Modern Buddy

What's the oddest thing that's ever landed on you or your scoot since you've had it?

I've nearly had a lawnmower fall into me from the back of a pickup and a couple dogs run into the side of the scoot while motoring about, but I have yet KNOCK ON WOOD to have a bird crap on me, the seat or any part of poor Velveeta.

How about you?

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i cant be sure, but i am fairly certain that a frog jumped high enough to hit the front of my scooter, rolled up the frame and then smacked me in the visor. of course it could have been something else dark green with long back legs and squishy when it hit hard enough to jar my head a bit but i really feel like it was a frog.

riancurtis wrote:i cant be sure, but i am fairly certain that a frog jumped high enough to hit the front of my scooter, rolled up the frame and then smacked me in the visor. of course it could have been something else dark green with long back legs and squishy when it hit hard enough to jar my head a bit but i really feel like it was a frog.

Were you riding at the time or was this during some toad licking induced nap?

Seriously, a frog....I almost wrote frag, which would make sense because after a frog slaps the scoot and your helmet it probably starts to fragment.

Did it leave a print on the face-shield?

I only get bird dooky on the floorboard, not the seat! Lucky me!

I was riding with the face shield up on my helmet, and felt something go *bink* against my nose. I figured it was a bug. About five miles later, I felt something squirming inside the right stem of my sunglasses, so I pulled off pronto and popped my helmet. It was a wasp.

I haven't had mine long enough to hit anything yet. One of my biggest fears though is getting smacked by a bird while cruising.

twoscoots wrote:I was riding with the face shield up on my helmet, and felt something go *bink* against my nose. I figured it was a bug. About five miles later, I felt something squirming inside the right stem of my sunglasses, so I pulled off pronto and popped my helmet. It was a wasp.

I just did a really big squirm.

I had a very large bug tag my face shield and I thought whatever had hit me had left a crack. Upon inspection I found that it was merely clear guts.

I've been researching "wipe products" for the past few days for just such an occasion. The "Amrorall" stuff runs about 4.50ish per 25 wipes varying by location and type. I was very tempted (read, I bought them then designated them for the 4-door car) until I found a 40 pack of Simple Green at our local Kroger (grocery store chain, decent quality, decent prices....with the track-your-history MVP-type card) for about 5.50. I know from experience how good a cleaner Simple Green is, the stuff'll clear just about anything plus it's supposedly all natural. At least it smells nice. But the big selling point was that the container size was just a hair smaller than the "Armorall" brand. I sealed it in a huge zip-lock to help keep it from drying out, despite it's sealing container.

So that's what I supplied my Buddy-Kit with. Also I found one of those "super-absorbent" towel things.... no infomercial for this one, but according to it's labels should operate same as the "Sham-wow" thing that I LOL at my TV for. Still building up my Buddy-Kit, but I figure that's a pretty good start. Well, that and my outdated Leatherman, a few paper towels, and some trashbags for rainy-day seat condoms.

Lostmycage wrote:I've been researching "wipe products" for the past few days for just such an occasion. The "Amrorall" stuff

ONE MAJOR suggestion I would make is NOT to use an Armorall type product on the seat or grips or tires or anywhere that you would prefer to remain in contact with the scoot or prefer that the scoot remain in contact with the road.

Many of these cleaning/conditioning wipes put a nice slick film of something synthetic where you wipe them. Then when you stop or turn or speed up, you'll feel yourself sliding about on the seat.

I test rode a scoot before Croque Madame that was shiny and great looking. But during my test ride I couldn't stay in one spot on the seat. I didn't dare lean the bike for fear the owner might have sprayed the tires.

SO just be aware of the dangers that hide in those little wipes.

sotied wrote: ONE MAJOR suggestion I would make is NOT to use an Armorall type product on the seat or grips or tires or anywhere that you would prefer to remain in contact with the scoot or prefer that the scoot remain in contact with the road.

Many of these cleaning/conditioning wipes put a nice slick film of something synthetic where you wipe them. Then when you stop or turn or speed up, you'll feel yourself sliding about on the seat.

We've had a couple of folks in my fire department go a little armor-all happy. I was working one day when the driver did the seats, and when we went down a hill to a stoplight everyone wound up in a pigpile on the floor. The driver got a fairly impressive cussing-out.
Of course, that's nothing compared to the guy who did the driver's floorboard and the pedals.

Yeah, that's something that wasn't on the tip of my mind when we bought, but I've avoided those waxy products before for just that reason. The Armorall type that we got was their version of the Orange cleaner that became so popular about 4 years ago. Later that day, we found the Simple Green, and those are the ones that ended up in my pet carrier.

Good advice on the waxy cleaners though, Thanks!

lanni wrote:

twoscoots wrote:I was riding with the face shield up on my helmet, and felt something go *bink* against my nose. I figured it was a bug. About five miles later, I felt something squirming inside the right stem of my sunglasses, so I pulled off pronto and popped my helmet. It was a wasp.

I just did a really big squirm.

I had a very large bug tag my face shield and I thought whatever had hit me had left a crack. Upon inspection I found that it was merely clear guts.

Ugh. Clear guts.

I've taken to wearing my jacket zipped all the way up to keep bees from going inside my jacket. I don't know what it is with them and scoots, but I feel like I'm in a bee-shooting machine they way they pelt me.

I could be driving past the wrong bushes and flowers during the pollination times, but c'mon.

I slammed through a migrating swarm of bees at about 50 mph once. It felt like that scene in Empire where they fly in to the asteroid field. Another good reason to wear a full helmet.

slgithly off topic:

I was sailing on Lake Michigan this weekend, and we were going about 7 knots... and BAM hit a 1/4 wide swarm of gnats... it was disgusting...

I'm curious, for those who have been hit by bees, wasps, hornets, etc. Do the bees usually sting you (provided they're still alive) or do you have time to try and swat them off of you before a sting?

Mine didn't, thankfully. I didn't get stung when I was riding motorcycles, either, so I expect they just bounce off unless they land just right (or wrong, depending on how you look at it).

Either nobody has a leopard seat cover OR bird dookie shows up nicely on a leopard skin seat cover.

And the bees that have hit me have bounced off.

Now I suspect that they'll get stuck in my NEW MESH JOE ROCKET JACKET!!

Arrived today. I chased down the UPS guy because it was slated to show up tomorrow, but tracking said it was out for delivery.

I've had that happen in the past and my FedEx and UPS guy sometimes run out of time and the first packages to get ignored are the ones scheduled for the next day.

But he was genuinely (jinx) happy to get the box off his truck. And I'm GENUINELY happy to have tried it on.

Best part is I have a quasi business breakfast tomorrow and will be wearing the jacket and riding the scoot into the city to attend.

Joy joy joy.

OK. Sorry for that blather.

Later!