post about gary

http://www.urbanscootin.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3495

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22374786@N07/

started in Ainsworth NE and ended in Wichita KS

49 cc Mets!

SAQ 11 was most excellent!

Yes it was.  More thoughts later

Watch out for leaves

Just a public service reminder – leaves can be bad this time of year.  Even if the pavement is dry, leaves on the ground can hide wet spots.  Even just the leaves alone have a different texture than the pavement.

I see lots of people are still finding this site after doing searches for things like scooter skirts.  If you are riding in the greater Columbus area, let me know if you’d be willing to be interviewed for a future posting on the site.  I’m especially interested in people who ride year-round, or at least not just in the warm summer months.

Last EuroBike Night

Last EuroBike Night is this Tuesday.  It is at the Bank Block – Grandview Ave at West 2nd Avenue in Grandview.  Tuesday, September 30th, 6 – 9 PM.  Reserved 2-wheeler parking on both sides of Grandview Ave.  Raffle drawing is at 8 PM.

 See more details (and photos from past Euro Bike Nights) at the official website.

Shameless ask for logo help

I am smart enough to know when my talents are lacking.  They lack in the design/logo arena.  If you are someone with the skills to create a good logo for my site, Peanut Butter Scooter Time, then feel free to leave a comment here with your email and/or thoughts.  No pay, unfortunately, but I’ll give you credit.  My site does have quite a few hits, so you would be reaching a fair amount of people.  Thanks! And now back to your regularly-scheduled scooter stuff.

Italian Fest and scooters!

First off, Euro Bike Night was a lot of fun… the Easy Peasy crowd won a ton of the raffle prizes.  (Good for them.)  While I was there I got a flyer for a scooter-friendly event coming up next weekend….

Italian Festival.  Unfortunately entrance isn’t free, but it is a good festival.  Euro-Bike “ride-in” night is Saturday night, October 11th… check out the italian fest flyer for more details.

Sept EuroBike Night

Only 2 left this year, September’s is this Tuesday.  It is at the Bank Block – Grandview Ave at West 2nd Avenue in Grandview.  Tuesday, September 30th, 6 – 9 PM.  Reserved 2-wheeler parking on both sides of Grandview Ave.  Score!

There will be T-shirts for sale at special prices, a raffle as usual, and pre-registration for a “First Annual Haunted Poker Run.”

Thanks to Mike for the reminder.  See more details (and photos from past Euro Bike Nights) at the official website.

SAQ is almost here!

Happy Dance!!

Here are for more upclose views.

The Cutters SAQ page states that pre-registration is closed, so register for $16 onsite.  This is the official schedule with map, but in my mind Saturday is not to be missed.  Why?  Breakfast (included free with your registration) at the North Market from 9 – 12. I missed this last year and I refuse to miss it again!  Then the big ride, this time out to Delaware.  Dinner after the ride is back in the Short North, at the store The Kickstart.  Sweeeeeet!

SAQ 11 starts this Friday

Kicks off this Friday… If you are a scooterist, then you should go. (Registration is $14 and includes a T-shirt, all sorts of free food, etc.) If you just wanna watch, I’d recommend you go down to North Market this Saturday. Around noon the big ride heads out. It’s awesome to see literally hundreds of scooters leaving North Market. If you are interested in seeing a wide variety of scooters, talking to real riders (not just sales people), and being part of the biggest scooter event held in Columbus (even just as a spectator), you should go.

For more information go to the Cutters page.This is the 11th year for SAQ, and from what I hear the Cutters always put on a good show. (My first was last year, but it was a blast!)

If you are wondering what to expect, you can read my thoughts about last year on my SAQ page.

Information Session on Scooters

This Saturday (Sept 6th) there will be an informational session at the Northwest Library.  (2280 Hard Road)  It runs from 10 AM – 12:30 PM, although if you come a little early you can check out the scooters before.  You can also stop by after 12:30, if you can’t make the panel discussion, and chat with anyone still there.  I will be one of the panelists.  (oooooooh, I’m a celebrity!)

Write-up of the event from the local paper

Quote: The program will begin with a scooter overview provided by a long-time scooterist. The session will focus on what types of scooters are available and what to look for when choosing one. We’ll also spend time addressing basic laws, licensing and insurance issues that come up when purchasing a scooter.

This is being put on by a scooterist who also happens to be a librarian.  (Not me)  So while some dealers will be there, it is not a sales type of event.  It is informational.

Note: the Library is sort of joint between Columbus and Worthington.  Scroll to the bottom of this page and look for the marker #2, up north of Sawmill and I-270.

Kymco People S200 Maintenance – Spark Plug

Here is a great maintenance report from my significant other.  He has a Kymco People S200, not my People 150.  Below is his maintenance report on changing his spark plug.

Recently, I was having problems getting my scooter started. After checking the battery voltage and a few other things, I decided to take a look at the spark plug. The operator and repair manual were of little help, instructing the owner to “remove the spark plug” without much direction as to how to get there. Granted, I had a repair manual for the People 150, but they are basically the same underneath it all.

After removing the seat and looking around, I decided to document the process for anyone else that might want to try this. If you are not comfortable poking around your scooter’s components, talk to your mechanic. 

Tools you will need: Phillips- and flat-head screwdrivers, metric Allen wrenches (5-7mm), 10mm hex socket with ratchet, and the spark plug tool, which should be with the small tools set that came with the scooter.  Full directions with more photos on the flipside…

SAQ 11 coming up!

Scoot-A-Que, the rally put on by the Cutters, is coming up September 12-14. 

The much anticipated and long-awaited Scoot-a-Que 11 is almost here!  You
can pre-register now for a measly $11 which includes a T-shirt, tons of
free food, music, dancing and more Scoot-related mayhem and awesomeness
than you can find anywhere else.

This is a great rally, the 11th one!  Pre-reg is now $14.  I think the T-shirt design is very sweet.

More information: http://www.scootcolumbus.com/que/

Vespa Demo Rides at Grandview Euro Bike Night

Next Tuesday’s Euro Bike Night (one week from today) includes Vespa Demo Rides!

This is your chance to take a new Vespa scooter out for a tour …  Due to the continued growth of Grandview Euro Bike Night we will have extra reserved parking on the east side of Grandview Avenue… Don’t forget to purchase your Grandview Euro Bike Night t-shirt and be sure to register for the free raffle.

Riders must have a motorcycle endorsement and proper riding gear for demo rides: helmet, eye protection, closed toe shoes and long pants. 

More info at: www.eurobikenight.com

Euro Bike Night

This Tuesday night, starting at 6 PM, Grandview will once again be hosting the Euro Bike Night!  It is Vintage night, so they are encouraging you to bring out your vintage motorcycle or scooter.  http://www.eurobikenight.com/News_Events.php  They will also be raffling away prizes.

Ride to Work, erm, today

Ride to Work Day is today.

I’ve been busy and I forgot to post it here.  (Bad scooterist!)

Now it makes sense that the City did their parking event today… (duh)

Lot opens downtown

Edited to add: see Columbus Scooter Parking for more details, including a photo and an official report with maps.

I wish I could take off of work to go watch this, it’s at 10 AM today (Wednesday)!  Exciting!!

NBC4 reports: “The city will open its first scooter parking lot on Gay Street between Third and High.”

And from a City Press Release:

Mayor to Announce New Parking Areas for Motorcycles and Scooters

Mayor Michael B. Coleman will team with City Councilmember Maryellen O’Shaughnessy and local scooter enthusiasts Wednesday morning to announce the City’s plan to add new on-street and alley parking Downtown, in the Short North and in the Brewery District specifically designated for motorcycles and scooters.

10:00 a.m. Wednesday, July 16, 2008

61 East Gay Street, On sidewalk in front of Subway

I’m guessing they will unveil the lot on Gay Street, and announce their plans to open similar lots.  Yay!!!  This weekend I will scope it/them out and post some photos.

hat-tip to Walker of Columbus Underground.  CU discussion can be found there too.

Scooter safety article

A letter-to-the-editor was printed in the Dispatch.  You can read the full article HERE.

I do agree with him that scooters should not be treated as toys.  Unless it’s a bicycle and you can’t go more than 15 mph, you need to be wearing gear.  At the very least, you need to be wearing pants and shoes and a helmet.

That said, I think more needs to be done to offer safety courses.  The link he provides to safety courses is good.  I encourage you to take a class if you haven’t already, they even offer classes for experienced riders, like a refresher course.  (Hey, I just realized I probably have enough miles that I could take that with a straight face!)  But you will have to try as a walk-on for the class.  About 2 minutes after these classes are posted in like February, they all fill up.  I think walking on is easy, but it’s no sure thing.  If you and 10 other people show up, you probably all aren’t going to be able to walk-on.

That reminds me, there are plans to offer a scooter-focused class, which would be nice for people who don’t need/want to learn how to shift their modern/automatic scooter.  I need to go dig up that email and find out what’s going on with that.

A good article on scooters

I’m a little surprised. The local paper, Columbus Dispatch, published an article today about scooters. After reading it, I like it! There are no stunning inaccuracies, or teeth-grating biases. Yay!! (Oftentimes when a paper does an article on scooters, it has several factual errors.) I will give credit where credit is due – good job Kevin Joy!

Here are some quotes from it:

Motohio sold three times more scooters than motorcycles in May — an unheard-of ratio for the 4-year-old business…   … the Speed Factory is out of scooters — with a waiting list 30 names deep, said manager Aaron Saez, who expects more scooters this month.

If a place sells both motorcycles and scooters, they make more money on motorcycles, and tend to focus on them.  Motorcycle-focused shops, take note!  You are losing out on sales if you ignore scooters and scooter buyers.

Urban parking, of course, is sometimes a pain…. Unchained, a scooter becomes an easy target for thieves… Mike Brown, coordinator of urban ventures for Columbus, recently met with riders. Mayor Michael B. Coleman, he said, will soon announce details of a scooter- and motorcycle-parking initiative.

Well this is good news.  Hopefully the initiative will be excellent!  (Other thoughts on Columbus Scooter Parking can be found here: http://scooterparking.wordpress.com/)

Go read the entire article.  Links the article could have included are below.  (This is not a knock on this particular article, most Dispatch articles have few, if any, links.  It’s nice they include store names, addresses, and phone numbers, but for many of us linking to the website is more useful.)

Where to Buy a Scooter in Columbus (full disclosure – obviously this is my own page)

Cutters Forum (the vintage group)

EPSP Forum (the whatever group).  Looks like they are riding out from North Market on Sunday, 11 AM.

Arlington Bank parking lot Bike Night

From the folks that bring you EuroBike Night…

There will be a special bike night on Saturday, 6/28, when we will be meeting on the parking lot of The Arlington Bank on Grandview Ave. just south of W. Fifth Ave.  We will have two bands for live entertainment and lots of other activities all up and down Grandview Ave.  This event will begin at 4pm and run till at least 9pm.

As usual, there will be prizes being drawn and Tshirts for sale.

(hat tip to Mike for the info)

Euro Bike Night, now with Ducati

Tomorrow is another Euro Bike Night – 

Ducati will be coming to Grandview Euro Bike Night with the Duc Truck.  They will be bringing along 14 Hypermotards for qualified riders to test ride… The rides should begin at 6pm.

There will also be prizes for free and T-shirts for sale.

(hat tip to Mike for all the info)