The bike was, at least in theory, in good shape. The body work was tight. There were no signs of oil leaks, rusted parts, or cracked body work. The tires were in good condition with enough air. Everything was good, except there was an intermittent failure! One moment all things worked; the next everything was dead. No power. No lights. Nothing except a dead scooter without the power or ability to move. The only thing one could do was coast to a stop.
If this happened once on an open road with room, one might pause and wonder if it was something he had done, but likely as not would just keep going. As it was, we were in a city with cars, other scooters, and random pedestrians moving at the same time! Radom no-engine, no-power moments was not in the script for riding safely.
As we came up to a green light, everything died. Three of us gathered, hovering over the battery and area we thought the fuses should be. We had suspicions but no real idea what was the source of the problem. In the back of my mind I wondered if this could have been anticipated or prevented. Was this due to poor maintenance? Could carelessness be a factor?
After examining, pulling, looking for faults, and wiggling what we could not easily reach, things seemed to be working, at least for a time. Less than three minutes later, another terminal moment said that parking the scooter at the nearest filling station was a better choice than heading into the mountains. It felt like life had exercised its revenge for no obvious reason. It was as if “because of your [name that figure] furious anger; you swept me up and threw me out.” (Psalm 102.10) This was not working.
A mechanic was working out of his home and shop next door. As we tried to explain the problem, we unexpectedly recreated it for him. Minutes later, a cracked fuse, impossible to prevent or anticipate, was found and replaced.
Restoration does not always take time.
