Modern Vespa

Not much of a difference to California. Overpopulation abounds.

My wife was dead set against me getting a motorcycle. Then about 6 years ago we were walking around the shopping district of Willow Glen in San Jose, CA when we came upon a Vespa. My wife asked why I don't get one of those. A light came on as this could be the gateway back onto a motorcycle. A few weeks later I had a scooter never thinking I would enjoy it. I begrudgingly traded it in for a motorcycle 4 years later as my wife become comfortable with me on two-wheels. By this time I was 59 years old and knew my days of throwing a leg over would not be for long and wanted one last go. I know in a few years I'll be back on a scooter until I can't ride no more.

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Oh my sweet summer child. I live in an 800 square foot apartment, compressed boxes abound here

I remember watching Quadrophenia as a teenager and riding my neighbors Honda in the mid eighties. Motorcycles never appealed to me the way that scooters did. I can't explain why, but if you're reading this, you'll understand. I visited Italy in 2013 and fell for the Vespa styling. They are works of art on two wheels. I bought my first in November as I turned 50.

Oh, I have an old friend living in Maryland (we're both ex-NYers), now riding an FJ1200, who initially gave me playful grief when I got my GTS, but now actually gets my enthusiasm for the thing. I have a semi-open invitation to ride down and visit him & family when I can; this might be the year I do it.

If your friend knows anything at all about your ride (which, in case you hadn't sussed it by now, is identical to mine), he should understand what it's about.

I never really wanted a motorcycle, and scoots were not where I was, except for an old probably Allstate my brother's buddy had. Then, at work one day a friend put an ad for a Benzhou made Schwinn 50cc Campus scoot. It was still too much, but I bought it. It was so slow it made a Metropolitan look fast, but I rode it for a year then upgraded to the SYM HD200, then the GT250.

I began riding on a 72cc, Yamaha Champ my dad bought for me in high school, then moved up to a Suzuki GN250 in college. Rode for about 10 years then took about a 20 year hiatus after getting married. When the cost of gas to fill my F150 had doubled I decided it was time to look for more economical transportation. My wife said okay to a scooter so I ended up with a Buddy 150.

Had been "Vespa Curious" forever. Broke my left wrist last year. Clutch pull on most bikes is too much for it.
Gave me the final reasoning to buy my GT 200.

Well ... I thought that only in Italy we bought scooters for practicality and low consumption but now I find that in the USA you have the same problems, here we have a view of your country still as a land of great opportunities and great waste ... maybe a point of view that overestimates you with respect to others; since I attend this forum I have seen that we have a lot in common and that, language aside, we could be excellent neighbors and share our activities easily. Certainly the Vespa and its concept unite us and bring us together in different but still useful ways. Why don't I have a Vespa? But I had it ... then you know how it is, nobody is a prophet in his homeland ... and other sensations are sought. ... oh ... I've now converted to 75 square meters ... so I'm not complaining anymore.

In their citys very crowded, lots of open space in Eastern Ca., LOTS!
Find multiple parks in Italy with 10's or 100's of thousands of acres of land.

...acres...I don't know how many hectares there are.
I understand the question but here we are 40 millions of people on a very small surface with few plains.

I bought my first one new in 1984 a honda reflex . I was hooked now I am trying to get down to 1 scooter 1 fast bike 1 trail bike n 2 trials bikes . I have had scooters ever since 1984 but the BV350 is easiestly yje best I have ever had , just a great scooter .

Sdscooterista does not live in Eastern California.

Neither do you and you were the one I was replying too. You said Ca is over populated and and I just pointed out, that depends on where you are in one of the larger states. East side isn't very crowded.

A old man's wife around the corner offered me this 2006 Fly 150 w/ 2134 miles on it for $900 how could I say No

My 3rd grade teacher and her husband had an old Vespa under a tarp on the side of their house. They lived in the same neighborhood that I did, and when I got older, I picked up the local paper route. The tarp finally succumbed to the elements in '87 and I saw the bike.

She was a very faded blue '64 VBB with two white racing stripes on the legshield, a single saddle with a pillion pad and a rear luggage rack with a spare tire. They had their initials spelled out in nautical flags on either side of the tank. I'd never even thought about motorcycle before, but this uncovered gem captivated me.

My teacher had passed from cancer at that time and her husband was feeling sentimental, so he wasn't interested in selling it. I kept delivering the paper and dreaming about that mysterious blue machine. That Christmas, Mr. Andrews gave me that Vespa as a holiday tip.

I spent forever cleaning and fiddling with that machine. I'd worked on lawnmowers before and knew something about engines but there was no Internet. I made a lot of calls to Vespa of Chicago to get a Haynes manual, a parts diagram box and lots of bits and pieces. I fiddled with that machine through the winter and spring, and finally got it to run in '88. I still remember the high of tootling around my neighborhood at 20mph on that tired old VBB.

My father eventually decided I would kill myself on it and made me sell it. I remember the fellow had a few Vespas of his own, he came by to check out my VBB on a beautiful white 180SS. A deal was struck and my blue VBB left my life...

The fire that Vespa lit didn't subside. I found several old bikes in a local junkyard and smuggled them home, hiding them behind the back fence in the woods under an old canvas tarp.

The first was a green '78 Puch Maxi. Got it running perfectly and rode dirty across town to my buddy's house. When we came back out to ride it, the moped had been stolen. Never saw it again.

The next was a '67 Bridgestone Surfrider 7. I fixed that and when I went to college, dismantled it and shipped it to school in a bike box and about a half dozen UPS packages. It took a while for all the packages to show up. I assembled it in my second story dorm room and used it to buzz around the college town until I returned home. Bought it for $20, sold it for $100. I miss that machine.

Back home, I found another Vespa that I bought with that $100. I didn't realize what I had at the time, but I now know it to be a '74 Rally 200. The Rally was battered, rusted through the floorboards and had been painted red, white and black with a paintbrush. I used it to commute to work for awhile, riding dirty (didn't have an M endorsement), even in the snow. The Rally went away when my sister tried to show it off to her then-beau and crashed it, scarring herself in the process.

My father again saw I really was stuck on this two-wheel thing and helped me source a beautiful silver '85 Puch Maxi with 100 miles on it through one of his co-workers. I rode that little machine all over the Northeast before moving down South with the family. I sold it in Alabama to a friend's dad for $100, with a hair under 10K miles on the odometer. Where we lived, there weren't any "safe" roads to ride into town on. I'd gotten into Volkswagens and building engines, so the two-wheelers went by the wayside.

Ten year later, I moved to Arizona. Three years later, a coworker gave me a basketcase Honda Express SR. Another friend found me a beat-up '87 Elite 80. Then I met the Go-Go-Rillas and the Sky Island Riders. Then I got my first P200, a survivor that I had to rebuild after 300 miles. The rest is just a downward spiral into scooter life...