Modern Vespa

I'll be leaving Rapid City in the morning for a trek eastward across South Dakota to the southwestern Minnesota town of Pipestone. It's about 400 miles each way, with perhaps another 50 miles of local riding while there.

I expect to run the GTS300 at about 65 mph on the speedo, which should be 60-61 mph actual. That seems to be a cruising 'sweet spot' that the bike likes, and should yield some decent mpg numbers.

I'll ride 400 miles on Monday, putt around the Pipestone area on Tuesday, then 400 miles on Wednesday for the return ride.

I'll be carrying 3/4 gallon of extra 'reserve gas' under the seat, and also a small container of engine oil.

Oh, sure, I could ride one of our other motorcycles rather than the Vespa, but where is the challenge of ripping a ross the state on a '22 Triumph Rocket 3R, or my wife's 1200 Triumph Speedmaster....or even my Royal Enfield Interceptor 650????

It should be a fun trip on the GTS, and something of an old-fashioned, minimalist adventure ride.

I'll report back over the next several days on how it's going from 'The Road', with photos, of course.

What an undertaking! Drop back in and tell us what condition your condition is in

JBacklund,

You are already on the road - so this is late information.

My riding group did a ride to Pipestone in June. We wanted to stay at
the old Haunted Calumet Inn in downtown Pipestone but it was closed.

We stayed 20 minutes away in Flandreau SD at the Royal River Casino and
Hotel 6075 Veterans St, Flandreau SD 57028 (605) 997-3746.

Have a great adventure - wish I was with you.

Bob Copeland
Minnesota

I'm a little over 200 miles 'in', having a break at the McDonald's in Pierre, South Dakota, so I'm about halfway.

The GTS300 is running very well, getting 62 mpg for the first two tank fills... that's running at a pretty steady 65 mph, which is probably 60 'actual' versus what the speedo is telling me.

The seat isn't crippling me, so that's a plus

Here's the GTS loaded up this morning, as I was about to leave for the wide open spaces....

There's a lot of empty space out there on the western South Dakota prairies...

Due to some rather miserable temperatures forecasted in southwest Minnesota for Wednesday morning, I'm going to cut the middle day out and head back today instead. Wednesday's morning temps of mid 30's have little appeal to me, so I'm off and headed back west this morning instead.

I'm really just out for a long ride on the Vespa anyway, my 'destination' being that ride, and not so much the geographical location at what is really just the turning around point.

So, it's another 400+ mile Vespa ride today, and I'm very much looking forward to it.

Some photos from yesterday's return ride.

Their starting to fade now, but the vast sunflower fields out in western South Dakota are still impressive...

The sun getting low adds a lot of dimension to the landscape...

Watching a Mule deer doe in the background...

Thanks for the pictures. What kind of shape are you in after a crazy ridiculous ride like that? Oh I mean fun adventure! I'd probably be sore after the first two hours.

I ended up riding the GTS300 856 miles over last Monday and Tuesday, with no apparent oil consumption even though this model is sometimes known to use some oil when run at highway speeds for any length of time.

I hadn't checked it's oil since parking it last Tuesday night after arriving back home, but went out and looked at it now, and it appears to be right where it should be...

856 miles over two days...

Overall, I'm pretty good, maybe even better than I thought I would be. It wasn't torture by any means, and I've ridden quite a few motorcycles that were relative agony over less distances than I covered on the Vespa.

It's no Goldwing, but not nearly as bad as some just arbitrarily assume it must be, being 'a scooter' and all that.

I'd get tired of just sitting on the thing after a period of time, but I could skootch around on it enough to get a tolerable measure of relief. The seat is....ok, I guess.

I would ride it 50-80 miles at a sitting, usually dictated more by my concern about gasoline availability and the GTS's range than rider comfort, though those fuel stops were definitely welcome as mini -breaks as well.

I loved your pictures and accompanying infos, JBacklund. Thanks for that.

Looks like a really fun ride and I totally understand the ride being the destination, not the geographical place on Earth.

I'm looking forward to see more of your adventures!

I appreciated the pictures and report of your ride as well. Those roads look a lot like plenty of our roads here in Alberta…straight! Unless you get closer to the mountains in the west.

Thanks for posting.

Great photos. Be sure and post your next adventure.

Bob Copeland
Minnesota

Regarding seat comfort, I don't recall you saying how many miles you have, but when I went from my LX150 with maybe 7K on the odometer to my new GTS the seat felt uncomfortably firm when I rode it for over an hour after purchase. Over time it got much more tolerable, so don't give up hope just yet.

Every new bike and scooter I have ever had the seat was very firm. My butt beat them into submission. Hang in there.

The seat on my GTS300 doesn't bother me enough to justify spending anything on trying to 'improve' it, although I'll admit that I don't care much for it's tan color covering.

By the way, I noticed you don't have a windscreen.

I've been considering a trip with my Vespa and I don't have a windscreen either. Do you think your ride would have been more comfortable with one?

I've enjoyed riding it without, yet for longer sustained speeds on the highway I'm undecided whether it would improve things or not. The most I would consider is a shorter fly screen, as I don't like the look of the taller screens and would rather look over than through it. I wear a full face helmet anyway so bugs in the face isn't an issue!

Just wondering is the wind blast would tire a person out faster.

kawi_girl,

I road +100 miles on the freeway to get home quicker after
an extended backroads ride. I originally did not have a windscreen.
Your body acts like a sail catches the wind and makes your arms
tired. Completely different experience with a windscreen.

Each has his/her own preference. Some of it functional, some of it
stylish. If your riding just around town at lower speed, you do not need
anything. I prefer the Vespa midscreen - I can see over it and it provides
the wind deflection I have come to enjoy.

Hey, when I was young I rode my Ducati 350 all over without wind protection.
Kind of born to be wild - it would not have been a manly thing.

Bob Copeland

Thanks, Bob. It's nice to hear of some real world experience.

Love the red Vespa by the way! Custom seat looks great. Do the racing checks make it go faster?

kawi_girl,

I saw that checkered seat on this forum and had to have it. "Cheeky Seats"
makes all these cool seat covers for Vespa.

I do admit, I get occasional comments about the seat while out and about.

Bob Copeland
Frostbite Falls Minnesota

Now that I have confidence that I can travel far on my GTS300, proven on my Minnesota trip, I am giving some serious thought to taking the Vespa out on a, perhaps, ten day ride
from South Dakota to the west coast states late next April or May.

Giancarlo Tironi used a Vespa to reach the Arctic Circle in 1950s

Patrignani went from Milan (Italy) to Tokyo (Japan) on a Vespa in 1964

why couldn't you use a modern 300cc for touring?

I would look forward to reading about that. I too, would like to do a small tour on my Vespa. I just am still hesitant about reliability, yet many here seem to do well. I'll need to get the fuel gauge issue fixed though as I find that annoying. I know that it's not accurate yet to always be blinking 'low fuel' would feel annoying on a long trip.

That sounds like a lot of fun, J. Your Vespa should do just fine, just make sure you bring some extra motor oil. Just to feel safe.

I'm planning my first more-days trip on the Vespa as well for next year. Will be about 10 days too, mainly visiting the Alps in Switzerland, Italy and Austria.

The anticipation is half the fun!

Nice little adventure. Not trying to horn in on your adventure, but thinking about your oil consumption, and stuff. For me, I was using a LOT of oil up until about 5k miles. At about that time, me and a friend on his Burgman rode from New Orleans to Memphis, a few hundred rally miles around Memphis and then back home... about 1200 miles for the weekend. I checked my oil before during and after, and didn't need to add any. All that to say, if you have the HPE engine, keep close tabs on the oil until you don't need to any more. I just rolled over 11k miles, and haven't need to add any. BTW, a "big-ass-syringe" with some plastic tubing is a great way to top off your oil... YMMV.

I took a clear plastic, 'ketchup', squeeze bottle full of engine oil along with me on that trip, with a proper length of clear fuel hose attached to it's nozzle tip. It works very well for adding oil to the engine.

Several months ago, I bought a sight glass engine cover from ScooterWest and will be installing it in the early spring. That will help a lot in keeping track of the oil level, and definitely worth it's cost.

I was thinking the same thing regarding the site-glass oil pan... but now I don't feel like I need it.

It's not an absolute necessity, but having it there will save a lot of what might be unnecessary flopping around on the garage floor while getting a dipstick reading, an activity that I enjoy doing less and less these days.