Despite the Scooter issues, the weekend went very well. The group sessions were good. The fellowship was wonderful. Spending time with other men of like faith was refreshing to my soul. There was an afternoon hike down to the Susquehanna River, through the woods and along a pleasantly burbling creek.

Sunday morning dawned warm and sunny. We had breakfast and our Sunday morning session, then a light lunch. The scooter sat there on the cement slab outside the camp building. It appeared harmless enough, but the possibility of a brake failure loomed like a specter peeking out of the woods. I loaded my bags in the church van and put on my riding gear and helmet, and despite my trepidation, I got on my scooter and rode out, following the church van carefully and with a fair amount of distance between us. The brakes worked well, if a little spongy, but I took it easy on them and made it home in one piece.

Riding in fifty degree weather in February is surreal. There's nothing I can really compare it to. It was a fitting end to a fantastic weekend. Even unpredictable front brakes could not dampen my enjoyment.

Ride on!

Mobile devices for the Scootster

I like to have music when I ride. I have put speakers in my helmet (as I've written about previously) so I can listen to music while I ride and still hear ambient noises. I started out with a cheap Wal-Mart brand MP3 player, upgraded to an iPod, and now have a Samsung Focus running Windows phone 7 (from here on, WP7). The generic Wal-Mart player is hardly worth mentioning. I don't even remember the brand and the quality was so poor it doesn't come close to comparing to better brands. The iPod and Samsung Focus WP7 will be compared here. I wish I had an Android to compare as well, but I don't.

As a scootster, I primarily use the music and photographic capabilities of both of my devices. These will be the primary focus of this entry.

We shall start with the iPod. It is a fourth generation 8 Gb iPod. It's capacity isn't huge, but for my purposes, it works fine. Sound quality is superb (it's an iPod), and the output is good in the standard iPod headphones. The music player is easy to use, but I haven't found a way to set up playlists on the device itself. It seems they much be organized on my computer. getting to the music player is simple enough since it's one of the main icons. I only use my own music while riding, so not having 3G or 4G isn't a problem. iPhone users can use Pandora Radio or Iheartradio (or other services), but these use the data plan.


The interface is easy to use with only a minimal learning curve. Using the camera isn't so bad, but the built in camera doesn't deliver the highest quality photographs. It's alright if the lighting is good, but bad lighting ruins a lot of pictures that I've taken. The biggest gripe I have is the lack of an external camera button. the only buttons on the iPod control the volume. One advantage the iPod has is a huge app store which has a plethora of photography apps, some of which make up for the poor quality of the camera.

Battery life is good. Constant music playing takes about 10 hours to drain it. Not bad. While not riding, I can watch videos on Netflix for about 6 hours. Good stuff.

As for the Samsung Focus WP7, the sound quality is excellent. Even the external speaker is quite good. The volume controls are easy to access on the side, and the lock screen displays playback controls when music is playing (the iPod doesn't, and I have not seen a setting to enable such a thing). Maximum volume in regular earbuds varies depending on the buds. Playlists are organized through the Zune software on a computer (much as the iTunes software is used for the iPod). I'd like to be able to switch things around a bit more on the fly, but I can see why such a function is not enabled. Since my phone does have a data plan, I can listen to Iheartradio, but not Pandora since it is not compatible with WP7 devices, but I prefer not to.


The interface has huge icons and a secondary screen accessed by the arrow at the top right, or by a finger slide. I think it's a bit easier for me to use than the iPod's interface. The camera is excellent, and even though there aren't as many apps in the Windows Marketplace, the picture quality is excellent. I took the picture of the iPod with my phone and vice-verse. The camera is a little slow if you use the autostabilizing function, but it provides a very sharp photo. The shutter button on the side of the phone is handy as well.

The battery on my phone is...not so good. It lasts about 6 hours with constant music playing and only about 4 if I use it for Netflix.

So, the better of the two? It's really close. The iPod is a better sounding music and media player, but getting back to the music player to pause or skip songs takes more than just a couple finger swipes. The Focus has a better camera and accessing the music player is simple and easy. It also has a bigger screen. If I'm just out riding, I carry the phone, but if I'm at work, I take both.

December scootin'!

It's the halfway mark in December and nearly 60 degrees at 10pm. Wow. What a night for a ride!


It was a bit wet, but no chance of ice due to the temperature and the Silver Streak was feeling its oats. The long way home gave a nice opportunity for a stop at the airport. There wasn't any air traffic tonight, but the parked planes gave a decent backdrop for the scoot.


...and there were houses bedecked in Christmas lights on some of the side streets.


The pictures aren't the best quality, but I don't think they are too bad for having been taken by my Windows phone.

I hope you all are riding safe, and if I don't post again before Christmas, I wish you all a pleasant one. If you don't celebrate Christmas, have a pleasant one anyway. :)

Bull...dog.

Fruitville Pike is usually busy in the afternoon and evening, but today I was headed north and the traffic started to bog down just north of Delp road. Coming down the hill and through the next light, it seemed that there was some hold up. At first I thought it was construction, but the traffic wasn't moving like it would if there was someone directing traffic. then I thought it might be a school bus, but the wait was too long.

I rounded the corner and was greeted by the sight of a fat English bulldog wandering around in the road. A good Samaritan had stopped to try to coax the canine out of the road, but when she would try to move her car to get it off the roadway, he would follow her.

I pulled the scooter to the side of the road and together we were able to get the dog into the grass. I sat with him while she moved her car. He was a friendly bugger, and really seemed to enjoy the attention. A few minutes later, his owners showed up to claim their missing mutt.

After the day I'd had, it was nice to do something purposeful.

Three years with Kymco...

...And there's no turning back.

The Silver Streak is just about to pass 15,000 miles (24,116 kilometers on the clock), and is still purring along. It passed inspection like a champ, only requiring new tires, and still gets a consistent 80 miles per gallon on ethanol laced gasoline (89 on ethanol free when available).

Kymco started out as an engine and parts supplier for Honda in 1963 (ref. Scooter underground). As I recall, and I don't have the time to look it up just now, Honda cut them loose in the early 90's because they had grown enough as a company and no longer needed Honda's oversight or help. It's an interesting business model that one does not see happen very often, but my understanding is that this is normal Honda operating policy. If true, it's obvious that the move didn't hurt Honda any, and has proven a boon to folks who want a quality motor-scooter, cycle, or ATV at a reasonable price point.

With that in mind, one could reasonably say that when one purchases a Kymco, one is buying a Honda engine, with a reasonable pricetag, and slightly inferior fit and finish.

• The engine works like a Honda, lasts like a Honda, and purrs like a Honda.
  
• The bodywork is plastic, looks plastic, and feels plastic, but it does what it is supposed to do.
  
• The suspension is good for a small bike. It has enough give for average bumps in the road.
• Handling remains excellent. The bike is light and nimble making cornering a blast.
• Braking remains reliable. Rear brakes are always worse than front brakes, especially when they are a drum, but that is by design since no one wants to lock up that rear tire in a pinch. The front disc is adequate and provides enough stopping power.

The most common question I receive is "Do you still have your scooter, and how is it running?" This should answer the question. I'll still say, it's not a Vespa, but that's a good thing. It didn't cost me nearly as much out the door (less than half the cost of a Vespa 150LX), and it's just as reliable. Yes, it's not as nice to look at (Vespa's do have that Je ne sait quois), but if you want that, get a "Like 200i", and you'll be a happy camper for several thousand miles. Buy yourself a nice flat screen with the money you'll save...ok, three or four flat screens...