Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Dropping off Yoshie and a ride on a Scooter Sidecar Rig

Today, due to several factors but mainly because she's rarely ridden anymore, I rode Yoshie to Unique Rides in Fort Collins, CO to have them sell her on consignment.

I'd tried selling her before, you might recall if you've been on this blog for a while, without success.  I finally decided to let Unique Rides, the URAL dealer up at Fort Collins try and do it as folks go to them for, well, unique rides!  Yoshie, my 2006 Suzuki V-Strom/Dauntless Sidecar Rig sure fits that bill!



A bit to the left of the colorful display of Genuine and Sym brand scooters above, there was this rather nicely outfitted Genuine Stella model scooter with a Cozy Sidecar attached!  I'd seen her before on my visits to the dealership and today was the day for a test ride.

Some impressions, she's small!  I felt like there was nothing underneath me as I rode out of the dealership on the test drive!  The old fashioned Vespa-like clutch/shift grip on the left took some getting used to, never had ridden a vehicle with such an unusual (to me) clutch mechanism.

I rode her to to a nearby street with a field next to it, for the below pictures.





She sure is an eye-catcher isn't she?  Or was it the sight of a grown man, fully kitted out in black riding gear and helmet riding a little bitty scooter with a huge pickle shaped sidecar attached?  The world will never know.

No, I didn't buy the scooter, it sits at Unique Rides, waiting for some adventurous scooterista to come by and fall in love with it.  It's price is less than $5500 I believe so if you want it, give the folks at Unique Rides a call!

My loving wife Martha, who had a lunch date in Loveland about 25 minutes away, then came by later to pick me up from the dealership since I was leaving Yoshie with them.  No tearful goodbyes, I must say I never really bonded with Yoshie as I had done previously with Natasha (my '96 Ural Sportsman) or currently with Valencia, my 2011 URAL Patrol (though there's still trust issues between us).

I hope a caring owner will buy Yoshie and take her out riding as she was designed to do, we shall see.

Note: the heat wave continues to hold Colorado in its grip, it was damn hot here today, again.


11 comments:

GlennandSun said...

I tried to get Sun interested in the Vespa pickle, no dice, she looked at me like I had lobsters crawling out of my ears!
With our five bikes in the stable, we will have to follow your lead and let some go too. Thanks for the leading move.....and it looks like you had a fun day making your consignment delivery.
Our AK journey is still in planning and preparation stages....we are working out the 7 P's....Positive Prior Planning Prevents Pitifully Poor Performance). Sun, as monkey changes impacts what we can carry....GlennandSun

Steve Williams said...

You know you want the Stella rig Dom...

Martha said...

She's a cutie...and I'd be tempted to try the side car gig, but all I see is the jokes streaming in from my work family "Nurse Martha, you delivering produce again? Is that a giant pickle or a watermelon?"....either way, the jokes would never end (and yeah, I'd be the one starting most of them!".

Besides, I'm finally starting to bond with Stewie!

redlegsrides said...

GlennandSun, silly man, Sun only likes the full size rigs! Such room in the garage now....hmmmmm

Re the 7 P's, I've always used this version: Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance, taught to me by a knowledgeable First Sergeant! :)

redlegsrides said...

Steve,

I was able to withstand the alluring wiles of the Stella rig....being unemployed helps, no ready cash.

RichardM said...

I looked at one of those the last time I was in Tempe, AZ. There was a scooter shop that had a bunch of them in their showroom.

I guess I better not paint my Cozy green or it'll be referred to as a giant pickle...

redlegsrides said...

Richard, your rig would look awesome in Arctic White.....then again, you'd be invisible when it snows....

GlennandSun said...

Dom....yes, you have the 7 P's the same way I learned them, also from a First Shirt (circa 1971), but I "cleaned up" 5th P while teaching in ISU.
BTW, we noticed you are signed up for the 2013 Ural National Rally Day. Our rally tag number is 989, which is also our goal in points to collect! We're planin' a long ride....including a bunch of dirt roads. Was wondering if you had any advice about riding over soft beach sand.....? Hahahahahaha.....GlennandSun

redlegsrides said...

Hi Glenn, and as to your sand comment....only one thing: bring friends to help pull you out. :)

I am planning on riding the rally, my # is co777.

Trobairitz said...

Fingers crossed for a quick sale of Yoshie. If you haven't bonded and it isn't ridden, best to move on.

That is a cute little scooter/sidecar rig. I didn't think pickle until you said it though, thanks for that.

redlegsrides said...

Trobairitz, you can thank my loving wife Martha's warped sense of humor for the pickle thing.... :)