A non-starter and a show stopper - On Two Wheels

This weekend was the debut of the Troll and all in all I think she's performed well - except for the starting, which remains a frustrating problem. Today there was a general scooter ride for an episode of "On Two Wheels" a cable lifestyle program on Foxtel. It used be called "Riding WA" on the local community station, Channel 31, until that station went under last year. It was popular enough to be salvaged by Foxtel and episodes will be screening later this year (not being a Foxtel subscriber I wouldn't know when).

Firstly a confession - I am an idiot. Having run out of petrol once on the Vespa I should have been a little more careful with the Troll. But I wasn't. Assuming when the guys said "we've filled the tank" meant I had a full tank of gas, I never actually checked in the tank to make sure. So you can imagine my surprise when on the way back from a quick ride into Fremantle on Saturday - no more than a kilometre from the spot where the Vespa failed - the Troll spluttered to a halt. A quick check of the tank revealed it to be bone dry. There is a slow leak in the petrol tap if it is left on. I can't even claim ignorance to the problem as Roberto had made a passing comment that oil from the leaking petrol was staining my driveway. The punishment for my stupidity was having to push the enormously heavy Troll two kilometres ... uphill. No young ladies with bottles of champagne stepped up to save me this time. Lesson for today - THE TROLL IS VERY VERY HEAVY.





Today, Sunday, I joined the run from Fremantle. There were some 30+ scooters lined up outside the L2 cafe, mostly new models but there were a few Vespa PXs in the mix. The Troll certainly made a scene. There was a lot of interest from all comers and lots of photos were taken. I later did an interview for the show - I hope I don't look like a complete twit! Fortunately, the stop at L2 wasn't a long one and the engine was still hot so she fired right up. Embarrassingly though, just as we all began pulling out of the car park the clutch seized and I couldn't get out of third gear. After a couple of stalls I managed to get the Troll on the road, reving the be-jesus out of the engine, and the problem kind of solved itself. I wasn't too comfortable on the ride out Bibra Lake as the clutch was still a bit touchy and I ended up trailing the back of the pack. Ironically I was closely following the trailing pursuit car so they have plenty of footage of the Beast on the road.

At the lakeside I did my interview, we ate lunch and had chat, there was a cooking segment with some local 'celebrity' chef that I'd never heard of. They did a couple of interviews with several other riders and did a feature on a Vespa GTS250 and a Derbi GP1 (both lovely new bikes). After another embarrassingly long struggle to get the Troll to start, I cruised back towards Fremantle, taking the long leisurely route around the river back home. There's one particular stretch of road between Bibra Lake and Fremantle with no intersections for a couple of kilometres so I gently opened the throttle and let the Troll show me what she could do. Pleasingly she reached 80kms quite easily; the only thing holding her back was me. I need more experience with the Troll's performance before stretching it to the limit. The brakes are weak.


Highlights of the On Two Wheels, Scooter Episode have now been published on YouTube. This 10 minute clip features my interview in the last two and half minutes.

All up it was a great weekend. I've clearly got some more tinkering to do to sort out the issues with idling, the carb, the clutch and starting, but overall I'm very happy with the Beast.

The Troll under the bridge

Starting Update
Thank's to the advice from Dinart, Bill, James1 and James2 I've managed to solve the problem with starting. The Beast now fires right up (second or third kick). Still needs a few minutes to warm up, but it's nothing like the trouble I was originally having. Thanks guys.

Troll - On the road at last

After a little bit of tuning and the replacement of the temporary mirror the Troll sailed through the vehicle inspection. I'd taken the day off work and Ivo and Roberto bought the Troll around to my house - great service! I rode the bike to the licensing centre and after the usual long wait I finally registered the Troll in my name and was handed the license plates. I then took the Beast for a cruise around the neighbourhood to get a feel for her.

Firstly I'll repeat my earlier observation - she's very hard to start. This is certainly a frustration. The Troll is just so big and heavy that it is difficult to hold her steady (and leaning away from you) while reaching over to hold down the throttle AND putting sufficient grunt into the kick. As if the exhaustion of repeatedly trying to kickstart it wasn't enough, I almost dropped the bike several times into the bargin. That said, once the engine was warmed up, it started first time each time. Update 2019 - re-reading this now I know that the starting issues were all related to the choke set up on the Troll. Unless the choke is set correctly it still can be slow to get started.

Once running however, the Troll handles quite well. It is a BIG scooter and you can feel it. The seating position is very comfortable. The steering feels very direct and because you are sitting up and well forward it does feel that bike is pivoting around you and makes for a surprisingly tight turning circle, given the size of the bike.

I found the 'heel and toe' gear changing very smooth, once I'd got the hang of it. It helps to wear appropriate shoes - my fashionable work shoes with their long toe really didn't foot that particular bill. I haven't really had to use the brakes in anger but I suspect the old drum brakes might be a weak point, but this is what you get with a forty year old scooter.

Although 149cc's is not a particularly big engine (hell, the VBB has a 150cc!) it feels like it has power. On a flat straight run it reached 70km per hour without any difficulty. The only thing stopping me pushing it further (apart from the traffic) was vibration in the front wheel. Surprisingly the Troll does get buffeted about by the wind. James in the UK also observed this. It seems strange that such a big and heavy scooter can be affected by wind, but I guess those big flat barn door sides do act a bit like sails.

I've only ridden the Troll for about an hour and she performed very well. I am looking forward to 'debuting' her on this Sunday's scooter run from Fremantle to Bibra Lake. It's not a big trip but it's being filmed for an "On Two Wheels" scooter special so that should be fun.

The Troll and Vespa side by side. The Troll is almost half a metre longer and has substantially more 'body'