Modern Vespa

The new scoot has a fuel injected engine. I was protecting my carburated engine from the nasty stuff. Should I still do that?

No.

Do whatever your owner manual says. Up to 10% ethanol is ok in the gts hpe.

It's exactly as bad for your new vespa as is was for the last one.

Ethanol in fuel that gets used is perfectly fine. It’s been around and engines have been designed to accommodate it since the 1970s. Any decent vehicle will have fuel lines that are labeled alcohol-compatible - that’s because of ethanol.

Ethanol in fuel that gets old is problematic for all engines. It absorbs water vapor from the air, which turns into sludge that clogs carburetors easily, and will eventually foul fuel injectors too.

That’s all ethanol does. It doesn’t eat through gaskets, fuel lines, carburetors, or anything else. It just gets sludgy when it gets old.

So, for small engines: avoid ethanol fuel if you can (this is impossible in many areas, including the NYC metro area), stabilize your fuel with StaBil or equivalent, don’t let untreated fuel linger in the tank for more than six months or so, and drain the tank and fuel system including the carb before layups.

Same with carbs or fuel injection. Prevention is 100 times easier than dealing with a cure.

As others have said, E10 gas/ethanol blend burns fine in modern engines including modern Vespas. The problem is with E10 in storage. If your scooter spends the winter stored in the garage, or whatever, my advice would be to try to fill the tank with non-ethanol gas (rec gas) and run it long enough with that fuel to purge the carb or injector before storage.

You might get slightly better mileage with ethanol free, but if you have to pay extra or go out of your way, it eliminates the benefit.

Is ethanol that liquid that blinds you?

As long as your scooter is the only thing that drinks it you'll be fine.

It's certainly can alter your vision to make members of the opposite sex more attractive.

But methanol will blind you.
https://www.healio.com/news/ophthalmology/20120331/dr-sadun-honored-for-work-during-blindness-epidemic-in-cuba

Ahh the owners manual. That’s why I love MV because I get between the lines advice from real experience. Thanks everyone.

The manual says up to 10% ethanol and 95+ octane. I can get Rec gas but it’s lower in Octane.

I live year round in perpetual summer in SW Florida. So no periods on non-use.

That's 95 RON, the usual measure worldwide, not 95 (RON+MON)/2 as in the US. You want 91 (US) octane.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octane_rating#Measurement_methods

That’s good. We don’t have 95 octane fuel here anyway.

Leave it to the USA to use a different standard!

It also makes you think you can actually sing, too.

But yeah, you're far less likely to wind up in the hospital or morgue with ethanol...though don't rule it out. I'm good...my scooter could drink about as much ethanol as I do.

You have to be careful to park the scooter in front of a Salvation Army group ...

I happen to live by a lake so rec fuel is easily purchased. I use it exclusively in my BV350. I figure 90 octane of pure gas is better than having some ethanol for a couple of more points.