Modern Vespa

Thanks!

Going to either CNP in Long Beach, or Orange Crush (?) in Costa Mesa in May. Are you in So. Cal Vader?

yeah, I'll probably do CNP this year.. I did Orange Crush last year.. both good events w/ plenty of good people.. it's too bad they're the same days.. and yes I'm in LA west side. Hopefully I'll see you on a ride..

Yes, that would be great!

Voodoo, yes, I am going to run the stripes on the panels and front fender, I just wanted to get everything mechanical sorted out first. I hooked up the line from the oil tank, dumped a quart in and let it fill the line before hooking it up. Small air bubble is there, but it is not moving while the engine is running. Maybe I have to prime the pump in a different way perhaps? Minor annoyance, but has to be done along with the timing, carb set up, etc... And the beat goes on.

It's crazy scooter blow over weather here in Sydney today. Wet, windy and wild. No riding for me today. Warhorse tell me you got the bus.

Stay safe and dry Bobo.. I absolutely hate riding in strong wind.. it's just the worst feeling.. I was on a group ride once and I swear the wind was pushing my back tire sideways across the road.. 'twas horrible.. and then there was the sand.. we were on PCH and the wind was blowing the sand so hard it was sand blasting my face shield.. and there were people in front of me and behind me w/ open face helmets.. they were getting abrasive facials.. shredded... AND strong winds have blown my bike over twice..

Did I mention I don't like it windy?

Enrolled in the MSF Basic Rider course so I can get my motorcycle endorsement. Luckily I found an open class nearby four weeks from now, my permit expires 5/21 (or 27, it's a little hard to read now). I should have registered earlier so I could get into a class at the local college, all their classes filled up quick, plus they no longer offer classes at another nearby college.

showed up at a job expecting to do 10 hours of landscape maintenence and ended up doing 12.75 hours of landscape construction. spent whole day vomiting, almost had heat stroke, could barely control my scooter home.

work is the drink of the cursing class. or something.

Yeah, I got the bus today and will probably again tomorrow. Too wild for me. The bus was being blown around quite severely as we passed long reef. Being on a scooter would have been crazy. I spent the entire day at work dealing with reports of fallen trees.

Good to hear mate. I was up all night cutting up fallen trees. Who do you work for?

City of Sydney council. Tree officer. Are you a firey?

Yeah firey. Used to be a tree surgeon.

Ha. We should catchup sometime and talk trees. (and scooters)

If your not working Saturday 2 May theres a group ride on up to Galston gorge.

Lovely calm autumn day for a bit of gardening

Sounds good. Don't think I'm working. I'll have to check with my secretary (the missus) to see if she has anything organised for me.

Well today I finally got the 79 P200 that I stole running. finished wiring in the SIP speedo. I had a bad connection on the tach to light wire. I had to pull the tank anyway because fuel flow was not good.

I had installed a fast flow tap but it was very stiff. Well..stiff enough that I broke the US plastic tap lever. When I checked the tap I found that the pin holding the tap rod was too long and getting hung up on the oil tank. I used the conversion plate and set it up with a standard tap rod.

I rebuilt the 30mm PHBH side draft. first time doing one and it wasn't bad.

Fired up on second kick! Lots of smoke, idle is low, but the gas is old but hey...I love it when a dead one comes back to life!

Hope to get it on the road tomorrow!

Just ordered SIP tubeless rims and a set of Heidenau tires from Mark at Scooter-Speed.com. He's a great guy and highly recommend his shop for us US West Coasters. I still haven't figured out why my bike died; has spark, gets fuel, guessing it has probs with compression. Will be pulling the jug again this weekend... it was 418 degress F at the time it died But it didn't lock up.

Just got all my bits to get the scooter back on the road. I bought one of those SIP Sportlever adjustable dogleg levers, but it looks like the pivot hole in the lever doesn't match up with the pivot hole in the new gear tube. Maybe a few passes with a file on the shoulder of the lever will fix it. Also got a jacket yesterday, the Speed and Strength Dogs of War, would have preferred it in olive drab but medium only comes in black.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IJSZK9G/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Nice foundation for a sh*t load of scoot patches

Today I fixed a bodge... & smiled about it!
It was an early DanMotors Bodge, the body is 'marginal' but motor was a dream, complete with mysterious carb & unlabelled jets.... But when it came time to start it fired first kick, & ran on 2nd kick! & everything worked (even though the wiring is in the wrong holes), & was rideable... So happy to see it 1 night & ride it away (& give back to owner) the next

.. got the valve for my Fournales from France.. they were nice enough to send two..

They have a little "ceramic for lack of a better term" filter in the end..

I fit the shock and man, what a dream.. I love these shocks.. it's the best riding scooter I've ever ridden.. maybe I'm biased, but my Super is super nice to ride..

The shock does bottom out though. It's no doubt because I lost some of the hydraulic oil when it blew out.. and I could't get an answer from Fournales as to what type and how much oil to fill it with.. but it only bottoms out (not really a total bottom out, more of a it gets much stiffer than my other one) on super big bumps or holes..

Otherwise it's amazing. I'm very happy about that.

... and I got a nice little shallow BGM filter for the small frame.. I was using pantyhose up until now but this should work nicely... and it's not going to be a fitment issue.

I did look at the SIP shock I took off the Super for the manufacture number to see if I fall into the recall group and I can't find any numbers anywhere.. not on the shock body (inside the spring) like I thought they said.. ? I can't find anything. Hmmm head scratcher.

Stripes on panels, panels on scoot. It's coming together.

That's looking Great T! Exciting times ahead of you! I'm really happy for you.

Thanks for the support. I'll be riding soon.

Now it's a Rally 200, gotta have those stripes.

YessireeBob! That there is a handsome Rally you'll soon be riding

Damn that looks good.

What do you mean by acetoned the nuts and washers?

I'd like to do the same to my tires as well, once the weather gets warmer and the paint can cure properly.

...that means July (in NY...WTF spring!!?!?)

spent a hour lightening me flywheel before fitting it

Took the newly completed SS for a spin to get it dialed in. There's a couple of things I want to re-do, like the glove box rubber and replace the black rear brake switch with the proper grey one. But I do like the piston ported motor, need to remember to take it easy for the first couple of tanks.

Seriously! My fingers feel like they've got frostbite right now.

You need to move south, brothers. In the 70's here. I love the Spring as much as I hate Winter.

What newly completed SS?

Something about the piston ported 160 and 180 is just soooooo right!

Installed the new shift tube and clutch lever yesterday, and rode the scooter to school today. She's running well. The install took about three times as long as it should. First, like I noticed before, the lever's pivot hole and the lever perch's pivot hole didn't line up. A few passes with a file fixed that. Then the gear tube isn't long enough to fit a wave washer between the pulley and headset journal, wasted time trying to get the pin holes to line up before I ditched the washer. Now that the holes line up, the holes in the tube are too small for the pin, so I had to carefully drill them out just enough to fit the pin but not big enough to cause slop. Now that's done, getting the pin in is a bitch, even without the washer, the tube is so short the pin barely fits through the pulley and tube. So now that is all done, I go to install the original clutch cable, get it all in and it's too short with the new lever. Go to pull it out, and it starts to unravel as I'm pulling it out, got it out of the outer but I can't get the last half that's unraveled through the lever, so I have to get out the Dremel and cut it with a cut off disc. So I get out a new cable, and it's too thick to fit through the adjusting screw in the lever, so I now have to drill that out. After all that, adjusting the clutch cable felt like a Sunday walk. Then drain the oil so I can remove the damaged oil strainer cap and replace it. Last is replacing the damaged crankcase bolt. Fill it back up with oil, and now to get it off the trailer so I can ride it. I jerry rigged up a ramp with a hinge and a 2x10, worked damn well.

Oh, and Mercato sent me chrome mirror brackets instead of black, and the replacement oil strainer cap I got from AF1 has damaged threads but it still works, for now, who knows how long the threads will last. So I contacted them so I can get a new one.

feckin bulls playing silly buggers now so its split time ..... suppose i can swap the chipped gear while im in there ...... why the fuck do i bother with the cunting things

all i wanna do is finish the bastard before fuckin with the bull

This one right here.

Thanks for the pics. I think. Now I'm getting the urge to paint a scooter

Kidding aside, that SS is simply beautiful. I wish you many happy miles & years of riding it now, dues PAID in full.

Damn.^^^^ This has to be one of the cleanest scoots that I have ever seen. You should be proud

Very nice indeed Marubadu.

Tierney, mighty fine work on your Rally! Marubadu, the SS is so so sweet!

I went straight into the garage after work and repacked my silencer can for the first time after 125 hrs on the motor. The packing was oil saturated and rock hard around the core, kinda guess that since the tone of the scoot has gradually became a bit more noticeable

Haven't had a chance to start the scoot to compare the exhaust note since I'll be back at it tomorrow to replace a leaky clutch arm o-ring and inspect the reed petals.