GPS day

Conditions were perfect for a new years run and a great chance to put the speedo to the test. 9am, 25 degrees C, slight breeze and not a cloud in the sky.
With an expertly mounted iPhone I headed out to find a long straight flat road, which didn't take that long since the area is dairy country and there are paddocks full of cows everywhere.
The results:-
Speedo reading     GPS
40kmph                   37
50                            47
60                            54
70                            64
80                            74
90                            82
100                          unobtainium*

*I tried in vain to hit 100kmph wasn't to be I got to 90 on the flat road but thought if I went to the big hill on the edge of town, which was also going to favour the wind direction, so I did and once I got to probably 95 the scooter was shaking like nothing I'd felt her do before, a quick glance at the GPS told me it was 90-91, the speedo needle was shaking, my teeth were shaking, the engine was screaming, my mirror rattled and moved so I couldn't see anything.........I could've pushed harder but to be honest I lost my nerve just trying to hang on and backed off, the result will have to wait until another day.
The business end of the ride was now out of the way, so I decided to do some exploring of my new home town, my wife had been looking at land so I went and had a look at some of the ones she thought would be suitable for us to build a new home, I also went and found a few small lakeside hideaways, the funniest thing I saw was a guy asleep on the grass outside of MacDonalds, obviously new years eve was bigger than he thought it was going to be. Eventually I headed home after another hour or so of riding around, The speedo read a couple of kms shy of 4400km.

Just outside the Colac Yacht Club, on Lake Colac,  funnily enough, in Colac.
Happy new year to all.

New year, new start.

Christmas was a quiet family affair, the usual over indulgence and most importantly the boys had a great time.
As for the SPV, not much to tell really, she hasn't missed a beat and is running well, I haven't had a chance to get a good run in for a while now, but the daily commute and a run here and there is about as far as I have gone. Nothing has fallen off or apart, but one thing I did whip up as a spare was this fuel tap, I got a new one from a scooter shop somewhere and it broke as soon as I installed it, so I ran with the one that came with the scooter when it arrived, this one I'll just carry in the tool bag just in case I need it, Murphy's law says I will be miles from home when it does pack it in so I'll play it safe.

This is my parking spot at work, out of the weather and away from the local nutters that frequent the solicitors office next door, last thing I need is for the paint to be damaged by some dead beat that has just been given bad news and the first thing they see and feel like kicking over outside the office door is Gloria. No thanks.
By the way it was my boss that recommended this for that exact reason, not me being judgemental.
The spot was made for it I think.

Above is Angus looking coy and just hanging with Dad after I got back from the 300km odd round trip to Geelong a few weeks ago, hence spare tyre,  the other shot is the three little dudes having a cuddle of sorts, it's near impossible to get them all to look in the same direction and smile at the same time, wouldn't have the rascals any other way.
Today must have been stop and talk to the Vespa Guy day, didn't get the memo, I rolled G out onto the street after work and had that "did I lock the office door?" feeling, when I came back down there was a guy circling the scoot with a smile on his face like a Cheshire cat, a lengthy conversation ensued and it turned out he was a motorbike enthusiast and was so excited to see a real example of Italian motoring history in front of his eyes, he didn't hang around long enough for me to stall it three times getting on my way, temperamental old lass.
Two minutes up the road I had stopped to get a couple of beers, came out and there was a Lady of about fifty, it's warm out, she's in short shorts and a singlet, tidy and without sounding like I'm going into the start of a cheap adult movie, She was just going "Ooooooohhhhhh" when she realised it was my scooter she went on to tell me that:
She luuurrrved the colour, "It's Ascot green if you must know"
"My bucket list includes having enough money to buy an old Vespa or Lambretta (cue rolling accent tongue), I just love the old 60's-70's style, LOVE it....
I then give her a short rundown on the SPVs history.
She says "All you need is is a cute Italian girl on the back"
I say " That would be nice, but not sure what my wife would think about that"
"It would be fun, ok see ya"
" I'm Italian by the way" and she walks off to her car.
I ride home thinking about what just happened.....and smile. Did I just get hit on by a woman in a supermarket carpark, gotta love the Vespa.

80-64

The last couple of days there has been one of those speed checking thingy's on the side of the road into town, its in a sixty speed limit area and I know that they would have a certain widow for accuracy.
So the first day I rode past I didn't really take much notice of how fast I was going on the speedo and I forget what it said but I did remember thinking that's a bit out.
So the last two days I decided to go past with my speedo on 80kmph......both days I registered 64-65. Vespa speedos are famous for not being accurate, if they work at all, so I'm not really surprised.
The next step is to wait until my new iPhone arrives over the next day or so, I will be doing an extensive speedo check with the GPS, should be interesting.
4220kms on the speedo, how many real kms I've done......stuffed if I know now.

Finally got the GT right and here is the questionable parking spot for the scoots, suitably rustic and slightly out of square.
EDIT:- another driveby this morning with the speedo on 90ish.......74, consistant, so not that this scoot is all about a land speed record once the engine decides it's had enough, a bit of tarting up will be in order.... also my top speed recorded some time ago was 103kmph was in fact in the 88kmph vicinity, I still remember thinking that was fast enough, she was screaming, the rattling and shaking was also a bit unnerving.

New digs

Now that I'm half settled in, my thoughts soon turned towards a new workshop, My father in law had offered me his old workshop in an abandoned dairy on their property, he hadn't used it for about 20 years so I had my work cut out cleaning it out. The pictures tell the story, the first one was my old workshop, plenty of room, the rest are of the new one, and various views of it, stages of moving in and views from inside. To say it has character is an understatement. there is enough room to get the Gloria in if I need to, I just park her either under the hay shed or the wood shed depending on how much rain is forecast.

The move

As you can see I couldn't get much more in the back of the truck, it was the last trip and it all HAD to fit...

at the other end it all came out and with a days rest I head out to join the Vespa Club of Melbourne on a ride around the lovely Bellarine Peninsula, a reasonable turn out of Vespas, only one other older scooter but still it was a good days ride, would've been nicer without the cold wind and the threatening rain, which stayed away thankfully. It was great to get a good solid ride in, it has seemed ages since I rode any further than just into town.

The days ride ended up being 350kms all up and the SPV didn't miss a beat, stayed with the traffic at 80 odd kmph at times a little faster. It was also a good chance to get some idea of fuel consumption too, not an exact science but I used 13 ltrs so about 27 kms per litre and about 190kms per tank, but I'd never put that to the test without a backup fuel supply.

I also past the 4000km mark, so can't complain about that either.