Howdy from the Canary Islands

Hi yall, name is Sepp, been on 2 wheelers my whole life, the last 15 on scooters.
First things first, I am a dyslexic. So I read my written mumbo jumbo several times but often enough things slip through or a sentence goes haywire.

Back to the scooters you might like to have a look at my blog where I did some crazy things like remove 4 from the 8 rollers and see what happens.
I like to test my mods and document how they work out long term.
See the 55000 km test of riding with just 4 rollers instead of 8.

The reason I am here is that Piaggio used shoddy material on the piston and oil scraper ring when they switched from the 460cc to the 500cc motor and my bike had a total motor failure with just 18.000 km.
So I got myself a well cared SW-T400 with 72000km from 2009 (new design).
I have her now 6 weeks and the CVT has be opened 8 times and I tried to duplicate my 460cc Piaggio setup but the Honda behaves quite different.
Today with the 8th modification 4x 32 gram Tech Pulleys I think I am pretty close to my goal. More in my postings.

Hello Sepp. Welcome to the forum.

Welcome Sepp, that is a neat looking color on your SW-T400

Hi Sepp and welcome to the BEST SWing site on the net.

Thanks for all the warm welcome.
But I might have made a mistake in judging where this English speaking forum is at home.
I think I wrongly assumed the UK but I think most of youse guys are from the US of A and that is where home of the forum is.
If this is true my introductory headline is wrong it was meant for the UK.

AldusFran wrote:

Welcome Sepp, that is a neat looking color on your SW-T400

Thank you, I just could not stand the dark front shield on my gunmetal grey SW.
Today all modern cars here run around with daylight running lights what are most brighter than the low beam we bikers are suppose to ride here with (Europe).
I always make my front very visible just for the snoozing cellphone texter who is coming right at me.
Since I am a fan of the red spectrum and it should stay within the metal paint theme I was shopping around for a chrome effect copper.

Welcome aboard the board Sepp!

Sepp wrote:

Thanks for all the warm welcome.
But I might have made a mistake in judging where this English speaking forum is at home.
I think I wrongly assumed the UK but I think most of youse guys are from the US of A and that is where home of the forum is.
If this is true my introductory headline is wrong it was meant for the UK.

Hiya Sepp
Plenty from the UK here, but most of the others seem to live on that little rock on the other side of the pond.

you mean the OTHERS who live in luxury controlled by "B L" who is just a puppet for the real power "K T" while you poor fellas still live partly in caves near the beach?
If you did not get my hints so far I am talking about LOST (what I had to look up all the names because - it´s been awhile.

Sepp,
welcome from Nova Scotia ... the sticky-out part on Canada's east coast.
Mike

Sepp wrote:

you mean the OTHERS who live in luxury controlled by "B L" who is just a puppet for the real power "K T" while you poor fellas still live partly in caves near the beach?
If you did not get my hints so far I am talking about LOST (what I had to look up all the names because - it´s been awhile.

LOST? Darn right I’m lost. “BL”, “KT”, “LOST”, what are you talking about here? I googled the TV series “Lost” but couldn’t make heads or tails about your references. 

I know I’m showing my age, but what’s going on?

It's nice to know that it's not only me that was lost then!  

+1

sorry did not wanted to be tooooo cryptic.

In Season 3, the crash survivors learn more about the Others and their long history on the mysterious island, along with the fate of the Dharma Initiative. The leader of the Others, Benjamin Linus, is introduced as well and defections from both sides pave the way for conflict between the two.

B L = Michael Emerson as Benjamin Linus
K T = Anthony Cooper as Kevin Tighe

Welcome from o-HI-o.

OK had a dinner an tv break
it was just a response to Steve from the UK sice he wrote "Hiya Sepp
Plenty from the UK here, but most of the others seem to live on that little rock on the other side of the pond."
And the Others and the little rock (island even if it is a shared continent called America) flashed me a "this sounds like a fun reference to the USA and the UK with LOST"
I do not want to go into detail because it will become very political and that is not my intention ever do do in these days on the internet.

So please see it as a flippy response (to Steve) some words triggered from Steve.

All okay, Sepp. Evidently I didn’t delve far enough into Google for a thorough take of Lost. Thanks for the explanation.

Now if you want to get into obscurities & nuance you’d need to binge Letterkenny and Trailer Park Boys...

I shall keep that under advisement

Since I am a big softy, I always carry the spirit of the American highway on my vehicles.
There is always a mudflap girl present.

Also dear Texans notice the shiny thing above my workshop.



Texas and it´s people left a big impression in our heart.
From the you in the pickup at the seawall boulevard in Galveston who dumped his household trash in a public trashcan what had posted "NO household trash" and the whipped up a beer to watch the sunset and I joined him with my coffee mug and we started talking and ended up at his house for dinner and when we slept in our RV outside his house and he came later on and brought us a shotgun for the night -just in case...
To the elderly gentleman in Jumpers age who talked to us (we were in our late 30th) and told us he wanted to show us a bit of southern hospitality and invited us to a free go at Luby´s.
And I still remember the young female manager when we were at Harlingen in the Arbys and shared a 99 cent ArbyQ what we payed wit all the little change to get rid of it (lots of pennies) Who came to our table with 2 big Burgers and a smile and told us to enjoy on the house. (weeks later we looked her up again and gave her some special German cookies.

Sepp, tell us what scooters are available for rental on the Canary Islands. Any Silverwings?

Thanks.

Mike

Nope - too old.
You get everything from 50cc to over 1000cc
From quad to enduro to scooter (max 300cc)
WE ARE A VERY HILLY ISLAND WITH MOUNTAINS UP TO 3500 METER, BUT THE HIGHEST YOU CAN GET ON WHEELS IS AROUND 2500 METER.
sorry caps lock was hit.
But you can rent an Integra.

Thanks for the info Sepp. Canary Islands is a bucket list destination for me. It is a deep bucket !

Mike

when you ready to go , talk to me, I know all 5 bigger islands and I will tell you what might serve your needs best.

Sepp wrote:

when you ready to go , talk to me, I know all 5 bigger islands and I will tell you what might serve your needs best.

Thanks Sepp. Watching this web cam has increased my desire to visit the islands.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K-5t_0cIRbk

Mike

try these on for size then you know why I modded my bike that way

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEdUqIMFrbI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIVL4q3DUgs

and check out Daniel Lopez who made a lot of awesome videos

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CUIeJGppe8

I don't know how it is in where you are but in the US and Canada you can put a headlight modulator on your bike. It varies the headlight from 100% to 20%, it's not quite flashing but looks like it. I've had them on most of my past bikes. Several times I'm sure it kept someone from pulling out in front of me. The illusion of a moving like catches one's eye. That's why police, fire companies and ambulances use flashing lights. Modulators are legal in all 50 States of the US and all Canadian Provinces.

Look up Kisan Trail Blazser. Not cheap but a worthwhile safety item. I'll have on on my current bike soon.

The Canary Islands are part of Spain and therefore part the European Union. So they're subject to the same rules and regulations as the rest of the countries in it, and headlight modulators won't be road legal. I can’t say I've seen them on sale anywhere either.

They'd be of limited use anyway even if they were, one thing you notice if you take an interest in looking at maxi scooters in hot and sunny countries when they're just another form of transport and not old men’s leisure toys. It's common to see headlight lenses that have changedfrom being clear to an opaque milky colour,

In the US laws were passed in the 70 to require motorcycles and scooters to keep their headlights on at all times when they were being operated. That's why there's no 'off' switch on bike headlights. That helped make bikes more noticeable until recent years when automobiles with 'day light running lights' became common. That caused bikes to stand out less in the crowd on the road. Modulated headlights increase the 'visibility' of bikes so they are much more noticeable in traffic. That's why laws were passed in the US and Canada to allow modulated headlights.

One of the things most car drivers say after a collision with a bike is, "I didn't see him". Modulators help because they give the impression of motion which catches most people's attention, not to mention that some people think they might be police bikes.

Two large countries with many miles of highway and a lot of vehicles on the road decided modulators improve safety which is why they decided to make them legal.

Once in a while you might meet a LEO who isn't familiar with modulators. It's only happened to me once and the police officer thought there was something wrong with my headlight. I showed him the statement that came with the Kisan Pathblazer modulator that stated they were legal in all US states and Canadian Provinces and he was satisfied, said it could save lives.

One thing about legal modulators is that they have to have a light sensor that will prevent them from operating in daylight. Kisan modulators have that. I don't know about others.

Welcome Sepp .
Exavid wrote
"That's why there's no 'off' switch on bike headlights".
Except for the stock Ignition switch on my 1989 Ultra classic .
Sepp , I've talked to the Canary Islands years ago on the ham radio .
ST

Correct these kind of modifications are a NO,NO in EU Land.
I solve the visibility problem another way. When the sun is out and on highways during the day I mostly are on high beam.
And I normally paint my bikes in visible colors.
like from flat silver grey to living red
or dark grey to bright signal Orange.
This helps with the visibility from all angles.
Also often my helmet is painted in the bike color.
One of the first thing I did with my Honda was paint the terrible dark face plate a metallic highly reflective copper to increase visibility.

http://malaguti-spidermax.blogspot.com/2008/10/life-is-full-of-tough-choices.html

When I design a new look for my bike it is often done on the computer first where I try different colors or just "paint" different areas.
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/_HXaPyG-SY44/SN4QfVeagsI/AAAAAAAAAGY/B1ayDghxrx8/s1600-h/spidermax+rear+design.jpg
When I do not like the shape of an area, I tape it of with matte black tape to optical re-contour a certain area.
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/_HXaPyG-SY44/SXjFf6CqNdI/AAAAAAAAAmY/2y-_Fv8UegU/s1600-h/1paint.jpg
If I am happy it gets painted matte black to make is kind of invisible (does not work on black bikes

https://4.bp.blogspot.com/_HXaPyG-SY44/Sjzkf9mmEfI/AAAAAAAAAn4/gs5TiCPyPOM/s1600-h/spider+lipstick.jpg
Once I wanted to highlight certain parts and wanted to see how it looks in real life, so I took a lipstick in the color and painted with lipstick the contours on the bike.  

Sometime a color looks good on the screen but in real life it is just not the right fit, so if I am not sure I paint a easy to remove part like the front plate or the front fender and looks how the color works over a couple weeks.
https://1.bp.blogspot.com/_HXaPyG-SY44/SjzoLwTX_EI/AAAAAAAAAoo/-3T845JJO_8/s1600-h/spidermax+copper.jpg
here I am testing 2 colors blue metallic and copper.

after I am finished it transforms from this
https://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HXaPyG-SY44/SOUHx8bL9jI/AAAAAAAAAJE/QXOc6-Goh5w/s1600-h/spider01a.jpg
to this
https://2.bp.blogspot.com/_HXaPyG-SY44/SjznIDA7vhI/AAAAAAAAAoQ/BWmOUSXcbuA/s1600-h/spider+side.jpg
or from this
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-6wwdH-vz0p0/VLUmBSDfcLI/AAAAAAAAFpw/QpXDRgDhoAw/s1600/spidermax%2B2.jpg
to the computer design
https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-hzFiWx_BHa4/VTz5XrGIXGI/AAAAAAAAFuA/J9hVRDW_2t8/s1600/malaguti%2Bspidermax%2Borange.jpg
to the finished bike (in this case I left the rear part and only highlighted the front part.
https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-sqFe0whjHB0/VUO0kOLdI8I/AAAAAAAAFxY/qPE6uwg6Mac/s1600/spidermax%2Borange%2Bcaramel%2B5.jpg
complete process to see here:
http://malaguti-spidermax.blogspot.com/2015/04/malaguti-spidermax-orange-caramel.html