Modern Vespa

tmax will have company eventually…

Cool, but where's the dipstick?

Wishful thinking, looks awful, not happening…

is gonna be missed for sure?

April is still a few weeks away...

until then may I interest you in something like this?

Belt change interval 2500mi?

More likely 2500 feet.

Is that a 500 though?

I'm interested in that magical front suspension. What's the wheel mounted to?

it's held in place by the false hopes of those who think a 500 is likely to ever happen

I'm one of them, or used to be.
If I can't have a 500cc GTS, can I at least get an ADV GtS ( )? No?
Damn.

come on…a little more hope is always for good…in the meantime

sexy, quick, comfortable, stops….and everyday firendly

hope hope hope

i bet 30 years before, a gts 300 cc would be alive only in dreams…

At that 500cc level you are into a cruising class. I like the foot forward
back lumbar support for cruising. How big can you make the Vespa and
still cling to the classic design looks?

In terms of branding, most envision Vespa as a smaller machine with
classic lines.

Bob Copeland

I think 300cc is the sweet spot for the size and weight and wheel size. It already smokes any other vehicle at the lights.

And, in the case of my current ride, even moreso than my previous GTS 300. (More details anon.) Seriously, between the current bike's output, wheelbase, tire size and overall stance, and the fact that it can keep up with most traffic anyplace short of an Autobahn (where you can still ride it), how much more power can one actually use? I'm still breaking the engine in, and I have to work rather hard to keep myself from going over 60mph…the thing loves to gallop.

aw man......I should have read the responses in this thread before watching the video and getting excited.

because yes....such things excite me.

April fool's huh????

pam, anything is possible with hammers and a welder.

bring me a motor and a frame and I'll give you that. it won't be pretty, but it'll work.

Franken5-HUNDYcc

Haha

you laugh, but if you want a 300 small frame or a 500 large I'd be down for either.

I have the things and stuff for the small. I'd need a motor for the large.

but other than that? it's just some dough and pound to fit, paint to match.

I'm sure it would be much easier to install performance upgrades on the 250 or 300 and get the desired result. I contemplate doing exactly this from time to time. The only problem is my little 250 performs so good. I have had it up to 85 several times,( I have an oversize front tire so my speedo is accurate.) I decide it will have to wait until it is older and slower. By them Vespa will likely offer the "HPE Super".

500cc on Vespa-size wheels is little more than an off-brand parlor trick. They'd sell about 50.

Increase the wheel size: no longer a Vespa. They have BV for that.

Personally i don't think that the size of wheels is what is vespa…or maybe since modern vespas are all automatic, are not vespas???

For sure all above are charactristics of vespa but let's not forget the progress/develpoment the moto market faced which i think for good.

I'm open-minded to possible developments happening to a bike within years…

plus it would be interesting to see a touring version of gts that could ride trips fully loaded with 2 up with average speed 140 klm/hour

Agreed. Unless it is being built to make it as a go-fast around town scoot, I don't see the point. Anyway, there are already scoots and bikes in this CC class that would be a better cruiser.

Oh, I don't think a large-wheeled scooter plunked onto a Vespa frame would work well at all. A ton of those arcane design details we take for granted would have to be adjusted (rake/caster, trail, offset, just to name a few) and the resulting machine would be quite unlike a Vespa in look, or feel, or both.

I'm pretty sure that's why they have a deliberate different brand for large-wheel scooters with no crossover. Similar to why Mazda doesn't make four-seat Miatas!

50 years ago I was riding a '63 Vespa 150. It had 8" wheels, 2 stroke motor and I'm sure less than 10 HP. Many years later they introduced the 4 stroke motor with more power and it was still a Vespa. Then came the large frames and we still bought them. Today I have a 250 which is a great Vespa. There will always be people with negative opinions about the newer faster scoots saying it would not be a Vespa. Now we have a 300 HPE and it is loved and purchased by many. There are still a few of us who would like to see a little more power, I am one of them. They could easily produce that scoot as I just sat through a Robot video where they were swapping out the original piston, cylinder and head of a stock HPE because of overheating damage and replacing it with the Malossi head, piston and cylinder which has larger valves thus producing a noticeable increase in performance. Robot mentioned that Vespa purchased the stock head, cylinder and piston from Malossi as well. (probably saved a few bucks) This would outperform the stock HPE's, and still be a Vespa!
Bring it on Vespa, you are not one to rest on your laurels. That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it!

As I alluded to in my latest post on my new GTS, word has it that the HPE powertrain had some input from the gang at Apilia, giving the engine its extra get-up-and-go.

But there are other considerations in all this: like every other scooter and motorcycle manufacturer, Piaggio is dealing with tighter EU emissions regs, which actually were in part responsible for the HPE's design. What they pulled off with the HPE was something of a hat trick: improved overall performance, better fuel economy and Euro 4/5 compliance. For me, that's more than enough...I'm marveling at my bike's sprightliness, and the thing isn't even fully broken-in yet. I believe the notion of "the perfect is the enemy of the good" applies here: IMO, Vespa truly hit the Goldilocks Zone when they first rolled out this largeframe platform, and they've been carefully honing it ever since. Every time someone mouths-off about the platform being tired and needing to be replaced wholesale, Vespa purs out an iteration that largely refutes that notion, which the marketplace seems to confirm. No, it's not the biggest or fastest scoot out there...you can even go bigger/faster from Puaggio themselves, never mind anyone else. The GTS platform, to me, is pretty much all it should be, doing many things well, and several things beautifully. And, as I said when I got hold of Melody (my first GTS), it ain't a Hayabusa, but not much else is, either.