Meet Mary, new owner of our Vino

Today was family day but on the way home I stopped at our local scooter dealer, Rideaway Motors, a Kymco Dealer. When I arrived I was greeted with "your two scooters are here". I didn't know what that meant but I noticed that my previous Maxi-Scoot Kymco Exciting 500Ri was parked but did not notice our prev Vino. A moment later, Mary made her appearance



It was a whirlwind sale. Last week I was preparing my bike for the Victoria Rally. On our local scooter forum Mary was asking questions about a questionable brand of scooter with limited dealers, and limited support. Many were suggesting other models to consider. I hadn't really thought about selling our scooter which had been stored in the garage for the past few years but decided to mention that my scooter was available. A couple of PM's later she made arrangements to view the scooter after work on Thursday. She arrived on my doorstep around 7pm and wanted it right away. Of course I was in the middle of packing and had to leave at 5am the next morning.

It was her desire to have the scooter available for practice during our long weekend holiday and I was not planning to be back in town until late Sunday. We had little time to lose as there was the matter of transferring ownership and obtaining insurance. We had some problems which I won't bore you with but we finally got everything sorted out at 10pm that night. Imagine that you had never ridden a scooter (or motorcycle) before and it was now dark. She had a long way to go which included a bridge. She was going to practice riding around the neighbourhood until she felt confident enough to make the journey home. I told her that if she had some doubts, then come back and I would follow her home.



Everything happened so fast. I had not prepped the bike for sale and it was dusty and the battery was not charged after sitting all this time, but it still managed to barely start the engine. The kick starter works on the first kick. Part of the sale included her bringing her "new to her Vino" to Rideaway to charge the battery. It is a special AGC type battery which cannot be charged with normal chargers.

On Sunday afternoons, many members of our scooter group meet up at Rideway to socialize and have a cup of coffee, generously supplied by Tony. In the photo above they are all trying to help.

As Mary has been enjoying her new scooter and riding it around, the battery was being charged and did not need much of a top-up. When her scooter was brought outside, Gerard (also known as my much older brother) decided to take it for a ride up and down the lane. Gerard's scooter is that rust-coloured antique Honda 250 elite on the right. Yes, that's the one with the 60's style milk carton.



In his past life, Gerard has had many motorcyles which included a Beemer which he rode around Europe



It didn't take long for Mary to be comfortable with our group. Here she is with her McD coffee, supplied by Tony



That's Tony in the Background and Mrs Skoot on the left. She wanted to have an orange soda instead



Here's a quick group photo: Left: Jeff, Middle: Mark, Right: Mary with her "new to her" Vino


(Mrs Skoot & Mary)

That's Mary's new white helmet which she purchased today. Rideaway Motors is usually open on Sundays and weekdays until 7pm during the summer.



She is enjoying her new purchase and getting a lot of practice riding around the city. I hope she joins us again for coffee next Sunday