Modern Vespa

What's it cost to have the helmet painted? The conventional wisdom is that you shouldn't paint helmets because it impacts the impact design. Not sure how that works but that's what I've read on MV and other sites.

Thanks for the video!
Best
Miguel

I can not provide an exact cost as it was included with other work I had done at the same time. Also I would assume the price in CA would be different than FL. My area is very biker friendly with quite few specialty shops locally that will paint helmets and motorcycle parts.

My dealer expressed his concerns and I did do an internet search on the subject. I could not locate any information or a safety test to confirm repainting a helmet without damaging the outershell would cause the helmet to be weaker or under perform in a crash. I am aware that painting the helmet voided the warranty. Found the helmet online for a great price.

Ultimately it is a personal choice. I wanted a full face helmet to match the scooter. I have other helmets and this one is not my everyday helmet.

It depends on "who" you have do the work. I know a local guy that does airbrushing and is certainly capable of doing such a job. Probably $180 for materials & labor on a simple design and $400+ on a more custom. Then there are places like Troy Lee Designs that charge $700 on the low end and $1500+ on more detailed & design work.

Im not that into custom paint work or the long lead times involved with them...lol

I bought the black one and installed it over the last few days.

The exhaust comes in several pieces: the black/stainless-steel exhaust itself, a plate to attach the exhaust to the bike, stainless-steel header-to-exhaust pipe, stainless-steel clamp with heat shield to connect the exhaust to the header-to-exhaust pipe, header clamp and fasteners. I'm assuming the exhaust was done in pieces so they could adapt it to different bikes.

Installation was, sorta, easy. I need to adjust the two clamps. It sounds like the bushing is not seated properly. I guess this is one of the negatives of having a two-part exhaust. I'll provide some installation notes once I've got it solved. The instructions consisted of an exploded view of the exhaust. No written instructions about the installation procedure or process.

I like the aesthetics. I preferred the black over the "chrome" because I think it blends into the rear tire and has less contrast against the bike than the chrome. The "black" section is brushed and anodized aluminum I think. Overall, the fit and finish is pretty good. The header-to-exhaust pipe turned yellow/blue after the first ride. I forgot to weight it before installation but it is definitely less than the OEM exhaust and less than 10 lbs.

Best
Miguel

[quote="Miguel"]I bought the black one and installed it over the last few days.

Looks good on your GTV. Nice bike, any plans to paint the trailer to match the scooter?

[quote="OrlTee"] I looked into painting the trailers. local shop wanteD $1200-$2400 to do it. I'm not sure how committed I am to the trailers so will ride it silver for a while. We'll see.

Cheers
Miguel

Here's a look at my 2017 with a Remus installed.

Love the trailer but yeah worth riding with it for a while to see how you feel about it. No point on spending the money if you only use it occasionally.

[quote="Miguel"] You went to a shop that didn't want to paint it, you could get a whole car painted for that price.

[quote="WEB-Tech"] I think you are right on that. I only went to one place. They were highly recommended locally. I'll revisit painting if I find I use the trailer or won't if I just find it a mid-life crisis crutch (but I'm beyond mid-life so should know better).

Hope to meet you at Morro Bay. I'm not riding SCB but will be Vespa'ing down from Santa Cruz (~150 miles north of Morro Bay) for the departure followed by a bit of camping if the weather is cooperative.

Cheers
Miguel

Since both of these exhaust systems have caught my eye, how has the Remus been for you overall?

As far as performance goes I love the Remus. It is loud but not obnoxious and does have a baffle if you choose to do so.

I like the growl and do think (I know) it has helped on numerous occasions where it has stopped pedestrians from stepping out between parked cars as they hear me just before they take that step. Not saying it would be a disaster if I had a purring kitten but.... Also helps my wife know when I'm home or yesterday right downtown she heard me riding to meet her blocks away as I road through the towers in the financial district. So like I said not an obnoxious growl but definitely distinctive.

As far as performance goes I do "think" it helps. Hard to say how much is a placebo effect but I do feel a little more pull off the start. Or it could be my scoot was made in the opposite of a Friday afternoon and was made by some happy workers on a Wednesday. Still I think it is better than when I had the stock exhaust on.

One downside, the paint flaked off a little bit. Not sure if you can tell from this pic, I can take a closer up one with a clean exhaust if you want. When at the car wash the paint did flake off. I've purchased some flat black high temp spray paint and will use that to fix it up. Or I can just say it adds some character to the scoot...

We just got six of the chrome OEM Piaggio exhausts in stock. These are the last ones available.

**************** SOLD ****************

I'm selling my black version this exhaust in the For Sale forum. Click here. It is louder than I expected and want.

Best
Miguel

Miguel.

I painted my own helmet myself to match the colour scheme of my scooter. I used normal acrylic paint and acrylic clear coat on mine. This does not affect the helmets safety in any way (disclaimer) as newer helmets are made of a different composite (polycarbonate) and not like the old ones which doesn't react to the paint.

Andy

Are they being discontinued by Piaggio?

I prefer to throw my bones to the after market guys that produce quality products, it's nice to have them around. Not only are their products sometimes superior to the OEM's but competition is a good thig, it improves the quality and value proposition of the product and eliminates the risk of being held captive by a monopoly. Capitalism is great medicine and thrives on competition.

Paul

They were discontinued a couple of years ago. I haven't seen them offered until they were offered by the pallet load a year ago. I am under the impression that when France changed their law so the installer was culpable (like in California), and not the vehicle owner, for installing the aftermarket pipe, the powers that be got a bit nervous and didn't know if it was going to be a problem in other countries too.

Sadly, the last one went away today.

I like both the look and sound of the exhaust. How long have they been available for purchase? I'm surprised they haven't been getting talked about much here on MV.

They were not available in the US, and about two years ago, Piaggio sold off what they had left. I bought some, and Scooter Center bought a lot more. I had ordered them from two companies, and one came through right away. I sold those, and when I tried to order more, they said the pipes weren't available any more.
Then, about six months ago, the other company asked if I still wanted the exhausts (Italy....). So I got the ones they had ordered and probably forgot about for a year.
As far as I know,there are no more to be had.

Any idea why they were discontinued?

Raises hand

Rode one of these on my 250 in the 2018 SCBR. Love it.

I put one of these on my GTS 300. It is good for what I wanted but I'm not sure everyone would like it.

This is really not a performance exhaust. It isn't a straight through design, and the pipe isn't wider (in fact, the opening at the end is a little smaller); it uses the usual reflection, absorption and restriction techniques to muffle sound.

This isn't a loud exhaust either. You can hear it at idle, but it's only a hair louder than stock. It just sounds a little lower pitched or "throatier." At speed, I can't hear it at all.

I didn't notice any performance difference after installing it. But I've already made a number of performance tweeks. There is only so much you can do with a single cylinder 300, IMHO.

Anyway, it installs easy. I had a hell of a time removing the existing torx bolts. I stripped them and had to drill them out. Had it not been for that, this would have been a 10-15 min job.

Best part about this exhaust is it looks cool, and sounds cool when you start up or stop at a traffic light. It also wasn't expensive $310 at Scooterpartsco.com, and it was easy to install.

France

This is a follow up to my earlier review. It is actually the DB killer that is really restrictive. Pull that out and you have a high flow performance muffler (that is also loud as hell).

As gases enter the DB killer they have to travel through an opening that is a hair smaller than the stock tube, then they hit a wall and are pushed through little drill size holes in the tube, then they hit another wall and have to go back through the little holes, back through a different set of holes, through two more sets and out the exhaust!!!

Has anyone tried modifying the DB killer?

How many are left? And sorry, I might not have looked far enough back to see the cost (USD) and shipping (TO CA)?!

Read on, McDuff... they are all gone . I know because I missed the last one by hours. BTW, I did order a 300mm Black Widow exhaust and will give a little review once installed, but it is a thing of beauty and reasonably priced.

DOH! I missed that!

I saw the post this AM about the Akro pipe but shipping from Florida to me in CA vs ordering it from Scooterwest instate...

or a Malossi...

The malossi is a good pipe for $450, and one that gets overlooked, but is also a good value, is the Polini exhaust, which is just a bit under $400. They both have removable dBkillers.

My riding partner has a Malossi on his Sei. I'm constantly jealous of the low purr.

The Polini you say?! I'm not planning on doing any performance parts outside of Dr Pulley sliders and maybe some heavier weights. So the Polini "might" be a better option for a slip on exhaust? You can PM to not derail this thread anymore

Will you be getting these back in? Checked the site and didn't see it anymore. Wanted to pick up the chrome one for my 2019 GTS.

I love my Malossi. I had it from 000 Km.

For some reason, Piaggio likes to discover things right before they close for August. We have six more of the OEM Piaggio Performance Exhausts coming, all black. Unfortunately, I was convinced last time that there aren't any more, so I completely deleted the item from our site. I'll have it back in a day or so.

No chance of chrome? I'm working on modding my bike out a bit and think a chrome pipe would look great on it.

The chrome ones weren't offered. I'm not sure if they have any more or not. I was surprised to see the black ones again, because I'd been told there were no more several times.

Here is the link, they will be here Friday.

https://scooterpartsco.com/ricambi/misc/piaggio-performance-exhaust-for-vespa-gt-gts-gtv

We also got some sets of Black Rizoma footpegs for GTS and GTV, and some bags for the Sprint and Primavera. I think they're tunnel bags. There was a lot of stuff on the list, but most of it was for models they don't sell in the US.

I got myself one of the Rizoma flyscreens, but it looks so good in the box that I haven't even taken it out yet. I'll probably wait until the rim for my headlight is here, and do everything there at once.

Okay, I called you!

Pics of my 2018 GTS 300 Super with Remus twin

Sadly, all good things must come to an end, and we have one left.