scooter commuter
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Scooter Therapy
Sometimes I just gotta have it, Scooter Therapy. I have been taking the car to work this week because Monday (June 26 2005) I got a royal soaking on the way home. Five o'clock came around and there was a torrential downpour over my office, and the poor scooter was out in the middle of it including helmet and gloves. So I finally said to myself I just have to get out there and ride home in the rain. About 1/5th the way home the rain stopped but the soaking had been done.
The last couple of days I haven't been wanting to brave our unpredictable summer weather on the scooter, besides when the afternoon temps are in the mid 90's its just so damn hot to ride anyway. So this evening I just had to have some scooter therapy. I went and gassed it up for my commute in the morning. It was a pleasant ride with no real traffic problems. I am just amazed at how easy it is riding a scooter in Houston. I think Houston is just a great scootering town. You can ride year round. In fact the worst time to ride is in the summer with the terrible heat, but the winters around here are not so unpleasant. With a full faced helmet and about 3 layers of clothes winter riding is cold, but not harsh.
My little mini ride was good this evening. I just had to have some scooter therapy. ¶ 6:58 PM 8 comments
The last couple of days I haven't been wanting to brave our unpredictable summer weather on the scooter, besides when the afternoon temps are in the mid 90's its just so damn hot to ride anyway. So this evening I just had to have some scooter therapy. I went and gassed it up for my commute in the morning. It was a pleasant ride with no real traffic problems. I am just amazed at how easy it is riding a scooter in Houston. I think Houston is just a great scootering town. You can ride year round. In fact the worst time to ride is in the summer with the terrible heat, but the winters around here are not so unpleasant. With a full faced helmet and about 3 layers of clothes winter riding is cold, but not harsh.
My little mini ride was good this evening. I just had to have some scooter therapy. ¶ 6:58 PM 8 comments
Thursday, June 23, 2005
Ugh!
Two wheeled vehicles can be a lot of fun to ride to work on. The Texas temperatures have been almost unbearable for a non-air conditioned mode of transport. As long as the traffic is moving I am fine with the heat. But what is worst than the heat is when you are cruising along and all of a sudden you notice the exhaust note changes from a cool baritone, to an ever so tricky bass. This very thing happened to me yesterday on my way home from work. I was cruising about 55mph and the exhaust notes changed and my first thought was "Oh Shit!! What did I break now!" So I pulled over at the nearest stopping point, which was a municipal driveway for a floodwater pumping station. I got off of the scooter and started giving it the once over. The first thing I did was check for oil on the ground, you never know when you are going to lose all your oil in a catastrophic failure. The next thing I did was check the battery and it was still there. From the battery I looked down at my exhaust pipe, and there it was, or wasn't. I noticed that my aftermarket pipe was missing the canister at the end. So I started hoofing it back up the road to find my trash. As I was walking a nice frenchman from my work stopped to check and see if everything was alright, and it was. I noticed about another hundred yards up the road was the culprit canister, so I went and picked it up, walked back to the scooter and continued my commute with just the straight pipe on the Bajaj. I didn't want to push the scooter too hard because I didn't know, if anything, what would happen. Would the engine blow apart? Would my tires burn off? Would the world come to an end? I don't know. About 9:30pm I went out to the garage and worked on my baby. Luckily I had the forsight to keep the old exhaust in case of these kinds of emergencies, it was in a pile slated for the trash can. After installing it, I fired up the old scoot and nary a sound was heard from the exhaust. I had grown accustomed to the growl of the amplified exhaust note. But then again a quiet scoot does have its charms.
¶ 8:43 PM 1 comments
