Greek Islands Scooter Rally

I finally committed and booked my air ticket to Athens, Greece, for the Modern Vespa Greek Islands Scooter Rally! Wow! A small group of scooterists will spend about 10 days scooting around (on rented scooters) in May 2009. (Interested? See the Yahoo! Group MVGISR for details.)

After some thought, I decided it would be best for me to take my own helmet. I have a full-face HJC FS-10, which I really love for its integrated sun visor. It fits my head well too. So I did a Google search for motorcycle helmet, air travel, and found that many people have hand-carried their helmets on planes, both domestic and international.

Then I did a search for bags to protect the helmet (and also to make myself less weird-looking, carrying a helmet in airports). The cheapest one I saw is $13 (U.S.). The one I like best is $30 (U.S.). When I was at AmeriVespa last July, I saw a guy with a backpack designed to carry a helmet. It looked very odd -- imagine the size and shape of a full-face helmet sticking out from your back! Uh-huh. So, no backpack for me.

My first new tire

At 3,330 miles on the odometer, I realized that the tread on the rear tire was pretty ... gone. Worn flat. So yesterday I went to my dealer and had a new one put on. He recommended a Michelin tire instead of the Pirelli that comes standard on the LX 150. I said sure.

Total cost (including service) was $97 (with $48 of that for the tire).

I did not replace both front and rear, mainly because the front tire still has very deep tread.

The dealer warned me to ride cautiously for the first 30 miles on the new tire. He said the surface treatment of the tire might make it slip, but this surface will be gone after 30 miles.

I have had my scooter for 13 months now!