I got to my insurance agent’s office this morning around 8:45 am and got my proof of insurance card. Then over to the Town Office at 9 am to pay my excise tax ($18 gotta love scooters especially used ones!) and then on to the dreaded DMV office to pay sales tax and get a plate. Got to DMV about 9:20 am and was #8 in line per my ticket. Not bad for the first day open after a long holiday weekend. I was out by 9:50 am with my registration, license plate, and less money. The previous owner had already got an inspection sticker last month so that was still good.
Got home from work around 5 pm and put the plate on the Helix. Wife took her Rebel out to go to Thomaston (she had town ambulance duty for the fireworks tonight). I donned my helmet and headed into Rockland. Stopped to see if it needed any gas as I’m not used to the fuel gauges. It was nearly full. Then I rode. I stopped by friends houses, cruised the main drag, and then decided to got to Camden. Took the back way around Rockport’s shorefront, cruised the public landing at Camden Harbor, rode up and down Main street and then decided to see if an old friend was home. He in fact was, told me “good timing” and we unloaded a small antique safe he just bought, (he has an antique shop) from his pickup.
He planned on riding back into Rockland on his custom Harley for the evening so I rode with him back into town. The Helix is not going to make claim to dusting a Harley or any other bike for that matter but it held it’s own on Rte. 1.
From there I headed over to Thomaston to visit the wife and the rest of the EMS crew for a few minutes. Then the voices in my head said take the long way down 131 and around through Spruce Head to get home. We had gone exactly 50 miles when we got home.
My initial ride found the following observations. REMEMBER TO STEP ON THE REAR BRAKE PEDAL TO START THE BIKE! Otherwise you just sit there looking stupid. I know, I did it. The ride is fantastic. For a small wheeled bike it just floats along. Sharp bumps in the road lead to some fairing rattling but nothing like the China Scoots I’ve had. Following cars leads to some fairly significant buffeting, especially mini-vans and SUV’s. The acceleration to 50 mph is impressive. The fastest I got it to go was 65 mph on the level. I think it will hit 70 given the space and lack of radar guns to do so. What impressed me most was it’s ability to hold speed while cruising. 55-60 mph is easy on this bike and it still has a bit left over to pull hills. So far it’s impressive and I’m quite pleased. Eventually I will dig out the GPS to check actual top speed and how accurate the speedometer is. The gauges got easier to see as the afternoon wore on. Even in bright sun I could make out the speed though. Just the temp, fuel level, and clock were hard to see. The drive belt “chirps” a bit when taking off not uncommon for CVT transmissions. The controls are all solid feeling, easy to use, and the bright turn signal indicators on the dash keep you from forgetting you applied them and looking like a moron. The front disc and rear drum are more than adequate but the rear brake pedal is a bit large and intrusive on the floorboard. A minor nit-pick. Now I gotta go back to work and do a night job. Stay tuned!
As always, Ride Safe.
Aaron
