Modern Vespa

Hello all,

Some of you might know me from such hits as "Drug Home My First Vespa!" and/or "Scooter Tag" from an adv site.

For those that don't know me I bought a 2009 GTS 250 in August and cleaned it up and have been riding it up until last week when one of the exhasut studs snapped off in the cylinder head driving down the road.

I removed the engine and took the head off and held it in a vise and drilled out the broken stud with an extractor tool.

Since the motor was already out I decided to replace the piston and rings and gaskets because it burns oil. Might as well rebuid the water pump now also because it was weeping.

Now I'm waiting for all the parts to show up in the mail so I can put it back together before the snow flies.

A big thanks goes out to http://scooterpartsco.com for supply all kinds of parts for these great machines! You are a vital resource to keeping older machines on the road! Please keep up the great work for many years!

And a big thanks to everyone here for contributing and making this site great. That includes mods and owner(s) and other behind the scenes folks that keep up this valuable resource!

Hello and thanks,
S.Ro

Hello and welcome!!

Good to see you here, too.

Welcome. Always good to have somebody who can work on their bike. Lots of advice seekers here (including me).

Hello Cap!

Here's some advice 25BIKEZ. Don't eat the yellow snow, it's not lemon flavor.

Welcome from Rochester, NY!

Thanks kimbered.

This is Noa waiting for parts.

And I was trying to be nice.

G'day, eh? What part of our ah-mazing country are you in?

Sorry 25BIKEZ I was trying to be funny. Thanks for the welcome.

G'day Soul Surfer I'm just a little east of you, eh.

A nice opening post S.Ro. Please keep us updated with your re-build progress. I like many others on here love to hear of DIY Vespa maintenance and when you include in the post pictures, it makes it all the more interesting.

Good luck with the project!

Welcome from Latina (Italy)

Thanks Touring300. If you like DIY and pictures you should check out my thread on another site. It has lots of pics and the story about Noa. Google - Drug home my first vespa! - It should be the first one that comes up and you can start from page 1.

Is it okay to post a link to another site here?

Thanks Attila.

A great read and a great purchase!, cheers S.Ro

Yes, its fine to post a link here to another site. Surround it with the URL tags by pasting the URL link, selecting it with your cursor and clicking the ULR button above to create a hyperlink to it.

Thanks for a great first post.

And welcome from Santa Cruz CA.
Miguel

Hello and welcome from Wichita Kansas. Enjoy your GTS 250 since it's a great bike. It's nice to see someone enjoying the 250. You will fit in here just fine. It is inspiring to me to see someone with the skills to do their own service. Keep us posted. Welcome again..

Welcome to MV!

Rather atypical introductory post, but definitely more interesting as well!

Thanks Touring300, Miguel, Max6201 and fledermaus.

Here's the link if people want to see pics and hear the story of Noa.
https://advrider.com/f/threads/drug-home-my-first-vespa-lots-o-pics.1399708/

You are obviously a guy with mechanical ability. You
will find many "Wrenchers" here.

My Dad was born in Canada, so I have always sort of favored you
good folks. Eh!

Bob Copeland
Land of more Lakes than Hogan has goats.

Thanks Bob. I was fixing my bicycle and teaching my friends how to fix theirs at about 8 years old. My dad had a sweet set of tools. Not really, a kid and a bicycle just needs an adjustable and a screwdriver.

Studied auto mechanics for 3 years when I was a teenager as a career option but realized it's a lot of hard physical work. Being 6'3 and bent over the hood of a car is hard on my back and getting to the ground and back up is a long way also. Now I do it as a necessity because I'm to cheap to pay somebody else to do it. I enjoy it as a hobby when I have time and I'm not in a hurry.

Here in Minnesota, the labor rate per hour is $90 for the local dealers where I take my Suzuki Burgman 400 and Vespa GTS300. There is a definite advantage to being able to do some or all of your own work.

My Canadian born Dad became a Automotive Service Manager with both
Chrysler and Ford Dealerships during his life time. He could fix anything mechanical. No apology, I can fix nothing.

I use to brake the shaft on our lawn mower on the irregular ground at our cabin in Northern Minnesota. Dad would go to the local municipal garbage dump and pick up old lawn mowers that had been thrown away. He could mechanically get everyone of them going again. I then would proceed to brake the shafts off these on rocks and large tree roots. We went through many mowers.

Not bad for a two year education in automotive mechanics from Canada in 1928.

Wrenchless in MInnesota

Bob Copeland

Ciao Bob, i see we have the same tastes for hats and i buy only Stetson.

Attila,

I suspected you were a high quality kind of guy. The Stetson line is the best.
Also, I would expect no less from an Italian Scooter Rider.

I have been influenced from the Hanna Hat company from Donegal Ireland.
I wear their 100% wool eight panel cap. This goes all the way back to
college. We would drive our old falling apart Briitish roadsters wearing these
hats. They were referred to (rather rudely) as "Catch Me #*$@* Me Hats".

Bob Copeland
Frost Bite Falls Minnesota