Modern Vespa

Keeping my eye out for a replacement for the stolen red Gts.

Spotted this and had a chat with them. This was a Category D insurance write off - apparently mainly front leg-shield damage (also replaced glovebox and repaired side panel). A Cat D is the lowest form of damage and usually just down to lazy insurers not wanting to carry out the repairs.

The only catch is that it has no paperwork and just one blue key so the price has to reflect that. I would want to remove the scorpion and put a rack on the back.

Any comments welcome!

Interesting colour too...

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/2006-PIAGGIO-VESPA-GTS-250ie-GREY-/300925408121

It looks nice in the grey, but with no V5 and no brown key, £1600 for a 7 year old cat D bike looks pricey to me. £1300 tops IMO

What do you have to do if it has no V5?

I know he will take about £1500 and perhaps £1400 if pushed, but obviously needs a good inspection first.

http://www.direct.gov.uk/prod_consum_dg/groups/dg_digitalassets/@dg/@en/@motor/documents/digitalasset/dg_067819.pdf

it's more the 'no brown key' that would put me off, and it just seems pricey

All depends if you can get satisfactory answers about the bike's history.

Very nice colour, I like that.

The 'no brown key' wouldn't fuss me too much - get the seller to get the current key cloned so there's a known working spare, and all should be good.

As other's have said, 1,600 sounds a bit much considering age, mileage, and non-original condition. The 250 came with a rear rack - so there's that cost to be factored in as well.

1,400 wouldn't be unfair to either side - but as above, get the seller to ensure there's a spare key.

Price might be a tad high, but you can probably negotiate that down a bit.

But as a graduate of the big gray canoe club, I don't think I could stomach anything painted haze gray.

Thanks all - I think most of us are on the same page here!

One question, I cannot remember what the downside of not having the brown key is if you have spare regular keys. Is it just that the bike cannot be set into "key program" mode so all coding has to be by cloning?

Also, I presume I cannot insure the bike/ride it home without an MOT or V5 so that adds to the cost as likely to need to get it picked up which the seller will need to factor in or sort at his end first.

Charles.

The brown key is only for re-programming the ECU to keys, and provided you always have a spare shouldn't ever be necessary - if the ECU forgets its programming it's likely to be duff anyway - and that's pretty damn unusual.

The seller would be wise to sort out a V5 - then if it's roadworthy you can insure it, book an MOT near home, and ride it home then cancel the MOT if you need to check it further. Not quite in the spirit of the law, but hey...

Hi Charles,

I picked up Bill's pal's Dragon Red 250 (05 with 5000 miles) for 1600. I understood that you were also looking at that one?

It does look lovely in that colour though! £1400 is my bid!

That was a nice bike you got and for the money a great deal (it had a few extras too if I remember rightly). I would have bought it had my insurance co sorted themselves out and had I needed a bike but I am in no rush. I also fancied a change of colour (had a red Vespa for 22 years now) but do not like any of the other standard colours.

Regarding papers - it has both a V5 and a valid MOT so that is a plus

It's an unusual color that you definitely wouldn't see yourself coming and going on. There's a guy on the forum that can make the brown key for you. If it's in good shape and you can negotiate the price, go for it. I'm digging the color

jimh no longer decodes throttle bodies, so no-go. Plus he's away for another four months or so...

Just a spare is fine.

I like the color, codu's on that one.
I would just have the key cloned and wouldn't think about it twice.

For your info, i bought my vintage red 2006 GTS with 7.000 km's on the odo, for EUR 2400,- late last year.
Only option was a windscreen, and it had a few scratches and minor dents.

Nice colour Charles - you can make up the GTS colour rainbow nicely on the next Midlands meet

Given that anything iffy on the rebuild is probably well covered up, I'm not sure how you'd approach a 'good inspection', but if it were me, I'd want an honest, straight up list of what was done to get it back to how it is now (no vague Errs or Umms). Any rebuild pics would give me some reassurance that its not been skimped and that I wouldn't be getting issues later - torsion cracks, filler/paint lift, that kind of thing.

I sold my imperfect 09 GTS 125 less top box etc for a quick-sale £1350, so I think £1400 is about right if all the other signs are OK for you. That had been an undeclared accident repair with new fork etc but cosmetics given just a basic tidy up.

Take a magnet when you go to look at it. That color looks like it's great for covering up body damage and bondo, and repainting a bike with minor road rash damage is a whole lot more expensive than keeping it the original color. Now, if you are trying to conceal a lot of damage... that's another story. Turn the wheel a couple of times and see if the front of the bike rises and falls.

^^^^ Very good advice.