Baby, It’s Cold Outside
HMM – maybe I should title each blog posting between now and the holidays with a Christmas song title (or lycric)? Let’s see how creative I can be…especially since I prefer my title having some sort of relationship with what I’m writing about.
This January weather in mid-November is not making me happy. I’m not getting a monthly T-pass until January so unless I commute by scooter on these cold days, I have to pay full price to ride the bus/subway. To be honest, I actually don’t mind the temperatures while I scoot. I have some long-johns that work incredibly well under my jeans. And a winter jacket I bought last year (with Randy’s brilliant guidance) blocks all wind. And with Randy’s old motorcycle helmet with full face guard, my head even gets warm
The problem with scooting this time of year is the damn scooter! Once the temperature drops to 40 degrees, the damn thing just doesn’t want to start. It’s a fight…filled with wurrrrrrrrrring and vroooming as I force the thing not to stall. It reminds me of cars from the 1970’s or early 1980’s (like the used first cars I had). In the winter, you couldn’t just get in, ignite the car, and drive. You had to warm it up. I recall my parents going into the driveway to warm up the car, then going back in the house to finish preparing. They weren’t just warming the interior…they were warming up the engine. If they didn’t, the car would be sluggish and potentially stall. This doesn’t seem to be the case today (at least, I’ve not seen that in a car in over a decade).
Just 4.5 weeks of long-johns and revved engines until I can put the scooter away for winter.
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Your parallel between cars of yesterdecade and your scooter are correct. Cars used to use a carburetor to mix the fuel and air, now they use fuel injection. Fuel injection involves little nozzles and a computer that senses conditions and can adjust the fuel/air mixture and raise the idle more precisely than a carb can. A carb is more mechanical in and not as “smart” as fuel injection. You’ll also have problems if you ride your scooter up a mountain to a significantly higher altitude, as the carb relies on atmospheric pressure, and needs to be adjusted accordingly. So stay off those mountains!!