Hey, that stuff's expensive!

Had my first "problem" with the scoot today.

I went to work some overtime at the office, and when I came out to start up the scooter, I chatted for a bit with the rickshaw guys who solicit fares outside my office. I'd had talks with them before when I was riding the old scooter, answering their questions about "how fast", and "how old" and "how much" - they'd been protective of my scooter when a property manager was acting like a dick about it being parked there, just generally friendly, good guys.

While we were chatting, one of them noticed that there was a steady stream of gasoline pouring out of my engine. I tried closing the gas tap. No change, it just kept pouring out. A couple of them got down and stuck their heads under the engine to see where it was leaking.

Weird. I'd been riding for a while that morning with no trouble.

I knew the shop would be closing within minutes, so I had to haul ass. The guys wished me luck, and I did the requisite ass hauling. I could tell that the gas wasn't getting to the engine, I had the throttle wide open, and was getting a half hearted response.

As soon as I pulled up, there was the owner, with a couple of business associates. (They're going to be the exclusive Toronto distributor of Kymco scooters, so there was someone who I assume was a distributor of the new scoots there)
They all noticed the leak, right away. Hard to miss. The gas was flowing freely.

The owner went right to work, and quickly found a hose that had come loose. He grabbed a clamp, (while asking me to bear in mind that he's not a mechanic) and solved the problem easily enough.

While he worked, the other guys asked me about the scooter - how long had I had it?

"Just picked it up yesterday."

"Oh, so it's brand new to you. Is this your first scooter?"

"No, I had a smaller one before."

I smiled. I had not interest in laying out the whole story to these guys. The owner jumped in right away, though saying that this was an exchange.

I just said - "Yup! I traded up!"

Don't worry, man. I have no interest in making you look bad in front of your new business pals. Not my style. I gots me a whole other style.

Anyway, I probably forgot to say thank you. Cause sometimes, I'm a jerk. But I am grateful that the owner took the time to try and fix the problem himself. That was cool.