Modern Vespa

My mom hated motorcycles worse than anything else, and when we moved to AL in '68, all the kids had 'em. You were ostensibly limited to 5 BHP, but Honda 90's were all the rage among the 14-16 set. I rode all of my friends bikes, occasionally caught hell from mom, but not enough to kill my dream. After 40 years, two kids, and the rest of adulthood basically covered, I decided to get a Vespa. I had been to Italy and saw how much fun I was missing out on, so I convinced my wife that a scooter was just the thing. My mom was gone, but my wife shared her disdain for PTWs. When the Vespa shop opened in Lexington KY, I bought the GTS 250 Super that was calling out to me. The Vespa shop has been closed for a few years, but I'm still married and I still have my beautiful Vespa.

I suppose the bottom line for me is that I've spent my entire adult life (and a good deal of my youth) on two wheels, with and without an engine. A quest for a driver's license got waylaid by a serious car accident (as a passenger) at age 16, leaving me more-or-less physically intact but with a somewhat-bizarre PTSD that made being behind the wheel intensely stressful-I might have set some sort of record for failed road tests had I not thrown in the towel soon enough. Paradoxically, this disorder did not extend to motorcycles...in fact, to the utter dismay and confusion of family and (a few) friends, I felt far safer and self-confident dodging trees and jumping rocks on a dirt bike than I could ever feel piloting a car of any size. As soon as New York State made acquiring a MC license wholly separate from a driver's license, I plotted to get my license, and got far enough to convince my Dad to help in putting a deposit on a new Yamaha XT500. It was 1977, and it looked like the stars were aligning. And then, while away on vacation, Dad suffered a massive heart attack and died instantly. Everything, including this plan, fell apart.

My pedal-powered existence, however, picked up again: friends think it was because of my father's very-sudden passing, and paranoia about my health (even though I was almost skinny as a rail and he was not only seriously obese, but sedentary to a fault, with various ailments to show for it). Bicycles, plain and (very) fancy, would set the tone for my transport needs and wants from then to very close to the present, but I never forgot about motos: I had subscriptions to Cycle, Cycle World, Motorcyclist and even Dirt Bike for quite a while.

The linchpin for getting back on something engine-powered came when I met future Le Wife, Ann, a fellow Brooklynite just retiring from her teaching job less than two years into our relationship. She announced that she'd had it with Gotham, was moving to New Jersey, and said, slyly, "you in or out?" (Well, words to that effect, anyway.) I replied with words to the effect of "I guess I'm in." That's when it hit me: pedaling, nice as it was, wasn't going to cut it anymore: I needed motorizin'. A quick scan of bikes, routes and traffic patterns told me that a near-perfect machine to settle on was a late-model Suzuki SV650-neither boring nor fire-spitting, and with a decent track record for bombproof reliability.

I proudly announced my plan: take a decades-overdue stab at my MC license, then hunt down a good buy on a cool-but-mild-mannered motorcycle.

She pauses, then says: "You had me until you said motorcycle."

I explain my history re: cars vs. bikes. She takes that in, and seems to mostly understand and sympathize. Then she says, "Couldn't you go for something more like...maybe a scooter?"

I'll admit it: for a second or two I made the Man Face. (She won't make me forget that, among a few other funny things that happened on the way to the altar.) Then I remembered: I actually did like scooters as a kid, Vespas most of all. I quickly agreed to the change in rides, with the proviso that I had carte blanche over which scooter I chose. And the choice came about quickly, just by observing riders in and around Gotham: A GTS. Originally, it was going to be a used 250 or 300, but as mentioned in a few other threads here on MV, good used examples were very thin on the ground at the time. Future Le Wife, who likely thought getting a new one was a better idea anyway, said "sign your life away to me, babe...we're getting you a new one, less of a hassle."

And, thus, Melody.

Four-years-and-change later, I have to say: since getting this bike, I have yet to actually miss the idea of getting a bigger bike. This one takes me literally anyplace I care to go, even as the map gets longer and wider by the year. 85mph ("full afterburner" in Vespa-speak) is incredibly satisfying on the occasions I choose to so indulge, which isn't crazy-often, since the thing is lovely at most any speed, which can't often be said for bigger rides. As my singular means of personal motorized transport, it makes more sense to me that just about anything else. (I'm about to create another thread explaining why.) I love the thing as much as the day I rode it home from the dealer -possibly more.

Amazing how "detours" get you where you ultimately needed to go.

In 2016, at the tender age of 40 years old, my buddy took the MCSF beginning rider's course and started restoring/riding a 1976 Honda 400 motorcycle. I was also having a midlife crisis, and I thought riding would be fun, but I don't do clutches. Automatic motorcycles are more expensive than scooters and scooters depreciate very quickly in Connecticut. So, I bought a used 2009 Yamaha Vino 125 (with less than 400 miles) for $1300, and a few months later I took the MCSF course to earn my MC endorsement. Shortly thereafter, I found a great deal on my current ride, a 2015 GTS 300 (just over 400 miles for $4000). My motorcycle-riding buddy still teases me for riding a scooter... His custom voicemail message for me (I'm a straight married male) is: "Hey, Schuman. Are you out on a scooter ride with your boyfriend? Aww - that's so cute. Leave a message."

I started riding Cushman in 1959 at age 13. Then bought a new Triumph cycle in 1969, and still have it.

Have 5 old Triumphs, 3 Scarabeo 500ie's, 2 Scarabeo 150's and a Genuine Buddy 125 now.

Wifey has a Honda 49cc Metro.

How many does anyone need? Don't answer that

I got my first motorcycle at age 14 in 1967 - a clapped out Honda 150 Dream. But, for a poor kid with a job, it represented freedom. 25 motorcycles later (mostly big road bikes: Harleys, Goldwings, and a couple BMWs), a deteriorating hip, making throwing a leg over a bike painful, I was about ready to be done riding. My wife (we were high school sweethearts - I taught her to ride when she was 16, on the 650 Triumph I had by that point) suggested we look at a couple scooters. I scoffed. As always, she was right.

I bought us a couple new Honda PCX 150s (in 2013). I laughed that I had come "full circle", starting on a Honda 150, and ending up with a Honda 150. In 2018, I was wanting something with a bit more top speed, for the occasional highway jaunt... I looked at new Vespas. We were in Arizona at the time, and the two dealers there I visited with acted like any scooter was barely worth their time. By this point, we were thoroughly enjoying our scooter experience - we hauled them behind our motorhome, riding in all kinds of great places. Those dealers almost turned me off to a Vespa.

At our home area in deep south Texas, there isn't anything close to a "scooter culture." I saw an ad on Craigslist for a GTS 250 just 40 miles away. It was immaculate, and I bought it. The hip was getting worse, but the Vespa was easier to mount than the PCX. I was hooked.

At the end of April last year, I had a hip replacement. That surgeon told me I was "done riding - too dangerous." I got back on the Vespa about 7 weeks after the surgery. Just over 8 months in now, I can throw a leg over all but the tallest motorcycles... doesn't matter, because I am hooked on my Vespa. My wife swapped off her PCX for a Yamaha Xmax 3 months ago (the Vespa styling doesn't do it for her)... now we can both ride any road we want with our capable scoots.

She has had sport bikes, a Goldwing, and a Harley. I was surprised when she suggested a scooter, but she knew my desire to ride would be satisfied by something small and easy, as long as we both had the same thing. She waited to upsize from her PCX until it was clear that I wasn't looking for another motorcycle after the hip replacement.

I have to admit that when I was riding big bikes, I thought scooters were for "in town use and for people who couldn't handle a motorcycle." I was wrong. I thoroughly enjoyed the PCX; it was peppy and easy. I really felt it was "just enough"... for about 5 years. I still have a soft spot in my heart for that PCX - it showed me just how capable a small scooter can be. Our days of coast to coast riding are behind us, but we still enjoy tearing through the twisties. After getting the Xmax, my wife asked if I was ready for something new... nope, I am quite satisfied with my GTS. I have added things to make it more comfortable for whatever distance we want to ride: a Corbin seat, top case, a windshield with a Laminar Lip, USB connection for my phone (on a Quad Lock).

So, it was a deteriorating hip that got me into scooters, but now with a new hip, I have learned to appreciate the ease and convenience and have no desire to switch back to a motorcycle. I can't believe it took me this long to "get it."

My late wife wanted to get a scooter to go back and forth to work. I opted for something Chinese figuring she would want something bigger pretty soon and didn't want to sink a lot into a stepping stone. She got the bug for a bike after only three weeks and got the Rebel. We kept the scooter as a spare.

I tried it a couple of times and thought it had potential. I thought something bigger would be interesting and had a brief, unsuccessful run on a Big Ruckus. It was more like a motorcycle without the advantages and like a scooter without the advantages. I bought the Fashion after getting rid of the BR and have enjoyed it since.

BUT, I ventured on the Rebel one day and realized I needed a bike in my life. The big Kawasaki and 250 Nighthawk are excellent partners with the scooter.

Great stories and memories everybody, really enjoying reading them all. As a kid, I was forbidden from most anything close to a scooter, go cart ect. My adoptive mother was a ER nurse, and if she had anything to do with it, I was not going to end up there. I got into riding scooters about the same time as I was diagnosed at 37 as being on the autism spectrum. I tried motorcycles and can shift if need be but prefer my automatic. I do plan to get a shifty scooter as a second ride(hopefully and will probably be a cheap Stella to tinker with) as I love going old school. I struggle with executive functioning skills and have my whole life, the scooter is easier for me to "process" and enjoy riding. Mike

Couldn't help noticing the background: "Republicans for Voldemort"?

Oh, that...my friend in downtown AP having a bit of a political grudge-match with his neighbor to the left (geographically-speaking). And in the name of MV peace, love and harmony, this is all I'm sayin' about that.

I come from a road bicycling background doing local group rides of 15 miles/day.

I had researched sand rails and kit cars. States are banning the registration of kit cars. Which got me into convertibles. But the insurance rates seem wasteful when it is a second car I occassionally drive. Which brings me to motorcycles. A convertible with low insurance rates.

I didn't like shifting manual transmission in city traffic. So I wanted a scooter.
But I needed at least 300 cc for the momentary freeway rides. I chose the Vespa 300 because it had all the atributes with the agility of a bicycle and the visiblity of no front fairing.

I was into anything two wheeled for as long as I can remember. My first memory: I liberated a bicycle from a neighborhood kid to teach myself how to ride before I was in grade school (yeah, also got in trouble for that) and have been on two wheels ever since.

I rode a variety of enduros and street bikes long before getting my first car, but never thought I would like scooters, though I had friends and relatives with Vespas (which I never tried out). After moving to New York I gave up on motorcycles for many years, as New York City isn't all that motorcycle friendly compared to places I had lived in before and I needed family transportation on top of that.

Then came a scooter rental in the Caribbean a while back, I meant to rent a larger motorcycle but the place had primarily 150cc scooters. Unexpectedly I had tons of fun riding a scooter in and out of town. That's when I realized how much can be transported on a scooter with ease, how practical they are and how very awesome it is to ride one. I have been into scooters ever since and will get a 2020 GTS soon.

It's true, I hadn't seen it ...
Censorship!
Instead I like the Jeep in the background, HD looks like a whale beached compared to the Vespa.

I'd been riding dirt bikes and fooling around on two wheels for ages-racing them, crashing them, building them. You know the usual.

One time, late in the evening I found myself in Montmartre at a tiny local bar.

There was a record player. There was old school country music. There was a fetching barkeep. The beer was, to a word, forgettable.

However, later there was an early 70's sprint... and a terrifying ride, and directions shouted in broken English and quite direct French which I did not understand one bit. And then a disco. And then breakfast. And then more directions shouted into my ear as I piloted a clapped out Vespa thru the streets of Paris.

I don't think I slept for three days.

So, basically, girls and Johnny Cash got me into scooters.

My love of odd 80's bikes, however, cannot be explained.

-g

I got into scooters just recently here in Jakarta, Indonesia. I'm an American living abroad and I rent scooters whenever I can when I travel (Greece, Vietnam, Thailand, Sri Lanka, etc.). One of my dreams about living overseas, believe it or not, was to live somewhere where I could buy my own scooter/motorcycle and ride it somewhat safely - meaning others on the road would look out for me and I could travel the same speed as other traffic.

I recently got my motorcycle license here and I've been looking for scooters for a month or two. A friend has a VBB and convinced me to look for a Vespa. The reason I want one is to stand out from all the other Yamahas and Hondas on the road - I see them as "appliances" to get you from A to B. They are convenient and still fun, but to me a little boring. I drive a manual Mustang at home, so I wanted to shift my scooter manually as well. I like that added interactivity.

It's interesting to see which Vespa models are available in Indonesia (and which aren't). Prices are much lower than in the States or Europe. I love the look of the pre-1978 Sprints but the 6V electricity and older age don't appeal to me. I want something that I won't have to worry too much about mechanically and has some modern features, and isn't priced too high. Therefore, the PX series is calling to me. I suppose I could always fit a Sprint or even a VBB with a more modern engine but I don't know how much that would be. Off to do more research...

Welcome to the forum. You can't go wrong with a PX!

Greasy's story made me think.

Scoots... girls... that rang a bell.

I just knew I have a photo somewhere.... and I did!

Unfortunately this was not a Vespa, just a cheap clone.
Somewhere warm... a holiday.... taken by the girl, me in my riding gear at the time, trying to look cool 8) The hat spoils that effect a bit, but I remember having a bad case of sunburn

This was quite some years/ decades ago....

you sure that's not a Vespa?

There's so much I love about this pic.

The pecs. The shorts. The sandals. ALL OF IT.

but yeah, probably a V50, maybe a early 90. You could probably run faster than either. Torador pants appropriate in terms of riding gear. Sometimes scars make the best stories or conversation starters!

Solid work my friend.

-g

i love any kind motorized two wheel toy (or any motorized wheeled/ski/water toy for that matter)...had a moped when i had my drivers permit that was ridden on and off road...wanted a motorcycle but only got my license and into motorcycles after college...then had a baby and didn't have time to ride far on motorcycles so i sold them and bought a riding lawnmower and a scooter to rip around town on and very glad i did cause it's fun...although i wish for more power while still keeping the light weight nimble feeling

Point ... sorry if i allow myself but ... the important thing is to have faith and you have it, it shows. The rest comes alone or will come ...

thanks Attila ...'03-'17 i enjoyed the having multiple motorcycles...once my daughter gets older i'll be able to get more toys again...for now i'll enjoy what i have...but if i come across a used vespa for a good price i may sell the buddy and hop on it...but after finally owning a scooter i doubt i will ever not have one, they are too fun...but i may add another motorcycle at some point...i try to clean out the excess stuff i have collected through selling on craigslist so i can recover some money for stuff i no longer need which gives me some play/toy money but if i don't have time for the toys then i sell them rather than hang onto them...may as well let someone else enjoy them instead of maintaining and storing something i barely am able to use...i can always buy another down the line sometime anyway

It sounds like you did a lot of riding, though.

OMG, did I just write that?

^^^Babe magnet.

California is a big place. Where I am from I could go for an entire year without seeing another scooter.

I got into scooters after I visited the UK in 1997, but didn't buy one (and only) until 2007.

so my story is a bit boring. always wanted a PTW but one thing or another and I never got one. Move up in life, I am married, have a wife and 2 kids and my wife is so worried will get a PTW and kill myself. Finally the kids are all grown up, on their own, I took up scuba diving and she finally accepts that I have an interest in PTW. So took the motorcycle course and passed and started looking for a motorcycle. Did not mind changing gears as drove a stick for many years. So while I am looking for a motorcycle she finds an article about Vespas and sends it to me. I start researching and sort of fall in Love with the Vespa. Go to a few dealers and fell in love. Took the intermediate motorcycle course and realized that I really don't like changing gears. Test drove the Vespa, a small one, and a large one. Loved it, got the large one and the rest is history. I may get a larger scooter BMW, etc but love the scooter concept, I am hooked.

For me, I always was a car hobbyist kind of guy. I had old Fiat Spyders, a Ford Falcon (63) and a Chevy Corvair (64 convertible). Not exotic stuff, just something to wrench on. I sold my Corvair before a cross country move and had nothing going on wrenching wise when we did a trip to San Francisco and I saw the scooters everywhere. I had never ridden any motorcycles/scooters in my whole life but I thought maybe there was something to this and I could do an old scooter and get that wrenching fix in more simply. I looked into it and found the Rovers scooter club in Detroit where I was living. Rover Eric (some of you will find that name familiar) gave me the what's up and got me introduced to the vintage scooter scene. I picked up a Serveta which needed more work than I knew and got into it. It's been a good time. I was surprised to find my wife supportive of it, but she's been good about my addiction. Since then I've tried a Honda Rebel, a P200, a Ninja 250, a Primavera, and now a GTS. Anything on 2 wheels is generally a good time.

where'd this be in California, exactly?

A super 300 tried to drag race me just during lunch.

Right in the middle somewhere. It's about 100 miles to the nearest Vespa "dealer", but they're really a BMW/Ducati dealer.

Your honor, first of all *allegedly*

second of all I have no idea what you're talking about.

-g

Yes you said that! Now I'm going to go back to my corner. The modern corner.

Back about 1974, my neighborhood buddy turned 16 and got a job leaving his sister home alone all day. Immediately thereafter, a boy started coming to visit her on his Honda 50 Cub. He was happy to toss me the key so that they could be alone. For a couple of months that summer I had use of the Cub and took full advantage to cruise our town.

Fast forward to 2018. I was looking in Craig's List for parts for my Farmall Cub and up pops an add for a 1965 Honda 50 Cub just like the one from my youth. I called and bought it - non-running. It was otherwise a perfect time capsule, less than 1200 miles, unscratched and perfect in every way. I rebuilt the carb and it fired right up.

So I am riding this bike and having as much fun as you can at 40MPH when I start thinking. The brakes are 53 years old. Even though the tires still have the little nobbies on them, they are 53 years old. 40MPH suddenly seemed very fast.

When buying a spark plug at the Honda dealer I saw 2017 Metropolitan and bought it. Lots of fun. Same top speed. But I wanted to ride two up sometimes with my wife.

In the spring of 2019 I started to looking for a 2019 Honda Cub C125. Found one a couple hours away from my house. Added a pillion and footpegs and I was set. Rode all summer. I realized that I really liked the 125 over the 50cc but I liked the step through and cargo space of a scooter.

Fall of 2019 I decided to get another scooter. I landed on a 2019 Primavera 150 Touring. This checked all the boxes. It has enough engine for me. Plenty of storage and at 150cc's I can park it on the sidewalk when I go into town.

Can't wait for winter to break and to get back on the road.

Thanks,
ChrisFromCLE

I work with concepts all day long and love to get my hands working on something mechanical. Besides I have 3 daughters and a wife and with all that estrogen I really appreciated an excuse to get out in the garage and have a project.
Was into older german turbocharged cars for a long time buying them abused and getting them running in fine shape. When the second went to college I had to sell my last project to take advantage of the rising prices for college and am now priced out. No more Porsche projects for me besides my driver for now but I had been going to Rome for work and saw rows and rows of scooters that got me thinking.

Then my brother gets 2 06 LS150's on a lark for his vacation house and we had a hoot last summer riding them around and keeping them running.
I see a very cheap and very abused 07 LX50 that would be perfect for one of my girls who is moving off campus next year to commute so the stars aligned to get me into Vespa's I guess

The Lakewood half-pipe was too far away to ride your bike from my house, but my oldest brother had a friend, Brad More, that had a Vespa (Blue P-series) with a DK sticker on the right cowl. He gave me ride to the half-pipe on the back of that P. I had to hold the skateboards and basically clench the cowls with my knees to hold on as we traversed down 1960, one of Houston's busiest roads at the time.

I recall a jam-box on the floorboard heavy with D batteries playing Stiff Little Fingers. Perfect day. Fell in love with Vespas and SLF and skated some decent vert.

Later... 5 or 6 years I had college neighbor that let me borrow his P125 as I didn't have a car. (I think it was actually his landlords and just stored in the garage.) No front brakes and no working lights IIRC. Got me through a semester. Good times.

I can completely relate to that. I rode my first scooter when I was in Hawaii 15 years ago. It was a Chinese Maxi scooter but boy it went really fast. I rode it for 5 days on Oahu when I fell in love with the feeling. I came back home and promptly bought my first Vespa.🤠

... and what exactly did you think ..?

This post was not quite
What we were hoping to see
Try again, perhaps?

Its funny though, I never really "saw" any of the scooters here until I started working towards getting one of my own. Now I see them constantly. And I know that many people in San Diego did not buy a scooter overnight. Now I rarely go a day without seeing one. So many kinds here I can never identify unless one is parked or we pull up alongside.

I have a scar on my knee. The story behind it starts, "so I was sitting at my computer..."

... ah California ... you americans dream of a trip to Italy and we italians dream of going to California, especially those who have a motorcycle but now also a scooter ... ... here everything is so tight and with little space, we are all compressed as in a box.