Modern Vespa

I don't think I can caption these... but the quality of parts available for something as common (albeit ancient) as a P-Series Vespa is just awful.

There aren't a ton of salvage parts either, though I'm sure there are tons... Like that guy Fabio in Orange County who seems to have a space full of disassembled bikes.

Is it worth even using repro parts at all? It's difficult to find NOS/Ricambi stuff, but the new parts I've found are making me reconsider the viability of keeping an old Vespa running; incredibly cheap materials, what look like third-generation castings, glaring defects, wide deviation from original materials and production methods. Makes it seem like a restoration is really denigrating the quality of a bike, even if it's cleaned up and new-looking...

Yeah, I've bough two of those headset covers, both from reputable online places (bough one at each place to try my luck the second time), and they were both crappy. Basically they need bondo repair or something, but the contour lines are awful on both. I don't mind paying and little extra for an authentic replacing part, but I can't seem to find where to buy them online. Is there such place?

The quality on some parts has gone down hill over the last 10 years. A lot of Piaggio original stuff has been discontinued. A lot of Piaggio Original stuff has gone down hill as they re-bag poor quality aftermarket parts.

We try to get the best quality parts available, but sometimes they're not available and a crappy part is better than not carrying it all.

That's our stance.

I guess it's amazing that there are still parts available at all for a 34-year-old bike that was outlawed in California in 1981.

Luckily there are enough of them globally to support parts suppliers (mostly in India these days, I'd imagine).

Guessing there aren't many, though... So there's no real need for competition for quality.

I'm really happy Motorsport is still around to find the parts. :)

These people have a nice headset top. They claim everything is OEM quality, or even produced by Piaggio. is that even possible? Might be okay for a part here and there...

http://www.scooter-center.com/explosion/id/Tafel_17_PX200/C_V_VSX1T?p=1050022&match=CAT#prdexpl

I have bought a few P series headsets when I was doing my two.

I had okay luck with Fabio but your taking your chances leaving it up to him. You have to physically go yourself. He's not close to anything.

I would prefer to have trusted eyes look at it before it gets mailed.
You should call places like Scooterwest or even Baritalia and ask them to pick a good one and send it. Heck, that goes for any part.

Doesn't that guy Dean Williams up there have a shop full of stuff?

You can also post a "looking for" ad on scoot.net. Often peeps that look on there have bins of vintage scooter parts they would let go.

Try SFvsr as well. Sometimes he will have a part laying around he will part with at a reasonable price knowing someone will use it to get on the road. Other guy to try is Kyle in TX.

Also worth asking the good folks at Scooter West or San Francisco Scooter Center. Sometimes they have vintage parts sitting around that are not on their website.

I'll gladly tell the quality prior to purchase if you call or email and ask. A lot of our stuff is nice, and some not so much.

P125X and P200E cowls were never reproduced that I am aware of. What you have there is a PX-series original cowl that has been converted for use on a P-series. To the best of my knowledge that's the best reproduction cowl available.

Headset tops are designed to be painted. Most all parts designed to be painted will take some pre-paint work. That's part of the process if you want a nice finished product.

Those bumpers are pretty bad. The original Piaggio ones we used to carry that were really nice have dried up and now we can only find that one you have.

I've had crap luck with repro centerstands. They just seem to suck to high heaven, all of them. The best luck I've had is with the Bajaj re-enforced centerstands for Ps. But the stuff for Rally/Sprint/Super is just garbage using low quality metal and resulting in a centerstand that twists, bends and even snaps after mild use. Some have even been cut and welded with incorrect gaps, resulting in an offset centerstand that hits the kick start lever. Lame.

I do appreciate how you guys are honest about the quality of the parts in your descriptions.

I'll vouch for that. If you call these guys they will spend time listening and will physically check everything they send you while you're on the phone. It actually sounds like they are packing your order while you talk. I have ordered over $300 in parts from them and except one minor hiccup (which they dealt with quickly and to my satisfaction) they have been great. Every item leaves the day I order it. Thanks guys!

Some are great, some are embellished a little. It depends on who wrote the description. I try to stay on the honest side and make corrections when needed.

I've had my fair share of misery with aftermarket parts. I ordered a set (three) of tabbed washers for the fan bolts for my GS from Pascoli. Once I bent the tabs in towards the fan nice and straight, they started to squash, spin and distort. After trying many times to get them on straight, they were on, but very chewed up and ugly looking.
I later found an NOS set of three on Ebay from Denmark. I took the "new" shitty ones off and put in the NOS ones. They installed perfectly without any slippage or distortion. The Pascoli ones are made of softer, inferior metal, while the original ones are made of stronger zinc coated steel.