Breakin’ Stuff in the Morning

I am not much for mornings.  A few weeks ago I backed out of the shed in a too-vigorous arc and made contact with the neighbours’ rock retaining wall.  I heard the snapping sound and got off the scoot to see this:

That license plate…  I sort of needed that attached.  I managed to zap strap the plate under the luggage rack so I was street legal and could commute still.  I collected up the pieces of the mudguard/license plate holder and put them somewhere with the thought that I might have to glue them back together again in some fashion.

I began a search for a new part, which has not been all that successful.  It would help if there was some sort of standardized terminology being used.  Rear mudguard, rear mud flap, rear fender, license plate something something…

There were two exact parts on eBay, but in white or grey.  Grey would be OK maybe, but only if gluing didn’t work.  They don’t seem to have the part in stock for my GT200, which is getting on in years for parts I suppose (as it is from 2007 or 2008).  Off to Modern Vespa to ask as I didn’t find anything about it there in the forums already.

I have a sneaking suspicion that I am required by law to have an illuminated license plate on my vehicle.

Making Old Gear New Again -Update on Luggage Roll

I showed you how my otherwise awesome Prima large luggage roll needed a bit of work to stay on the road and out of the landfill here some time ago and never let you know how it turned out.  I didn’t manage to pick the bag up for three weeks with my busy weekend schedule and was very glad to have it back.  Wearing a backpack full of glass-lock containers for my lunch got a bit tiresome.  My posture was definitely not as good with the bag on, though I did jump off the bike and run into work faster in the mornings.

The repairs came to $30, which was $5 under the quote.  Of course one of the zipper pulls broke in half 2 days after I got it back but I can work with that and haven’t bothered to put in a piece of ribbon or anything to make the pull easier.

The two long straps over the roll were replaced with leather, and the missing buckle was replaced.  I opted to replace only one of the broken fasteners on the underside to keep costs down.  I found this lovely leather waterproofer at the local outdoors store, Alberni Outpost.

The Granger’s Paste Wax is doing well so far.  I totally ignored the instructions to apply sparingly as I had no issues with potential discolouration and was going for max waterproofing.  I slathered it on twice, making sure to get all into the crevices and the vulnerable underside of the leather.  Two coats at this point, should apply a third.

It has been fairly damp lately and I get condensation all over the scoot when I leave it parked at work.  I’ve been checking the leather and the water beads off perfectly.  It has definitely stretched a bit, which is to be expected given the tension on it combined with damp conditions and generous amounts of wax.  I’ll take some stretching over cracking for sure.