A New Addition To The Family…

March 10, 2008 by bcrdukes.

It’s been over a year and a half since I’ve ridden a scooter. More specifically, ever since I sold off my old 06 Yamaha Vino and when I took Audrey, my 83 Vespa P200e out for a spin around the block. Ever since I let that lifestyle go awry, I missed it more and more each and every day. The wind blowing against my face, the beautiful summer sunscape, the fresh west coast air and being able to park it just about anywhere made it all too difficult to bear.

I dithered on what to get as a replacement in the meantime Audrey was being restored. Should I go back to a Vino or try out the Jazz? I couldn’t decide and a lot of the times, I decided against it as I couldn’t see myself riding a different scooter. Think of it as being unfaithful to your significant other. You’re going through rough times, things have gone wrong, but you still love him or her very much. That’s how I feel about Audrey. She’s in pieces, she’s not perfect (yet) but she has all the potential to be that true hot Italian Vespa supermodel she used to be and I still love her for that. I’m trying to restore her to her glory days of the classic Vespa P200e however, I gave in and started to look for another, and much more younger scooter as a replacement to fulfill my personal and selfish needs. I did a search on Craigslist Vancouver only to find a 2005 Honda Jazz 49cc 4-stroke liquid-cooled scooter for…well, cheap.

I saw this as a good opportunity to jump on due to its cost and well, I actually prefer the styling of the Jazz over the Vino. The Honda Jazz is it’s Canadian name as it’s exact equivalent in the United States is the Metropolitan. Basically, same shit but different pile so to say. This scooter is being sold by a civil engineer who builds bridges. He’s moving up to Kelowna and then soon to Alberta. Poor guy. He purchased it to go to school and to pick up groceries here and there but found himself never really using it so it currently has 2100KMs on the dash. For a 3 year old scooter, not bad. But here’s the kicker - it’s an ICBC write-off. This poor little girl was dropped on it’s side at 300KMs and the devil (Oops! I meant ICBC) wrote it off as a salvage. ICBC is known to write-off scooters and bikes for the dumbest things so the faith of this poor gal is, unfortunately, a write-off with a few scratches and scrapes on her side. From what I know, the cowls were replaced and are white so this gives me an opportunity to give it a bit of a custom paint job on her sides.

I’m going to pick her up tomorrow and get her on the road as soon as possible. I’m glad to have this new gal to be a part of the family. I hope she’ll serve her purpose and I know she’ll do a good job too. Afterall, it’s a Honda. Say hello to Caroline.

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