Modern Vespa

Normally I'll hide the scooter in some bushes and come back in the van and collect it. But I pay for the tow service anyway as a 'just in case' so I thought I may as well use it. The other option was to pillion about 70km back to my mate's house.... for some reason my hips are not built for being a pillion and seem to get quite painful after a short distance.

I've done the push-with-your-foot-thing too. It's a lot harder than it looks!

My new top end has made it from Germany to Chicago, but is now stuck for no apparent reason, so probably something COVID-related.

And I will say that the one upside of finally blowing up a motor at the house is that I didn't have to stuff it in a car or push it home for a change, so at least I had that going for me.

Ha! Good point.
Need to consider blowing up my motor at home for future blow ups.

Stuck with UPS and no update - the worst!
New BGM?
What timings will you go after for your set up?

LOL!

UPS now says it'll be here today, so I'll see if it actually shows up

For timings, I'm going to target 125-128 transfer timing, 172 exhaust.

It was actually a mm low after the last piston replacement, which explains why it seemed a bit tame. It's been winter, so not a lot of riding, though.. It'll be interesting to see how it measures up once it's rebuilt and properly measured

Another sticker prepped for printing. Couldn't find the exact same fonts but it's pretty close...

X7!
Was on 2008 for a decade - before going X3 for another 10.
My go to tool...
Nice bit of work there Safis

Nice work S! Does this (Corel Draw?) not have a tool to narrow the font? Think that's all it needs to look exactly right.

Clubhouse has been shutdown a couple weeks now to casual visitors that used to be the one of the best parts of the day. Still, today we are shipping the 2nd one of two sick smallies, just now finally finished up and will next consider what to do on the PK w/ bent fork that belongs to my only trusted partner while fixing these, Manos.

Couldn't have done it without him! And a trusted source of local info on this lockdown and staying safe here.

This first generation PK50 was bought new by Grampa here ~38 years ago and worked hard for a living.

arrival about a month ago a little after I arrived

I am actually in process of cutting and re welding one

Mostly trimming a little from the side edges, bending them inwards and toughest part was persuading the upper corners to cooperate without totally deforming them. You'll also have to grind some where it fits the column, more squarish corners there than on a largeframe. I'll find a few more pictures that show how much I cut off. You get an idea where the rubber molding comes close to that reinforcing rib.


Shoe Goo to keep rubber in place when installing, a real challenge w/ even two guys, flexing the steel into place and tucking the rubber trim in snug at the same time!

...rode my Apocalyptic Warrior, the mighty PX150E. Never lets me down even when the end of the world is nigh🥺😆. [img][/img] Starts first kick and stops on a dime. 🌮

Yesterday, since I had some extremely boring zoom meetings (covering stuff I already knew), I spent a little time in the garage, tweaking the Sprint now that the motor is back in fighting shape.

I needed to adjust the throttle cable in the headset, so I pulled the headlight out, did that, put it all back together, realized that I'd accidentally disconnected a wire, opened it back up, fixed the wire, put it back together.

Next, I went to remove the slop that's crept into the shift cables. Realized that those cables needed to be replaced. Opened up the headset again, had a typically miserable "changing cables in a one-piece headset" experience, buttoned it all back up, and realized last night when I fired up the bike to go test my new mirror bracket that I had accidentally disconnected the power to the LED that lights up my CHT.

I had a good ride anyway, but some time today or this weekend, I'll be back into the headset to reconnect that. I'd replace the connections with molex connectors if I could, but it's the spade fittings onto the main headset switch that keep pulling off. Meh.

Yesterday, I was stripping my PX200. I've never worked on a modern bike like the PX.
At a certain moment, I was removing the handlebar switches and was wondering why on earth Piaggio soldered the connexions, since the switches are too big to pass trough the handlebar.

OK. Worries for later.. I cut all the connections and removed the switches, to discover an hour later that there are small connectors behind the horn cast and that these pass trough the handlebar

I was kind of mad with myself.. because these are stupid faults..

Just tell yourself those wires probably needed to be replaced anyway...they lead a hard life of getting twisted & pulled inside the shifter tube. Then take the lesson and go on.

This one was not bad too.. On my Sprint V engine...

I do that more often than I'd care to admit, and I know better, I just keep making the same mistake!

I really like your mirrors. What are they?

[quote="V oodoo"]Mostly trimming a little from the side edges, bending them inwards and toughest part was persuading the upper corners to cooperate without totally deforming them. You'll also have to grind some where it fits the column, more squarish corners there than on a largeframe. I'll find a few more pictures that show how much I cut off. You get an idea where the rubber molding comes close to that reinforcing rib.


Shoe Goo to keep rubber in place when installing, a real challenge w/ even two guys, flexing the steel into place and tucking the rubber trim in snug at the same time.

I had to revert to cutting and welding....just getting some tac welds in place now...its gonna be about 4 inches less in width

I'm sure yours will fit better and we have to do another one just the same for my friends PK, so maybe we cut and weld as well for a tighter fit and look. Keep posting, plz.


cut off the edges


cut out top and bottom to fit squarish column

Tacking it up

Added new levers too

Pinasco branded but I'm not sure where they were made. I got them from an eBay guy in Indonesia. They're really good, unobtrusive.

I hate that switch. I had an original but it finally fell apart. The repros are total junk. The twisting will eventually pull one of the wires off, usually indicator wire. Sometimes the headset top will pinch one of the wires which causes the inductors to go bonkers. It's f&&cked up. I finally got a good switch and everything works. Now, tomorrow it will start intermittently flickering, I know it😕

Roliver and Voodoo, i like the glovebox conversions! Even if you could somehow find all original plastic parts to assemble a PK glovebox together, you'd be spending LOTS of money for it! Way to improvise. I bet your modded P boxes will have more room in them...especially if you can fab up a Bajaj glovebox.

I'm gonna be doing this as well, so I don't think a Bajaj box will work and I'm a little worried about the P box.






The older PK's had metal boxes and mudguards and my PK has plastic w/ a busted plastic hinge one side.


Metal, want.


Mine, plastic

Here is the answer to all of your glovebox issues... size no problem.

^ Thinking "outside the box" ^

From this distance those boxes look like a well manufactured part.

If you have access to an air compressor, maybe you can find something like this, makes a much nicer cut.

https://www.amazon.com/Nibblers-Pneumatic-Shears/s?rh=n%3A3206563011%2Cp_n_power_source_browse-bin%3A9060580011

Ha ha! I imagine you could put a bajaj glovebox on the inside as well... and sell your station wagon.

now thats a nice idea on the smallie glovebox , will do it once the pandemic is over, until then my everyday routine is doing sunbath with my wife at home

stay healthy and cheer guys

There are benefits to the lockdown as well as drawbacks
sunbathing and working on projects is definitely a benefit!!

it does Brother G, and i try to take the positive of it all, i spend more time with my wife and i can make her laugh everyday seeing me do silly stuff like climb the tree and hide like ninjas to surprise her

stay positive and healthy guys

Good man, Brother E. Your wife is fortunate and her happinesses shows in her smile.

Thank you Brother Mike, i am just trying to do my best in life will it make u laugh if i say that every morning some neighbour gathering in front of my house just to see what we will do everyday, the best part is when she ask me to carry her in my back while doing sunbath beside when i hide on top of the tree and call her name of course

Now i have to think a new way to surprise her in tommorow sunbath

Can't really ride, so I been fixing up the paint and other minor stuff on SnakeEyes, my battered P200 that i've procrastinated too long doing until now. Why not?


I added white dots in Snakey's eyes first thing, but couldn't just stop there...

Terry I saw your post on the cable operated caliper, can't find it again now and thought you'd be interested. Obviously this is a front disc, you can see more here -
https://www.quarta-lab.com/portfolio/pinza-freno-quarta-lab/?fbclid=IwAR0hRCbJNemeZKn8LYCFNXBVEYx8gfK9ncZEZYooFOUocrp3CsdVcMEJeb8

Last pic is a rear disc, can't find the link at the moment.

Installed this over the weekend

Die Wespe Kind

Things were going good today until I realized I dropped the woodruff key from the clutch into the engine when it would not kick over but just spin. Drat.

i did this today, i found a laying p series glovebox in the junkyard so i think why not, but at the moment it still didnt have a lock, will figure it out someday

Until then stay safe and cheer guys