A request from my brother-in-law was a good enough excuse to pop over to arguably Dublin's largest bike shop, Bikeworld. The place is normally known for being expensive as well as unpopular with most of the scootering community. Something to do with Bikeworld's refusal to sell Vespa's legendary PX (when it was in production) even though the company was and is listed as Vespa's sole distributor in Ireland.
Maybe its the recession or maybe their reputation for expensiveness is a bit unfair but whatever it is, I was in a way, pleasantly surprised when I found a proper Dainese jacket for only €65! OK, it was pretty basic actually. The material looked like it could be shredded to pieces if one were to trip off their scooter, never mind a real crash but for that amount of money, I wouldn't be complaining.
But, before I even got to the jacket, I was even more surprised with what greeted me in front of the store...
The Heinkel looked untouched and unrestored from the day it rolled of the production line during the 60's. This particular scooter was definitely in working condition as by the time I walked out of the store, it was gone. A shame I didn't get the chance to meet its owner for a good chat about this wonderful piece of German engineering. Well, Dublin's a small enough city. I might just see the Heinkel again.
A beautiful October day called for a visit to the city centre taking along the old camera with me. Well, the extra weight on the shoulder definitely didn't go to waste.
A gorgeous Vespa Sprint greeted me as I popped down the Ha'Penny Bridge to land on the north side of the city centre. I'd love one myself but personally, I'd do a Scooter and Service job on the Sprint if I ever get my hands on one. Not this particular one though, it'd be blasphemous to mess with this one.
Back on the south side, a nice looking Mk1 PX in Temple Bar was strategically located close to Temple Bar's weekly Food Market which the family and I took advantage of to grab a much needed quick bite. These are the types of things I miss about the city centre since moving to the 'burbs a few years ago.
Scooters parked in formation: Another nicely restored Mk1 PX, an ET2 and hidden way at the back, a scooter I once considered buying myself, an Aprilia Habana (or Mojito) Custom.
Coming towards the end of Wicklow Street, at the usual scooter sighting spot across from Tower Records was unsurprisingly, a few scooters. One of them in particular, had my full attention. I was rushing towards it to snap a pic, thinking it was a Rally or a TS (from the look of its side panels) but then, I realised that it had indicators, an awkwardly shaped glovebox, a strange-looking horncast area and a handlebar that was all wrong, for a Vespa that is.
A Bajaj. I don't get to see lots of these around these parts. Not ones that proudly announce its Babaj-ness anyway, most being unconvincingly converted to Vespa look-a-likes by their owners. Same goes with LMLs that tend to suffer the same fate. The question here is, why? Why?
Anyway, it was a good day out with the family. It's good to see some lovely scooters especially since I've been off my own Vespa for exactly two whole weeks now. Two very long weeks. Here's hoping that my misery ends sooner rather than later...
Had a busy enough Bank Holiday weekend. But as always, the good old Vespa is seldom forgotten. Here's a few that popped up...
Now, where have I seen this Vespa before?
I have to say, I absolutely hated the GTV when it first came out but to be honest, for some odd reason, it has started to grow on me recently. This one's definitely a very nice specimen of the model.
Love the flyscreen on this PX. I wonder whether I could find one in green instead of the blue seen here? Also, I've always had doubts about white walls but the ones here look just right.
You don't see too many of these ETs in good condition these days, especially around these parts. I don't know about the windscreen on this one but it certainly completes the package here.
That's it for the moment. There was a very nice Mk 1 PX spotted at the airport but I didn't get a chance to snap a pic of it. Maybe next time. Oh, and the rest of the weekend wasn't too bad either. I'll have more on that once I've recovered in the next few days...
Ah, the sun. It brings out the best in people. It also brings out the best in previously hidden vehicles. Convertibles would eagerly get their tops down (probably only the second time this year), all sorts of hairy weekend warriors start to fill the streets with their two-wheeled contraptions and of course, as if to complete the Mediterranean-type weather, they'd be lots of scooters about too.
Had been eyeing this smallframe at Carl's place for awhile now. Good to see that it's finally on the road. A Vespa 90 Racer if I'm not way off the mark.
This PX at its usual spot outside Hogans. Seen here with the Green Vespa.
LML amongst the bicycles
I had my camera out last weekend as the probability of finding some rarities parked on footpaths were quite high. Unfortunately, all I could find were the scooters above. Maybe there was something on that I didn't know about. Maybe people were just staying indoors to catch the World Cup.
Maybe I'm just starting to run out of things to write...
