Modern Vespa

When I rebuilt the SS's motor for the guy who just wanted me to make it run ( I subsequently bought it from him as it was more than he wanted to spend) I left the original bushings in as they appeared intact and in good condition. However, the rubber had obviously hardened up over the years and after putting 1000 miles on this wonderful machine I decided to change them out ( which I did without fully removing the motor) . Wow. What a difference !!!
I am now going to do the same for the VBB and as a matter of course on every subsequent old motor re-build.

I recently took this on for a P200 - so worth it!

Oddly enough I did this on my 72 GTR this year, along with an new rear shock and rubber and also a new front shock. The scoot felt ever so tight and secure on the road. The old rubbers were very hard and brittle.

Do new bushings make a noticeable difference in the amount of engine harshness felt by the rider, or is this mostly just a handling thing? My bushings are 16 years old and have almost 4000 miles on them. The scooter still feels tight in terms of handling, but better isolation from my southwest asian crankshaft would be welcome.

I honestly don't know how long it takes for them to go, but at 55 years they're surely done. So much less vibration.

I still have what I would call lag from piston to back wheel, its like the revs go up and the back wheel is a split second behind the revs. There must be an amount of play in the gears that causes this. New bushings will not solve this if you have the same problem as me.

Darn, I was hoping I could ignore this part, but I guess I should really replace those while I have everything apart.

You sure your clutch isn't slipping?

I run the Clauss Studios urethane mounts in my rebuilt motors and they're definitely a more solid ride. I don't know that the affect vibration, although some people say otherwise.

The only place in the power chain between the crank and the axle that is not a hard mechanical interaction is the clutch. There is some play/space/gap in the driven gears on the axle so the cruciform can drop into them but you'd be hard pressed to notice this while riding.
Any discernible lag between the motor and the axle has to be the clutch. I'm seconding that.