Sep 10 - Vespa 250 - The Ortlieb Panniers System

It's been more than a year since I purchased a set of Ortlieb panniers for the Vespa and high time to report on what followed. When I bought the scooter I was unable to find saddlebags specifically made for it so I began searching in other areas. I soon discovered there are a lot of panniers made for bicycles including Ortlieb's waterproof Back-Roller Classics.

They're available in several colors and their red is a great match for my Vespa; all I had to do was come up with a way to mount them.

I might mention that Ortlieb also makes a set of throw-over bags designed for motorcycles but using them on the Vespa would be awkward; the scooter's gas filler is located underneath the saddle so each time you filled up you'd need to remove the bags. At best that would be clumsy, not what I was looking for.

Deciding to go ahead I placed my order on line and they soon arrived. It was immediately clear their quality was very good which is probably why you see so many of them on the road.

My initial mounting rack design reflected ideas as used for traditional motorcycle saddle bags. They're generally a lot heavier than the Ortliebs I'd be using but it was a starting place. I like to use PVC tubing for building mock-ups, it's easy to work with and cheaper than metal.

My 1st design effort wasn't so good. In fact it was pretty awful... Back to the drawing board.

This is my drawing board...It couldn't get much sillier than this.

Realizing my efforts weren't going all that well I continued to search the Internet for more design ideas. Before long I developed a somewhat jaundiced attitude towards my fellow man, particularly those with engineering skills. I began to dress accordingly.

Words to live by....

I even ran across what would seem to be the ultimate urban scooter. Imagine weaving in and out of snarled traffic on this puppy. Who would challenge you? Billy-Bob? I think not.

Can you say Anarchy? Coming through...step aside please...

I wrote to the builder of the following scooter located in South Africa asking if he would consider fabricating a setup like his but he never answered. I imagine his mail box was flooded with similar requests and he probably lit out for the bush. After studying his design I think it would be easy enough to make one just like it at home.

Would this be hard to take?

Those look like Pelican panniers. Not sure about the latches, they might be something he sourced from the boating industry

For the brackets he used all stainless steel, the best there is.

Then I asked myself when was the last time you really wanted to ride out in the sticker-bushes and that led me back on the path to the KISS approach. Still I like his scooter a lot so maybe one day...

First version of my KISS design mounts using PVC - it worked.

Having ridden a few thousand miles using the simple mounting system I wanted a final copy made of aluminum, maybe with a better means of attaching it to the scooter. For that I enlisted the skills of Ron at Bandon Fabrication, he's the guy responsible for some of the best work I've had done in the past on other bikes.

Even though it's his busy season he managed to find time to turn out the main mounts but coming up with a final means of attaching them to the scooter was going to require more time than he could spare. I decided to see if I could clean up the system I'd used on the PVC version and went ahead with that.

Before starting I covered the unused back guide with a rubber strip made from an inner tube, then added a felt pad to prevent the scooter's fender from contacting the bag. If I'd done that before my ride to Canada I would have avoided a few scratches on the paint. Duh... 

This is Ron's aluminum mount ready for finishing. First order of business was to mount the bar in place using the hose clamps from my PVC version. I used soft plastic tubing underneath the hose clamps to protect the chrome rail.

I picked up a couple of red reflectors on EBay to mount on the bar ends.

Mounting the reflectors required drilling and tapping a 6 mm hole.

I used cutting oil to help make the tapping process easier. It doesn't smell as nice as Hoppe's gun oil though. The reflectors are nearly a perfect match for the round stock.

Blue Thread-locker will help prevent the reflectors from unscrewing.

Hose clamps ready for final trimming. After cutting them off I used a drill with a stone to polish the ends, then tucked them underneath out of the way.

All soft panniers need to be secured on their leading edge to prevent them from flapping around at speed. For this I used a couple of items as found on line at Aerostich.com and the local True Value Hardware.

Note the attachment clip at the lower leading edge of the bag

I found the black swivel clip that's mounted on the fender on line at Aerostich.com listed as "Bungee Loops". You get four of them in a pack, less than twenty bucks. The chrome pinch clips are available at most hardware stores, I found mine at True Value for under five bucks.

Clean design, easy to use. I like!

In summation this is a good system for scooters and I'd recommend them for anyone who likes to tour. The Ortlieb Back-Roller Classic panniers hold way more stuff than I needed for ordinary "motel" camping and they really are waterproof. Riding two-up might mean adding extra storage on the front rack but that's another story.

All finished. I be stylin'!!

It's getting a bit late in the riding season for anything long distance but maybe I'll try to sneak in another short trip before winter arrives. Anyway adios for now, keep riding.

LL

Jul 25 - Vespa 250 - Spooling down at home

Boy do I ever love this sunshine! So here it is the day after arriving home and time to assess the damages, if any, to gear and scooter. There are always a few things that pop up and this time is no different, couple of scratches, odd mechanical noises coming from the lower regions [the scoot's, not mine], and even a bit of dye transfer on the saddle.

Paint scratch No. 1 way up high. Must have caught something underneath the saddle. Dang it anyway! Vespa offers some of the highest priced touch-up paint there is....arrgh!

Scratch No. 2 may be hard to fix but I'll try. I know what caused this one. 

This came as a surprise to me, the sheepskin seat pad's dye bled through and now the tan saddle has a blueish look to it. Maybe I can find something to take it out without dissolving the cover itself. Ideas welcome.

Harmless looking enough...

But lurking underneath is the odd blue color. Yuk!

Awhile back I put up a really primitive clothesline on the back of the deck just for this reason. Drying gear after bike tours or crabbing or just airing out sleeping bags; it's the ticket for whatever you need. Not pretty though.,,

My Elk skin gloves are still soaking wet, will likely need at least two days to dry out.

The rest of the stuff is already dry after 15 minutes. Nice breeze back there with warm sunshine. 

The mechanical noises coming from the scooter's lower regions sounds like something nasty is about to happen. Think $$$. It occurs when motion is started up and goes away at speed. At least I think it does, I can't hear it if it's still there. No surprise there...huh? What? Eh?

Altogether not much harm done and considering how hot it was the first few days and the speeds I was running at - constant 65 - 70 mph - placed quite a demand on such a small engine. I'll dig into it and see if I can sort it out but first I'll also ask my more knowledgeable buddies for their advice. Maybe they'll tell me to trade up to the more powerful 300. Yeah, that's the ticket, go get another scooter!

You left me. I wanted to go but you left me.

But now you're home and I still love you! Can we go to the beach now?

That'll do it, if anyone has ideas about removing the blue dye I'd like to hear them. Plus the mysterious mechanical noises....eww....

One last item, or two actually, I think I've got the blog fixed so readers can post comments and if you received this post via email that part's working too. Fine kettle of fish now that I'm home but at least it will be operational for the next ride.

LL

Jul 24 - Day 21 Vespa 250 - Arlington WA more gloomy rain

This morning the rain continues but the weather people say it will be gone, maybe later today. After breakfast I wandered outside for a look-see and things appeared about the same as when I checked in, dark & drizzly. Yuk!

Lovely, just lovely...

After breakfast the morning front desk lady caught up with me in the entrance and said "You should have parked your bike under our covered area. I see that you've got a cover for it but next time please do that." Now that's pretty nice I think. The scooter was totally soaked when I put it to bed but I covered it up just for security reasons. Out of sight, out of temptation, or at least that's the idea.

Ugh...water...double ugh

.

Wonder where the covered parking is? The lobby maybe?

Since it was still raining I decided I might as well stick around in my room for awhile. Check out time is noon which means I can hang around for 3 more hours. Cool.. Putting my soggy boots on this morning was definitely not nice but maybe they'll be better later. They smell kinda funny though..sort of swamp-like..

So what's to do in a motel room for 3 hours? Why not watch COPS Reloaded? "Bad boy, bad boy, whatcha gonna do when they come for you? Bad boy" 

Getcher Hands up! Gettem Up! Do it NOW!

Whoa! Da door's stuck man...Don' shoot!

Don' shoot! I'm down, I'm crawlin' see? Don' shoot me!

Hey Roscoe, you want that guy? Hmm?

Day time TV...it just doesn't get any better than this. Bad boy, bad boy, whatcha gonna do, whatcha gonna do when they come for yoooouuuuu!

But wait, Paternity Court is next. Whoa!

You did  WHAT?!! With BOTH of them?!!! What's wrong with you girl?

k

I don't know, I just like to do it, that's all. What can I say?

I hung around the motel room until 11:30 or so, then since the rain was light and I was getting antsy I turned in my card keys and bagged it. Once again I found myself rolling down I-5, this time to the south and in the rain. The sky to the west still looked pretty dark and I figured it would be chancy to take the coastal route home.

With that in mind I thought I might as well continue towards home and maybe stay overnight in Portland. For some reason I seemed to make pretty good time until I reached Seattle and then everything went into slow motion. I read somewhere recently that Seattle no longer has a rush hour; their traffic is so heavy it's stop & go 24/7. I believe it.

Eventually I cleared the area and stopped for a lunch break at a rest stop somewhere south of Olympia.

I seem to have developed a very casual attitude towards neatness when I park the scooter for short rests, lunch, etc. 

These 3 guys worked on that van the whole time I was at the rest stop having lunch. The big challenge seemed to be getting the hood closed when they were finished. Finally one of them grabbed hold of the hood brace and yanked on it hard enough to bend it and down it came.

I reached Portland at 3:45 pm and it took till 4:45 pm to clear the city. Evidently Seattle doesn't have a monopoly on traffic congestion. Instead of staying overnight I continued on; I figured as long as I wasn't tired I might as well keep riding.

The freeway traffic sped up to normal until I entered the Salem area and once again got to play stop & go for awhile. Once cleared of that things remained free and I made really good time, riding around 70 mph.

I saw the longest traffic stop ever in my whole life in the north bound lane around Brownsville. From what I could see a semi-truck trailer had burned and the emergency guys were loading it onto a gigantic wrecker. Cars were backed up for a good ten miles, never saw anything that bad before. Boy was I ever glad it wasn't in the south bound lanes.

After that not much happened, had to wait for short periods at a couple of construction zones but they weren't bad. I took the Drain exit off I-5 and rode on, through Elkton and Scottsburg, turning south onto US 101 at Reedsport. The traffic was light and it was an easy ride.

I stopped for another break at the Elk viewing area just east of Reeds Port. The herd is really huge this year and the tourists love to watch them.

Resident Elk herd east of Reeds Port

The buggers came right up to the rails and watched the people.

Once I had my fill of Elk viewing I continued homeward, stopping for gas in Coos Bay, then rode non-stop the rest of the way. I arrived home just before 10:00 pm, a little saddle-sore but not bad.

Overall I had a pretty good time on this trip. I covered 2,265 miles and saw some nice country. I wish that damn thunderstorm hadn't hit as hard as it did; I'd have liked to tour Vancouver Island again but I guess I'll have to wait till next time.

The Vespa performed well and I'm pretty enthusiastic about touring on it again. My only complaint and it's a small one is I wish it had just a tad more power; some of the hills we climbed took every once of juice it could muster. Maybe that's why they make the 300?

Almost home when this was taken. Sun was going down.

Today's ride was around 419 miles, quite a bit more than I expected. So that's it, case closed, done deal. Hope you liked the pics & the silly comments.

LL 

Jul 23 - Day 20 Vespa 250 - Wotta deluge! BC to WA

Crimoney Christmas it rained hard today! Starting out in the sun didn't fool me, those storm clouds in the west looked loaded for bear so I wore my rain gear. Good thing as it turned out. Leaving Princeton around 8:30 am I stopped long enough to gas up, then got back on highway 3 heading west. A couple of miles down the road I spotted a nice 3-point buck grazing just off the road but as soon as I stopped he bolted. No posing for him, not today anyway.

Within a few more miles I caught up with the first of many slow moving semi-trucks and joined their line of followers. Semis can really be aggravating at times; they slow down to 25 mph going up hills where no one can pass safely, then when they hit the flats instead of letting people get by they run at or over the speed limit for cars. I saw this happen again and again today and it really irked me.

The rain started within the first hour of the ride and continued all day long, getting worse and worse.Then just as the weather channel had predicted the lightning storm arrived. Yippee.

This photo looks pretty clear and maybe in a car it would be but my glasses and helmet visor were fogged up so bad I couldn't see squat and didn't dare ride any more until something got fixed. While I was stopped at this particular spot I thought I might step over the guard wall and avail myself of the bushes for a much needed pee break. Just as I started down through the weeds a reddish brown snake slithered in front of me and I decided maybe I could wait a bit longer. Stage left Dude. I hate snakes, at least the ones that I don't recognize. Evil buggers all.

Because of the intense rain, fog, and lightning all I could do was pull over to the side and try to figure things out. Finally I decided I'd try and find a motel in Hope, the nearest town. That turned out to be futile, nothing looked inviting to me so I decided to move on.

One thing I'd discovered while there was if I removed my glasses and kept the helmet's visor tilted slightly up I could see fairly well.I put on my Knox Cold Killer axeman's hood as it completely covers my head from the neck up leaving a window for my eyes or if I stretch it, my entire face. This keeps out the elements and protects my chin from stinging rain. With that new approach I rolled onto the freeway and things were pretty good albeit WET.

Nasty, nasty thunderstorm continues

Me? Hell I LOVE lightning!Ha ha ha, I spit in your face lightning!

I arrived in Abbottsford cold and wet. The weather people were fairly adamant about how nasty things were going to be for the next two days so I figured what the hell, may as well bunch it and head south, no sense in taking the ferry over to the island just to sit in an overpriced motel waiting for things to clear up.

With that in mind I set the GPS for Seattle and crossed back into the USA at Suma. I've taken this route several times and the run through Nooksak down highway 9 to Seedro-Wooley rolls through picturesque farm lands.The rain continued with intensity and since it was lunch time and I was starving I opted to stop alongside the road for a couple of quick energy bars. It was weird standing by the scooter in the pouring rain having my lunch and I expected someone might stop to see if I needed help but no one did. I think the rain was a bit much for them plus I wasn't trying to wave anyone down.

Nice cozy spot for a little lunch

That yellow thing looks like it might be Tansy Ragwort. Very bad stuff for bovines.

It was raining even harder when I rolled out for I-5. Wot fun... 

I thought I might run all the way to Seattle but the storm was getting to me; I was chilled badly and that makes for dangerous riding. I kept an eye out for motel signs and spotted one for the Quality Inn at Arlington and headed for it arriving around 3:30 pm.

Checking into a motel when you're soaking wet can be a hoot at times and today was one of them. The gal at the desk was finishing up with another guy and kept glancing at me as I went through the motions of removing gloves, helmet, and earplugs all the while dripping huge amounts of water on their nice carpet.She laughed at me and asked "Fun out there?" That was a good start and to make things better I scored the #1 parking spot right next to the front entrance. 

It only took me a few minutes to unload and put the cover on the scooter, then I grabbed two cups of hot coffee and locked myself away from the elements. After a 20-minute hot as I could stand it shower I felt almost human again. It took a fair amount of time to get the really wet gear hung up to dry but it's done and nothing else will help. The last time my elk skin gloves got this wet it took several days for them to dry out. All the stuff is hanging in various places throughout the room but none of it will be dry by tomorrow, not the main stuff anyway.

We're talking WET here. The gloves take at least two days to dry out. 

The latest weather channel report says sunshine is supposed to arrive Friday and I'm tempted to stay holed up here one more day just to see. If by some miracle they're right it would make all the difference for the ride home; at the very least I could run over to the Olympic Peninsula and ride the coast highway south, that's always a nice run. I guess I'll see what it looks like in the morning, check the weather guys one more time and then decide.

I forgot to look at the odometer but I think today's run was somewhere around 250 rain-soaked miles.Fun.

LL