Modern Vespa

Greetings from Vietnam

I just inherited an 06 LX 125 from my mother, the last year of Italian imports before Piaggio started producing Vespas locally. It was her commuter scooter for 13 years until she got tired of accidents and stopped riding altogether. This will be my thread for upgrading/modding/repairing this scooter. Unfortunately I forgot to take many photos before making this thread so here will be the things that I've done to it. More to follow in subsequent posts

This is how it currently looks after some light rain riding

Greetings:

Looking good for its age. It's not apparent that there have been "accidents"?

It has been repainted a few years ago. Before it was dinged and scuffed. Accidents were minor given that we rode on packed streets, never at high speed on the highways

Retrofitted LED bulb into the headlamp. Already brighter and it should be even better with a clear lens, mine is old

Compared to modern Japanese scooters the LX vibrates really badly, amplified by shit Hanoi roads making riding very uncomfortable. I got the handlebars drilled and threaded to install bar end weights like on the GTS

End result with a pair of 200g weights that I have in my parts bin and a new pair of aftermarket grips. Vibration is massively dampened

The old front brake master cylinder is very old and cruddy, giving me zero feel for the front. After upgrading my Honda motorcycle to a Brembo RCS master cylinder I have its stock master cylinder as a spare

Putting it onto the Vespa requires dremeling away a bit of front handlebar cover as the new master's fluid reservoir is slightly taller than the Vespa stock. The red lever is from Racing Boy Malaysia, I'm gonna replace it with a black one to match the look



Drilling holes for the GTS-style luggage hook




Visiting the wrap shop for some stencils. This is a white/black build, so the chrome Vespa and LX badges have to go, plus their adhesive just can't stand the extreme Vietnamese weather - stencils are cheaper and they last longer