Modern Vespa

Hi all,

I was riding my scoot the 60-odd miles to Richmond this weekend for a quick warranty service. (gas filler rubber gasket was already cracking).

A few miles out of town I started to experience a really worrisome throttle issue. I would crank it, and I would get unpredictable bursts of energy - kind of unnerving. That then deteriorated into a bad throttle lag (at this time, I started winding over across the 4 lanes on Broad Street to be able to pull off). By the time I pulled into a fortuitously-located gas station, I'd lost all power, but the scoot was idling. It died upon stopping and I pushed it the last few feet. It never started again, even after a cool down period - no turn-over at all. Riding was around 65mph most of the way, with high air temps - probably mid-90's at the time.

Scoot Richmond was fantastic - they dispatched a van and had me rolling to the store within 30 minutes.

Anyhow, they isolated the issue - blown 10-amp ECU fuse. They have not, however, been able to isolate any cause of the fuse blowing. I trust that they've tested all of the likely suspects thoroughly. Bike only has about 1100 miles on it. According to the tech, the best explanations are 1) unlikely confluence of events causing the fuse to go, or 2) faulty fuse installed at factory.

I figured I'd check in with the hive mind (get it? Vespa?) here to see if anyone has any other thoughts on the cause. I've got a slight loss of confidence in my ride - I'd upgraded from the 150 in the hopes of doing more long range rides, but I will find it harder to relax on these longer high speed rides if I've got an bug that will continue to munch fuses. Many thanks for your thoughts,

-Raj

you're in the unfortunate position of where if you can't replicate a problem you can't repair it. personally, i'd chalk it up to dumb luck (or a confluence of events) and just ride with a few extra fuses.

if the problem persists with some regularity then i'd say there was cause for concern. however at that point you may just be chasing your tail until you can replicate it. i know, probably not what you wanted to hear.

but yeah. heat and vibration can kill a fuse. carry spares. if it starts doing it regularly then it's time to look at it.

-g

Thanks, Greasy! Well URGH, bad news. Drove out to Richmond yesterday, picked up the scoot, and got less than a block before the throttle started acting funny. Pulled back into the lot and by the time the tech got to it the bike was dead again.

They think that something is going on with the ABS unit and it's blowing the fuse, so, scooterless for a while, I guess!

-Raj

LOVE IT!