Friday & More Vesptude…
Well today I discovered that I could fit 6 litres of milk, some random fruit & veg & a few random cuts of meat into my bag; BUT where did I put the nice soft & fluffy loaf of bread? Why in the glove box of course! The Vespa is such a handy thing around town!
My butcher was also impressed by it as well & was asking about the Surfer as well, (the usual stuff, how much fuel does it use, what model is it, how does it go? etc.)
So with a bit of a ride out of the way & feeling good about my scooter, I thought that I’d give a Vespa status report – a Honest one... That is, the Silver Surfer is old & dodgy at the best of times, & the following list gives a reasonable account of it. And, as scary as the thought of work on the Vespa at the same time as the Love Cub, AND not wanting to take him off the road for any large period of time, I think it may just be getting to that time where I bite the bullet & fix him properly for a while, especially now it is rather cold & wintery…
The number one issue with the Surfer is the Gear shift assembly. It jumps out of gear when I am not in top gear – I suspect it’s the gear box selector, as the issue swapped from 1st & 4th gears to 1st & 3rd gear after I broke a gear shift cable; anyway, the cable issue suggests that it is a selector issue so I’ll stick with that diagnosis for a while & order this part when I have the money. By the way, my diagnosis is based from the large body of empirical evidence that is the Various Vespa forums on the internet; so my assumption with this may be incorrect (especially given that most expert on some of these websites are 14 years old & are recycling thoughts of other posters...)
The hand grip accelerator is sticky, but I suspect a need to clean some gunk in the handle; I plan to look at this next break & at least have an idea of what is wrong before I order parts
The Speedo has been stuck on 356km for a while… it stopped working a while ago - well 6 months after the Surfer landed in Oz & I have not gotten around to repairing it yet. I’ll purchase a new cable with my next parts order as well.
The Rear wheel oil seal is weeping oil over the lovely back wheel- it is not a large leak, but it does allow a small amount of gear oil out over the rear wheel, an occasional wipe will nicely repair this problem
The plastic floor board has broken (largely due to some of my riding practices) & I will replace this with a chrome edged black rubber one; for no other reason that I think it will be a nice contrast (the black will match the seat & the chrome matches the silver & chrome of the Vespa. I think sometimes having a big brash stark contrast has an amazing effect; BUT before I do lay down the cash I’ll play with paint to confirm my idea as I do not want to waste money on something else that is not needed or looks terrible!
I think the flasher relay unit or relay or switch has blown on the blinker assembly as well. I will have to run a check with a test light on that too! The good news is that the flasher & all the electrics are 12 volt (read modern) so; as a result, the bulbs relays & fuses are readily available at an auto-parts store!
So to sum the Silver Surfer up, He is OK for an Old Boy, but he does need a bit of TLC (as we all do!)
So Mote it be
Leigh
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