Red Dog and Me

This is an on-going dialog between me and a certain motor scooter, namely a 2009 Piaggio MP3 500 that came to live with me in October of 2009. I've named the scooter Red Dog and as yet have not determined its gender. In the past when I've named boats, bikes, and other like characters I've thought of them as feminine due to their behavior characteristics. Red Dog I'm not so sure about...we'll see. Update: OK, Red Dog's a girl...with an attitude

Saturday, January 16, 2010

Jan 16, 2010 Red Dog’s First Service


After fumbling around trying to locate a dealership close enough to use as a service agency I finally settled on Oregon Motorsports in Medford. The dealer I bought Red Dog from is located in northern California, way too far to travel and they recommended these folks so off we went. We, meaning Daisy and I took the camper figuring on finding a place to stay close to Medford. Unfortunately we started out a bit late and by the time we arrived it was pitch dark and beginning to rain.

After following various signs to campgrounds I decided old reliable Motel 6 was the answer so that’s what we did. There was lots of parking available for the rig so after checking in I gave Daisy her dinner, fixed my own and headed indoors for the night. Daisy stayed on guard in the RV which I’m sure she prefers over unfamiliar motel rooms.


In the morning Medford was totally socked in with dense fog, to the point the weather folks were broadcasting warnings to drive with caution. This was one of those instances when I was especially glad to have the GPS along; were it not for that there was no way we’d have located the dealership. As it was we arrived before anyone else and had lots of time to get Red Dog prepped and ready to unload. One of the shop guys offered to give me a hand at it and I was glad to accept; the ramp was slippery from all the fog and his help was welcome.

Their service guru is Tony Johnson and his background with Piaggio is extensive. After a brief discussion I was confident he knew what he was doing so I left him alone and spent the next several hours hanging out in their showroom ogling all the cool scooters and Yamaha bikes on display.












Pink Vespa anyone? Not cheap but you always have to pay for the cute factor. I'd like to have one but probably in a different hue...










Besides new scooters they carry used ones too. This little Honda Reflex 250 was available for $2499.00 and had 18000+ miles on its clock. I sat on it and it felt pretty comfortable. Red Dog would be jealous…








Finally Red Dog was finished, all oiled up and given a clean bill of health. Tony checked to see if there were any factory service issue bulletins and since there were none we departed.

Notice how sunny the weather is in the pictures? That lasted until we got within about 50 miles from the coast; then the skies opened up and really dumped on us. We arrived home in the middle of another winter storm, gusting winds with horizontal rain penetrating everything. Since Red Dog was already soaked and dirty I decided to abandon her to the elements and scurried into the house for the night. Tomorrow there’d be plenty of time to figure out what to do next.


An email informed me the Uni-Go trailer’s been shipped and is scheduled to arrive on Tuesday the 19th so I think we’ll hang around till then. After that it’s off to Portland to see about getting her saddle reworked to fit my big ol' butt better.

I suppose that’s probably more visual than you need, right?

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