BikerBear650
Well travelled
- Location
- San Antonio, TX, USA
Conditions: heavy damp, had been raining for 24 hours non stop.
I was riding into a gas station from a US interstate access road. In TX the freeways all have a parallel low speed highway next to them for businesses. From the streets you transfer to these parallel roads (some Texans call them feeder roads), then as you go down it then slip roads from the interstate connect.
The gas station was built before the interstate was reconconfigured and the concrete apron and driveway where it interfaces the access road is now breaking up. My front tire lifted up a large concrete chip and cast it away, and underneath it was oil caked dirt. The rear tire hit that as I was making the turn at the speed I usually take it (15MPH), and there was no saving it... there wasn't even any time to touch the brake or throw a leg out.
My head double bounced on the concrete. I was in full armor because I was on the Bear just before to run an errand, and I took the Vespa just to gas it up.
This Vespa has a tip shutoff which did its thing, but I later learned the key must be off for two minutes before turning the scooter back on to start it.
It was over a week ago, and now that I look at this again it's not as bad as I thought. I bought this used and hate the red color, so now I'm going to get it Bondo'd and retrimmed.
The plus side is that now I can wrap the scooter. I was thinking of getting a Kawasaki green wrap and rebadging her as the "Ninja 150"
Lessons learned: as a scrambler/knobby tire enjoyer, I really need to be super mindful when swapping rides because different tires do different things well and different things suck. On the Bear I take railroad grade crossings at full or near full speed. Thin tires on the Vespa or even the standard size motorcycle street tires, and the loading, can send the front wheel dancing. And what was most surprising to me was that there was no "fishtail time" like I normally expect with a rear tire lock, like you do on purpose to turn on dirt. This was an immediate flip... the instant I could feel the rear slipping I was already looking at the sky.
Or in my case, the rear tire decides to clock out of its shift early. That "killer gas station" has other entrances so now I'm using the safer ones.



I was riding into a gas station from a US interstate access road. In TX the freeways all have a parallel low speed highway next to them for businesses. From the streets you transfer to these parallel roads (some Texans call them feeder roads), then as you go down it then slip roads from the interstate connect.
The gas station was built before the interstate was reconconfigured and the concrete apron and driveway where it interfaces the access road is now breaking up. My front tire lifted up a large concrete chip and cast it away, and underneath it was oil caked dirt. The rear tire hit that as I was making the turn at the speed I usually take it (15MPH), and there was no saving it... there wasn't even any time to touch the brake or throw a leg out.
My head double bounced on the concrete. I was in full armor because I was on the Bear just before to run an errand, and I took the Vespa just to gas it up.
This Vespa has a tip shutoff which did its thing, but I later learned the key must be off for two minutes before turning the scooter back on to start it.
It was over a week ago, and now that I look at this again it's not as bad as I thought. I bought this used and hate the red color, so now I'm going to get it Bondo'd and retrimmed.
The plus side is that now I can wrap the scooter. I was thinking of getting a Kawasaki green wrap and rebadging her as the "Ninja 150"

Lessons learned: as a scrambler/knobby tire enjoyer, I really need to be super mindful when swapping rides because different tires do different things well and different things suck. On the Bear I take railroad grade crossings at full or near full speed. Thin tires on the Vespa or even the standard size motorcycle street tires, and the loading, can send the front wheel dancing. And what was most surprising to me was that there was no "fishtail time" like I normally expect with a rear tire lock, like you do on purpose to turn on dirt. This was an immediate flip... the instant I could feel the rear slipping I was already looking at the sky.
Or in my case, the rear tire decides to clock out of its shift early. That "killer gas station" has other entrances so now I'm using the safer ones.



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