Modern Vespa

Hi all, my names pete,,long time motorcyclist,,big stuff mostly,,i decided to go smaller displacement ,,ordered an ssr 150 sonic and silver,.,,3 weeks ago , they called me thursday of last week saying we don't have it and will take over a month to get more ,, maybe longer,,so i cancelled it,,,really wanted a vespa but sticker shock scared me away,,,so i was cruising CL and BAM!!!! i run into a 2002 et4 with 88 miles on it so i grabbed it for $1600,,i'm very happy the ssr fell thru,,,,very happy to finally get a vespa and also very happy to have found this fine forum,,,,cyborg 8)

Welcome to the forum.

thank you,,,happy to be here

et4's are fun! Do everything you can to never have to reset the kickstart return lever spring. It is not fun. Welcome to the forum!
8) 8)

You may not know it, but you dodged a bullet. Congratulations on a great deal on the Vespa. Did you get the red and blue keys?"

No only one key I'll get the others

I was just reading another thread on keys for the et4,, it is the brown one that came with the bike

Welcome to MV.

Welcome to the forum cyborg!

Welcome to MV...

Welcome!!

the brown key is the most important, you should get a programable key & program it & save brown key where you know where it is, very easy to program i'm sure you can find instructions on wiki on modern vespa site. good luck with your scoot where did you find it with so low mileage?

Shalom and welcome from Israel.

to MV from the Sunny Aegean!

Welcome! ET-4's are great scooters. The Modern Vespa forum can provide you with a wealth of information, you've landed at the right spot.

We started in 2009 obtaining our ET-4 with 396 miles on it. From experience I suggest you take some time to look over the rubber parts for any dry rot, especially tires and fuel lines. I just replaced the the drive belt at 6000 miles based on age only (even though it still looked good).

thanks again for all the welcomes!!!Glad to be here,,you have no idea how happy i am to have the chinese ssr deal fall through,,i always wanted a vespa but the costs always pushed me away,,,Oh thanks for the tip on the key situation,,,i'll get spares asap,,,borg

Aloha and welcome to the forum from Hawaii. The scooter Gods were looking after you when the Chinese bike fell through. ET'S are awesome. If you can go without a key for a week (you need to get a copy of the brown key anyway) PM JimH on this forum and he will do a couple of copies for you. Then keep the brown one in a safe place. Have fun with your new scooter and pics please.

You do want to get the Blue Key right away. There are a number of places you can order it, and make sure you get the one that says Vespa, and not a Piaggio key, because sometimes the Piaggio keys don't program. Get at least one, and either look on this site or google the technical bulletin for the ET2/ET4 that tells you how to program the keys. It's very easy. You then want to put the red/brown key where you will never lose it, because if you do, you need keys, tumblers and a CDI before your bike will run, or you need to send the CDI out to be reflashed, and then reprogram it or send it to Jim to have keys made. Save yourself the grief, and get the blue key ASAP. Other than that, enjoy it, change out the fuel and vacuum lines if they are original, and ride it. They are great bikes.

Thanks all, yes I will get the spare keys first thing I do,,, used to ride ducati's,,, I know all about the disabler,,, it's a royal drag if you don't have the master so that's número UNO on the list,,, that's the only thing that's a bummer ( not so much really)About buying used but for the price I can Do a few things that a new new one won't need,,borg

well i finally had a few moments to go thru the scoot,,,it has the round bag in heavy leather made by piaggio and i went thru it,,,found the owners manual the code card AND the blue key,,,,YAY!!! but it's head is broken off,,,,,BUMMER!!!!!

Welcome to MV from the Great White North (Midwest Edition).

Hope you get your key issues sorted....not uncommon, just a pain.

here's the new/old et4

one more time

and it's not working,,,lol,,,i'm such a putz,,,i'll work on it

Welcome to MV....have fun with your et4

Glad you found the key. BTW that brown bag on the back is a collectors item. They stopped making them in '01. The black one is being made again but not the brown(that i know of). a guy makes copies of them and for a while put the P logo on them. If you have a pic i can tell if it's the real deal. Got one myself (real one).

Welcome to MV. Glad you joined us. Looking forward to pictures of your scooter.

heres one more try on the pic

Welcome aboard... Enjoy your "new" ride...

well that one worked!!!! so you all can see my new baby,,,,and the bag is black not brown,,,,,,i can't even express how pleased i am with the bike the quality,,nice paint,,,soooo happy the chinese scooter deal fell through,,,blasted it around for a few moments yesterday and today,,,such nice weather,,,no registration yet,,,or insurance,,,so a couple laps around my shop parking lot is all i can do for now,,,

well i ordered a couple of vespa keys and a service manual,,,so i can get started on gettin this thing roadworthy

Welcome to the Forum. If you're about to start working on the ET, you're certainly in the right place!

Ride safe!

thank you tea pot,,,don't know if you read the story but the et4 has no miles so it shouldn't need a whole bunch of work,,,we'll see once i get into it