Modern Vespa

Wow that is awesome did not know thanks!

I installed a new LED Flasher today along with LED bulbs for the turn signals and the tail light. What a difference! Thanks qascooter for the suggestion.

" It won't change the spring rate. "


Excellent info !

Electronic flasher made a big difference in mine even with a standard bulb. I was curious and tried it with a standard bulb first.

I seem to recall reading that the mixture screw in the back of the carb affects only the idle speed, is that correct?

If so, I'm thinking that I should be focusing on the main jet for the proper performance. Right now I'm running rich with a 120 jet so I will be working my way down to smaller sizes. Spermy has a stock top end with an SIP Road One exhaust.

Well that was a surprise!

I took Spermy out for a test run yesterday and all was looking and sounding good as I was running probably 50-60 mph (the speedometer is next week's project) when all of a sudden I heard that awful sound of the engine shutting down... slowly as if the throttle was twisted to Idle, not suddenly, as with a sieze. I drifted over to the side of the road, found a shady spot (94 degrees in Fresno at that time), opened up the carb box and found that the hook from the carb slide had slipped out of the female linkage in the carb box. Fortunately, I had my 11mm socket wrench with me and was able to loosen the carb nuts enough to lift the carb up and drop the hook back into the linkage.

When I took it all apart later, I found that the hook rod had at one time been bent and then straightened, but not straightened well. As a result, the hook slid into the linkage at an angle that wasn't tight enough to hold it in place. I replaced it with a hook rod from an old carb and now all is well.

I love it - I had the same thing happen to me - out in no-mans-land along the coast. I used the glovebox leatherman to give a little crook to the hook. Now when I'm twisting the throttle to WOT, I don't twist too hard when I hit the limit...

I'm glad things are running for you!

I'm still concerned about my jetting. Since I was getting a black plug using my 120 main jet, (see my 10/14 post) I have been using smaller and smaller jets until now I'm down to a 112 but my plug is still looking sooty.

My next jet is 109 but I'm afraid that that may be too lean and I'll damage my piston. For that matter, I'm nervous about running the 112.

I'm running a stock top end with an SIP Road 1 exhaust... does anyone have any opinions on a 109 jet?

Thanks QAscooter. Yes, I have a tool kit with (nearly) everything for a roadside emergency, however it is currently in my other scooter. I'm still tinkering with Spermy and haven't officially made him my Primary Ride so I haven't yet transferred all the accessories from the old to the new. Maybe it's time to do that.

Normal jetting for a P200 with 24/24 carb is a 160/BE3/116 MJ. With the aftermarket exhaust I'd add 4 to the MJ and go with a 120. Since you live in 100*F temps I'd even go to a 122.

Black sooty plugs are a good thing!

Is that a wide open throttle run, plug chop check? If not you maybe rich in other areas of the throttle and not WOT. Main jet is responsible for the last 3/4 or so of the throttle.

Black and sooty is good? I didn't know that, I thought plugs were supposed to be brownish but I'm happy to know that I'm not running rich. Thanks MJRally

I'm going to go back to 120 or 122 since that 112 really worries me.

No, I haven't done a proper plug chop... I've just been doing my normal riding around and examining the plug after that. I supposed I should do it correctly soon.

I've been running a 128 main in my stock P2 and a ( Sito+, drilled air filter). It's a bit on the rich side during the hot temps during the summertime, but come Fall when the temp drops it's pretty much spot on. I'm pretty much always on the highway, so my rich jetting has suited me fairly well. I don't know if anyone else running as rich as me though for a stock engine. Usually most are around a 122 to 125 main.

Black and sooty is not the ideal colour. What are the other parts of the main stack? Might have alternate P200 jetting.

My main stack has a 160 on top, a BE3 in the middle, and now a 120 jet on the bottom. Should I change any of those?

I had a good test run today!

I did about 15 miles and nothing broke, nothing stopped working and nothing fell off... and I got up to 62 MPH, which is plenty fast for me. All in all, that adds up to a pretty good day.

Next step is replacing the steering column lock and then pulling the front fork to find out why there is a hitch when I turn the handlebar. Both will be new experiences for me.

160 BE3 120 is near enough traditional P200 jetting. This should not be black and sooty when running a SIP exhaust. Something is wrong and first guess would be the old SIP exhaust is slightly blocked.

Hmmm, ok, I can look at the exhaust and maybe BBQ it. I know that most people have the SIP Road 2, but mine is the SIP Road 1

Spermy has the blue tail light and my other scooter has the red one. They are both supposed to be 1980 P200s. Can anyone tell me why there are two different lights for the same model?

Tail light on blue scooter is original US spec tail light, some refer to as 'tractor light'. Red scooter is Euro style tail light. My guess is someone prior to you owning the bike changed out the red scooter's tail light for a Euro one. Easy swap that some people do for different aesthetics.

Hope this helps.

Notice how the red scooter's light seems to fit? Like it was designed for the P range scooter by the same guy.
There are now more than a few versions of the euro light but the red scooter's one is the Italian original.

Ok, so it's just a matter of personal preference and I like them both so I'm good. Thanks for the explanation.

I'm going to be selling the red P200 on Craigslist, and here on the forum, next week so I hope whoever buys it likes the euro version.

delayed reply

Huh?

Well thar's your problem!

Spermy has been running well but the speedometer has been way off. At 60 mph by GPS the speedometer shows only 40-45 so I sent it off to Steve at Speedometer King.

I'd not dealt with him before, but I was really impressed with his service. He actually called me to give me an update and to tell me that there might be a problem with the worm gear on the front wheel. That was new territory for me so he walked me through the process of removing the gear and checking it out. The pics show that he was right.

That's great Fatbear these are the kind of corrections that make owning Vespa so satisfying. I removed my earlier reply had noticed I was late and unnecessary.

It's time to replace my worn our roll bag and I had been looking at some of the leather options available on line, but then I found this old leather camera bag at a garage sale. At 5 bucks, it should work just fine.

Wow, that bag is AWESOME! Good find!

Damn!

It was a nice day today so I took Spermy for a run and was disappointed that I could only get to 59mph. I really wanted to hit that 60 mark and I know that the 59 is accurate because according to GPS, my speedometer is right on target after Steve at Speedo King recalibrated it for me.

I guess in order to hit 60 I'm going to have to buy a new top end or lose weight... I wonder how much a new top end will cost.

Maybe try o tuning, that'll open the cylinder up a bit, nothing to lose if your looking at buying a top end anyway. If your interested in splitting the cases, A 60mm, with a factory P200 top end, creating a 208 motor seems to work.

https://youtu.be/QUJ9QSi7tJU

Yesterday I bought a couple of 18 inch magnetic bars so I could hang up some tools but they were too wide to fit in my carry case.

One more advantage of having a scooter with an all-metal body.


Too Big

Problem Solved

Thanks Christopher. Good video and a good option.

But a good running stock 200 (with a Sito+ and a 24/24 carb) should be able to get pretty close to 70mph (if not 70+) on a flat road if there's zero headwind.

70?? Wow!

I've never been that fast on two wheels... nor do I really want to be. I'd like to get into the low 60s though as I did on my last P200. It had a stock top end slightly ported by Hotrod Al and a Road 1 exhaust both of which I moved over to Spermy. 24/24 carbs on both.

I wonder if a Road 2 exhaust or a Sito+ or some other exhaust would make a noticeable difference.

One problem is that I weigh 225 which makes any P200 have to work hard to move my fat ass around.

What's good way to freshen up the rubber in the floor rails? ArmorAll?

303 Aerospace

For want of a nail...

For more than a month I had been looking forward to riding in the Tiny Mountain Ride being put on by local enthusiasts, Erik Swanson and Friends. It took place yesterday and in preparation, I had done all the things I was supposed to do. I filled up with gas, oil and air and I checked all the things that might break, leak or otherwise fail... all except for the clutch cable.

Sure enough, we left Clovis (Fresno) heading for the Central California foothills when less than ten miles out of town, my clutch started "feeling funny".. The amount of play in the clutch lever suddenly increased dramatically so that the clutch wouldn't engage until the lever had traveled more than halfway along it's track. I considered trying to baby the clutch through the next 100 miles, but I have been stranded with clutch troubles three times in the past and I didn't want to go for a Grand Slam. For that reason, at the next intersection 24 riders turned right towards the foothills and one turned left back to Fresno.

Today I checked things out and found that all it was was a loose clamp. Apparently the clamp on the clutch cable had loosened enough so that it moved back down the cable far enough to create too much slack in the line and screw up the clutch operation. I've never heard of that happening before so I'm a little concerned that some other problem, perhaps in the clutch itself, caused that clamp to move and that it's going to come back and bite me in the ass when I least expect it.

For now, I've re-positioned the clamp and tightened it down AND I'm going to add a second clamp behind it just if case. Then I'll keep my fingers crossed.

What really annoys me is that I didn't think to precheck the clutch cable. If I had, I probably would have caught the loose clamp, tightened it and enjoyed the Tiny Mountain Ride. Instead, I didn't get to go and all for the want of a nail.


About 25 us left Clovis... 24 returned.

Bummer LuckyBear - that's not very lucky though.

I've had the same thing happen to me a few times. Now I make sure I use both a 7mm and 8mm to tighten them up, and that they have the little thing in the bottom of them to tighten the cable against. I think every order I place I get a few....

I'm glad you got it fixed!

If I wanted to replace Spermy's stock clutch (1980 P200) with a new Cosa clutch, is that a straight swap or would I have to make any modifications?

I believe the only modifications will be grinding down the clutch cover. The oil channel at the top of the cover will press/rub against the clutch. They make a aluminum spacer but I've experienced leaks with it. Probably better to grind the aluminum cover and leave the clutch alone.