Riding a Vespa gives me a sense of mental wellness, peace, freedom, and relaxation. Really unlike a traditional motorcycle. For those who haven't ridden one, they just don't know. I'm sure any brand scooter would bring on those same feelings. Euphoria is a good description.
I can find the things you describe on the motorcycles I own and ride but the experience is definitely different. The mechanical nature of the motorcycle is ever present. With the scooter you can forget a machine is involved.
Please write a book. You are so blessed to have that beautiful country to ride on. NJ here over 100,000 mikes on my Vespas. Cannot describe the feeling. Like Rome. People who have not ridden one cannot understand the feeling. God bless you 🙏🙏🙏🙏
@@paulcapaccio9905 I've been dragging my feet on two books since I retired. It's relatively easy for me to write an essay for my blog but something bigger like a book is daunting. I understand why writers drink! Seriously though, I need to get moving on the book.
I have ridden scooters since 1982. My first scoot was a 1972 Vespa sprint. I was 16. You are quite accurate when you say, “If you haven’t ridden, you won’t understand.” I was given 5-7 years to live, due to in 2017 (you can do the math). I treated myself to a 2023 Royal Alloy GT150 three months ago. I ride daily. I will ride daily. Ride safe. Cheers!
I, too, am exceedingly grateful that I'm retired. And I'm grateful to have a partner who supports my desire to get a new Vespa. Only a couple of months to go before a financial thing is settled, and I can once again scratch that itch...that craving...that "cool down" that comes from a ride a scoot. How I miss it! Thanks for keeping me sane while I wait!
Retirement is pretty nice if you have the financial resources to enjoy it. I'm still kind of amazed how things have worked out. You have some nice daydreams ahead as you imagine life with a new Vespa. When it finally does arrive be careful. The excitement builds up and you don't want it overwhelming your better judgement!
You have a way with words Steve, you’re one of those guys who I’d like to have as a neighbor. Watching you ride and seeing the blinker on your Vespa reminded me of something that I discovered about my new Vespa, as we all know they don’t self cancel so on one of my rides I forgot to cancel and not long after the horn started to beep, at first I thought someone was honking at me but realized it was my scooter alerting me to cancel, didn’t know it does that, anyway, learned something no one told me about.
Thank you for your kind words about my work. I'm not sure if it would make me a good neighbor or not but I appreciate it. I've not heard of any Vespa that beeps if you leave the blinkers on too long. Mine certainly doesn't. That's a useful feature. Better than keyless ignition!
I remember as a young teenage apprentice, riding my Suzuki GT380 to work in the summer for the afternoon shift. Approaching a large crossroads not far from home, if i turned left it was to head to work, if I turned right it was 65 miles to the ocean. Many times I'd turn right, sit on the beach & eat my (work break time) sandwiches & feel free, if only for a day.
Well said! And I think being immersed in the environment while riding is a big part of what makes riding so attractive. You have a real feeling of movement and flight.
Thank you for scratching my itch to ride, I've been riding for over 66 years and will be turning 80 soon the desire to ride is just as strong today as it was way back when. Just the past few months I've been without a ride due to health but another Vespa GTS 250 is only a couple of weeks away plus the anticipation of being able to go and loose myself in a world of beauty, tranquility and a sense of wellbeing that riding presents.
Glad to have helped. I hope I'm still riding at 80 but without a working crystal ball there's no way to know. So I try and take each day as it comes. Best wishes for better health and for the GTS250 coming your way. It really is good to get out in the world on a scooter and experience a change in our sense of well being.
Ive said it before, your command of the english language is your strong point. Your ability to weave your thoughts into a scooter is amazing. Great job as always, Steve.
Hi Steve! I've told this a few times now but I just can not get over the jaw dropping beauty of the countryside you ride through !!! Absolutely LOVE it !!!
It is a beautiful part of the world. Soon the cooler weather will begin to change everything into a red, yellow, and orange autumn landscape. The colors are spectacular then. I'm sure I'll be sharing some of that in a future video.
You've inspired me to ride for breakfast & a coffee while the wife sleeps on a quiet dry day rather than fry an egg & a piece of toast with peanut butter. Own a Harley for the longer rides but Winter's on the way!
Watching and listening to the video I forgot I was watching my cell phone and instead, kind of was on a scooter ride of my own in my mind, I felt the grips shake and heard scooter and wind sounds I was calming and quieting down inside . It was easier for me to do because you were talking slowly and more calmly than normal.
It was a spur of the moment ride. Raining just a bit here and there. And I only rode about 25 or 30 miles. But it was definitely calm and relaxing. I was talking slowly because I was trying to turn my thoughts into words. I didn't prepare or make any notes. Just spoke as the thoughts arrived...
Cravings here as well. I often hit the grocery store on the way back just to help rationalize my un-rational (only to my spouse of course!) behavior. And I like to break my ride up with a hot coffee, a biscotti, and a good newspaper - that last is increasingly hard to find, I might add! Morning Complete! And the cooler days, the best days, are almost upon us! Thanks for sharing. And if you ever enter a 12 step… I don’t want to know. The last thing I want to hear about is a Recovering Vespa Rider!!!😎
I'm familiar with the ritual to break up the ride. I usually haul a book along with me because I often won't see a newspaper. "...a Recovering Vespa Rider!!!" Maybe I can spin a story around that!
I have ridden scooters since 1982. My first scoot was a 1972 Vespa sprint. I was 16. You are quite accurate when you say, “If you haven’t ridden, you won’t understand.” I was given 5-7 years to live, due to a terminal illness in 2017 (you can do the math). I treated myself to a 2023 Royal Alloy GT150 three months ago. I ride daily. I will ride daily. Ride safe. Cheers!
I'm not sure how to respond to your comments other than to say that daily riding always kept me appreciative of the life I was living today. After my heart attack in 2015 I did some research and found the typical life expectancy for my kind of attack was 5 years. A frank conversation with my cardiologist revealed the problem with statistics. He told me that number was fueled by how many people do not change their lives after a heart attack. They continue smoking, don't exercise, embracing a poor diet, leave stress in their lives, and don't take the medicine they have been prescribed. So they have a second and third attack and don't live too long. He said I would do fine if I made the necessary changes to improve the odds. I'm 8 years out now and doing well. But riding helps remind me of the gift of life each day. I hope you find some joy and appreciation in your days with your Royal Allow GT150. I've heard good things about that brand. Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences. I wish you the best of health and many safe miles of riding!
@@ScooterintheSticks Thank YOU for this brilliant channel. I trust you have many, many more years here to enjoy what only some understand about the relationships we have with our scooters. Ride safe out there. Cheers Mate!
Definitely the Vespa is a special kind of ride , classic Vespa's and lambrettas were my thing but my gts300 looms large for next springtime , my local shop is 500yards away but a trip for bread can take 80mls and hours of fun on my Himalayan, I just let my lady know I might take a small diversion on the way to the local shop 🫢🤗 thank you for another super post 👍 ..Harry
I love the Vespa GTS more than other equally or better performing scooters solely because of how it looks. It's beautiful to my eyes. But I realize there are other fantastic scooters available. Those riding diversions are common here too. Far more common when I was still commuting to work but I often turn the 2 mile trip to the store into a 25 mile trip. Glad you enjoyed the video. Working on a Himalayan one next!
Thank you for that. I’ve been unwell lately-nothing dire, just normal life stuff. Yet it’s kept me off my Vespa and I’ve been feeling very sad as a result. Can’t wait to get back on for a ride. I thought that watching this would depress me so I avoided it for some days. It did the opposite. Reminded me of how lucky I am to have my little friend waiting for me in the garage. Ride safe and enjoy the moments in front of us-it’s the only thing we have for certain!
I'm sorry to hear that you're suffering. Feeling unwell takes a toll on the mind. I'm glad the video helped brighten your spirits. I hope you find yourself feeling better soon and on the Vespa soon!
I completely get it... Live to Ride, Ride to Eat. The desire to get in a daily ride is just as strong now as when I got that first motorcycle at 14. Sometimes, an hour is enough; sometimes more is needed. In a few days, we'll be leaving the Black Hills, where we've been for the last couple months... because the riding is SO good here. Scooters first came into the picture for us about 10 years ago, and I credit those with re-igniting that riding passion. Yesterday, I rode my wife's Yamaha Xmax... yep, still a scooter boy. As always, I enjoyed your thoughts today. Is that a Klim Marrakesh jacket? How do you like it? I tried one on a couple weeks ago - it felt heavier than I expected. Does it flow a decent amount of air (like they promote)? When we leave here, we'll be heading back to Texas to finish packing up the house for our move to Arizona next month... I'm thinking I'll be looking for a change in riding gear as we become desert dwellers. Ride safe and enjoy!
It's nice to have a strong desire for something in life. Riding is mine. I rode motorcycles long before I encountered a scooter but that was as a teenager. I discovered scooters much later in life and fell in love with my Vespa. I enjoy riding motorcycles but if I could only have one machine in the garage it would probably be the GTS. I'm wearing a Klim Induction Jacket. It's light and made for hot days. The air goes right through it almost everywhere except where the armor is. Desert dwellers. More and more I am coming to appreciate the green and rain here in Central Pennsylvania. And a $30/month water bill!
@@ScooterintheSticks Yeah, I rode motorcycles for over 44 years before I considered a scooter... and that was due mostly to a deteriorating hip and my wife's suggestion that we try a couple scooters "if I wanted to keep riding." Like a lot of motorcycle riders, I thought riding a scooter was somehow less of the "experience," compared to riding a motorcycle. I was wrong. I immediately found that shifting was not a necessary thing to appreciate the ride. The Honda PCX and two Vespa GTSes kept me riding... and loving it. It was my curiosity about DCT (duel clutch transmission) that made me consider another motorcycle, but it meant I had to find a new home for the 2020 GTS HPE, as space and our traveling lifestyle means one bike each. There will likely be another Vespa for me somewhere down the road.
Yeah, I saw that when I was editing. I considered putting a graphic up scolding myself for that oversight but just got lazy. Like I did forgetting to turn off the blinker. Did you notice the check engine light was on some of the time too? It's been on more or less all the time for 15 years...
I’m guilty of that too. Especially when I am running a GoPro on the chin bar of my helmet. It blocks the view of the indicators on the dash and when I’m filming I generally try to keep my head pretty steady and not look down. 😂
@@flatgrindrides hey man - I miss your videos - views of beautiful Colo. and offering insightful tips. (I followed your and a few other vids at the 600 mile service and still thank you.)
Funny thing. Yesterday I ended up taking the Helix copy on the roads in my area. Not relaxing. Unlike the roads I view in your videos the roads in my area are quite "Sporty". I am then in scooter sportbike mode when I take it out. Being so long and low deliberate countersteering at the bars is necessary. Also the less than ferocious horsepower demands momentum to keep up a pace. It weighs a good sixty pounds more than your Vespa and has about nine or ten horsepower less. That requires keeping speeds up as acceleration is modest at best. The teenage motocrosser in me works pretty hard to move things along. I guess I could just chug along on it accepting its flaws but where's the fun in that?
I think my desire to ride would plummet if I was faced with "sporty" situations all the time. I just don't want to deal with traffic or worry much about other vehicles. And living where I do I can find that. Dumb luck on my part but I suspect I would never have started riding if I lived in a more intensely trafficked area. I'm definitely a chugging along kind of guy versus someone trying to keep up the pace. As my dad used to say, I have three speeds -- slow, slower, and stop.
@@ScooterintheSticks I don't want you to believe that I'm a Kamikaze Pilot at heart. I just enjoy an occasion to push the scooter along. My two motorcycles can go much faster with half the effort if pushed. Something 61 years of riding has given me the sense to avoid. I used to live on Long Island, commuted to work for about twenty-five years on Parkways and Expressways. Being able to ride twisty roads now is a joy in comparison to billiard table smooth and straight as a steel ruler roads of my younger days. Ridden in consideration of my age and fading abilities the roads here test my concentration and skills. Also my equipment.
I own a 2007 PIAGGIO MP3 250IE but I do not ride my bike that much because of injuries I got at work! Its was bad fall and have replaces my left knee and my next knee surgery for right knee for 2 mores years 2025!! 😎
No, I never made a video specifically focused on how I produce my content. I can tell you that generally I use a GoPro 8 on my helmet, sometimes an Insta360 One X2 on the bars or on a pole, an iPhone 14 Pro, and sometimes a small camera on a tripod for static shots. And a DJI wireless microphone system. I edit on an iMac running Final Cut Pro. I also subscribe to Artlist for music. Nothing special about clothing. KLIM summer jacket and gloves. First Gear Kilimanjaro IV jacket for cold weather. HJC helmet. Joe Rocket armored pants for summer. Tourmaster armored and insulated pants for winter. TCX leather riding boots. That's about it.
@@ScooterintheSticks thanks for the feedback. I plan to save this as a text file. Really thinking about getting one of those Vespas, probably the 300. Love your videos.
@@69telecasterplayer Good luck on your search. Vespa makes fine scooters though they are expensive. I'm asked sometimes if I wasn't going to buy another Vespa what kind of scooter would I look at. My first consideration would be the Yamaha XMAX300. They are thousands less and equally if not more capable than a Vespa. I love the way a Vespa looks and it may affect my desire more than someone looking for a capable scooter. Just saying...
Riding a Vespa gives me a sense of mental wellness, peace, freedom, and relaxation. Really unlike a traditional motorcycle. For those who haven't ridden one, they just don't know. I'm sure any brand scooter would bring on those same feelings. Euphoria is a good description.
I can find the things you describe on the motorcycles I own and ride but the experience is definitely different. The mechanical nature of the motorcycle is ever present. With the scooter you can forget a machine is involved.
Please write a book. You are so blessed to have that beautiful country to ride on. NJ here over 100,000 mikes on my Vespas. Cannot describe the feeling. Like Rome. People who have not ridden one cannot understand the feeling. God bless you 🙏🙏🙏🙏
Bravo. Steve I can relate !!!!!!
@@paulcapaccio9905 I've been dragging my feet on two books since I retired. It's relatively easy for me to write an essay for my blog but something bigger like a book is daunting. I understand why writers drink!
Seriously though, I need to get moving on the book.
I have ridden scooters since 1982.
My first scoot was a 1972 Vespa sprint.
I was 16.
You are quite accurate when you say, “If you haven’t ridden, you won’t understand.”
I was given 5-7 years to live, due to in 2017 (you can do the math).
I treated myself to a 2023 Royal Alloy GT150 three months ago.
I ride daily.
I will ride daily.
Ride safe.
Cheers!
I, too, am exceedingly grateful that I'm retired. And I'm grateful to have a partner who supports my desire to get a new Vespa. Only a couple of months to go before a financial thing is settled, and I can once again scratch that itch...that craving...that "cool down" that comes from a ride a scoot. How I miss it! Thanks for keeping me sane while I wait!
Retirement is pretty nice if you have the financial resources to enjoy it. I'm still kind of amazed how things have worked out.
You have some nice daydreams ahead as you imagine life with a new Vespa. When it finally does arrive be careful. The excitement builds up and you don't want it overwhelming your better judgement!
You have a way with words Steve, you’re one of those guys who I’d like to have as a neighbor. Watching you ride and seeing the blinker on your Vespa reminded me of something that I discovered about my new Vespa, as we all know they don’t self cancel so on one of my rides I forgot to cancel and not long after the horn started to beep, at first I thought someone was honking at me but realized it was my scooter alerting me to cancel, didn’t know it does that, anyway, learned something no one told me about.
Thank you for your kind words about my work. I'm not sure if it would make me a good neighbor or not but I appreciate it.
I've not heard of any Vespa that beeps if you leave the blinkers on too long. Mine certainly doesn't. That's a useful feature. Better than keyless ignition!
here in Australia I do the same thing for my wife, nipping to the bakery for those oft forgotten items, I am so helpful
It’s a sign of love! 😎
I remember as a young teenage apprentice, riding my Suzuki GT380 to work in the summer for the afternoon shift. Approaching a large crossroads not far from home, if i turned left it was to head to work, if I turned right it was 65 miles to the ocean. Many times I'd turn right, sit on the beach & eat my (work break time) sandwiches & feel free, if only for a day.
Well said! And I think being immersed in the environment while riding is a big part of what makes riding so attractive. You have a real feeling of movement and flight.
Nothing like a Vespa ! As soon as I hop on I’m in Rome !!
They seem to possess some kind of magic!
Thank you for scratching my itch to ride, I've been riding for over 66 years and will be turning 80 soon the desire to ride is just as strong today as it was way back when. Just the past few months I've been without a ride due to health but another Vespa GTS 250 is only a couple of weeks away plus the anticipation of being able to go and loose myself in a world of beauty, tranquility and a sense of wellbeing that riding presents.
Glad to have helped.
I hope I'm still riding at 80 but without a working crystal ball there's no way to know. So I try and take each day as it comes. Best wishes for better health and for the GTS250 coming your way. It really is good to get out in the world on a scooter and experience a change in our sense of well being.
Back at it, the quiet of the ride, feel of well made is very relaxing to me as well. N.J. says all enjoy the ride......
The quiet and relaxation is seductive. It keeps me coming back to my Vespa.
Ive said it before, your command of the english language is your strong point. Your ability to weave your thoughts into a scooter is amazing. Great job as always, Steve.
Thanks for your kind words about the blabbering I do. I'm just lucky that the ideas that occur to me while riding are easy to talk about!
Hi Steve! I've told this a few times now but I just can not get over the jaw dropping beauty of the countryside you ride through !!! Absolutely LOVE it !!!
It is a beautiful part of the world. Soon the cooler weather will begin to change everything into a red, yellow, and orange autumn landscape. The colors are spectacular then. I'm sure I'll be sharing some of that in a future video.
You've inspired me to ride for breakfast & a coffee while the wife sleeps on a quiet dry day rather than fry an egg & a piece of toast with peanut butter. Own a Harley for the longer rides but Winter's on the way!
It's the simple pleasures that riding seems to amplify!
Watching and listening to the video I forgot I was watching my cell phone and instead, kind of was on a scooter ride of my own in my mind, I felt the grips shake and heard scooter and wind sounds I was calming and quieting down inside . It was easier for me to do because you were talking slowly and more calmly than normal.
It was a spur of the moment ride. Raining just a bit here and there. And I only rode about 25 or 30 miles. But it was definitely calm and relaxing.
I was talking slowly because I was trying to turn my thoughts into words. I didn't prepare or make any notes. Just spoke as the thoughts arrived...
Cravings here as well. I often hit the grocery store on the way back just to help rationalize my un-rational (only to my spouse of course!) behavior. And I like to break my ride up with a hot coffee, a biscotti, and a good newspaper - that last is increasingly hard to find, I might add! Morning Complete!
And the cooler days, the best days, are almost upon us! Thanks for sharing. And if you ever enter a 12 step… I don’t want to know. The last thing I want to hear about is a Recovering Vespa Rider!!!😎
I'm familiar with the ritual to break up the ride. I usually haul a book along with me because I often won't see a newspaper.
"...a Recovering Vespa Rider!!!" Maybe I can spin a story around that!
I have ridden scooters since 1982.
My first scoot was a 1972 Vespa sprint.
I was 16.
You are quite accurate when you say, “If you haven’t ridden, you won’t understand.”
I was given 5-7 years to live, due to a terminal illness in 2017 (you can do the math).
I treated myself to a 2023 Royal Alloy GT150 three months ago.
I ride daily.
I will ride daily.
Ride safe.
Cheers!
I'm not sure how to respond to your comments other than to say that daily riding always kept me appreciative of the life I was living today. After my heart attack in 2015 I did some research and found the typical life expectancy for my kind of attack was 5 years. A frank conversation with my cardiologist revealed the problem with statistics. He told me that number was fueled by how many people do not change their lives after a heart attack. They continue smoking, don't exercise, embracing a poor diet, leave stress in their lives, and don't take the medicine they have been prescribed. So they have a second and third attack and don't live too long.
He said I would do fine if I made the necessary changes to improve the odds. I'm 8 years out now and doing well. But riding helps remind me of the gift of life each day.
I hope you find some joy and appreciation in your days with your Royal Allow GT150. I've heard good things about that brand.
Thank you for taking the time to share your experiences. I wish you the best of health and many safe miles of riding!
@@ScooterintheSticks Thank YOU for this brilliant channel.
I trust you have many, many more years here to enjoy what only some understand about the relationships we have with our scooters.
Ride safe out there.
Cheers Mate!
Definitely the Vespa is a special kind of ride , classic Vespa's and lambrettas were my thing but my gts300 looms large for next springtime , my local shop is 500yards away but a trip for bread can take 80mls and hours of fun on my Himalayan, I just let my lady know I might take a small diversion on the way to the local shop 🫢🤗 thank you for another super post 👍 ..Harry
I love the Vespa GTS more than other equally or better performing scooters solely because of how it looks. It's beautiful to my eyes. But I realize there are other fantastic scooters available.
Those riding diversions are common here too. Far more common when I was still commuting to work but I often turn the 2 mile trip to the store into a 25 mile trip.
Glad you enjoyed the video. Working on a Himalayan one next!
@ScooterintheSticks looking forward to the next one Steve
Thank you for that. I’ve been unwell lately-nothing dire, just normal life stuff. Yet it’s kept me off my Vespa and I’ve been feeling very sad as a result. Can’t wait to get back on for a ride. I thought that watching this would depress me so I avoided it for some days. It did the opposite. Reminded me of how lucky I am to have my little friend waiting for me in the garage.
Ride safe and enjoy the moments in front of us-it’s the only thing we have for certain!
I'm sorry to hear that you're suffering. Feeling unwell takes a toll on the mind.
I'm glad the video helped brighten your spirits. I hope you find yourself feeling better soon and on the Vespa soon!
A most therapeutic ride Steve. Thanks for the vicarious ride along ;)
Glad you enjoyed it. Riding my Vespa is always enjoyable.
Another great video! I appreciate your thoughtfulness and the way you paint a picture we can all enjoy
Thank you for your kind words about the video. I'm glad the pictures I try to paint are visible to others!
My Vespa rides seem to always end up at Chick-fil-A !!
That's funny. I go to Chick-Fil-A sometimes but never on two wheels. I always do drive through so that's probably why.
I completely get it... Live to Ride, Ride to Eat. The desire to get in a daily ride is just as strong now as when I got that first motorcycle at 14. Sometimes, an hour is enough; sometimes more is needed. In a few days, we'll be leaving the Black Hills, where we've been for the last couple months... because the riding is SO good here.
Scooters first came into the picture for us about 10 years ago, and I credit those with re-igniting that riding passion. Yesterday, I rode my wife's Yamaha Xmax... yep, still a scooter boy.
As always, I enjoyed your thoughts today. Is that a Klim Marrakesh jacket? How do you like it? I tried one on a couple weeks ago - it felt heavier than I expected. Does it flow a decent amount of air (like they promote)? When we leave here, we'll be heading back to Texas to finish packing up the house for our move to Arizona next month... I'm thinking I'll be looking for a change in riding gear as we become desert dwellers.
Ride safe and enjoy!
It's nice to have a strong desire for something in life. Riding is mine.
I rode motorcycles long before I encountered a scooter but that was as a teenager. I discovered scooters much later in life and fell in love with my Vespa. I enjoy riding motorcycles but if I could only have one machine in the garage it would probably be the GTS.
I'm wearing a Klim Induction Jacket. It's light and made for hot days. The air goes right through it almost everywhere except where the armor is.
Desert dwellers. More and more I am coming to appreciate the green and rain here in Central Pennsylvania. And a $30/month water bill!
@@ScooterintheSticks Yeah, I rode motorcycles for over 44 years before I considered a scooter... and that was due mostly to a deteriorating hip and my wife's suggestion that we try a couple scooters "if I wanted to keep riding." Like a lot of motorcycle riders, I thought riding a scooter was somehow less of the "experience," compared to riding a motorcycle. I was wrong. I immediately found that shifting was not a necessary thing to appreciate the ride. The Honda PCX and two Vespa GTSes kept me riding... and loving it. It was my curiosity about DCT (duel clutch transmission) that made me consider another motorcycle, but it meant I had to find a new home for the 2020 GTS HPE, as space and our traveling lifestyle means one bike each. There will likely be another Vespa for me somewhere down the road.
34 Years for me!🙏
Wow, that's a lot of joy!
after 9:00 (about) I noticed that I'm not the only one who forgets to turn off that damned blinker.
Yeah, I saw that when I was editing. I considered putting a graphic up scolding myself for that oversight but just got lazy. Like I did forgetting to turn off the blinker.
Did you notice the check engine light was on some of the time too? It's been on more or less all the time for 15 years...
no - did not see the CEL@@ScooterintheSticks
@@iggyzorro2406 It’s a subtle orange light.
I’m guilty of that too. Especially when I am running a GoPro on the chin bar of my helmet. It blocks the view of the indicators on the dash and when I’m filming I generally try to keep my head pretty steady and not look down. 😂
@@flatgrindrides hey man - I miss your videos - views of beautiful Colo. and offering insightful tips. (I followed your and a few other vids at the 600 mile service and still thank you.)
Funny thing. Yesterday I ended up taking the Helix copy on the roads in my area. Not relaxing. Unlike the roads I view in your videos the roads in my area are quite "Sporty". I am then in scooter sportbike mode when I take it out. Being so long and low deliberate countersteering at the bars is necessary. Also the less than ferocious horsepower demands momentum to keep up a pace. It weighs a good sixty pounds more than your Vespa and has about nine or ten horsepower less. That requires keeping speeds up as acceleration is modest at best. The teenage motocrosser in me works pretty hard to move things along. I guess I could just chug along on it accepting its flaws but where's the fun in that?
I think my desire to ride would plummet if I was faced with "sporty" situations all the time. I just don't want to deal with traffic or worry much about other vehicles. And living where I do I can find that. Dumb luck on my part but I suspect I would never have started riding if I lived in a more intensely trafficked area.
I'm definitely a chugging along kind of guy versus someone trying to keep up the pace. As my dad used to say, I have three speeds -- slow, slower, and stop.
@@ScooterintheSticks I don't want you to believe that I'm a Kamikaze Pilot at heart. I just enjoy an occasion to push the scooter along. My two motorcycles can go much faster with half the effort if pushed. Something 61 years of riding has given me the sense to avoid.
I used to live on Long Island, commuted to work for about twenty-five years on Parkways and Expressways. Being able to ride twisty roads now is a joy in comparison to billiard table smooth and straight as a steel ruler roads of my younger days. Ridden in consideration of my age and fading abilities the roads here test my concentration and skills. Also my equipment.
I own a 2007 PIAGGIO MP3 250IE but I do not ride my bike that much because of injuries I got at work! Its was bad fall and have replaces my left knee and my next knee surgery for right knee for 2 mores years 2025!! 😎
Ouch. Sorry to hear about your accident. I hope your surgery and recovery goes well and keeps you on track to eventually be able to do what you want.
@@ScooterintheSticks Thanks 😊
Do you have a video where you describe your equipment such as clothing and cameras?
No, I never made a video specifically focused on how I produce my content. I can tell you that generally I use a GoPro 8 on my helmet, sometimes an Insta360 One X2 on the bars or on a pole, an iPhone 14 Pro, and sometimes a small camera on a tripod for static shots. And a DJI wireless microphone system.
I edit on an iMac running Final Cut Pro. I also subscribe to Artlist for music.
Nothing special about clothing. KLIM summer jacket and gloves. First Gear Kilimanjaro IV jacket for cold weather. HJC helmet. Joe Rocket armored pants for summer. Tourmaster armored and insulated pants for winter. TCX leather riding boots.
That's about it.
@@ScooterintheSticks thanks for the feedback. I plan to save this as a text file. Really thinking about getting one of those Vespas, probably the 300. Love your videos.
@@69telecasterplayer Good luck on your search. Vespa makes fine scooters though they are expensive. I'm asked sometimes if I wasn't going to buy another Vespa what kind of scooter would I look at. My first consideration would be the Yamaha XMAX300. They are thousands less and equally if not more capable than a Vespa.
I love the way a Vespa looks and it may affect my desire more than someone looking for a capable scooter.
Just saying...