A Bad Egg

When you fired up Bad Egg, it would scream like an actual banshee. It was 8 AM on a Sunday, I was in the yard trying to coax it to life, and the minute it caught it shot straight to 10,000 RPM. It wasn’t idling. It was shriek-roaring-gargling-hissing, and there is no better analogy for our showdown than that blasted, stupid furnace Ralphie’s old man battled in A Christmas Story.

Turns out the “brand new” carb had some quirks. The jet needle was bent so badly the carb slide couldn’t move, so starting the Egg was basically like turning on your car with the gas pedal taped to the floor. The spring in the throttle cable didn’t stand a chance against that twisted brass and the idle screw was just as mangled.

Luckily, I managed to Frankenstein together parts from an old carb with the one already on the scooter, and several hours later I had absolutely nothing to show for it, because the batteries tanked after I spent hours cranking the motor without ever letting it actually run. So back to the auto parts store I went for recharge trip number two.

Eventually, finally, miraculously, everything seemed like it was in a good place.

Except the starter was bad.
So actually, I wasn’t in a good place at all.

I am writing this on Monday the 17th and my new starter should arrive in Nashville on the 20th. Hours after I take off for Boston.

In better news, I fired up the old vinyl cutter and between the paint job and the new decals Bad Egg is a sight to behold. I am very happy with how it all looks together and once I get it running it will be the appropriate amount of embarrassing to be riding a scooter - without the extra humiliation of it being too ugly to look at directly.

QC