Modern Vespa

Just a couple of months old and there's a couple of places where it seems to have gone rusty .. basically the bolt in the plastic box on LHS https://www.dropbox.com/s/jn471zabzu8zwng/2013-07-04%2008.17.07.jpg

and the bolts in the bar-ends https://www.dropbox.com/s/w67kizvoosb12kx/2013-07-04%2008.17.26.jpg

... which is a bit poor really. They started rusting in weeks, covered at night and the weather hasn't been that poor, no riding on gritted roads ...[/url]

Ewww...that's awful! It's noticeable

We have two showing the same....and we live in the desert!

A small dab of black modeler's paint will fix that up in a sec.
The sky isn't falling.

True, but my point is that this is happening within a few months of purchase. Pretty cheap to not go for stainless steel screws. Will go and *buy* some paint out of my own pocket to rectify the situation. Would have thought with their experience, Piaggio'd know this would happen.

stainless screws can't be used in all cases. using them in the wrong application can cause problems like gauling.

Interesting.....I purchased my BV last year and I haven't experienced that problem...a bad batch of bolts perhaps ?

Also you don't live in an area that everything rusts like GB. Thats why they have MOT inspections on their vehicles.

Well ...that's true but after the month of June where we had 10" of rainfall I am starting to wonder

you don't have the heavy salt air they get though.

If there rusting that fast,put anasieze on threads!

More likely just a bad coating....the bolts are fine.

Agree with OAD...SS isnt for every application and then we'd piss and moan about the add'l passed along costs.

Touch them up, and move on with your riding....

Thanks for the heads up. Here in FL where we have salty sea air everything rusts. I have some black rustoleum paint and I think I'll dab a little on to those bolts you pictures.

30 machines later I've had just about every make of bike out there.... they all rot!

When I was last bike shopping I looked at the current BMWs and was actually shocked at how far they've come down in quality.... I'd rather buy a Honda, the quality is as good and the price isn't so stupid.

Mind you my last Bimmer was a '62...

Anyway, they all rot, did I say that, give your fasteners a spritz of oil or WD40 once in a while and keep an eye on things. Diligence is your only defence....

that and buying tons of stainless machine screws.

Vespas are at least as good as anything out there, never doubt it.

Two months is shit though. Two months is when I post my pics. I expect a summer of gleam. I will paint it up, but if I was asked to touch up the best car in its class I'd be a little bit peeved. *


*The BV350 *is* the best in it's class, yes, agreed?!

Best solution I have found so far:

Remove the bolt/screw. Using a brass brush in a dremel tool or similar, remove all traces of rust. Use a rust converter on the exposed head. The colour is a very dark brown/black and it should not rust again.

Cheers,

Chris

The BV350 is a compelling value with a very ,very good track record. I've had zero trouble with 2 of them we own, something I cannot say about the last 2 modern Vespas Ive purchased.

Dont judge the vehicle (or let it diminish your ownership experience) by surface rust on 3 non structural fasteners. None of them are perfect, just like Fritz said.

Just had a look at mine - no rusty bolts anywhere . I bought my Beverly 18 months ago. It is kept in a garage but I have used it all year round in some quite sh***y weather. I guess/hope that you were unlucky enough to have a poor batch of bolts.

I live in in Malvern, near Worcester so imagine the climate's not that different from London (I grew up in London in the 40s and 50s and remember why the city was called "The Big Smoke" - I think it's a lot different now)

Sorry that your early experience of the BV350 has been tarnished somewhat - it really is a great bike.

John W.

Even replacing with stainless is no cure. StainLESS not stainNONE.

Looked underneath my wife's bv350 with 2000 miles on it and it was covered in rust. Wound up having to remove both footwells, scrap,rust convert,and paint just about half of the foodrest structure on both sides. There was rust under the paint. Every weld looked like crap and was rusting.I took mine apart that has 5000 miles on it and discovered the same problem to a lesser extent. I love the bikes but WHAT THE HELL? They painted directly over rusted metal.No primer just paint and not much of that. This fall I will take both bikes apart and post pictures of Piaggios sorry workmanship. Like I said, I love the bike, Just don't look under the body panels. You won't like what you see.