You can’t talk about Vespas in New York City without talking about Vespa SoHo.

Personally, for all my love of scooters … because of my love of scooters … I’d never been before.

Guitar store experience has taught me, don’t go visit unless you intend to spend money. I knew that visiting Vespa SoHo would be like a trip to the dog pound. It would be impossible to walk out of there without giving one a new home.

Plus, I have to say they keep odd hours. I’m always tied up on a Saturday and they’re not open late in the evening or on Sundays when I have the most time to shop.

Why the trip? To prepare for my upcoming Basic Rider Course. MSS do let you buy or rent helmets on the day or buy gloves but I figured if I’m serious about buying a Vespa then the first place to start was to buy some gear, so Vespa SoHo was my destination for a helmet and glove fitting.

Daniel at Vespa SoHo steered me to a Z1R Phantom helmet which met my requirements for a full-face helmet (something a colleague pointed out was an “olive branch” to my girlfriend”) and not too expensive.

Frankly though, colleague’s comment aside, there’s no way I’m going to ride with anything less than full-face. Sure half and three-quarter vintage helmets look cool, but Proficient Motorcycling’s chapter on helmets demonstrated that most impacts take place to the chin. A half-helmet might save the brain but it won’t save my good-looks.

I also picked up a nice pair of AlpineStars gloves.

More importantly, Vespa SoHo was where I first laid my eyes on an orange s150 in the flesh and I started getting that dog pound feeling. Could I really buy one right here and now? What a bike.

I fought temptation. Let’s see how this whole Basic Rider Course goes before I go down that path.

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