Dodger
15th September 2008, 12:34
This was how I spent my Friday evening.
It all started with a simple plan, pop down the road to the supermarket and pick up a few items.
To save money and also because it more fun I chose to take the 50cc scooter, in hindsight the 250cc bike or cage would have been a better option.
So, I head down the road and when I’m about ¾ of the way to my destination I pull out from a give way and feel the throttle cable snap. :mad:
After coasting over to the side of the road, I pull out my cell phone to call the wife and tell her I’m going to be a little late. “You have insufficient credit to make this call”, Bugger, but no problem I’ll transfer over to the top up system and credit the account with my visa. That is if I knew my cell phone number without looking it up on the phone I was currently using.
Next step was to pop the hood so to speak and see if I could fix the cable, but alas the tool kit was missing from the scooter, I must have borrowed it for something. :Oops:
I push the scooter the last few 100 meters to the shopping centre, top up my phone using the ATM, and make a phone call to the wife and tell her I’ll be a little late.
Ran into the “coin save” to see if they had a cheap tool kit I could buy, but nope nothing (and they were closing up and weren’t to happy with me trying to look around their shop). So into New World I went and also found they had nothing in the way of screwdrivers, but at least I was able to pick up the few Items I needed in the first instance.
Upon reaching the checkout I discovered that my ATM card was missing, I must have left it in the machine. %&^#@! (Paid with visa)
Head back to the ATM, but alas no card, also checked the nearby stores to see if anyone had handed it in. (apparently if you leave your card in an ATM the machine will eat it after a certain time) :angry:
Called the wife to have her cancel my card and to also say that I was going to push the scooter to the In-law’s (their house was closer and not as uphill as home) as I was doing this phone went flat
Anyway, ½ way to the in-law’s house my father-in-law turns up, it seems my cut off message managed to be understood. Although he hadn’t brought any tools with him and the scooter wasn’t going to fit in the back of a Honda Jazz.
He headed home to pick up a few screwdrivers and upon his return I opened up the scooter and managed to pull the throttle cable through its sleeve so I could make a sort of rangi accelerator by tugging on the cable.
Unfortunately the scooter had other ideas, and it was at this point that the battery decided to die, thus rendering the electric start inoperative.
I do have a sort of kick start with the scooter, but as luck would have it, it’s been damaged in the past, and as such is kept in the “glove box”. I fitted the kick-start lever but found that it was now missing the little tightening bolt that holds it in place so couldn’t be used.
I ended up having to push the scooter the rest of the way. :crybaby:
It all started with a simple plan, pop down the road to the supermarket and pick up a few items.
To save money and also because it more fun I chose to take the 50cc scooter, in hindsight the 250cc bike or cage would have been a better option.
So, I head down the road and when I’m about ¾ of the way to my destination I pull out from a give way and feel the throttle cable snap. :mad:
After coasting over to the side of the road, I pull out my cell phone to call the wife and tell her I’m going to be a little late. “You have insufficient credit to make this call”, Bugger, but no problem I’ll transfer over to the top up system and credit the account with my visa. That is if I knew my cell phone number without looking it up on the phone I was currently using.
Next step was to pop the hood so to speak and see if I could fix the cable, but alas the tool kit was missing from the scooter, I must have borrowed it for something. :Oops:
I push the scooter the last few 100 meters to the shopping centre, top up my phone using the ATM, and make a phone call to the wife and tell her I’ll be a little late.
Ran into the “coin save” to see if they had a cheap tool kit I could buy, but nope nothing (and they were closing up and weren’t to happy with me trying to look around their shop). So into New World I went and also found they had nothing in the way of screwdrivers, but at least I was able to pick up the few Items I needed in the first instance.
Upon reaching the checkout I discovered that my ATM card was missing, I must have left it in the machine. %&^#@! (Paid with visa)
Head back to the ATM, but alas no card, also checked the nearby stores to see if anyone had handed it in. (apparently if you leave your card in an ATM the machine will eat it after a certain time) :angry:
Called the wife to have her cancel my card and to also say that I was going to push the scooter to the In-law’s (their house was closer and not as uphill as home) as I was doing this phone went flat
Anyway, ½ way to the in-law’s house my father-in-law turns up, it seems my cut off message managed to be understood. Although he hadn’t brought any tools with him and the scooter wasn’t going to fit in the back of a Honda Jazz.
He headed home to pick up a few screwdrivers and upon his return I opened up the scooter and managed to pull the throttle cable through its sleeve so I could make a sort of rangi accelerator by tugging on the cable.
Unfortunately the scooter had other ideas, and it was at this point that the battery decided to die, thus rendering the electric start inoperative.
I do have a sort of kick start with the scooter, but as luck would have it, it’s been damaged in the past, and as such is kept in the “glove box”. I fitted the kick-start lever but found that it was now missing the little tightening bolt that holds it in place so couldn’t be used.
I ended up having to push the scooter the rest of the way. :crybaby: