The season opener in the California scooter scene is the Rides Of March rally. I had planned months in advance to ride there and back, but back in December, after a strip down, I noticed some damage to the nicasil lining above the boost port of my TS1 and took the scooter off the road. I had planned just to have it repaired, ported and replated but I had to save up the funds for it and that went on for 2 month until my friend, Dean (Deanspeed) offered a trade: my high miles TS1 Humiliator barrel plus $200 for a lightly used TS1 barrel. I asked him to port it for more midrange power and more power so I could pull 9,000 rpm in 4th gear. That way, I'd spend as much on the barrel as I would have sending it for repair and replating but all of it would go to Dean instead which I and he preferred, as he had to take his family to Hawaii due to a death of a relative.
After he returned and recovered, he got to work on my TS1 and spend some time widening and raising the exhaust port and squaring off the boost port. Then he honed it to match the Wiseco KX250 piston that I had bought earlier. He brought it to me and we installed the piston. I then worked on it the next couple of days, installing the V-Force reed block, then the next day installing the cylinder and putting everything else together, just two days before the rally. I did a few heat cycles, then took it for a couple of short rides and cool downs after, then parked it back in the garage. Thursday had me loading up the scooter with all the stuff I was bringing to the rally: tent, bedroll, sleeping bag, luggage, tools. I wasn't riding to the rally on such a new top end. I had arranged for a ride up with my friend Peter who offered space on his pickup truck. I had to meet him in the morning at his apartment. Great, another short ride and cool down.
Friday morning, I double checked everything so I wouldn't lose anything on the streets of LA. I wrote directions to his place on a legal pad and tore of the sheet of paper and taped it to my headset. Then off I rode working the engine through the rev range. Wiseco pistons run in pretty quickly the scooter really seems to pull harder and more progressively than before.
I got there on time, we loaded Peter's truck, and we were soon on our way. It's about a 4 hour drive to get to San Luis Obispo. We unloaded the truck when we got to Peter's motel, then I loaded up my scooter with everything and headed to my campsite. Camping saved me $100 on the weekend over staying at a motel. The campsite was on a private ranch and it was a lovely spot. After setting up camp, I rode to the Madonna Inn, a garish and funky motel which was the official rally spot for the evening. There were a lot of scooters, well over 100, probably 120-130, at least 2/3 Lambrettas and the rest Vespas. There was a night ride organised, in honor of Greg Lee who had just passed away at the beginning of the week. He was the lead singer of ska band, Hepcat and an avid California scooterist. His ochre 200dl was parked up at the motel with his fight jacket on display.
I tried to mingle and met some new people. Everyone was dressed up while I was in my riding gear. But people were nice and soon it was time to begin the ride. I tried to record it but my camera angle was wrong and the camera mostly points down at the headset of my scooter. I put one video up, though, and you should at least hear the difference the new cylinder makes. I think my scooter accelerates better and more smoothly. Well done Deanspeed!
A mate of mine from Oakland was driving down, sans scooter, just to keep company. He arrived very late, in the pissing rain, and I helped him set up his tent. Then we each went into our own and called it a night.
I awoke at about 8:00 am to a text message from Dennis that he had driven to a laundromat to dry out his clothes. I got ready for the day and rode off to the meetup point, which was at a cafe, the Nautical Bean, but I went to the wrong one. I had breakfast and coffee, then rode to the correct one where there were many, many scooters and some dealer tables, too. It was nice to finally warm up in the sun!
Before long the day rideout began, and we rode, about 120 scooters, in a mass rideout through winding streets and hilly neighborhoods, a state park, in the rain, sun, more rain and finally more sun. My 25 year old Akito jacket kept me warm and dry and my jeans dried out quickly every time the sun appeared.
There were a couple of collisions during the rideout, all involving Vespas. Two of them went down right in front of me. We were in the home stretch of the rideout, in Morro Bay, when it happened after leaving a highway. One of the riders was hurt, while the other rider, on a formerly immaculate GS, rode on. Two other Vespa riders remained to help the man who appeared to be in his mid 60s or older, one of the riders and myself helping the man get up off of the road while another rode the damaged Vespa after forcing the handlebars straight and determined it safe enough to ride. I told them I would shadow them all the way to the end of the rideout.
When we got to San Luis Obispo, we stopped to get fuel, and the man who had crashed decided not to continue but to go back to his motel room instead. The three of us that remained decided to use the freeway to ride to Pismo Beach and the end of the rideout much faster. We did that, but I had to keep slowing down to allow the Vespas to catch up to me. It was good to finally get my new engine up to speed and it performed really well. I rolled the throttle up and down speeding up and slowing down, all the way to our exit.
The rideout's end was at a famous Italian restaurant. The owner loves hosting the event and has a scooter of his own. It was a good feed. I had an Italian sausage and two hot dogs, plus a large salad. There was plenty of water to drink. There was beer, too, but not included. But there was very good coffee. I met up with Dean and Roy, who had come up in Dean's Honda Element carrying their scooters. Roy owns a house nearby where they were staying for the weekend and invited me over for dinner, so the three of us rode there and I was treated to a delicious home made Philippino dinner. They were going to go back down to LA that night, so they loaded up their scooters and I followed them to the do, which was by the airport in San Luis Obispo aka SLO.
I let them navigate and rode behind them in the rainy night. We arrived at the venue as 80's mod band The Question were playing, and they were really good. If you closed your eyes you could imagine them as they were. Everyone was dressed to the nines, most had driven over in their cars. I had parked up with the scooters, less than a dozen remaining. I had left my wallet in my tent, having forgotten it as I was getting dressed in the morning. I was using my phone for purchases all day but the bar only accepted cash or credit cards. That left me to just water. Just as well as I was to ride to my campsite that night.
The next band went on and they were very good, doing a mix of soul and ska sounds. I had to use the restroom, and when I came out Dean found me and told me I had won an award. I went up to the stage and one of the San Joaquin Treads SC, who decided on the awards, confirmed I won best race scooter. I hadn't expected to win anything. Cool. Even cooler was the furthest traveled award, which went to two guys who rode their P200s down from Seattle, Washington.
Then the last band gave me two of their 7" vinyl singles, just because. I gave these to Dean to take back to LA in his car. He was leaving for LA right then. I went back inside the venue to listen to the DJs, but it was getting late and colder out, and I decided to retrieve my backpack and head back to the campsite, which wasn't far from the venue at all.
The next morning I woke early, packed up my tent and gear and loaded up my scooter, then rode to Peter's motel where we loaded our scoots onto his truck and he drove us all the way back to LA. We unloaded his truck, I reloaded my scooter and rode back to my Santa Monica garage.
Next month Dean, Ben and myself and possibly one or two more are riding about 400 miles from LA to Hedonism and back, at Lake Isabela up in the Kern County mountains above Bakersfield, California.
Rides Of March pics:
