Anything But The Car II

I figured it would happen eventually: A couple of problems cropped up that caused it to fail inspection. For one, the right front turn signal cover, a piece of clear plastic, had cracked and had a hole. It might have been that way a year earlier and the inspector didn't notice. Maybe it was that way when I bought it. Maybe I got nailed by a rock last week. I don't remember. Regardless, with that hole there, it was not going to pass. A bigger problem that I did not realize was that the brake light was stuck in the "on" position. This was serious, since nobody following me would be able to tell if I was applying the brakes. I have no idea how long this situation existed, but that grounded the machine until I figured out a fix. Starting with the lens, I reached out first to eBay and Google, then to the scooter Facebook group, for replacement parts. This proved elusive, then fruitless. I became aware that these machines were being scrapped whole, without removing potentia...

More than a couple times, I've nearly stranded myself by running the battery nearly empty. I've only needed to call for help once, though, that being when I made a trip to the grocery, not quite a mile away, with only 5 miles left on the range indicator. Got there OK, but the machine would not start with only 4 left. Fortunately, my wife could drive my spare battery to me in a matter of minutes. Swapped out, drove home, and everything was fine. Lesson learned; don't expect the machine to start with 5 or fewer miles left on the range indicator. Downtown is about 10 miles from the house, by air. Inbound on the scooter, since it's primarily downhill, I use about 7 miles of range getting downtown. The return trip, though, uses double that, typically 13 to 15 range miles, depending on the path taken. With any diversions on the way in or back, that results in having only a couple of miles left. At least twice, the range indicator read 0 when I pulled in the driveway. I've...

 One thing the Scoobi does not have is a parking brake. This makes it necessary to take some care when parking on a slope. If I'm pointed uphill, usually no problem, as I have to roll it back a few inches to prop it up on its kickstand. But if pointed downhill, I run the real risk of it rolling off its kickstand. There is a simple solution: I carry a brick in the storage compartment under the seat. If I have to park facing downhill, I place the brick in front of the rear tire, et voilà, problem averted!

While I am not a native Pittsburgher, I have acquired some of the native accent after living here for over four decades. "Slippy" = slippery, "aht" is how o-u-t is pronounced in these parts. Regardless of accent, though, lots of conditions can result in one's tires having a tenuous relationship with the pavement underneath. I have bicycled, unicycled, motorcycled, driven a car, and of course, motor scootered in non-ideal conditions. Four winters on the SUNY Geneseo campus, often on unicycle, provided me a wealth of experience being able to read and understand the surface conditions of what I'm approaching, and so be able to predict what might happen once my tires (tire!) get there. This cannot be taught; it's literally seat-of-your-pants learning. Not all snow acts the same, and not all dry-looking pavement can be trusted.  To date, over 4,500 miles of usage, I have dumped the scooter only twice. Once on dry pavement, once while barely moving but on wet ...

 Blog post 7:  Rolling down Liberty Ave in the Strip District one evening, I ran over something that put a moderately fast leak in the rear tire. I didn't notice it immediately, only when I got to a red light a mile later and wobbled as I started off. A flat front tire on a bike is immediately a problem and a danger due to loss of steering, but a rear flat can be ridden for miles. Since I was downtown, I merely pushed it to my usual parking spot under the Crosstown Blvd bridge and parked it. There was no way I was going to try to ride it 10 miles home. Even if I could, I would likely damage the rim. Replacing a tire should be a simple, straightforward affair. Should. Operative word there. Ha. The immediate problem was getting it home or to someplace I could work on it. Ideally I'd find a shop that could pick it up and fix it for me. But after a series of phone calls and emails over a full week's time, I had struck out on a simple fix. Nope, this was going to be a self repai...

 Blog post 6: Replacing our own cars We have two cars, my wife's 2010 Kia Rondo with 142,000 on the odo, and my 2011 Nissan Versa with 133,000. Myself, I also have the 250cc gasoline motorcycle, and the electric scooter, as well as the bicycle and a bus pass. All get regular use. I might employ two or even three of the above in a single day, while my wife uses exclusively her car. Both cars are at the age where replacement is within reason, but since both are in good shape, we have some time to decide what to do. This essay is about that thought process. It does help that we've used the same mechanic for over 25 years, and he knows both of our cars, and the several which preceded them. If there's any serious problem developing, he would let us know. At this point, there are no major issues for either one. On mine, as noted elsewhere, it gets little use, so if need be we could scuttle that one without major inconvenience. Our family had only one car for 18 years, living in t...