Modern Vespa

Hello people!

After salivating over Vespas as a teenager and eventually getting my big bike test (and realising that big geared bikes are tough going in a city), I've finally bought a second hand GTS 300 (2009). Hooray!

I think I've probably hideosly over paid due to my naievity and enthusiasm, because since crawling around on my hands and knees in the garage for half an hour I've noticed a couple of things that have made me go, 'hmmm... I think I could have bought A LOT better... this bike has OBVIOUSLY seen quite a lot of salt'. (I'm now chastising myself for not taking more time to look at other examples and haggle more aggressively. Tip to self: bring a mate along next time). Anyway, I'm not going to chastise myself too much...

There's a couple of things I need a bit of advice or comments on, and I'm already getting some great info from this site (so, whoever set this up - this is a fine site!)

1) All the plastic that surrounds the spring on the front shock has disintegrated and the sprint itself is a challenging shade of brown. It passed its MOT okay, BUT... I'm wondering, 'how much is this gonna cost?'

2) Peering underneath there seems to be some raw metal, where the paint just isn't there (where stuff gets thrown up from the front wheel). Can anyone recommend any places in London that could do a bit of spraying/rust prevention?

3) The grey paint on the rear belt cover seems to be pitted on the underside. I've seen a few posts sanding and power coating... Any tips on how to move forwards on that one?

Cheers all!

Chris

Welcome to Modern Vespa! Thanks for the introduction. Now it's time to post some pictures of your scooter.

Welcome to the club! Perhaps you need to join our (non-) club!!! London Scooter Body Shop for paint for bodywork. Dave the proprietor is ace. We always overpay for Vepsas in London, unless bought privately. i'm just about to sell my 2010 titanium super sport for £2800? Immaculate with 4000km... (hope you did better?)

Transmission cover? They all do that...

Welcome to MV Chris, good to have you aboard...

London Scooter Body Shop... Cool! Should I just Google it?

> (hope you did better?)

Erm... LOL! circa £2k, 12km... I'm shaking my head as I'm writing this. Private sale. Fella saw me coming. Still, live and learn. I'm guessing I overpaid by a couple of hundred, right? Still, no scratches on the bulk of the body, it's just the underside that needs a bit of paint.

Welcome to MV Chris and grats on your new ride. Don't sweat the purchase. Can't do anything about price now. Just enjoy riding and the scooter lifestyle.

Here's a U.S site for the front shock, you have similar sources across the pond. You may be able to find one cheap from somebody upgrading their suspension on eBay or similar sites.

http://www.scooterwest.com/items/?_pageCCS=t#page=/item_details/Complete-Front-Shock-Vespa-GT-GTS/9649

Regarding rust, Italian steel and road salt make for a bad combination. You do need to paint any exposed metal to protect it. Once you are painted there are protectants you can apply to help prevent corrosion. If you are riding through road salt, a wash with a hose once a week will help prevent rust also.

We need some pic's of your ride or it never happened.

Welcome to the forum Chris!

coucer,

Welcome and big congrats. When someone like you decide to make Vespa, or scooters, part of their life, members of this forum benefit, too.

Shalom and welcome to MV from Israel.

to MV from the Sunny Aegean!

Welcome from rural Worcestershire. Lots of friendly folk here on MV. Jess even changed the logo to make Londoners feel at home!
John W.

sounds about right to be honest!

I'm already confusing km and good old British miles. I meant 12k miles. Doh!

Many thanks to everyone's warm welcomes. It's really nice to wake up to these messages

A quick question: this London scooter body shop - would they fit s front shock? If so, how much might the labour be for just that? (Assuming that I asked them to do other jobs at thesame time...) Cheers everyone

Use Scootech in London E3, they are good guys, will probably do it while you wait and charge about £55 an hour labour which is low for London, lots of us here use them.

Another welcome.

Don't worry about the plastic coming off the front shock spring - they all do that eventually if used extensively outdoors in London. As long as the shock works, it doesn't matter that the spring looks tatty.

Underneath - well worth getting that cleaned up and protected.

Transmission cover - yes, it can be prettied up, and is probably worth doing as it'll only get worse.

welcome mate

Greetings from the current Tornado Alley

Good Morning from Chicagoland USA!

Hello and Welcome
You can come riding with me and when CopECat gets her 125
Welcome to the forum
Enjoy the bike and all the wonderful advice you'll get from members on here!
Kitty

Welcome from Florida! Not the Florida in the postcards... North Florida.

As for the 12,000 miles, Vespas are good for a lot more than that. You should be able to get well over 50,000 miles if you take reasonable care of the mechanical bits.

Scootech Roman Rd for your servicing etc

Welcome from the salty streets of Minnesota USA.

Welcome!!

I've made some progress this morning - I've figured out how to check my hub oil!! I've surpassed myself! (Both engine and hub oil in good order). The scoot has a solid service history and passed its MOT back in March, and has hardly done about 500kms since then, so fingers crossed no more surprises.

I'm now sitting tight for two weeks, which is the earliest I can start a new insurance year and take advantage of my impending no claims. (I couldn't add a second bike on my existing big bike policy because of 'rules'). Boo!

I'm definately going to get the transmission cover painted and its underside sorted out. Thankfully, no more corrosion surprises after pottering about in the garage this morning.

In terms of protection against corrosion - has anyone any particular recommendation as to what to use?

Thanks again for your greetings - it's great to hear from you!

Cheers!

Chris

Excellent
I use a product called ACF50 on my underside - just wipe it on with a rag - it's very good - there are lots of tips on here and I've posted asking questions about it in the past - give it a google - I bought mine at Hein Gericke

if you have the work done at London Scooter Bodyshop they will I'm sure - being the experts - advise you too on how to maintain

DougL and jimC are excellent and fonts of all knowledge....

I also recommend thoroughly getting nice stiff mudflaps for your scoot - they do keep a lot of crud from the underside

I rinse well with a hose after I've been out on the winter etc - salt is a devil for the steel bottom

All the Best Chris!
Kitty

I have to admit I sort of forced myself to stop reading right about there.

I was wondering how that helped the scooter.

Treppenwitz and Rapputak
You are very naughty boys
Now go to my room!

Aloha and welcome to the forum from Hawaii. 12k is low mileage for a Vespa. I have 20k on my little LX. Turkman had 60k on his Vespa before a car killed it. Wasn't a 300 but as you can see they are high mileage scooters. Have un and be careful out there. If you have any pics of it we'd love to see one.

From the Land of the Dirt People....

[quote="Treppenwitz"] I also use ACF50 to grease my arsehole ooppps sorry wrong forum!
Hey Coucer welcome from a fellow Londonite! Which part are you from? Sunny Greenwich here.

We here in the Colonies and most especially in the (RED NECK Riviera) some folks call it L.A. Me I just call it lower Alabama. And yes we even have scooters here are glad you could join us. When you see the Queen give her my best. and don't believe what my mate Bill Dog says about me its not true. Capt. Gary