Modern Vespa

Reminds me of the song "27 Jennifers"!

867-5309

ray, that's clearly a Yenny not a Jenny, Jenni or Jennee

My wife's name is also Jennifer (not one of the afore-mentioned three) and that was her Twitter handle for a long time.

that's quite the side journey prompted by greasy's multiple girlfriend comment

i'm still on the fence on if I want to give up my Malossi 166 kit in order to move this thing or whether a 150 top end is enough to change any minds vs. the 125 top end on there. based on feels, the 125 and the 150 top ends are so close. in fact scooterhelp has them both at 7.5hp. but the buying crowd might just be looking at 150 > 125. Maybe the Malossi 166 is so old tech vs. the new ones that I should? I got it in the trade and even the piston was free as a mule fee for grabbing parts for mjrally. But it's still a kit in hand that I could use on a future build.

If selling and the 150 is a PX (not LML) cylinder, I would definitely fit that one.

If PX, the 150 head you have has a big lip on it. Sand off the head lip as much as possible (belt sander saves time). Whatever is taken off the head, add onto a base packer. Squish 1.5mm. Do some calculations and raise the exhaust port (a tiny amount usually). Then for little work, you will have a 150 that is nearly as quick as the bolt on 166.
Timing as stock. Carb, euro PX150 jetting, with slightly more on the main.

PX fender looks good. I missed the lower lip a bit on the front. Not sure what my easiest thing to do is there. I'm thinking to mask it off later and give a quick scuff only at the lip and just shoot some clear on the lip only, for protection. Or perhaps shoot some paint on a tray and use an artist brush to touch it up with masking off the rest. Or maybe just let it go. It's not a very visible spot.

this sounds like what i'd do for me, but I doubt the prospective buyer gets the value. usually their eyes glaze over and they get scared if you bring out the tuning talk. honestly a dr180 is probably the ideal answer for most buyers, but why am I going to pay out money to do what they can do?

Some things:

Form a shop towel to make a tip, spray the tip and dab.
Or just use a sharpie

Still think the gloomy weather is the #1 why. That's a nice bike at a nice price as it is.

Don't mention reduction in price in any listing.

Ride it more. Put some more miles on it.
Don't "feel" like you're anxious to move on, even if you are
Buyers can sense it.
It's money in the bank, really. These bikes aren't going to get any cheaper.

5) Hope they're not following this thread

Vbb fender after last coat of clear. No runs, a few bits of dirt. I had to move my cardboard box to a dirt area because there are no clouds today. But I think the dirt comes from the fact that the wind is up today. 🤷‍♂️

Yeah I hear you - I'm going to not renew the CL ad nor repost anywhere for a while. I'm going to probably pull the FB marketplace ad and start over later (maybe a month or two from now).

I will have to put some miles on it. In the meantime, I will go ahead with work I can do on the VBB without assembling it. I can paint the 'nam cowls I have, the headset, the tank top, etc. I can build the fork. The motor is already done. I can do a lot of work on the bits so that later it's easier to put it together and have it go together quicker.

Love the shop towel idea, it's perfect for what the repair area needs.

Don't tell anyone. Tuning anything reduces value. Even if you spent a few k on it. And did the best ever job.

PX150 with no tuning is not worth the work of the changeover.

perfect. then that's settled, will not be bothering with 150 top end. either Malossi or stay with 125.

Not bad

Should I choose SEA VBB headset or vba with multiple layers of paint, probably not SEA? Looks like Allstate red under the gray. I have a speedo for each. What do I need to look out for?

the vba looks like an export bike. the gearchange is clearly backward, so it's probably for the Australian market.

I was able to rotate it around, it has the 1-2-3 on the other side. Anything else that would help me decide?

Here:

Strange wiring holes on the bottom of the VBB, with ghetto add on toggle switch. The vba has no holes.

Vba inside has different arm for throttle

Well I think that settles it

That'll buff right out.

It's headed to greasy for an art project. VBB wins. Check out some of the bodgery in place of real shims

Tree ornaments

Your neighbors most love you about as much as mine love me.

I used to be the hoa president but I quit.

Don't put a sticker on one you're selling. Next person may not want it and could be a sticking point. I've completely skipped motorcycles due to pinstripes and other personalized items.

Honestly no need, the run on that fender is tiny now that it has all settled, it's not going to draw the eye at all.

Engine side cowl ready for paint.

When we first looked at our house the real estate agent was worried because our neighbor seemed to be a bit of a hoarder…an assortment of cars, campers, lawn mowers and who knows what. Perfect, because my rust fleet looks way less bad in comparison.

I love it, you always need someone to point and and say "but look at what that dude is doing, I'm a saint by comparison"

I was hoping to paint the cowl today but my building is being painted, so I can't use my "spray booth". No problem, all the goodies are here waiting for the right time. I am in process on prep for the left cowl. The only other thing I'm thinking I should paint is the fuel tank, but I'm not sure if I'm going with a saddle seat or a bench. The tank is white on top. I have a nice bench that has a tear to be repaired from my trading bonanza. I'm inclined to use it but I've never tried a saddle seat before, and it might be fun.

It's kind of ironic but it looks like the cowls, the fender, the headset, and the tank are all coming from this SEA bike that greasy had sitting around and had cut up the frame on. Hey, the price was right, and this project is not going to fetch big dollars when completed, so you do what you've gotta do.

Probably want to avoid two tone paint scheme.

Well it's not the traditional 2 tones on one panel SEA bodge style scheme. But realistically, I'm never going to match the frame color gray, which is also not original either. And because I'm working low budget from cans available at O'Reilly, it will end up with the same gray/black theme that was on the PX (gray frame, black panels/headset), which does not scream bodge but also is clearly not original.

For me to do better, I'd have to up my game:
- spray gun and compressor or pay to have custom cans made ($$). to use the spray gun I need a real booth somewhere, because painting at home is forbidden
- pay someone to paint it ($$$$)

This is a ($) budget project because it's a bitsa. It's gonna be worth something like $1500 when it's done is my guess. You can go grab an intact better starting point of an Allstate all day long for $2k and be way ahead, but then this bike just goes nowhere, which is no fun. it deserves to live.

it will be super similar to this:
[attachment-356371 "IMG_5204.HEIC"]

I have considered getting my VBB in epoxy primer this summer as I can go crazy with the fiber stripping disc and paint gun outside. It's a huge mess but in the garage.

I like the grey/black color scheme. It definitely fits. Good call on the mudguard.

body work on the cowl is looking good. It's going to be sharp once you can get the paint on it.

we do get better at this each time we do it, don't we? i had forgotten the subtleties that I learned from my last cowls, so I didn't spend quite enough time prepping the fenders. the px fender was in really good shape so it didn't hurt me. the vbb fender has some things that show through that I know i could do better with and so I got to doing those extras on the cowls.

if I had real equipment i bet I could do at least a passable job on a frame, it's really all in the prep work. even when you fail you can just sand it and try again.

Left cowl ready for paint!