Modern Vespa

Today i was drinking on my porch lamenting my scooterless status... Walked inside to put the music station on the telly... Of course it was The Who's My Generation... FML...

You scoot-less Mac?? Been there done that. No fun. What happened?

havin no scoots bad enough but then catchin a bit of the who ...... sorry to hear that

Today i finish weld and put everything on the bike that i build out of scraps parts that i can find since the price for a vespa in my place is getting ridicilous high with a bad quality of rebuild althought folks in my place will laught at the bike but this bike will be my next not so normal bike and its gonna be one of my bulletproof bike with a cheapo performance, and since i needed to finished it fast this time i gain some help from a ol friends as a gift

Tommorow i will paint the bike so wish me luck, have a nice weekend to you all and cheer

Day got bad and weird in the middle but turned out to be a great day in the end.

And I came home with:

Oops those are tubeless?

Cleaning up on some unfinished P200 projects the last few days. Weighed my non-lightened flywheel to see why the lightened one didn't feel much lighter. 6.75 lbs vs the lightened 5.9 lbs. Looking at the design, you can see why Al couldn't cut off much. In the end, I would have been much smarter to buy the 1850g SIP flywheel. It would have cost less and done better. I simply didn't do the research on this one. It's better, but not by much. (Having to pay to remagnetize it didn't help the situation either ).

Installed a head that Al did for me with o-ring groove. It's good I went ahead with this, as my head was leaking when I took it off. I asked him to do his best to get the squish near 1.5mm. Granted, these things are hit and miss without the engine. I ended up at the same squish as I had, slightly over 2mm. I'm sure he'd shave it some more for me if I asked, but I don't feel like putting 2x shipping into the mix to get it closer.

Installed the DRT version of the 24.24 carb, along with my carb box with proper opening size for it. The genuine Dellorto 20.20 has been treating me well but I wanted to get the bigger carb back on. My old 24.24 got warped, even though I used a torque wrench every time. I think the attachment hardware was worn out when I tried to run that thing in the past, as the collar nuts would always come loose on their own, even with loctite! I've replaced them since. The DRT version of the carb has bigger float needle diameter and fuel supply passages drilled out for better high RPM fuel flow. I figured I'd protect for kitting the engine.

So I've come to the end of my "stock plus" tuning experiment, to decide if I can have this thing happy enough on hills around here to avoid tuning it. Stuff done was: (1) 90/90 tires for increased RPM (2) get rid of 4mm squish and low compression by fixing the cylinder head situation (3) lightened (somewhat) flywheel (4) 24.24 carb. I still need a long ride on the new carb, but overall the bike is way ahead of where it sat when I started. Funny how just getting small details right can make or break the experience.

Yup, looking forward to doing some weight comparisons.

Somebody did do that a while ago, here it is - Pinasco Tubeless Split Rim Install

But be careful... you will be the subject of much ridicule if you admit to weighing your wheels!

I haven't weighed them but I ran the F.A Italia version on CBR 2016. They are 1 pound lighter than the Pinasco.

The best part was changing the rear tire. It was probably 10 mins max start to end. Tubeless change without spoons, bead breaker etc. That includes the time chatting with the audience and having fun!

I'm interested in the FA's. How have you found them ScooterRaton? In that other thread Willie B said they mark easily which I'm not so worried about. Can you tell me why it was easier to change your tyre?

No one will ridicule me, I'm a scientist and measure mass in grams, not pounds.

Got the CNC programed to do the combustion chamber.

Today I saw Bobo's scooter for sale on gumtree. Does that mean you've joined a Ducati forum Bobo?

Today I also found the scooter with a flat tyre after work. Can't be arsed changing it in the rain so now reading mv sitting on the bus. Haven't checked in here for a while.

Well spotted Phil. Got my heart set on a Guzzi V7. Won't be able to afford to keep the PX so it's gotta go. Wife's not happy I'm spending the cash but a man's gotta do...She's loves the Vespa so is sad to see it go. Don't know what I'll get for the PX. It owes me a shitload more than what I'm asking for it. Hopefully I won't be able to sell it and will get to hang on to it The plan is to let the wife cool down and buy a beat up PX in a year or two. Bummer about the flat Phil. Don't know anyone in the market for a PX do you?

Bobo, I know you don't do Facebook but there's a local Vespa buy/swap/sell page there. If I was selling a Vespa that's where I'd be posting it.

And about your Mrs., you could always try "don't make me choose", but if yours is anything like mine it wouldn't end well

Cheers Phil. Might have to bite the bullet and join FB.

Bob, Bob, Bob! What can I say? In a year's time you'll wish you hadn't done it...

So:

A. Hide it at a mate's house and proudly show her the two hundred bucks you got for it.

B. Advertise it for 15 grand and despair how nobody wants them any more.

Ha ha! You didn't read the thread, did you?

BBQ rack repro for your P series....

It's so big. If I install that I actually will no longer be able to park the P in my smallest garage spot.

I like your thinking Michael. I'm really going to try to hang on to it but we'll see. The wife has been pretty good about me getting a bike so I don't want to piss her off too much. She's saying herself that I'll regret selling it. The big news is I bought a Guzzi V7 Café Classic. Really nice bike. I'm rapt. Picking it up on Thursday and will post some pics then.

Got a nice follow-up email from Hot Rod Al asking how my cylinder head was going. When I explained the squish was higher than I liked, he explained how the head was already at 0 clearance and the rest would have to come from the barrel. I had realized there was a good amount there on the barrel side but I hadn't put it all together in my mind. Now it makes sense. He said he can top the barrel to get it closer. Shipping iron cylinders is pricey, so I will probably just use it as is, though I think some of my Secret Society friends might have contacts to get that done locally.

Figured I'd mention it because I thought it was cool he followed up. Always a pleasure working with Al.

does anyone have feedback on the anti-dive suspension? I have seen a couple in ads lately. example below from craigslist in L.A.

I played with the anti-dive kit a lot back in the day and had it mounted on both drum and disk. At this point I find the P/PK front end to be a a good design that cleanly separates the braking force from the suspension (unlike the rally, GS, lambretta...), but it still has some dive from weight transfer.

As for the anti-dive:
The kit consists of:
1. bracket that bolts to the trailing link with a pivot that mounts to the shock. This moves the mount point of the shock back making it's effective spring rate a bit higher but not too much. With the shock mounted in this way the brake backing plate is free to rotate.

2. A bracket that mounts to the brake drum backing plate (or caliper in the picture below) that goes to a link. This link is anchored to the fork by another bracket mounted at the top of the shock.

When the brakes are applied the drum backing plate or caliper will want to rotate clockwise. This applies an upward force in the link causing the front end to want to extend and rise up. But the weight transfer of the rider and bike to the front wheel under braking wants to compress the front end and push it down. When the link geometry is setup right the two forces exactly cancel each other.

If the anti-dive link was parallel to the trailing link the effect would be the same as the stock P setup in that it would separate the brake force from the suspension but not have any anti-dive from weight transfer. The closer the anti-dive link is to vertical, the stronger the anti-dive action.

Not the helmet I ordered. Judging by return slip I found in the box, they sent the last guy the wrong helmet too.

thats pretty ............ whats it say on the side

We get those helmets in Aldi.

Scorpion. I have the same helmet in plain white. Actually, I'm due to replace mine now that I think of it...

Had a go yesterday on the P. The 24.24 jetting was a guess based on what I was running on the 20.20. Seems to like to flood out on cold starts, so I backed the idle jet back down to 55-160. I had gone richer trying to fix a high RPM trace knock at light throttle that is probably a creation of the SIP Road 2 at 5500+ rpm. But I'm wondering if the new float is a leaker. Will have to have a peek at that soon. The main jet size seems to feel about the same. It boggles my mind that the main jet required is so different between the two carbs but whatever. Based on the stock jetting differences I always figure 10-12 points higher on main jet for 24.24 vs 20.20. The plug backs it up.

The new head has lower compression (125PSI) vs my home-made job (140PSI). Pretty sure this is because Al opened the combustion chamber a bit but I did not. This might actually work out if I mill the cylinder to get the squish right.

ive got 2 caberg v2s one black one white ....... theyve crap graphics but I cant see em
they have inner visors n pinlocks so good in the winter

The pinlock think isn't very common in the US - does it work well? I can't stand the fogging up on colder mornings. I'd love to give the pinlocks a go.

Managed to sneak a cheeky little GP into the outhouse while Hermanetta was looking the other way

sehr spitze!

pinlocks are the dogs ........ I can do a good mornin ride without liftin the visor ...

keeps me face pretty ..... dont stop the rain though

Today I used my horn on a guy who merged into my lane. It sounds like a dying duck on his last quack. Got the job done though.

Thank you horn.

On a bicycle was he? Seems like the only way he'd hear it!

Attending my own wedding ceremony

are you mental ...... only jokin e well done and congratulations ..... hope she likes scooters

Congrats man!