Road trip 8/31

I took the Vespa out on another shakedown drive. It was running ok at first, but then it started bogging down once I was on the open road. I pulled over about 3 times to adjust the fuel mix and check the spark plug. The plug gap was a little wide, so I fixed that. After the third adjustment to the fuel mix, the scooter was riding like a champ.

I ended up taking a route longer than I planned since the engine was behaving itself. 

Road Trip Map

122 miles!

I really enjoy riding my scooter.

So I went to my favorite bakery first, The Busy Bee Bakery. Sadly they were out of chocolate croissants so I got a cinnamon roll instead.

Then I headed over to Limantour Beach. The road there is somewhat curvy and hilly. A good small mountain road test. I walked down a trail behind the dunes for about a mile and finished off the cinnamon roll.

Limantour Dunes, Drakes Bay in the distance

Back on the road I made a pit stop at the Point Reyes Seashore Park welcome center. The Vespa was still running like it had no worries. Fourth gear was no problem.

Epicenter of the 1906 Earthquake (blue posts indicate fault line)

I was going to cut through Olema up Sir Francis Drake Blvd back to Platform Bridge road then back home, but I decided to extend the trip. My favorite challenging road in Marin County is the Fairfax-Bolinas road. This is a 6 mile assent up the ridge line that runs from Mount Tamalpais. A technical driver's dream of a curvy mountainous road. Not a high speed road, but many, many curves. Portions of this road are seen in many different car commercials.

One of many Hairpin curves on the Fairfax-Bolinas Rd (Zoom-Zoom!)

So after a fun assent, I headed along Ridgecrest Rd to go to the parking lot near the top of Mt Tam.

 

Ridgecrest Rd

Stenson Beach from Ridgecrest Rd

San Francisco from the top of Mt Tamalpais

Took another pit stop there and headed back to the other side of the Fairfax-Bolinas road which runs by Alpine Lake.

Alpine Lake Dam

Then I headed down to Fairfax and took Sir Francis Drake Blvd west to the Nicasio Valley Road.

Church in the town of Nicasio

Driving along Lake Nicasio, the engine briefly skips. I think to my self, I have driven a long way, so I stop and check the gas level. Look a little low to me, but I think there is enough to get me to Novato, where the nearest gas station on my route is located. There is a gas station in the town of Point Reyes Station, but that is the wrong way for my trip home. If only I had gone back to Point Reyes Station, I would not have run out of gas (again).

From Lake Nicasio, I drove easy, made it to Novato Blvd. On the first hill the engine sputters then dies. I get it started again, there is still between a half and a quarter of an inch of gas still in the tank. I make it down that hill, coasting as much as possible. The next hill stops me again, but I am able to get started and slowly make it over that hill. I coast by Stafford Lake with the clutch in and down to the area with the dog park. About there is where the scooter only runs for about 100 feet before quitting. There is a slight grade down hill there, so I coast as much as possible. At Sutro, the engine refuses to stay running, so I start pushing. The road there is mostly level or a slight down hill for a while, not enough to coast on the scooter though. Then there is a short rise, once I got to the top, I was able to coast down to the Shell station at the bottom of the hill.

After filling up (1.77 gallons) and a few kicks the scooter started right up. Then I headed on home. (I drove about 5 miles after a fill up the day before, so approximate MPG is 72 for that tank)

Next time I go on a road trip to areas with few gas stations, I will make a point of a complete fill up before starting and stop to top off when ever possible. The speedo seems to read fast so I am not sure of the accuracy of the odometer. I'm thinking of getting a spare gas tank that will fit inside the spare when I mount one to prevent this from happening again. I was running on the reserve setting because of all the grades to prevent the fuel from not being fed from the regular tap output.

Spark Plug & Test Drive

I bought new spark plugs today and replaced the one the scooter came with. Huge improvement, it is now running much better, not choking out at low RPMs. The previous owner told me he had to change them frequently, I just did not know how frequent he changed the plug. The old plug looked ok to me, a nice brown color around the insulator. But the swap did wonders, so I will keep that in mind. I got spares so that is the first thing I will do is swap the spark plug out at the sign of trouble.

Drove the Vespa around town today after replacing the plug for a test drive. I got lots of waves and thumbs up along the way from kids and motorists. Drove down to Redwood Blvd to get some gas, then up Grant Ave which the main street of downtown Novato. Then I headed to Wilson and on to Indian Valley Road for the test drive. Nice little loop drive with opportunities for varying speeds. Scoot drove well with no bogging down in the lower speeds.

Motorcycle Class II

Did the second part of the motorcycle class. Lots of turns and fast stops. The practical test was pretty easy, but I did not get a perfect score. I didn't follow through with the throttle on the turn test. I am so glad I took the class, it made taking the test much, much easier.

Motorcycle Class & Wrenching

Started my motorcycle class early this morning. They had scooters, so I selected a Vespa LX150. A very different experience with the automatic twist and go. I found it pretty easy, spent a lot of time waiting for others to complete their course before my turn. After the riding was the classroom part of the class, which lasted to mid afternoon. 

After the class I stopped by my friends place to borrow his torque wrench. Then I went home and fiddled with the head, retighting the head bolts. Then I took the scoot for a drive, it ran better than last Monday but still not as good as it ran last Saturday.

Engine Woes

I did not ride the Sprint on Sunday because I had to go to work and haul some stuff around. So Monday morning I went out and tried to start it but it just did not want to start. It eventually started but no power when throttled up. So after ten minutes of fiddling with it I decided I need to go to work and parked the scoot for the day.

Engine Work

I drove the scooter to my friends place to work on the engine yesterday. I have been having problems with it running fine for short trips, but longer trips with higher throttle, the engine would bog down upon deacceleration. 

I adjusted the mix which helped the low rpm performance. Then I removed the head to inspect and remove the carbon/coking build up on the head and piston top. There was not as much as I expected but still took a while to clean them off. Then I polished the head and cylinder top.

After reassembling the engine it started up quickly and ran sweetly.

I stayed for dinner but then the coastal fog started rolling in, so I decided to head home. The engine ran great not really causing any problems. It did slightly bog once, but I was happy with the performance.

The Story of the Vespa Sprint-P

Sprint #VLB1T036582 came off the assembly line about mid fall of 1966 at the Piaggio factory in Italy. It was sold by an Italian Vespa Dealer to someone needing cheap but reliable transportation. 

The scooter served it's owner well until one day the engine blew or froze up. The engine was cheaper to replace than repair so an engine from an old 65 Sprint was installed on the frame.

The scooter rode well but changed owners several times. In the 1980s, while the Vespa P-Series was all the rage, the Sprint was showing it's age. The paint was fading and it just looked old. So off it goes to a shop where it received body modifications to bring it up to a more modern look.

The original horn cast was cut off and a P-Series horn cast was put on the front of the leg shield. Levers and grips were changed to the newer style. A P glove box was fitted on the leg shield. The old cowl glove box was welded shut and the bottom cut out to allow a spare tire to be mounted underneath like the P Scooters. And the tail light was replaced with a newer model. Then the whole scooter was painted white over the old faded light blue color.

The Sprint then was an old machine with a new look. For several more years it traveled the streets of Italy, until the owner traded it in for a newer scooter. It sat for a few years, future uncertain, until someone bought it in a lot of other scooter to be shipped to America. 

After arriving in a container in the port of Oakland/Alameda in the mid 1990s, the Sprint was tuned up and sold to a new owner in the San Francisco area. It again changed hands a few times until the present day with a total of 68,000 kilometers on the odometer where it ended up in my hands.

The plans for the Sprint are to restore it to its off the assembly line condition, but keep it safe and functional. This blog in part will be documenting that process. All of the P modifications will be replaced with the correct part for the 1966 Sprint year model, turning it back in to a 1966 Sprint 150.

Less than 1 gallon of Gas

After doing my laundry, I decided to not let the scoot sit, so I went on a little road trip. I filled up the gas tank and went in search of the open road. I went to Inverness Park to get a chocolate croissant, as the Busy Bee Bakery knows how make them right. After that I went up to Marshall and took the Marshall-Petaluma road back to Novato.

North Marin Route

Had a intermittent problem with the motor misbehaving after long stretches of higher rpms, to where I would slow down or stop. It would run rough for a few moments then clear up. Not sure what is wrong, I do need to recheck the electrical and timing.

A quarter of the route was under marine layer fog around Marshall so, the ride was a little cool for a few miles. I didn't take many pictures, but here are a few I took around Marshall.

When I got back home, I checked my gas level and less than 1 gallon was used from this trip.

Service Trip

Saturday I drove the scoot in to SF to have it checked out and the carburetor adjusted. I found a route with very minimal freeway, about 34 miles long. Though taking surface streets took me 2.5 hours vs my regular cage drive of 45 minutes.

This is the route I ended up taking: SF Route

I left at about 7:45 AM, the drive was ok, surface streets, stop signs and stop lights gave me plenty of chances to work on my shifting technique. I had a little nervous incident where the engine stopped halfway between the Manzanita and Marin City freeway exits. I had to go on the freeway here because it is the only place around to get past this area. It turns out I had gone into the reserve part of the fuel tank, so once I figured that out I was back on the road.

After stopping in Sausalito for gas, I stopped for a photo of SF from Sausalito.

Then I headed up to the Golden Gate. I decided to go up Hawk hill for some photo shots of the fog, GGB and SF skyline.

Back down I headed across the bridge and followed the route to First Kick scooter shop.

I left the vespa with them and went for brunch at the SF Ferry building. I returned a little over 1.5 later to the shop and the mechanic was still working on the scooter. So I hung out in the sales room looking closely at all the shiny.

When the mechanic was done, he told me about what he did and some safety concerns. He worked on the carb and ended up replacing the jet. He expressed concern about the rear hub not being tight and the nut missing off of the end of the swing arm motor mount. I asked him to fix both of those which he did rather quickly. We discussed the electrical system where it was a rough on start but smoothed out once the engine was warmed up.

I had asked in the shop about getting key copies made, the recommended a key shop on Church street. So I rode over there and it turns out the shop is closed on Saturdays.

I start heading home, taking my regular route down Lincoln, big mistake. Traffic was slow and backed up for many blocks. I stalled out a few time due to the slow movement, this is something I need to work on. I don't like the idea of lanesplitting, so I was slow like the rest of the cagers.

Back across the GGB, I drove down to Ft Baker for a dramatic photo.

Surface streets back home, besides being fun, it was uneventful.

I noticed that the previous owners did not attached the registration sticker and it was not in the little pouch with their registration papers, so I need to go by CSAA DMV to get a replacement.

* cage - car, cager - car driver

Back home

Make it home in one piece. Had some minor power problems with loss on uphill grades or full throttle.

Picture parked at home.

First trip on the road

Finally got my registration, insurance and helmet. So took a short road trip to drive the scooter home from my friends place. It was a nice trip, a good chance to try it out. I took some of the back roads between Petaluma and Novato. 

Around the driveway

Lovely North Bay -  Marin County

Cheese Factory

Stafford Lake