Modern Vespa

whoops, missed that vid

Took the Stella out yesterday. Nearly 100 miles without a blip.

I've been thinking of selling her and buying a new Sprint 150, but I don't even know now. Maybe I'll just ride her into the sunset.

Took a similar ride Saturday on the Aprilia 50. About 70 miles. It was a beautiful morning.

I'm posting this video I made because one of the sections has a montage of my Vespa GTS images. Perhaps you'll find them interesting.

https://youtu.be/rM8gfQUP2kg

A great video. You could try producing a counterpoint video entitled '5 things I DISLIKE about the Vespa 250', but I don't think you'd find enough reasons.

I'll think about that idea. I'm sure there's something I don't like.

Out riding with my friend Paul in late summer.

After allowing my 2006 Vespa GTS 250 to languish in the garage waiting for my lazy ass to install a new front brake caliper and battery we finally went for a ride on a cold winter day.

It's love all over again.

I was checking out your website. http://vespalx150.blogspot.com/2007/09/vespa-photographs.html

Your banner photograph is of my great grandfather's farm. He built the house and the old barn. He sold the farm to the Beiler family many decades ago. In the last year the Beiler family has experienced a couple tragic farm accidents. My parents live a 1/4 mile down the road.

Small world. I've made many photos of that farm over the past 30 years. Most of them sitting somewhere in Penn State's archives. When I'm heading to breakfast in Millheim I'll turn there to get on Manor Road and wind my way along between RT192 and RT45 on those quiet lanes.

I read about the Beiler silo accidents. Very sad. I spent most of my career in ag sciences and farm safety issues around silos and asphyxiation were almost constant. That and ROPS for tractors. And shut off the engine before pulling corn stuck in your corn picker or combine.

Penns Valley is a beautiful area.

I had to take my Vespa ET4 in today for a safety inspection. A forced excuse for a wet and rainy ride.

I love this scooter...

it intrigues me somewhat that you want to ride your et4 when you've got the gts. I understand the himalayan vs the gts but ... If it makes you happy who am I to question

I understand it. I ride my Primavera daily. Ride the GTS once around 7-10 days to keep it charged and running. But there are times I prefer the GTS, just not many. No, I don't want to let go of it. I just love her more

I suppose the easiest way to explain is to say the ET4 is as close to transparent while riding on two wheels that I've found. The scooter is so light, quiet, and seamless to handle it's as if I'm flowing through space. The GTS has some of those same qualities but it's just not the same.

My experience is similar. I move through the various machines depending on what I'm doing. And more and more the ET4 is just the one for those daily errands.

When I'm asked why I ride, I usually answer that I ride to get something to eat. A few days ago my friend and I made the 25 mile trip to the Meandering Mallard in Millheim, Pennsylvania for breakfast. He on his Primavera and me on the ET4.

A cookie is the perfect breakfast dessert...

My LML 200 just a mile from home, on return this morning from my photographic trip down to Hartlepool.

That's a beautiful country lane. It looks much like the roads here except we don't have sidewalks in the country. Is that common?

Hello VESPAsfw3. In the British countryside, as with so many other things, there seems to be no particular rule on where footpaths should be built, leaving it up to local councils to decide. My small village, for example has three separate roads leading out of it to different destinations, only one of which has a footpath (and even partial street-lighting), for the others you have to walk on the road or the grass. Not terribly safe for children or nervous bicycle riders.

The one in the picture, only runs for a few hundred yards before then crossing to the other side of the road. This often happens.

Thinking about it, it may have been built to cater for the local farming workforce before things became heavily mechanised. It's a mystery!

Thank you for sharing the information. Many of our roads and decisions about them defy logic. For me at least.

And looking back at some of the colonial era roads, they were merely improved paths that the cows would make getting from barn to pasture. Over time they became connected and are now the foundation of many of the remaining backroads.

History is interesting.

Some from this past weekend....

A picture from Saturday morning's gentle meanderings around the country lanes of County Durham...

A narrow country lane near Heselden, County Durham, during this morning's early morning run to the coast.

A couple of pictures from this morning's local ride, now that the sunshine has returned!

It's been a wet summer but many fine drizzly days that seem perfect for my Vespa ET4. Now that I have two scooters and two motorcycles in the garage I confess growing confusion over which to choose for a ride. But anytime there's rain or snow involved, that's definitely Vespa weather!

I was out early this morning shooting another video for my YouTube channel. Each time I ride my GTS I fall in love all over again...

I'm not sure how many Vespa riders take their scooters off the pavement but I find myself over and over again, despite owning a Royal Enfield Himalayan purchased expressly for riding on dirt and gravel, on the GTS banging along the many forest roads here.

The shocks are not made for it. Nor are the 12 inch wheels with street tread. And the body of the scooter along with the paint gets dinged and dented.

But I still find myself riding places I swore I was done with...

Aside from the scooter's uncanny ability to bring order to my chaotic mind, I love the opportunity that riding gives me to just smell the roses and admire the scenery.

In this case, a sweeping farm field not far from Centre Hall, Pennsylvania.

I recently shared a video on my YouTube channel on what I consider "The Vespa Life." I thought some of you who don't follow that channel might like to see what life on a scooter in Central Pennsylvania as autumn swells might be like...

https://youtu.be/tolufSLkRLM?si=sjSRnEsqJxs8bD9B

VESPAsfw3,

Thank you for the excellent video and commentary. I think you captured the essence of Vespa Riding. The relative lite weight, twist and go, great maneuverability, and the feeling in the wind that you are out there and part of nature. Obviously, I was hooked. Most in my scooter riding group were previous motorcycle guys - they would not go back.

Again, good work - thanks.

Bob Copeland

Couple from the rally this past weekend....

Thanks for your kind words about the video Bob. Riding a Vespa has been nothing short of a transformational experience in my life extending far beyond transportation, recreation, and enjoyment. In my dreams I see myself riding a Vespa scooter until I draw my last breath. And I don't mean riding into a fatal accident!

What life will deliver me is unknowable but the dream remains. And I'm sure the day approaches where I'll have to retire from riding motorcycles and once again be in a scooter only life.

Three Vespa scooters on a fine ride on a cold day...

One of the last cold rides of the season...

I'll be 70 this summer. I was looking at this photograph and tried to remember what possessed me to ride in the winter snow and cold. I used to be excited by the prospect of braving the elements. Now 40F feels positively freezing walking the dogs let alone riding my Vespa. Long gone are those sub-zero rides...

This morning I rode down the street to have breakfast. Afterward I stopped at a park across the street trying to decide whether I should go home or go for a ride.

Here's one in the sticks of Philadelphia.

Nice to see you and your photos back here, I enjoy them. I followed the saga of your GTS last fall and was pleased that it turned out so well (apparently) for you. I traded my '06 and '07 GTS 250s last Fall for a '23 Primavera 150 and a '23 GTS 300. I still have the '06 GT 200, although that's only in technical terms, as it has been in the shop at the nearby Vespa dealer since last October where the mechanic and shop owner have taken to calling it the "science project". I fully expect to ride it again one day, but perhaps not soon.

Enjoy your riding season, I sure am.

Cheers,

Bob

This is a fantastic thread with great photos and stories!
I hope to share my adventures in the near future.....but I gotta get my Vespa first.

A Vespa scooter changed my life. It took a long time to stumble upon it but was worth the wait. Good luck on your own journey towards a Vespa!