Piaggio mod: Givi Windscreen

With winter fast approaching and the temperatures dipping to 40 degrees, I thought I'd better get a windscreen. Ordered it from Helmet Head in Georgia but they had to order it from Italy - took about 6 weeks to arrive. UPS delivered it on Friday.

This morning I took off the faring and bolted in the new Givi windscreen. Took some photos before my test drive. Protects my chest from the wind, but directs the noisy blast right to my helmet - oh well.

Coffee, Cars and Careers Meet-Up

Today, my Saturday morning joy ride took me to my first C3 Meet-up (Coffee, Cars and Careers). There were quite a few exotic cars such as a Ferrari, Porsche, Lotus (2), and one crazy 3-wheeled Piaggio.

The meet-up was organized by Matthew Levy (Global HR Lead, Career Coach, Author & Speaker).

Norristown Car (& Motorcycle) Show

Sunny day. Great excuse to ride and gawk at the some beautiful cars and cycles at the Annual Norristown Car Show.

Philadelphia Ride for Kids

I learned about the Philadelphia Ride for Kids through my EZ Riders Scooter Club membership. This was a great event benefiting the Pediatric Brain Tumor Foundation. I got to ride with 100 other motorcyclists for a police-escorted 40 mile ride. Intersections were guarded - didn't even have to put our feet down!

"When you join hundreds of other motorcyclists for this scenic ride through the Pennsylvania countryside, you'll have a great time while raising funds for the PBTF's medical research and family support programs! Riders on all makes and models are welcome. The police-escorted ride starts at 10 a.m. sharp, rain or shine! After a light lunch, participants will enjoy a Celebration of Life program that features interviews with young brain tumor survivors—the Ride for Kids® "stars" of the day."  

Learn more at: http://www.pbtfus.org/rideforkids/events/2011/philadelphia.html.

Some very interesting bikes and people. That's me in the center frame.

Experienced Rider Motorcycle Training Course

I had my learner's permit, but that meant I couldn't take anyone for a ride or ride after dark. Instead of just taking the usual auto driving test to get my license, I elected the free PennDOT Motorcycle Safety Training Course. I qualified for the "Experienced Rider" course rather than the Beginner course since I have a few years of riding under my belt, albeit a long time ago.

I spent 6 hours on a very hot Saturday morning in August with Harley and sport bike (aka "crotch rocket") riders. Out of a dozen students, I had the only "scooter". Kind of intimidating. Interestingly, three of the other men were "middle-aged" like me and had a similar story - kids in college, time to have a bit of fun! One was an obvious hot-dogger sport bike adrenaline junky and bragged about doing 120 mph on the expressway coming to the class.

You can see my Piaggo above in the right-side of the left-hand frame. Two bikes needed to be pushed to start because their batteries died because of all the low-speed maneuvers.

A couple of riders said they take the course every couple of years to keep up their skills. A wonderful free service. Learn more at http://www.livefreeridealive.com/.

Picked up my Piaggio!

The dealer finally uncrated my Piaggio MP3 500 and prepared it for me to pick up today!

Mid-life Cycle Ordered

Now it was time to make the move again. My daughter is in college and would be less likely to pester me to buy her a bike.

I think another stimulus was the odd periodic pain and other miscellaneous infirmity one develops as a 60+ y.o. Will I get macular degeneration? My father had it and my sister has it as well. It also might have had something to do with the fact that my cousin, one year younger, just died from esophageal cancer.

If I wasn't going to return to one of my passions now and have some fun, when would I?

I ordered my Piaggio MP3 500 from Crossroad Powersports in Upper Darby - less than 2 miles from my house. None in stock, so they have to order it from Georgia, so it would take about two weeks.