Modern Vespa

You don't know what he can do sitting by the side of the road

u guys make me blush, hows ur doing Brother Mike? and great boat Brother Chand

today i, put the new tyre from Brother Pheas, the different between worn tyre and new tyre is huge, i have to add 2 washer for the tyre to move freely and in result the tyre move to the left, now i know for sure i am gonna cut the engine mounting when i split the engine soon or later. but for sure the tyre is lower then my old tyre and i like it cause i dont have to use high heel as folk here often suggest

It looks like I wasn't the only one doing some cool stuff of late.

Rowdy, I love that sidecar. Much slicker looking than the standard California Sidecar we see so much of, I feel like. All you need are some Devo jump suits and you're ready to roll!

I saw some of the commentary above about the possible weight issues. I don't know how much lighter a scooter sidecar typically is than a motorcycle sidecar, but do you expect to have any such issues?

What motor do you have driving it?

My wife and daughter have pushed me to do a sidecar project, but I've always held off for no particular reason than that they don't really pair well with my usual project goals, which are both absurd power AND absurd speed.

Maybe as I branch into body work, that will change, though.

I hadn't run into Restolad yet, but just watched a few of his youtube videos and really like them. Short and to the point on specific tasks. The fact that he has a couple specific to working on Vespa's makes him even better in my book.

Thanks for the pointer, Ginch!

Yeah, love what he does with that slap thing.

I have a co-worker whose dad was a career bodywork guy. It's definitely as much an art as a science, and a whole new realm for me.

On the bright side, she still has a bunch of his tools in her garage and offered them to me, so other than going to pick them up, I may have a ton (perhaps literally) of serious pro-grade bodywork tools coming my way soon.

Looking awesome. So jacked up! Have you ridden it yet?

Ginch and I beside the track at Mt Panorama, Bathurst.

I suspect Ginch looks happy not because of the awesome road, but because it was his first opportunity to take his helmet off after the first couple of hours of testing our intercoms. He had no idea I knew that many bad Dad jokes, and poor poetry.

Hit the magic number

Must be strong off shore breeze in San Diego

Not today, but won't lie, some gravity involved

Holy Crap!, Congrats on the lottery winnings!

On the way to the train this morning, the white wire from the stator to the CDI snapped in two on the Stella.

Fortunately, I was only a couple blocks away, so I gimp-pushed it home, went to crimp in a butt connector, at which point the red wire also snapped, along with the white wire snapping off right where it exits the epoxy in the CDI.

Looking at the wires, the copper in both of them was pretty much rotten. This is on a CDI that's only 14 months old, so I'm pretty underwhelmed right about now.

I'll update once I get a chance to Dremel in and see what's going on, but I'm still pretty irritated bout the whole thing.

On the plus side, my hammer and dolly arrived, so I'll start fixing my various bodywork issues once all my various electrical issues are sorted out.

I ordered the parts to swap the Stella motor into the Sprint frame today.

I had told myself that I wasn't going to do it, but I need to pull both motors for different reasons, so I figured...why not combine the fastest motor with the coolest scooter?

Also, on the way to work this morning, I seem to have hit a pidgin spike or caltrop or something that took out my rear tire. Swapped for another one, but I'm still pissed. And my gimpy leg is hurting like hell today, so that bit of work was really not necessary.

Anyone know if it's possible/a good idea to plug a tubeless scooter tire?

I thought that was one of the plus points of tubeless?

Was the CDI that broke a Vape? Wait - there was poetry?

This is why I hate pictures of myself! I'm counting down the timer...

Yes, Ginch, it's a Vape ignition. I'll be doing surgery this weekend.

I've also ordered a tire plug kit, so I'll have a go at that this weekend, too.

Hello Mate. did I see right? it's the CDI on a sip vape ignition? I fitted one on mine the weekend and I thought the connectors were really made for wires inside a telly. I modified the original bracket so the CDI is under the level of the bodywork where rain and crap can spray all over it. Guess I'll be embalming it in mastic tomorrow.

You read that correctly. It's the SIP/Vape ignition. Tiny little 22AWG wires, too.

I'll be re-wiring with Marine-grade (tinned copper) 14AWG when I sort it out over the weekend.

It's a shame about the wiring, too, because in general, I've been extremely pleased with it and am running that same ignition on my Sprint, where I'm now needing to deal with a clutch replacement because it's producing enough power to spread the basket of the six-spring clutch. /

Would it be worth adding extra length, then making a loop that is hot-glued to the CDI? At least then it can't flex next to the CDI itself.

My current plan is to try to embed a set of male plugs like a Ducati CDI. we'll see if that plan survives the first whine of Dremel.

I'll be watching with interest!

x2!

I just finished repairing a Ducati CDI as a spare for a friend's PK. The first time I tried this the grounding wire had broken in the usual place and it broke again soon after because I didn't anchor it to the CDI. Lesson learned, now I Shoe Goo it around the terminal tower. I think it would work well here too embedding terminals, you can shape and move it as needed before it sets. I have no Dremel but you can do this simple repair w/ a small file & sharp knife if necessary.

Nice one, V oodoo!

I had a little tougher challenge, because on the Vape, the kill & ignition wires come out as a bundle and the red wire had broken off below the level of the epoxy.

So I veeerrrryyyy carefully dremel'ed it down about half an inch or so, then was able to replace the broken red wire and also put heat shrink around the base of the other two wires, since both the white and blue wires were also getting close to breaking.

After that, it was mostly layers of heat shrink, followed by liquid electrical tape, then more heat shrink and finally a cable hanger that stabilized the bundle to the plug wire base.

Very similar result, just less clean looking and more work. Put it back in the bike and it fired right up .

Great fix. I need to do the same for a spare. AND, good idea securing the new ground too.

Not sure you'll win the Concours D'Elegance with that, but I somehow doubt that was your aim!
I guess you could always pour resin back around the join?

I thought about that. It's not like I don't have epoxy by the quart around here right now. If I go that route, I would build up some more liquid electrical tape around it so that next time it happens, I'll have more buffer when I have to dremel it off.

Want

I put myself in serious pain with all the up & down of un-doing the winter's salt on the Stella's rear brake this weekend.

This may finally be enough to make me invest in a motorcycle lift.

Really like the small footprint of this one. Have no idea where it's made though.

I believe it's an original Vespa shop lift. They're made of pure unobtanium.

SIP Have something similar, but it doesn't flip like that from what I can tell.

That thing is fantastic!!! How good would that be... heaven! Here's some pics I've collected. The one with the kid is pretty compact.

How about this? Effing nuts!!

https://scooterlab.uk/70bhp-smallframes-egig-taking-vespa-tuning-to-the-limit-feature/?fbclid=IwAR2UOKiFrCn_1_BV5_60m_4ivcWCxNILlxoXi6whHydoPhm4T4xWXJFc3yM

Where do the studs go?

It talks about that in the link...the studs screw into the cylinder, and then slide into the case. So pretty much the exact opposite of how they would normally be.

I read that article earlier today. It's absolutely mind blowing. Did you read about how at the racetrack, one of the guys wheelied and looped out the scooter while going 93mph?

Ginch, love your comment on ScooterLab:

"not sure where you go next after "unrideable"? Even more unrideable?"

Ginch Do you think Egig read our thread from last year?
Cylinder Stud Patterns

Ha ha! Not when he's getting direct advice from the DEA guy!

In fact he doesn't seem interested in largeframes at all... it's a shame because they ought to be able to handle more power than a smallie (I would have thought) simply because of the longer wheelbase.
Although the transfers certainly are it seems, more of a limiting factor on the L/F cases when you are talking about large capacities. I guess the T5 gets away with it due to a narrower bore?