Modern Vespa

Greetings fellow scooter enthusiasts.

I finally got myself a Vespa after decades of wanting one - a 2005 PX150 (US).

I considered new Vespas but like to tinker and am old and nostalgic so went with an older model which leads me to my question(s). I've been poking around the internets and contemplating my first projects (e.g., exhaust and carb parts) and am discovering some challenges with regard to terminology and exactly what do I have.

I don't consider this a "vintage" bike but from what I understand it is a "vintage" model - is this correct.

I've struggled with identifying my scooter type on the drop-down selection on the SIP web site. Can anyone help me with this?

From what I understand, the modern 2-stroke PXs were only imported to the US in 98 and 05 and at some earlier time???

Any and all input that might help me gain a better understanding of my 05" PX150 is appreciated. In the meantime - I'm buggering on about town.

Hi,
Find the VIN or serial number or engine number and pop it in the internet and see what you get. Or attach some photos. Welcome.

Thanks for the quick reply. The VIN starts with ZAPM093D. I did a search but the results were not helpful.

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Your bike falls into the area of Spare Parts- Vespa PX/T5/Cosa. Look for your exhaust and carb jets there.

If youre buying from an American scooter website most Stella parts will fit your scooter. Heads up though, while the fit of the parts will be correct, Stellas are an Indian copy of an Italian product. Buy OEM Italian parts before you settle for the Indian equivalent.

Yes, I'd prefer buying OEM parts. Is there a good domestic source here in the US? I've stumbled on a few parts web sites but was unsure of what I was looking for per my first post. SIP looks pretty comprehensive but am I paying a premium for shipping?

Thanks.

Talk to Mark @ Scooterspeed USA or the guys at Scooterwest. They'll take care of you. Tell them you have an 05 PX150 that you want parts for.

Welcome to the forum Bhammer. That PX looks familiar...i'm pretty sure that i saw it for sale last summer on craigslist? If so, I remember it was priced fairly low. I was thinking about making the long treck up to B-ham, but prudence got the best of me.

About the importing...Piaggio quit importing the Vespa (P125, 150, and 200cc) to the US back around 1981. Fast forward to 2005, and Piaggio once again imported the Vespa, but just the 150cc, and just for one year. Sometimes during the mid-80's (and 90's) a few Vespas did show up in the US via the grey market or from Canada. There was also a small batch of super rare 2005 PX200's that showed up in Texas. There was no Vespas that were imported in 1998. What did happen around 1998 was that the PX series received a front disc brake. That was the same time that the VIN prefix numbers changed as well. The prefix for the drum brake PX125 used to be #VNX. For the drum brake PX150 it was #VLX. Once they both received a disc brake, the VIN prefixes changed over to #ZAP for both models. SIP commonly make references to the "PX98". 1998 was pretty much the last rendition of any major change (which was adding the disc brake) to the PX series. So when SIP refers to the PX98, they're refering to all 1998 PX models and newer...which includes your US market 2005 PX150. And FYI, when you're looking for spare parts, the US market PX150 has a COMPLETELY different wire harness, switches, headlight, and some of the relays than the European market PX. Some of those items SIP doesn't sell, and can only be purchased directly from Piaggio in Italy.

Oy! Thanks for the detailed info whodatschrome. Thats the kind of stuff I like to hear and find helpful. I'm less than a week into it and diggin the ride. I came really close to buying a 2019 Primavera from a shop in Seattle but stumbled on this 05 PX on Craigslist in Lynden (near Bellingham) and went for it. I'm glad I did. Not only did I save a bunch of $$ I like tinkering and having just sold my 69 MGBGT this will do nicely to fill that void. The guy I got it from said he bought it in Seattle a few years ago. Maybe he exaggerated the timeline? Its in nice condition. I ordered a SIP Road 2 exhaust and the necessary carbie mods and am looking forward to getting my hands dirty. It has about 3K miles. Cheers

Welcome! And I love your rally white stripes on the fender and cowls. I was told that the last PX150E (with drum brake) was imported in the US 1n 1985, except for California; and that is the scooter I have. as stated earlier, in the SIP online catalog, your replacement or custom parts should all be under the 1998 and later. As for US Vespa parts suppliers, you can't go wrong with Scooter Mercato in Georgia. Their service and parts (and prices) are excellent and shipping is fast.

Thanks sp949. I'm looking forward to continued support from this forum as I dive into little projects. I've considered changing the white rally stripes to black checkered stripes. Maybe the white stripes will grow on me so I'll hold off on that? Can't wait for the new exhaust to arrive. I'm wanting to do a tune up and want to get to everything all at once - plug, air filter, exhaust, carb jets, timing etc. Might as well replace all the fluids as long as I'm getting my hands dirty:-)

I made a major rookie mistake this afternoon when I pulled the spare tire off. I didn't know there were only two 13mm nuts so I ended up spliting the wheel after taking all the nuts off! When I replaced the nuts to attach the two halves of the wheel I noticed you can get the inner tube pinched in between. I guess I'll know how I did when I need my spare someday. Is there a trick to doing this?

Scooter West has a video on the proper way to close up the split rim. This is their tire change video that shows how to do this on a small frame but it is the same concept. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kxqbFHRe6nE. Who ever this guy doing the tire change has no freaking idea of what he's doing and it seems Robot wrote a script for him to repeat..
On a totally unrelated note....What''s up MJ!!! Happy Belated St. Patty Day to you, too.

Good luck BHammer with getting the tire on correctly. Just follow what they did and don't forget to put some air in the inner tube before bolting everything down.

Hahaha. What up Rowdy Rod! You caught my one and only acting debut. I havent been invited back to film. We actually filmed two shots. The first shot was the one that was aired. That was the one where the rim fell right out. The second shot I had to pry on a little more and would have been a better video IMHO. Needless to say, the vice and pry method works better than any other method i've seen.

Bhammer- I think we've all made that mistake. Dont sweat it and learn from it. Little air in the tube and patience are the key.

I haven't looked at the video yet but its funny you mentioned a vice. As it turned out, the wheel slipped nicely over my vice that I had just got and mounted for an unrelated project. The spare was already quite under inflated. I thought maybe too much. I squeezed the wheel halves together, one third at a time, and got the nuts back on.

Look at you MJ, changing tires like a pro!

Don't mean to beat a dead horse but i just watched that video and I think I did probably have too much air in the tube. My rim halves didn't want to go together so I used the vice as mentioned. I can see why you want air in the tube when inserting the tube into the tire to retain its shape but once in there maybe not so much. Helpful video MJRally and Robot mentions all the things to be aware of. I like the bit about the date stamp - never knew that. I'll file that knowledge into whats left of the memory bank.