Modern Vespa

Thought I needed to keep my thread updated. I ended up taking the scooter to Blue Star Motorcycles here in town to get the wiring problems sorted out. They are an old school motorcycle shop in the inner city that works on old bikes.

http://www.bluestarmotorcycles.com

I have to say they did a great job. Found and fixed a couple of dodgy wires, put on the new headlight switch that I had purchased previously, replaced the bulb and checked the whole thing over for $100. I was glad to pay it. Now I don't have to worry about getting caught out after dark without a headlight.

I installed a Stadium mirror so that it would pass state inspection. I had been searching for an old one but ended up buying new. I like the look but it's pretty useless.



The 54 year old seat was killing my 54 year old arse after any amount of serious riding, so I took it off and took it to a local guy who builds custom seats for Harleys. For $100 he tore it apart and completely rebuilt it. He painted the metal frame and springs, put a piece of plastic over the springs, added modern "memory foam" padding and then used the old cover to make a pattern for the new one. It turned out awesome, but I lost the coolness of the old cover. I had asked him to just stitch up the rip in the old seat and put some new foam under the cover. I guess he didn't hear that? Oh well.



I stuck an Italia flag where the paint had come off because of fuel spillage. I know the sticker won't stay unless I figure out why the damned cap is leaking. It looks like it's been replaced, it's plastic. I figured the original cap was metal?



I put my vintage Knights of Columbus badge on the front. I picked it up several years ago at a swap meet and didn't know what I was going to do with it. It looks right at home here.



And last but not least, I am buying this engine from Mike in St. Louis for $100. It's a VBB engine that he picked up when a dealer went out of business. He can't tell me much about it except that it turns over. I plan to rebuild it with a few hot rod goodies and then swap it out for my tired engine. I can hit 45 mph which is fast enough, but it takes too long to get there, and won't maintain that speed on any decent grade. Mike also has a brand new SIP road pipe that he is going to sell me for what he paid for it. That saves me shipping costs from Germany and should work well with whatever kit I decide to put in this engine.





That's about all for now. The weather is perfect so I'm gonna drag it out today and see if anyone wants to ride?

Love the scoot... Seat looks great, probably super comfy too. You are right, the original gas cap was metal and had a gasket to keep fuel from sloshing out. They're easy to find. Enjoy your ride!

Some where along the line, someone replaced the tank with a PX one (you can see the divots in the edge for the PX's cowl latch levers), hence the plastic twist cap. The correct one should have a hinged metal cap that latches down.

Thanks! The scooter is a mish mash of assorted parts so that doesn't really surprise me. I understand the purpose of a vented cap, but it shouldn't leak gas when the tank is full??

There's not much been going on but I want to keep the thread alive. I trailered the scoot back to St. Louis in September for a rally hosted by Myke and the 30 Days Scooter Gang. We had a blast. They did a meet and greet Friday night with a short city ride to a cool watering hole, and then Saturday they hosted several events and another city ride. Other than a fouled spark plug, which I replaced on the side of the road, the Vespa performed admirably. Here's a shot of me and my buddy Jon at one of the stops, St. Louis' City Museum.



Later that night, we all went to a Jamaican restaurant for dinner, a raffle and awards ceremony. I won a nice AlpineStar jacket, which I really needed.



Other than air the tires up, add gas and the a fore mentioned spark plug, I haven't really had to do much to the scooter all summer. I really need to get to working on some of the small problems that have irritated me though. The front fork clunks loudly over small pot holes and the front brakes make the bike shake under hard braking. And of course, the tires that I've been riding on all summer are still weather cracked badly and need replacing. The temps have finally dipped into the 30's and winter is right around the corner. Plenty of time to work on the scooter while we wait for spring.

I was reading through your posts and you made the comment of being limited to 45 (and a long time to get there). That's pretty much what a stock VBB will do for you. However, if you want a little more pop, you may want to upgrade to a 20/20 carb with the right jets and that SIP road exhaust. Not a great upgrade, but noticeable. Nice looking scoot, enjoy.

I realize that I'm limited by the gearing and small wheels, but there's no reason why I can't get to 45 mph more quickly. Read back a few more posts and you'll see I've already got another engine to build along with a SIP Road Two pipe. I'd like to buy a big bore kit for that engine and save my original engine in case I some day want to put it back stock (doubtful, but you never know). When I build that engine, I'm sure it will snow ball like every other project I've ever taken on.

Brian, I had a Super 150 awhile back and the upgrades I suggested were the ones I followed as they were easily reversed if necessary. An easy, safe upgrade so to speak. It's good you picked up that second engine and for a nice price to boot! So, more of my safe, useless advice (I'm hardly an expert). Pinasco makes a 177 top end kit for the two port engine. not a huge upgrade, you could definitely go wilder. Oopsclunkthud has built some very impressive two port engines as has others on here. I guess It depends how far you want to go, but my last piece of advice: Don't build a 15 hp engine when all you have is 5 hp brakes. I'll leave you alone now.

You're not bothering me, any and all advice is appreciated. I've seen the Pinasco kit and was interested in it, but I've got a friend who builds two stroke racing engines and he has no problem converting the cases to 3 port so we'll just have to see which direction I go.

I know what you mean about the brakes. I bought another more modern scooter this summer for just that reason. People are constantly changing lanes and/or slamming on their brakes in front of me. It takes a lot of concentration to ride a vintage bike among modern cars. Fortunately, I've been riding vintage bikes and driving old cars for many years now and realize that you have to compensate for the lack of decent braking. I think the next project will be to check/replace the brakes and tires and find out what that clunking noise is in the front fork.

I use legshield mirrors, I actually quite like them.

Here is a bit on modifying a 2-port VBC motor.
modify VBC1. 2-port - Fuel... Gimme (a bit) LESS FUEL !