This hole is not in my heart

Orin O’Neill photo

Look at the circle in the middle of the picture above, and you’ll see the nail that punctured the GTS’ rear tire. It’s quite sharp, and not visible from the tread side of the tire, hence my original theory about a bad valve stem.

A shopping tip

If you’re thinking about getting a scooter, now is a good time to shop. Especially if you’re in Seattle—even though the Vernal Equinox happens early tomorrow, as I write this it’s cold and rainy.

Lots and lots of Scootin’ Old Skool viewers arrive here by searching on variations of “craigslist vespa for sale.” However, I found a post on a message board somewhere (don’t remember which one, sorry) containing the phrase you need to use if you’re looking for a Vespa:

vespa site:craigslist.org

I tried it with Google, Windows Live Search, Yahoo! and Dogpile; all of them give you every posting on every local version of Craigslist containing the word “vespa,” though not in the same order. Obviously, you can substitute “stella,” “ruckus” or whatever kind of scooter you might be looking for. And you can narrow the search by adding the name of the city (e.g., seattle.craigslist.org), though in that case I find it easier to just go to the specific city site and use the search feature there.

I see a lot of you are looking for Züdapp Bellas…

Because we are not octopi

If you ride an old-skool scooter, one thing you can count on is a cable breaking. You can also count on that cable breaking at the most inopportune time. And you are almost certain to be alone at that inopportune time when the cable breaks. That’s why you need a fourth-hand tool.

Tool time

One way or another, the PX and I will be leaving for Portland on Friday. The question at this point is whether I will be riding it, or towing it in a trailer.