Modern Vespa

Would very much appreciate info about approximate age, model number, etc, of these Vespas. Or any advice on where I could try to track down that info. I don't have access to the serial numbers, unfortunately. Thanks very much!

Southeast Asia? Looks like a lot going on there... be afraid.

They are nearby me in the US. But I assume you mean they could be fakes?

Ok, I am feeling pretty good about my bodywork skills right now- especially the attention to the top horncast.

SEA origins, bondo already cracking. Stay away…

Thank you! I appreciate the info!

Yea, the yellow one is.. interesting to say the least. And that bondo is ready to burst. These are probably 6 or 7 scooters made into 3.

The yellow Super has an Indonesian DanMotors headset. Bondo and paint cracking, red badges... Bodgetastic to the max

EDIT: these may not be 'bodges', in the widely used sense of the word. But are atleast some roughly ridden SEA 'restoration' with untold roughness under that ?shiny? paint

I recommend reading this thread (or skimming) to get some more familiarity with warning signs of dubious restos

Bodgespotting

Info on those three.... Mo, Larry, and Curly.

Stay away - they are worthless.

I love how all you professional bodge spotters may be scaring newbies away from the hobby altogether.

What kind of comment is that?

I believe these type of posts can actually help people get into the hobby. I'd think newbies would be more likely scared away after spending thousands of dollars on a 'restored' scooter, only to find out that it was a death trap and completely devoid of value.

The OP did something very smart, asked a community of very knowledgable enthusiasts for a second opinion, before making a purchase. Wise Move indeed. Too often people come to this forum with their newly acquired vintage vespa, and are completely blown away to find out there is much more than meets the eye.

These type of question and answer posts, as well as 'deal o the day', and Bodgespotting; HELP hobbiests new and old alike. I learn something new here every single day. Sometimes the answer is far from what is wanted, but better now than to spend $5k on a rust bucket that looks shiny. The old saying goes "Buyer Beware". Unfortunatley there are many out there that are not knowledgable enough to know they are being taken advantage. I'm happy to see someone coming to this space first, looking to gain knowledge.

If you have some additional insight on the original 3 scooters in this post, please contribute. We can all learn something new.

To the OP: keep digging, learn as much as you can before making a purchase. This is the perfect forum to do just that. We're all here to help, learn, grow; and have a good time doing it. There are many on here that have vast library's of deep knowledge on Vintage Vespa's, just waiting to geek out and spill their guts on nerdy Vespa stuff. Good luck in your search.

Ummm... yeah... I’m going to go ahead and respectfully disagree with you on this point.

When I came to this site something like a decade ago, a newbie, looking for a scooter, “professional bodgespotters” saved me from a world of heartbreak.

Know what might have scared me away? Paying some grifter $5k for a bondo queen w/ a timebomb engine.

My 2 pence.

a few pictures is hardly a description at all. they may be in tip top mechanical shape, awesome riders and 500 a piece.

yet the professionals scared the dude away. really?

do you guys even know how rare these early bikes are nowadays? I live in a two million people metropolis. I own seven scooters and I ride them. in all my years riding scooters (about 25) I have seen one, count them 1, nsm vespa on the street being ridden. original orange px125 w patina.

finding one for sale that isnt grossly overpriced is about as rare here. finding an original unmolested one? forget it. doesnt happen.

then no one even asked the dude if he was mechanically inclined. that should be the no one question if someone is considering an early bike purchase.

not to mention if they were good deals they disappeared while he was asking for advice.

maybe that is a little clearer..

Depending on his location, someone here could probably connect him with a good bike or with someone who has a good bike rather than taking a chance on one of those three.

Agreed. The OP came to the right sight, and the NSM peeps are always ready to help

I wonder what these things would weigh compared to a clean factory bike. There might be twenty pounds of filler and weld and crap in one of those poor things.

Its too bad, at first glance from ten feet away that would be an exciting find.

Okay... maybe twenty feet...

~reads entire thread~

Oh yeah, those are shitty bodges.

~reads again~

Oh, you’re from Florida

(comments taken with a giant grain of salt)


Get a grip, my dude.

Man…. Fuck the fuck off. Your nonsense argument means nothing. Those are shit. You know this. We ALL know this.

ETA: you don’t even own a vintage bike, do you? i mean your profile doesn’t suggest that, so I’d suspect as much. But more over, you don’t really post here in NSM… sooo… your input is, well, less than helpful.

Oh, forgot to weigh in on price point.

$500 for all three. If you were feeling frisky maybe a smooth G

You’ll make one half assed decent bike out of them and then part the rest. Maybe.

But that’s a butt ton of work for minimal payoff. You gotta break it all down and sell some dogshit parts for pennies. And THEN you deal with the nickel dick time wasters that want those parts for free. THEN you’ve got pack it AND ship it. Pain in all nine assholes.

ANYWAY. if and, that’s a BIG if they start, run, are rideable and tagged? 1k

This considered the fact that you have mechanical ability and a space to work and are willing to part out bikes.

That is all.

how you are moderator I dont know. your attitude is not cute and certainly not professional. just plain not appropriate response.

I have owned two original unmolested bikes. 71 sport 100 with 400 original, and a px150 2005 w 8000.

drove the px a couple few weeks and coudnt personally believe what the nsm crowd was so passionate about. I am about the most talented knowledgeable mechanic about anything mechanical. I love to ride scooters. I found the old bikes just that, old. way way way too much effort to make one what I would feel would be enjoyable. and way way way too much money to accomplish.

good running px150 stock.
power: what power? way too slow. I was expecting better. my dragster 180 has it, this did not.
shifting: didnt like it at all. I would have had to move shifter to foot where it belongs in my opinion. I am fully capable of such mods.
ride quality: I was impressed, and I hadnt yet installed my new oleopneumatic Fournales shocks waiting for a project bike.

overall just not for me. way prefer technology, especially fuel injection, ride time over mod time, and dependable power.

most important for anyone who might want to own one because they look soooo much fun, they indeed may not be. its not a automatic easy to drive, and its not a shifty like motorcycles and dirt bikes. its something in between.

second most important you better be able to work on it yourself, have plenty of patience , or plenty of money. really you need all three.

in my opinion: nsm bikes are not for about 95% of the two wheel enthusiast out there for host of obvious reasons. more time and money then they are worth.

but my opinion dont matter because the boss say so. I am good with that. carry on.

"second most important you better be able to work on it yourself, have plenty of patience , or plenty of money. really you need all three."

I don't agree. The PX was made up until 2016 in some markets and mine has been very reliable and cheaper than a modern. I don't have a garage or tools or do any work on mine and it is going fine. There are plenty of places offering decent restored bikes with 10inch wheels and PX engines in them if you want a reliable shifty experience.

If you don't like the idea of hand shifting it is pretty dumb buying a shifty. Personally, I like the idea of riding the 3 styles of bikes I own: hand shifting, foot shifting and auto.

jerryd: Millions of people around the world disagree with you. You’re one of the thousands who don’t get why we love these old Vespas so much. Stick to your autos and the forums around them. Personally, I wouldn’t take advice from someone who “fooked up” his perfectly fine Fuoco to “save” weight…

As for the OP, he did the right thing to ask about those. Lots of knowledgeable peeps in here. They’re definitely SEA Vespas, probably not Vietnamese but Indo or Paki. Whatever they are though, they need to be inspected first, cause they could be death traps or huge money pits…

thats insulting post Matchlessman.

what you dont know:

I search almost daily.
these bikes took years to find
the 100 was purchased for 400
the 150 for 650

there werent local. had to travel substantial distances to get them. both stuffed in cabin of mazda 5.

knowing those particulars would have still taken the time to post your insult? I guess probably so.

edit: "I guess probably so" safis proves this. thank! you guys are a great bunch!

Hi Jerryd, Im not sure whats insulting about it, you said you've only seen one NSM vespa on the road yet you've had 2 of your own.

I've got to ask though, whats so different about Tampa that you don't seem to have oldish vespas? There seem to be old vespas posted in the deal of the day post and a lot of them are in the US.

It's interesting to me that all three of those bikes have the same badge at the top of the leg shield.... I'm not sure I've seen that one before.
And, why would anyone who is so down on vintage Vespas bother with this forum ?

Matchlessman,
you completely misunderstand the lack of scooter market most places USA. the last 2 stroke model vespa imported was 2005. and that was a one year only after a ten year absence. 1995. there were none for the years between. the last true vespa dealer of tampa folded 10 years ago. when they folded the dealership was picked up by barneys. barneys folded there vespa operation after a few years, when asked why they said we only sold like four bikes a year. there is a dealer just north of tampa. the pandemic has brought increased sales for vespas. they sell 4-6 per month and its because they cant get motorcycles to sell.

There may also be gold dubloons buried under the gas tanks. Go get em.

Why show up and try to shoulder everyone out of the way if this is your story? Half this post is deriding what everyone in this subforum is passionate about, and what the OP is presumably interested in getting involved in - and yet you claim in a prior post that we are going to turn the OP off from the hobby (which you think is borderline trash in your expert opinion)... by pointing out those bikes are clearly of SEA origins and sketchy.

You aren't being helpful.

Comments like that make it easy to pile on this dude.

I had a person ask me yesterday some questions. The conversation went like this:

"Is that a Vespa?" He asked all excitedly
"Yes it is..."

"What year?"
"1979 P200"

"Wow - do you like it?"
"Yes" - I was a bit stunned at this question cause of course I like it...

"What's the gas mileage?"
"About 60 mpg"

"Are they hard to find?"
"No, you just gotta look around. "

"Do you need a motorcycle license?"
"Most definitely"

"Who does the maintenance on it for you?"
"I do"

"But before you go any further, this is a machine that you get to shift, and that takes maintenance. I would suggest if you're interested in a Vespa Scooter, check out ModernVespa and see what interests you. It may be a modern scooter, or a vintage scooter. I'm into keeping these old machines on the road and they're not for everyone. I hate to see people buy them, decide to repaint, and take it apart, then move on."

The dude thanked me for taking the time to answer his questions and walked with a smile on his face.

I don't always take the time this way, but I could tell he was genuinely interested. Obviously not a clue at what he was looking at, but he liked the look. I do too.

And for the record - I LOVE that you get to shift, it's antiquated, and it's a piece of history that's getting me around. Fuck Yeah!

Just thought I'd share....

It's been a good long while since we've had a troll around these parts.
Funniest stuff I've read in a long while. Someone needs to go for a ride

I am used to lousy know it all attitudes on this forum. it does make it difficult to be a part of it. my feedback is certainly helpful to someone else who hadnt considered the things I spoke about, I am trying to be helpful. I have passion for mechanicals in general. and i love to watch people restore the early vespas. It may be in my future to build one. But I know me. and me would need to spend 10k minimum and hundreds of hours to end up with what i know would be fun in an early vespa. later models are just far better bang for the buck.

my mp3 is highly modified and quite likely the highest performing mp3 on the planet save somebody who turbocharged one or installed a overly heavy 850 motor in one. insult all you want I LOVE my mp3 and it was only $250 as an original purchase. doubt I have 2k in it and it is something NONE of you know it alls have ridden. 480lbs w 145lb rider.

so foook you as well. pile it on. I can speak your language too.

(Waiting for thread to be locked ……)

jerryd has been ejected from this topic

As much as I’d like to pile it on, I think ol’ Jerry took his lumps.

Sounds like a real peach and super fun at parties.

Maybe one day I can get a ride on that super rad mp3!

Ever wonder why? Talk about the skunk calling the rose stinky. Do the twist and go away.

Proud to say I have never owned an automatic vehicle.

Great story! I love interactions like this. thanks for sharing.