Modern Vespa

Six months ago my wife and I retired in Merida, Yucatan Mexico. Not counting the 2 years in college where I rode a 100cc Honda back and forth to classes I've been riding big bikes for over 20 years. Six Harley's and a K1200RS BMW. Back in 2007 I bought a PX150 to run around the streets of downtown Atlanta that I kept for 2 years. Merida has a population of a million people and it seems like half of them use scooters as their mode of transportation. This is Mexico and drivers are crazy! Traffic is a nightmare to say the least. Anyway, I've got the bug for a scooter but there is not a Vespa dealer anywhere around Merida. Here in Merida they sell scooters everywhere including grocery stores and department stores. The nicest department store sells Vespas! They have a GTS 300 S that I'm going buy the first week in December. No parts, accessories or service come with the deal. When I asked about service they told me about a moto shop that has a mechanic who is trained to work on Vespas and Aprilias. I went and talked to the owner of this shop and he confirmed this. They have to order parts as none are stocked. I plan to order plugs, filters etc from the States and have them do the maintenance or learn how to do it myself. Anybody think I'm out of my my mind? I've never seen another Vespa in town although they've told me they've sold several so far. If anyone reading this post lives here then let me know!

Welcome to MV from the sunny Aegean.

Buy it and enjoy the ride. Any further comments would be wasted bandwidth!

Kalo dromo

Al

Get that 300 S. Now that you've seen it, your life has changed.

Gor for it. You can do the routine maintanence yourself fairly easily. If you run into problems ask the forum! Don't forget to get a couple of belts and sets of rollers when you order the filters, etc.

When it comes to ordering parts for your upcoming Vespa, I suggest you seriously look into "PSN Tuning" in the UK. via the internet. Their service has been excellent for me and their prices consistently beat the US dealers by a serious amount, with delivery to my front door by the postal service.

Aloha and welcome to the forum. Don't let the maintenance worry you. There are loads of helpful people on here and in the wiki section there are tutorials with pics on most anything you need to do. We have a dealer here but they suck when it comes to doing work, so we DIY. You'll enjoy the 300 and post a pic of him/her when you get it please. Good luck

Benvenidos Gringo

Mr. F

Thanks to all the MV riders who said to go ahead and buy a GTS 300 S even after I noted that I live in Mexico without a dealer in town. I placed an order yesterday thru a department store that sells Vespa. Chose the white one but it won't be delivered until mid February. That sucks but they were having a two day sale where I got a 20% discount since I paid cash! As I mentioned before there is a scooter dealer in town who works on Vespa scooters and it does come with a one year warranty so that's good news. Now I need to get serious about ordering some backup parts/accessories from the States because there's nothing here to pick from. Any suggestions would be helpful...

Welcome to MV!

GringoGTS,

Are you worried about theft? Seems your GTS will be rare in your area, and attract much attention.

Congratulations on your decision to go with a 300 GTS. You will find that Motorsport (ScooterWest) in San Diego is a great source of parts and consumables. And welcome to MV.

http://www.scooterwest.com/

congratulations on a white 300 which I also have and love. Scooter west in San Diego is a great store and has tons of parts as does Scooterworks on the internet. This forum has tons of people who can and are willing to help. Best of luck and enjoy your scooter

Theft is a concern but Merida is the safest city in Mexico. One or two murders a year in a city of a million plus. Just have to be smart about where to park it. The uniqueness of a white Vespa would make it easy for the cops to find as they are everywhere. No one will know the value of it here either.

GRINGO people don't know what a Vespa is here as well. Hondas are stolen all the time not Vespa's. Or even the cheap Chinese ones. Works for me! Can you insure it? Pics when you get it please. A scooter down there would be fun. 8)