Episode 22 - Scooter Blog Updates and Scooter News

SHOWNOTES: Welcome back to all of you who are subscribers or who
are returning. If this is your first visit thanks for joining us. I
have been spending a lot of time this past week working on updating
the website with a new design and a few new features. I have gotten
some feedback that it would be better if I could make it easier to
listen to the Podcast on the website. What is interesting is that
many of you listen to the show right on your computer. So there are
many more choices now, I hope it makes it easier. Another
enhancement is the site now also supports embedding video clips and
full size pictures right into my log posts. With learning how to do
all this and all the website editing I have been doing I have
decided that this means I am not yet brain dead and can still some
new tricks. All my scooters have been up on blocks in the garage
this week. I am doing some repair on my P200e sidecar that will
require taking the sidecar axle out for some welding. Luckily it
came apart with very little effort and revealed an adjustment that
I never knew it had and seems to be a camber for attachment to the
scooter. Hopefully when it goes back together I will be able to
decrease some of the wobble that comes through the headset. My
other scooter are waiting for some carb work. I started on the '66
Vespa Sprint, and with Chelsea's suggestion I have removed the jets
to clean them, hoping that this will correct the choking problem I
have. She advised me that if this doesn't work it may mean removing
the carb and checking for an air leak caused by warping or a
gasket. That's not too bad, but her third suggesting was
frightening, drain the gear oil, if it smells like gas...oh that's
bad! Let's hope it's an easy fix. Steve Guzman has revamped The
Scooter Scoop Blog. On the last show I mentioned Piaggio's plans to
produce a hybrid scooter and the Scoop has a post with pictures of
the engine and more details of technology behind the scoot. I don't
think I have ever said anything about Rush Hour Rambling, but Gary
Carpentier is a blogger that a number of us have admired, both for
his creative posts and his persistent blogging over the years. His
first posts started back in 2005 when he put together The Baron in
Winter site. Gary lives in Minnesota and has posted several times
on the tragic bridge failure in the twin cities. His post is both
descriptive of the scene but goes beyond this to talk about the
practical and emotional effects of trying to get around town. The
Combat Commuter blog site is an interesting mix of scooting news
and personal reminiscence. What I like about this blog is that John
Timbes writes about his life in Florida, his wife, his son and his
work. This can get personal, very different that the “news?
oriented blogs, an approach that I admire. For more information on
scooter bloggers checkout the Ride to Work Blogs website that
includes many more scooter and motorcycle bloggers. Let's change
focus for a minute. So where do you go to get your scooter news?
I'm still fairly new at this so I use Google Newsreader and the
Feeddemon built-in. With so many news stories coming down through
just these two readers, I sometimes have trouble deciding what to
pay attention too, but here are a few of the past weeks stories.
There seem to be a lot of stories these days about how scooters are
the ecological alternative to conventional vehicles. One example is
a recent news story in print and on television in Greensboro, NC,
although they probably would refer to them selves as small town.
You can take a look at it on their local CBS affiliates website
WFMY. And of course, the other scooter news that I like to see is
the story that talks about all the good things scoot people are
doing. Three stories this past week pointed to scooter rides for
worthy causes, one in England with the Midlife Crisis Scooter Club
for the Cystic Fibrosis Fund, another a cross county ride for peace
by Alix Bryant and the other, of course if Crystal Water's ride to
Vermont to benefit the Gifford Memorial Hospital.