Every Cloud Has a Sito Lining

My Vespa's breakdown couldn't have happened at a worse time. The mechanic I normally send my Vespa to, couldn't have been busier. There were paint jobs to finish off, some insurance claim cases and a long queue of scooters awaiting some much needed TLC. So, a little delay was quite acceptable.

What wasn't acceptable was the state of the Green Vespa's rear tyre. I sort of knew it needed to be replaced some time soon but if I didn't have any problems with the Vespa, I  wouldn't have bothered looking closely at it until it was probably too late. There was basically no thread left on the tyre at all. Of course, I grabbed this opportunity and got myself the replacement Heidenau K58s. This time, in tubeless form to go with my all-new SIP tubeless rims. I can't wait when I finally get those rims on the Vespa...

I was going to get the tyres at my default dealer of choice, SIP Scootershop but as they couldn't be bothered with stocking the tubeless version of the Heidenaus I wanted, I decided to give their competitors in Cologne a try. Scooter Center have been gaining a good reputation within the scootering community in these parts, as a viable alternative to SIP especially since some quality issues (both service and goods) have started to creep in the Bavarian company's business of late. Hopefully, the competition would give SIP a good kick in the behind and they'd start to buck-up soon.

In addition to the long-needed tyres, I also managed to convince myself that I desperately needed a Sito Plus as a replacement for my old, rusty, bog-standard exhaust. Theoretically, the Sito Plus should give me that extra bit of power to drag me over a steep-ish hill and also allow me to safely compete with what seems like an ever-growing number of 50cc mopeds at traffic lights. Theoretically.

Seven days (and counting) being Vespa-less is quite bad and is testing my patience with Dublin's traffic but at least now, I've got a couple of things to look forward to.