"Will You Turn That Bl**dy Tap Off!"
I have left the fuel tap on for literally 2 minutes and flooded my engine. Is this normal? I don't recall having so much fun with my old CB50 back in the day. Once flooded it can then be a bit of a pig to start. I really MUST stop jumping on the kickstart like a manic skinhead in a pub brawl. I *know* it does not help (and in fact can cause more grief) but I do seem to believe that kicking harder will do the trick. Muppet! I did however discover that running down the road and leaping on (like a 16-year old with his home-made moped) seems to get rid of the fuel surplus and with a bit of splutter, I'm off.
If I don't let the engine warm up, do I then need the choke. I usually find 2 kicks from cold (with choke) or if it's warm, one kick. Unless that is, I have once again been a total f*ckwit and flooded it.
Conversely I have also left the bl**dy tap shut OFF when leaving a fuel station a couple of times. Only to find a dying engine a few hundred yards down the road (on one, approaching a busy roundabout, is this sods law!). Why oh WHY do I not quickly lean down and turn on the tap, but faff confusedly with the throttle until it dies. I really must start to do like Bruce Forsyth and "Think Tap".
Brings me onto the other topic. Mixing oil and fuel. Now whilst this has been exhausted in other posts and opinion rages from 2% to 4%, from chainsaw/chip fat to race-proven synthetic etc, it's still a bit odd to chuck oil into the fuel tank for me (my old Honda was a 4-stroke). Anyway, I've gone for the middle ground of 3% and am using part synthetic. Doesn't stop the fun. I fill up, then have had to dribble some out into a bottle as I've no room left for the oil, OR if I put the oil in first, I may get the mix wrong as I'm not sure how much is going in that melon-sized tank. On the plus side I have not "filled up" with £2.35 worth of fuel in over 30 years!! Awesome!
I would scoot out tonight, but I haven't got a thing to wear
I wasn't too sure what to wear. I knew I didn't want to go down the standard black/power ranger motorcycle gear/jacket route (it's part why we choose scooters, right?) but neither did I want to go all fake-mod. The original mod era was before my time and whilst I think it's extremely cool and funky (parkas aside), it felt a bit wrong to leap onto that particular sixties bandwagon now. I wanted retro, but modern retro. In the end, after much debate (with Mrs Britcay "you're not getting a full face helmet, are you MAD?") I chose a few things which I think fit the bill (and fit the Andy) and look the part.
For my helmet I went down the Nexx route. They do a host of open face helmets which look good and have great safety ratings. I chose the "SX60 Vintage" in (stain-magnet) cream and brown.
http://www.scootercrazy.com/acatalog/Ne ... ntage.html From ScooterCrazy in Huddersfield. The lovely Gemma (all Gemmas are lovely, it's the law) was great and v helpful re sizing queries (a lot of Americans had grumbled that it "couldn't possibly fit a human head" - clearly I really am an alien). I ordered from their eBay store and it arrived via my local Argos in 2 days. Ebay gets a bad rap, but really it's just a conduit for selling. If you select your sellers wisely then it really makes no difference to buying anywhere. I live in a sleepy town and have no alternative but to look online. Do your research and use trustpilot or even Amazon to get reviews (even though you may not be buying from Amazon). I ordered large and it's fine, so am glad I didn't go down my usual medium route, as it could have been a little bit tight. At £120 it wasn't too pricey either.
Being open-face, the wind obviously gets in, but it's not too bad. I am a fair-weather scooterista so this doesn't really bother me, but you may want to opt for the longer visor if you're out in all weathers. Otherwise this is a really comfy fit - the side parts below/over the ears "snap open" so it's dead easy to get off and on (I don't know what all these Americans were moaning about; http://www.amazon.com/Nexx-Vintage-Helm ... 60+vintage )
The jacket - I narrowed it down to the nice, Italian Tucano Urbano "Cottage" Jacket - can you say "Paninaro"
or the American/Canadian Corazzo Tempeste. A longer, weather proof (more expensive though at over £200)
and Corazzo Postale. A kind of Harrinton-style, which is supposed to be inspired by the UK Post Office (??). It's not in fact shiny-gold like it appears to be, from the pics.
I chose the brown/tan colours, but these are also available in black/grey.
The Tucano was nice looking (I could wear that without the scoot) but offered less protection. The Corazzo jackets come with Knox armour pre-fitted. I know what Mrs Britcay wanted. Cottage was about £120 and Postale around £150 though they varied.
I discounted the Tempeste jacket as it looked a bit too warm for my summer jaunts and was also a bit too brown given my helmet. I didn't want to look a total turd
Due to a bit of a cock-up, I ordered both the Cottage and Postale jackets.Buying proved a bit difficult. It seems like the whole of the UK had ran out of Corazzo stock in my size (L, 5'11 and about 12 1/2 stone). I had a very helpful exchange with Karen at Scooter Specialist NI (Belfast) http://scooterspecialistni.co.uk/and Arlene at the rather stripper-esque sounding "GoGo Gear LA" in California http://www.gogogearla.com/. Both were very helpful but the Arlene (the US stockist) would have been subject to Customs & Excise duty (and delays) plus extra shipping charges, whereas Karen couldn't get them in for several weeks. They both suggested I should look at XL and I found one Postale left in the whole world in XL (in Lithuania!).
It took about a week to arrive and is a really nice weather-resistant garment. There's a zip-out sleeveless jacket underneath, vent zips under the arms and very neat reflective inserts in the back which cleverly appear when you lean forwards and grab the handlebars, plus a reflective strip across the bottom. It has armour in the elbows, shoulders and back and though I do look a bit Crystal Harrington (no, not Carrington; see what I did there 80's TV fans!) it's superb and ideal for our climate. Fits shoulders/chest well but a bit of space around my 34" waist.
There's a full on review here; http://www.examiner.com/review/riding-g ... ale-jacket
Tucano Urbano has also brought out a Mk2 version of their Cottage jacket, just not in brown
. However I found one of the older stock via Google Shop but the seller was a total waste of time. Avoid WheelUp in Italy like pineapple on a pizza; https://uk.trustpilot.com/review/www.wheelup.it See I should have paid attention to that other 1-star review . Interestingly even though they only have two trustpilot reviews, both 1-star they have a 5.4 out of 10 rating. Watch out for that!In the end, good old eBay and the superb Italian dealer Cross Action in Genova (Genoa) http://www.crossaction.it. I ordered it from them on the Saturday lunchtime and it arrived on the Wednesday. Brilliant. It's a nice warm jacket with a zip up centre portion that can be removed to leave a 3-button blazer-style jacket for warm days. Loads of pockets (even fits my iPhone 6+) but perhaps a little lacking in protection; it has a reflective strip on the collar when folded up and pockets for armour in the elbows only. The new version has extra reflective fold out bits in the cuffs and pockets for shoulder-armour.
Lastly I got a pair of Tucano "Gass" fingerless gloves which are ok, but obvs offer scant protection to scuffs and the weather, though are great on a hot day. They're quite thin brown leather with a white back (almost 70's style "driving gloves") which at least is good for visibility. £28 is a bit much to pay for these, with hindsight I wouldn't have bothered. One drawback to online buying is that in some cases, you can't see before you buy.
Better (again) are the Corazzo Cordero gloves. Listed as "Tan" they're actually a bit yellow, but this isn't a bad thing for better visibility when I'm sticking a nervous hand out to make that right turn
Much thicker leather, look nice when they're worn in (I found a pair on eBay that were second hand and look great for £20!)
That's it for my ramblings for the moment. More to come!
.....don't dress up just to look good, dress up to ride safe. I have a summer jacket and a very good quality winter jacket..cough Harley Davidson....good gloves with knuckle protection.....and a full face helmet which transformed my enjoyment of riding on 2 wheels. Try one, you will be pleasantly surprised and more importantly your face will remain in tact if unfortunately you have a spill. I also wear Kevlar jeans but stupidly not every time I ride....be cool or be safe, your choice...