Birthday Surpise!

I have never really been into customising vehicles. Sad but true – to me motor vehicles have always been devices for getting me from A to B. I even bought the Vespa because it was the ideal vehicle for what I wanted, and not for any reasons of style. Customising for customising sake has never excited me. I remember when I first met the Stig she used to subscribe to Back Street Heros. A mag full of pictures of custom motorcycles. Some of the articles were amusing, mainly because of the pages of paint jobs and incredibly uncomfortable looking riding positions!

I never made any changes to my previous scooter. I bought it standard, and part exchanged it standard apart from the many coats of paint trying to hold together the rusting the exhaust. But there is something about Vespas that makes one want to individualise them. I don’t know what it is. My car is a Mondeo, and I have no desire to make it look any different to any other green Mondeo, although the current drought order means the patterns of filth I am not allowed to wash off give it a distinctive, if unpleasant character.

I can see the point in improving your machine. Ssoon after I bought the Vespa I unscrewed the clear red panels from the top box, stuck down some reflective disks, and screwed it all back together. In less than five minutes I had improved the visibility of my scoot, especially when parked at night.

I also spent £7.50 on Ebay including postage to buy some vinyl panels to protect my scoot when getting it in and out of my property and in crowded parking bays. This time, fitting took less than three minutes. As mentioned below, I broke all previous expenditure records when I splashed out on a screen, but that was a performance part!

I don’t know what it is. Maybe it is the dozens and dozens of other scooters I see every day. Not only do I see a lot of Vespas, I see a lot of my model, in my colour. Something has been calling me to make my bike more distinctive. For some time I have been toying with getting a custom seat cover from www.scooterseatcovers.com. Crystal seems to have some excellent designs, and it was the choice of fabrics that always delayed my purchase. I just could never make my mind up.

Then one day, looking at the site I saw that one of my favourite motifs, a blue celestial pattern, had just become available. The Stig pointed out my birthday was coming up and she ordered one for me. Despite being hand-made to order, and having a large ocean to cross, it arrived just over a week later. I fitted it straight away. This time it took only a minute. It looks great and seems very well made. At last, a real convert to customising motorcycles, a real back street hero!