Modern Vespa

After several vacations in Rome renting Vespas and touring the city, the wife and I decided to finally take the plunge and get one. Ordered it from Vespa, Metuchen. Got a fantastic price with the top-case and all the people there were great. This is truly an A+ organization.

Planning on taking her to Maine and Vermont so I ordered an Ultimate MX ramp so that I wouldn't have to struggle rolling it up a ramp (like the versa hauler). Also picked up Canyon dancers (the cup version) Both of these products work great.

See ya on the road!

p.s. I know about the straps damaging the paint. This picture is from the walmart parking lot where I picked up 2 washcloths to slip in between.

Nice! and welcome aboard...

Welcome! Congrats on that beautiful LXV. Same model brings lots of enjoyment to us, also.

That GTV top box looks huge vs the LXV unit. Haha, I said unit.

2 gorgeous scoots!

Thanks... Yeah I know. But we like it!

I love the ivory and brown combination.

Beautiful Scooter! Is it your plan to ride 2up on it or do you plan on taking turns?

Congrats! That is a nice scooter. Have fun!

Beautiful scoot!

The LXV is such a pretty scooter. Congrats!!!

I ride a lot around south-eastern Vermont, let me know if you're looking for 150 friendly routes.

Love the brown. We were going to going to go with that color but we thought the ivory would be a better considering all the night riding we plan on doing.

Most times 2up. Nothing better than having her arms wrapped around me. We keep imagining riding past the colosseum and piazza Navona.

Thank you! I know of only 2 routes now - the quechee to Woodstock road and around Manchester center. Ill pm you when we are heading up that way.

Aloha and welcome to the forum from Hawaii. Beautiful scooter and have fun. I love your avatar comment on where you live.

Love the bike, she is a corker. Can you tell me more about the ramp you are using, as I am looking for something very similar to carry my LX150 on? Cheers

Congrats on that new beautiful ride! That may have to be the color of my next one, only in a 300. ENJOY!

sweet ride ......ps love the Vespa too lol
welcome from "sunny" N.Ireland
ps have a small Ulster Fry on me !

Beautiful. Enjoy. Gets better every ride.

Thanks xmanhoe! That picture reminds me of every breakfast I had during a trip to Scotland.

Welcome to MV from the Midwest.

Great-looking Scooter-to-Go!

Looks like the gap, for your front wheel, on the carrier, is causing it to rest on the axle. Wasn't there spacer with the carrier to close the space, to fit your wheel size?

Nice lookin' scoot! Keep us posted on how your hauler works. I'm alway on the look-out for a means to transport my LX (other than sitting on it!) BJ

Hey, onecall,

Hope things are going well with your beautiful new LXV 150ie.
Thought I would show you what we use to keep our LXV and GTV body and water buffalo leather clean and happy. There are lots of good products out there. These work for us.
[Click here]

Ride safely.

Great looking set up. Congrats and welcome aboard!

Best,
SDG

It is. They didn't have a spacer to shorten the gap. I'm going to have one cut, painted and bolted on. For the price of the carrier you would think they would include one.

Duly noted! Thank you for the recommendation .

Nice scooter. I'm green with envy. I just love the looks of the LXV and GTV models. Enjoy your new ride.

Welcome aboard.

Hey onecall...
Just joined the forum & just bought a Portofino LXV 150.
We also just ordered the MX Hauler ramp and are hoping you have some insight to share now that you are a few months into it.
We will be hanging the bike off our Winnebago Era...it's a mini rv on a Sprinter chassis.

Lovely ride! Congratulations!

Great looking scoot! I have a LXV150ie in espresso brown and love it. I am also out of Philly in Burlington County NJ.

That's one nice scoot. Welcome to the family!

Once you have the front wheel spacer in place, I recommend trimming your tie-downs to tilt the scooter slightly towards the car so that the scooter is more in the "draft" of the car. I have found using a bumper carrier to be a very easy and effective way to transport an LX 150.

Great looking scoot. I transport my GTV on a similar rack. I would suggest ditching the rear tie down that's touching the paint and just lash the wheel itself to the rack so it can't bounce off. That eliminates the problem of wearing off the paint.

We have used it a few times for trips and have had no issues. Here are my recommendations:

1) use canyon dancers. we used the cup version. they really keep it tight
2) I used some washcloths to put between the straps and bike to prevent damage to the paint. We found no way to securely tie it down without them touching the paint.
3) it is a 2 person job loading it. no doubt about it.
4) I lean it out because the footboard might hit the upright if you hit a serious bump. better to be safe than sorry.
5) Purchased a lock for the carrier since we had to leave the truck in hotel parking lots.

good point

Just one question...

Why do you carry your Vespa's around on the back of SUV's in America? In England, if we want to move our Vespa elsewhere, we just ride it....!

What's the update on this issue? Did you have a spacer made?
Husband wants to have a plan

I actually made a spacer out of wood and painted it black. It sits behind the front wheel so that it isn't resting on the struts. it was a quick and dirty workaround but if I had my druthers I would have has a piece welded or screwed in to the base (screwed would be better in case we ever up grade to a motorcycle)

Maybe because Texas by it self, is nearly three times bigger than the U.K.

Sometimes it is hard to understand or appreciate the vast
real estate in the USA. Members of my Scooter Riding Club
trailer their scoots 1200 miles (one way). Then they ride
out from one location for day long rides. Example, Minneapolis
Minnesota to Wyoming.

We do it because it saves days getting to the desired riding
area. It is easier to drive straight through in a vehicle to the
desired riding location. Then spend 4-5 days looping out
leisurely on day long rides.

Bob Copeland
Minnesota

What he said. The state of Minnesota for example at 86,943 sqmi is only slightly smaller than the whole island of Britain at 88,745 sqmi. And that's one medium sized state. One state is like traveling from Brighton to up past Inverness.

The sheer size of the US is why there's such a car culture here, and why sometimes we have to transport bikes rather than ride them to our destination.