Modern Vespa

Ok, I've just spent the last two days walking around Rome, and I've paid close attention to scooters... Or at least much closer attention than on my last visit. Conclusions: Vespas are almost as rare here as in the US. There are scooters literally everywhere, but not that many Vespas. If it is a Piaggio product, then the most popular seems to be a People 125. There are a LOT of Hondas, quite a few Kymcos, a decent number of older Yamahas, but not that many Vespas. And although there are scooters parked everywhere you care to glance, many are secured with very serious anti-theft devices, so apparently theft is a problem. I did note that the scooter rental places had Vespas, probably because that's what tourists expect if they are going to rent a scooter in Rome. You know, Roman Holiday and all that.

I noticed the same thing. I saw more vintage vespas than moderns but many more other makes than either. I also thought it strange. There were though lots of Apes around.

My experience too. Strangely I saw a much higher number of Vespas in both Paris and London recently.

I also just returned home from Rome..
Me and the misses spend the last 4 days there and we loved it very much.
It's very overwhelming, the noise, the traffic, the people so we spend the last day in the park behind the Spanish stairs.

Although they where vastly outnumbered there where still Vespa's all over if you looked close enough.

Most of them dented and scratched all over, if I was a Roman I would not buy a Vespa, think a plastic fantastic Kymco will do just as fine..

Which honda was the most popular? When i was there the Honda 300 and 150sh were the bomb. Any change?

They all looked much the same - plastic and scratched.

I was last in Rome about four years ago. I report the same - tons of Japanese models. It simply has to be pricing and the reliability of these foreign imports. Another impression - the scoots were well worn and dirty. This speaks to their utility of use every day. Also, Southern Italy literally has mud rain caused by North African sand storms that carry sand in the atmosphere that falls with rain. Many of the scooters are covered with this filth.

I recently saw more Vespas in Athens than I saw in Rome. I think Italy has lots of options.

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The most popular scooters in Italy, Honda's SH line, are made in Atessa, Italy. So is the PCX for the European market.

I think you may already know this, but just to be clear I brought this up. An "import" usually comes from overseas.

The last time cyberscooters.it published figures (2012) Piaggio held 27.7% of the Italian market, leading #2, Honda by a small margin. That does not include the 15,600 Liberty 125's sold to the Italian Postal Service.



About 23% of Piaggio's 2012 unit sales were Vespas, making Vespa about 6.5% of the scooters sold in Italy that year. Thus, non-Vespas country wide would outnumber Vespas by about 15 to 1.

Similarly, Piaggio products and Hondas would be on the road almost equal numbers.

Putting together bits and pieces from other sources, it would appear that 2013 was similar, except the market, due to economic woes, was down another 30% or so in Italy.

Agree wholeheartedly that the general appearance was not a pampered one: Most scoots looked like black plastic that was dirty and scratched. The impression was that 99 of a hundred had been ridden hard and put away wet, on a continual basis. I'd like to correct my original post, of course I meant Liberty 125 as the most popular Piaggio model. The People is of course Kymco and there are lots of those.
I have some sympathy though. It's not like they have a garage or even a driveway to clean these scoots up. That's their transportation and that's their parking spot... Out there on the street jammed between a hundred others.

You don't have to go to the south of Italy for that sahara sand, over here everything was covered in it as well. Here is the Netherlands. 8)
Both my cars were yellow..

We had it in the UK last week as well.

Sure it was sand? Mine is covered in pollen.

This is the first time I've ever heard of 'putting a bike away wet', where I come from that's just normal, its quite often wet. We take the opinion that your bike/car/other should be capable of dealing with the weather... In fact, putting your bike away...? We generally don't have garages, so your bike sits out on the street waiting for you to use it.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-highlands-islands-26856635

It is an saying that originally comes from horses. When a horse is ridden hard it works up a sweat. When you get back to the barn you need to walk it a little so it can cool down before you put it in the barn. If you put the horse away before it cools down you are mistreating it. Therefore "rode hard and put it away wet" is an idiom for the mistreatment of something.

Ah, that's a nice expression when you don't take it literally... Thanks for clarifying

That's a new expression to me, too. Thanks for the explanation. "Put it away wet".

All right, update from Firenze: The Vespa ratio seems to be a little higher here than in Rome. However, scooters don't rule the landscape here like they did in Rome. Sure, there are lots. But not like Rome. Anyway, same mix of many different manufacturers but a few more Vespas in the mix. I must also say that they didn't look quite so beat up here. I agree with Stickyfrog that the moderns seem to be fewer in number than the vintage models. I also noted a number of shiftys used as decoration in various shops.

Go to Naples and Sorrento and you will see lots of shifty Vespas.

I remember seeing a lot of Vespas in Genoa, Milan and Santa Margharita too. They didn't necessarily outnumber the other scoots, but there were plenty there. And most were older, but still a ton of Vespas.

Also remember seeing a lot of BMW's with those funky roofs. Have fun and eat well bobtuba.