Date: Tuesday, November 30, 2010, 8:33 AM

Hello, can you please inform me of the whereabouts of my exhaust please! I have not to this date 30.11.2010 received anything. Is there a number to track this package, thanks guys! Can't wait to see it, kindest regards

John B

Date: Tuesday, November 30, 2010, 9:38 AM

John....Paolo from 226 Vintage here........The guy responsible for building the exhaust for your Sportique........It's not yet shipped out but will depart our beloved shores Thursday.  I would normally apologize for how long it's taken us to get your exhaust out the door as we pride ourselves in quick delivery, but seeing how THANKSGIVING just happened....You know......The time in history when we celebrate escaping British tyrannical colonial maniacal rule, as well as imposing those very things on the less fortunate natives here in this great land............Well in short.......Ive been busy eating turkey and stuffing and drinkin............sshhh.......Guinness......Seriously...I apologize for the delay...It's going out asap  Best

Paolo

Date: Tuesday, November 30, 2010, 10:26 AM

Thanks Paolo for the quick reply, first HAPPY THANKSGIVING, whatever that's about oh yes I remember not wanting to pay tax, look at how much tax your paying now! As for maniacal, lets not delve into the two gulf wars and fighting terrorism, which we have been fighting for over 40 years with the IRA, sponsored largely by plastic paddies aka Americans who thought that they were related some hundred or so years ago to some one with an O in their name.  Oh how are the indigenous peoples doing, you got more than just a bit pushy with them, nowadays it's called ethnic cleansing, isn't it?

Well enjoyed the history lesson, lets do it again how about 04.07.2011.

With all that said, please don't be offended as you may be aware we in general have a very dark and dry sense of humour on the whole and mine is more developed than most.  I'll expect to see an exhaust that sucks now instead of blowing and the tail just right to insert through the seat and up my backside, if so I'd like it small and right handed please to lessen the chaffing and offset my new riding position so as not to over balance and fall off too much.

Seriously, Happy Holiday, I hope you all had a great time, no hurry with exhaust just wasn't sure when to book the chrome to be done.  Away from the 12th of December, off to Colombia to check out some of your 'good ole boy' foreign policy in action, DOOOOH got me started again, lets not go there, well I mean yes lets go there but not mention the Gringos, (Americans).  Which coincidently I am always recognised as being one, OOOH THE IRONY OF IT ALL! You could wait if you would like to and send it in late January 2011 when I have a scooter whizz lined up to do some fettling with the engine again.  As I said absolutely no rush, (note: no use of dry humour and/or sarcasm being used at this point), and we could all enjoy a easier build up to Christmas and New Year.

Kindest regards to your bad self and all the other lads and lasses at 226 John B, tyrannical royalist despot in training, my election promise to annex the Americas and free the people from the despicable politicians, lawyers, private health care fiends and franchisers of all types and tax collectors.  VIVA THE REVOLUTION my friend.

Ps: would love a tee shirt, and that lovely woman's telephone number, cheers X

Robots Baja 1000 Story

A couple weeks ago on a normal Friday at Motorsport Scooters we were having some drinks and hanging out as the day wound down. About this time two random dudes from Italy pulled up to the shop on a pair of modded-out, customized, and just plain gorgeous PX200s.

These bikes were incredible: they had crossbeams welded in ahead of the seat to support the legshields as well as custom exhausts and other great details. The two Italians, Andrea and Luca, were characters as well: they were carrying GPS units, clothes for a week, a few gallons of water, and extra gas. They looked ready to ride all the way to Tierra del Fuego.

It was a surprise to have these guys turn up at our door, but we were excited to have them, and we set to work repairing their scoots from damage sustained during their trip down from San Francicso. Their Vespas had been shipped from Italy and they were planning to drive from San Francisco all the way to Cabo San Lucas. The nutty part is that they were planning to do the Baja stretch off-road: they wanted to run the Baja 1000. They also had plans to ride through Death Valley and just about every ungodly desert place you can imagine for August in the Northern Hemisphere.

The Baja 1000 at least was certainly insane and we tried to convince them that it was a bad idea on scooters, even those as tricked out as these, with only about 8” of ground clearance. They were persistent, however, so we let them continue on with this idea. Who are we to shoot down somebody's Vespa dream?

Anyway, they arrived at our shop on Friday August sixth and that night partied with us while we worked on the Vespas. They woke up hung over the next day, and finally about 6pm they set out for Mexico. Our head mechanic is a guy named Robot and he's a huge fan of desert-riding and adventure in general, so after he had worked on their scooters, he led them down to Tecate on his Rally 200. We thought we'd hear from them about a month later as they pulled back through town.

On the Wednesday following, Robot received a text message that said the following: “Require urgent assistance with 4 x 4. Very urgent. Please respond.” The message had a set of GPS coordinates included.

Robot was able to respond to the message, figure out roughly where it came from and set out on the road in his truck with some supplies. What he said when he got back a few days later totally astounded us.

When Robot arrived in Mexico at a little village in the desert, after a five-hour drive through some incredibly rough and remote terrain, he discovered a withered Italian named Luca. Along the way, he'd communicated with him to see where to meet him, and after Luca had finally found a rancher driving in the desert who could drive him to a gas station, the scooterist had sent Robot a text message that read only, “I'm drinking water. Oh my god.”

Luca told Robot he'd walked through the night and into the day, stopping periodically before he found a spot with cell phone coverage, and that's where he'd been able to send the first text to Robot. It turns out that Luca had hiked for thirty miles through the desert with no water, because they'd already run through their few gallons a day before, around the same time their wheels blew out and their exhaust pipes both broke.

Once they got stuck in the desert with no water, they started eating cactus to sustain themselves. Luca decided to start walking instead of waiting to die in the desert, and he ended up walking thirty miles night and day, in a remote stretch of Baja desert before he found a sliver of cell phone coverage, which allowed him to send the first text to Robot.

Once Robot picked him up, Luca said only, “I hope Andrea's not dead.” He repeated this over and over as they headed out to find the remaining scooterist.

It was difficult getting out there, through wild terrain that would test the toughest off-road vehicle. Luca couldn't convinced any of the Mexicans in the small town to drive out to help his friend because, they said, they didn't have vehicles to get back into such wild country. To get there, Robot and Luca were forced to drive over tough terrain in 4-wheel-drive, first-gear less than 15 mph the whole way. Luca had a marker on his GPS unit that illustrated where he and Andrea had finally stopped so he knew this is where Andrea would be, dead or alive.

As they finally pulled up to the campsite, Robot saw two scooters, one pushed up the side of a hill, clothing and supplies thrown everywhere, and a deeply fatigued person crumbled up on a tent in the dirt. As they pulled up in the truck, Andrea picked his head, a huge relief to the rescuers, but as he attempted to stand up and greet them, he was only able to take a few steps before collapsing in the sand.

Luca started immediately giving Andrea small amounts of water with salt. Aside from the general confusion of the campsite, due no doubt to the deranged state severe dehydration causes, Robot also noticed puddles of cactus seeds that had been vomited up. As it was now getting dark, they decided not to attempt an exit, opting instead to camp through the night and attempt to resuscitate the dehydrated Andrea.

They had arrived at a critical moment. After two days in the desert with no water, Andrea “was not doing too well,” Robot said. Indeed, he would probably would have died shortly after the time in which they had arrived. Luca's story too is amazing, walking thirty miles across rough terrain in the back-country of Baja. He had a GPS unit, but nothing else really, no food, no water, and after he had found some assistance, his only hope of rescuing his friend was the text messages he sent to Robot, over 5 hours away in San Diego.

By the next day, the two riders were starting to speak sensibly again, except that they wanted to abandon their vehicles, but Robot wouldn't let them. He loaded all of their stuff, loaded their bikes, and they set out, seeking out first a large meal, the first the two had eaten in days, at the nearest village.

Robot then drove them off to Ensenada, worked on repairing their scooters for them and making sure they were good enough to travel again. Within another day, their spirits perked up and they were feeling healthy again, so he finally left them to continue traveling on.

The most amazing thing about the story is that these two fellows were complete strangers to us before August. They happened to stumble onto our shop, and after getting into trouble, they just happened to send a text message to one of the most capable fellows here. It's lucky for them he was able to get down to them in time, but we were very proud that he responded as quickly and selflessly as he did, so we decided to give Robot our Motorsport Scooters Crimson Crankshaft Award.

I can only hope that I would respond as selflessly and graciously as he has. I also hope that by telling people the story, by recognizing and highlighting how he acted, we can pass on the attitude that allowed him to respond in this way.

Maybe this is what the scooter community could be in its ideal form, and after hearing this story, I'm going to work hard to live this way. It's an inspiring story and I'm proud to know the guy at its center.

Here are a few things you should know about your Stella to get the most out of your 226 Vintage exhaust according to us.

Below is the Project Stella feature article in Scoot Magazine. This article documents the development of the 226 Vintage exhaust pipes and provides very specific, useful information for all Stella and LML engines. The PDF files are large. They may take a few seconds to load:

• ProjectStella-Dec2008-Page1+2.pdf
• ProjectStella-Dec2008-Page3+4.pdf
• ProjectStella-Dec2008-Page5+6.pdf

The most important thing to do when you install a 226 Vintage exhaust on your Stella is to UPJET, UPJET, UPJET, and not just your Main Jet! The stock Stella rolls off the showroom floor with incredibly lean jets. There are four (4) individual pieces to the jetting puzzle and ALL of the stock jets need to be replaced to ensure your Stella motor receives the proper amount of air and fuel. Also VERY IMPORTANT: if any of this is over your head, take your scoot to the nearest authorized shop for help. We strongly encourage it and have a list of full-service shops we trust here. That said, here are the jets you need for sea level. Your jetting will likely vary based on altitude, season, etc but this is a fine starting point:

• 55/160 idle jet
• 160 air corrector
• BE3 mixer
• 125, 130 or 135 main jet

In addition to these jets, you should install a PX/P200 air filter. The stock Stella (blue) air filter is far too restrictive. Modifications to the stock filter can be done, but buying a new filter is best.

You do not need to wait until you install your 226 exhaust before upjetting your carb. This jetting configuration - known as Bald John Jetting - is the ideal jetting for your Stella regardless whether it is stock or kitted. The ONLY difference is going to be the main jet. A completely stock Stella motor with the stock exhaust requires a 100 main jet.

The unique difference between Stella and Vespa motors are their intakes. Vespa intakes are rotary valve and Stella intakes are reed valve. The Stella reeds are the most overlooked replacement part on the entire scooter.

The stock reeds are steel and wear very quickly in comparison to resin or carbon fiber reeds. Worn reeds directly affect engine compression. This is very, very, very important to realize when jetting a reed valve motor.

When steel reeds wear they bend to the point where they physically cannot seal the crankcase any longer creating very low compression. A low compression motor will give you the impression that your main jet is too rich. Do not be fooled by this!

I recently ran into an issue with a completely stock Stella scooter. After routinely installing a 226 Hot Wing exhaust, upjetting and preparing for a test ride, the scooter was bogging horribly. The starting point on the main jet for the Hot Wing pipe is a #125. If your motor does not like the #125 main jet, almost certainly this means your scooter is still running the stock steel reed.

Replacing your reed is not a difficult procedure. Information on replacing your reed can be found on the forum at www.StellaSpeed.com. Once again, if you are not comfortable with doing it yourself, seek professional advice!

For Stella reed replacement, we highly recommend upgrading your stock Stella reed to a GGR Hot Reed. GGR Hot Reeds were developed on the dyno during Project Stella and are the only reed designed and manufactured specifically for Stella/LML motors. Lucky for you, they were also designed using 226 exhausts. A GGR Hot Reed combined with a simple modification of the reed block will give you a dyno-proven 1 hp increase in power.

Calling all scoots. 226 is a proud sponsor of the High Rollers Weekend in Vegas. To put our money where our mouth is, we will be offering a 10% discount on all 226 pipes and pullers at the Rally only. Come down and get yours. For more info on the High Rollers Weekend, go here: http://www.highrollersweekend.com. See you there!

What're you waiting for? Sign up for next year's rally!

Patrick and the P-Town Scooter lads have it down!With a bunch of tracks in their immediate vicinity, these guys get to put on a show every week. This photo and the others were taken by Kurt Windisch. Awesome shots.

Details: Stock class 200 in open class w a 226 H-Bomb and new Heidenau track tires. . As piloted by local superbike class season winner, Matthew "Drat" Diestler of Portland, OR. He and the bike actually did exceptionally well (no real surprise there). He hadn’t ridden scooters competitively in 6+ years until that day...Here’s a link to our team page where you can see more pics.