Modern Vespa

G'Day All,

New member here and new new Vespa owner, in Perth Australia.

After owning a few old scoots over the years I recently lashed out and got a brand new midnight blue GTS250. It's my main transport now - the car stays in the carport.

I've not gone overboard with mods - I've fitted a clear fly-screen, a rubber mat and a matching vespa top-box.

I've done over 1,200kms now and thought I'd share a few impressions.

Good: It's easy to ride, comfortable, rides two-up easily. Fuel economy is as advertised (I get 3.6l/100km with no effort to be efficient). Top-box is great - I can fit two open-face helmets in there. The top speed is good enough for me to take it on the freeway and seems to handle the wind OK. Starts without any dramas. Plenty of power to pull away from traffic at the lights after lane-splitting.

Not so good:
* The worst thing is the accuracy of the speedo. It over-reads by a wide margin. At one end 50kph is really 40kph and at the other 120kph is close to 102kph (checked with GPS).
* The front brake has a pretty loud buzz under any braking force. Works fine, just this buzz which is irritating.
* There is a significant difference between force required to work front and rear brakes. I notice this mostly when stationary on a slight hill - I have to squeeze harder to stop rolling if I'm only using the rear. I actually miss the foot brake at these times!
* The reflectors on the top box are pretty lousy - in fact they don't seem to work at all.
* Under seat storage doesn't fit any of the helmets I've got, including the open-face that came with the scooter. It looks like it should but it doesn't.

None of the above are deal breakers - just things I've noticed. I expect to get many many 1,000s of kms out of this bike and then get another one when it dies!

def.

Welcome, and well done one the color choice!!

I'll comment on a few things:

Speedo inaccuracy is well known, don't worry, most of us get used to it!

The buzzing from the front brakes is, afaik, from the holes in the disk, nothing to be worried about.

You are right, the rear brake has less bite. A lot of the brake force is in the front, where the weight shifts when you brake. Hence you need less braking in the rear.

There is a pretty nice light kit from Admore lights which fits under the lenses on the top box. You can also put SOLAS reflective tape under the lenses to make them into reflectors.

There is not storage of helmets in the pet warmer! It sucks!

Enjoy the ride, I do!!

Congratulations on the new ride and the nice report.

For the helmet storage, have you tried all options of positioning the helmet?

I got a new helmet (HJC IS-2) last year and was frustrated that it wouldn't fit like the old lid.

But after fiddling a little, I found it would fit upright, facing the rear in the front portion of the pet carrier.

Mine is a GT and I am aware that the shape of the storage area is different, but if you try every option, you might find that it does fit.

Shalom and welcome to MV.

I just passed 100,000km on my GTS250 (it's a 2009 that I bought new in March of 2010).

You take good care of that scoot and take it from me, it'll take good care of you.

Welcome def

Welcome to the forum def!

Welcome to MV!

Welcome!!

The speedometer on a vespa is just a suggestion of what your current speed could be. Usually it's about 10% off. Don't worry about it or get a gps to get a more accurate reading.

A warm welcome from the Old Country.

Welcome.

Thanks for the impressions. Sorry about some of the 'Not so good', especially the storage/helmet issue. Regarding the brakes, my GTV 300 brakes finally settled in at around 1,500 Km, quite a while and lots of short rides after my first service.

Welcome and congrats on the new scoot.

Yeah the non-reflective reflectors on the top box are a mystery. There is no reflective material behind the red lenses -- don't know why Piaggio didn't just stuff a shiny card back there or something, what were they thinking? Most people buy some SOLAS tape from a boating supply store and put that behind the lenses which works pretty well.

-Dan

Welcome, I am just a wee bit ahead of you in mileage and I'm in Brisbane.

I concur with just about everything you said but I would really recommend a tyre upgrade to either pirellis or Michelins as the difference to road holding is unbelievable compared to the factory fitted savas.

Thanks all for your comments.

I am aware of the speedo issue with Vespas - I did due diligence googling when I first noticed it! I have got used to it (and have thought about adding some stickers to speedo for important speeds). Still a bit annoying for a new vehicle in 2013.

The helmet storage issue is an odd one. The dealer spent several minutes trying to make it fit under the seat when I bought it - he was convinced it should fit but couldn't make it sit low enough to close the seat.

Otherwise it's all good - more than one or two jealous mates.

Oh and I like the pull out rain-cover under the seat. A feature that I've not seen mentioned anywhere, including in the manual.

def

Just a heads up wrt the "rain" cover: it really does not keep the seat dry in anything heavier than fog... But it does keep the sun from bleaching the seat!!

Get a Malossi air filter and an iridium spark plug. For about $20 (US) here.
better performance AND better gas mileage!! Try the Dr. Pulley rollers when time to replace the rollers. Longer life for slightly less money. Seems to run better too. Beyond that, keep up with the oil. 200,000km should not be a problem.
The non-reflective top box is inexcusable. Cheap for an expensive machine.
Sure is fun. Enjoy.

My scoot has just over 1,200 miles, while I would like to up grade the tires, I'll put miles on them first. Now the "Air Filter & Plug" up grade sounds like the thing to do. Not too handy myself, do I have to like, gap the spark plug?

For some $$$ ScooterWest makes what appears to be a very cool running/brake/ turn signal kit. there's a YouTube on it and it appears awsome IMHO, flashing brake light, then solid it "really" lights up the night. It works on the Vespa top box for sure, I think it's like $170...

Love my GTS! It's my workhorse.