Modern Vespa

My GTS has a bunch of scratches following several incidents (most following an unfortunate trailer mishap involving my husband's motorcycle). It came to me already a little banged up, but now there is much more. I don't think it will be worth having this repainted at the rate I'm going. So, if you were me, how would you deal with these? Stickers are an obvious choice, but what? Racing stripes and numbers? What?

I'm not a big fan of covering damage with stickers.
No real reason other than I don't have enough stickers....

It's not about the shine. Just ride it.

Leave it as is. Its called 'character'.

Well, I can't tell you about how you will choose to deal with the damage. I can tell you what I would do. Is the scooter in mechanically good condition? Is this your favorite ride or are you considering trading up? If I liked this scooter and intended to keep it, I would definitely consider repainting it. Sure repainting is expensive, but you get any color(s) you want and it looks like new. Now that is me, but that is what I would do (and have done before).

My vote would be to get it detailed and just ride it all polished up. It won't run any better repainted? Then again you could get a partial repaint. Just the sides.

That being said you could go two-tone like the old NSM guys. Maybe if you have a local motorbike fuel tank artistic guy? Need to find a colour that goes with silver?



The thing definitely not to do is to keep it and then paint it just before you sell it. It actually might be worth more in an honest condition, if you ever decide to sell it

If there are depressions, they must first be grouted and in any case the paint must be scraped with abrasive paper and water; then a neutral background should be spread to protect the metal from rust, otherwise condensation bubbles will form under the adhesives. Better to repaint, it's more definitive...
Very nice Vespa graphics posted by waspmike, i am favorably impressed by the aesthetic lightness. Great.

"Patina?"

What's "patina"...?

I unfortunately dropped mine last year. This is how I 'fixed' it.
I'm hoping to do the cannonball next year and there may be more than that to fix after it's over.

Ouch..!

I ordered some flag stickers from car stickers dot com.
Flags of the countries I have visited where Scooters are popular.
Covered my drop scratches pretty well, I think.

I put Rocket up on it's center stand on a gravel driveway when it was quite new.

I checked it's stability, then walked away.

Within a few seconds, it fell over on it's right side.

The gravel scratched it quite badly.

The incident ruined my day.

That was 12 years and 85,000 miles ago.

I never bothered to do anything about it.

There is a nice sense of freedom when riding around on a damaged scooter.

I recommend riding it.

Bill

The previous owner of my GTS applied a reflective rally stripe package that might work for you. Added benefit of more visibility when night riding.

w.

Nice rack!

I agree.

Yes, it is cheaper and stands out ... however, i would make a grout where needed. (How do you spell bodywork "stucco"?)

Thanks, one of the Classic Racks!

Bog.

If it were me, I would make a half-assed attempt to stop future rust and touch-up the paint in the scrapped areas.

And I would also be happy that my scooter ran. Really, Really happy. In fact, are you interested in trading for a non-running (but non-scratched) 2015 GTS? jk -

This I like 8)

But this is slick as well.

IF you repaint it, or if you don't, but you don't want more scratches, I say get some chrome around it. I love the look of the patina, but I also love when things look new and untouched. It's a personal choice that ultimately, you'll have to make. But if you don't want to get more damage on there, get the guards. My 2 cents.

As above. I understand you do not want to spend a lot of money on your 11 year old GTS, but most of the bodywork damage looks cosmetic and the scratches could be filled. Rather than trying to hide everything under stickers, why not make it a project to do a DIY repair. For the cost of a rattle can of spray paint, a bit of filler and wet and dry sandpaper, you could get a reasonably decent result. The money you would save on a professional body repair can then be put towards chrome crash bars. I think you would be surprised with the result and the new chrome would lead the eye away from any obvious signs of repair.

... de gustibus non est disputandum ...

Bondo on vehicles.

If nothing else, sealing over any bare metal spots with some clear nail polish will at the very least inhibit further rust development.

I found a shade of red nail polish that was very close to the red of the Derbi we bought a few years ago for my son to practice on when he got his permit. You had to be pretty close to tell it was a repair. If I had felt like sanding a bit and putting some clear coat on I suspect you wouldn't be able to tell but since it was a "beater" I bout for under $1000 I didn't really want to invest much time. Especially since it was going to primarily be ridden by a 15 year old.

I vote for using the Vespa touch up paint to cover the scratches. I his is inexpensive and easy. It's not perfect but then if you get more scratches it's no big deal.

Bill

Haha! No. I love my banged-up, duct-taped (right side mirror) and reflector-on-each-side-missing 2008.

Hey, thanks for the suggestions, everyone! I'll see what I can do about touching up the scratches. I had been a little hesitant about stickers for the previous scrapes because I am so fickle that what looks good to me today might be eye roll-inducing next week. I definitely don't want to encourage rust though the rust patina on that scoot early on in the thread looks great, lol. The dents I can't do anything about myself. Crash bars - great idea as both future scratch-and-dent deterrent and touch-up distraction!

Cover any bare metal with primer before applying stickers will prevent rust under the sticker.

+1
For my old black PX150 I found a nail polish pen at my local drug store that matched perfectly.
They sell them for artistically drawing on your nails (or your Vespa).
A good cosmetics store would probably have a bigger selection but I would bet silver would be a petty popular color for nail decoration.

Maybe look into vinyl wrap if the blemishes are making your eye twitch. Other than that, stickers. My Metropolitan is covered in them and it somehow added 2 extra horsepower. True story.