Modern Vespa

As I think we all know at this point, while I love me some Smallstate, like all smallframes it's a little short in the "carrying stuff" department, having neither a cowling nor legshield glovebox.

To help alleviate that, I installed a couple of MRP legshield racks, one for a small backup gas can. Not that I'd ever need it. And one for my 2t oil. Which is fine until I need to carry something else, say...some wine.



So to alleviate this problem, I decided I needed a better carrying option, but since I mostly wouldn't need it, it needed to be unobtrusive.

What I came up with is a fold-down shelf that hooks into the MRP legshield rack and locks into place both up and down, but which gives me significantly more carrying capacity than I had.

It's made out of 16ga sheet steel and it's pretty sturdy, but I think I'm going to get some 1/4" rod and weld that on along the mounting tabs. It would benefit from some better stiffeners, too, but I haven't quite decided what (if anything) I'm going to do about that. My original plan was to just put folds in the sides, but that doesn't really work, so that bit is still in progress.

Since I didn't do the downward fold on the right side (yet?), it's currently a little too wide and rubs on the legshield while folded up. That's not a big deal right now, but will need to be addressed before I do body work.

Like it, but wondering how you get a foot on the brake peddle when it folded down. Maybe there's more room than it looks…

I'm still tuning it, so I went for the max size I could get away with. It's mounted pretty high, and only extends out 7".

I just went and checked and it could probably stand to be cut back 1/2" or even an inch.

I dunno that last picture looks like an amputation waiting to happen. Otherwise I am really psyched about this project and appreciate you sharing it.

The way I look at it, if you hit that thing hard enough to lose a foot, that's probably the least of your worries

Too much clutter. It's a racer, isn't it?

It's the world's fastest grocery and wine getter.

I'm diggin it!

guillotine.
you are welcome to borrow my back pack.

Okay...so CM2 is not a fan.

It still needs to be cut back some, but I don't think it's *that* bad. I mean, it's not like I fashioned it from an old axe blade I had lying around.

Roll the top edge, making a curve. Then it will just break your leg instead.

Probably the case in 99% of scenarios but possibly I also have a better imagination about things that can go very wrong.

I'm with the guillotine crowd, looks like shin skin asking to be torn off when you stop abruptly for some reason, like a big pothole. My shin skin actually hurts a bit thinking about it. Now carry on with experimenting OSHA has left the building 😁

Have you thought about a rear rack?

We went with this one, the spring wasnt any good but we just clip it in the up or down position.

https://www.sip-scootershop.com/en/product/luggage-carrier-rear_25033030

Because it sits quite low, you just have the handrail slightly above the line of the seat so it doesnt feel in the way.

Christopher, that's what boots are for!

Seriously, recall the use case: it's a fold-down for the occasional instance where I need to carry more than the base rack will hold. Like three or four bottles of wine, or donuts, or a bag full of yummy burritos and tacos.

I really do appreciate everyone pointing out the danger factor with the design. I truly hadn't considered it until y'all pointed it out, and I'm thinking how to balance the risk while still having an effective rack.

Matchless, the problem with rear racks is that if you have much weight on them, it shifts the center of gravity even further back and makes the bike much more wheelie-prone. On this bike, there's simply no margin for error like that.

Now I know that what I *should* do is put one of my existing racks on one of my other scoots (*cough*SprintV-that-came-with-OG-front-and-rear-racks-that-are-on-the-shelf*cough*) and just take that to the store, but this was something I wanted to try, in part to see if it worked. I've had a film crate (like a super-sized milk crate) on the back of my green Stella for almost twenty years (how did THAT happen??? ), but that bike currently has no motor, so it's of limited value.

The other option, which is still out there, just not executed yet, is to build a small carrier which quick-attaches to the hooks on my centerstand bolts. Once this project is iterated, I'll move on to that. Also, I still need to go get some bar stock for that one.

I expect that the final version is going to wind up short enough that it's short of the geometry of the frame versus the line from the knee to the ball of the foot, which is basically the minimum safe distance. And at that point, you're already hitting the legshield with your knee, so you have bigger problems to worry about.

+1

Even with "The Gincident of 2022" , I'd still go bag or backpack. Much better than a "shincident" all around. It is a cool rack minus the cleaver attachment. Hadn't seen one of those racks before... or maybe it just never registered without the wine attached? Was thinking maybe a little foam under and behind the vino for safety precautions. (Precautions = Protecting the liquid gold.)

I'd not considered that, i guess you do have a little more power than either my ET3 or kitted 50.

+1 on your guillotine being a bit dangerous as well. Not just because it could chop your foot off but the amount of grief you are likely to get from your wife when you call her to tell her you've chopped your foot off with a device of your own design.

Front racks are useful on smallies. The rears tend to look out of proportion.

Maybe the shelf can be made out of wire so in case of impact it'll crush.

Wicker basket maybe. Very charming, better cushion for wine bottles.

That's a seriously legit option

Time to get some 1/8"? 3/32"? 1/16" rod...

The crumple shelf

Chandlerman, it would be great if the first time we met IRL; you still have BOTH feet. I vote wicker, wire basket, or front rack. OR a center floor borar type tie down rack.

You could make it out of mdf. Sand and paint and it will look like metal. Use it to stash your tourniquet, morphine doses and industrial steri-strips. Affix organ donor card to front of legshield.

Yer a madman.

Okay...I built version 2.0 tonight. Significantly less dangerous, I think. I might do another because it has some aesthetic issues I don't love.

But this scoot isn't about aesthetics right now, so *shrug*. Anyways...

I used a 1/4" cross bar, but could probably have gone 3/32" in hindsight. The outer frame is 3/32" mild steel rod. It's right at 22" long. The crossbars are 1/16" and that took up about 36" of material.

I'll paint it tomorrow, and maybe I'll get a tub of plasti-dip and run it through that, too.

And it was a relatively uneventful build. I burned my finger when I bump the rack while it was still hot from welding...and a paper towel might have caught on fire from welding sparks (those things fly further than you think!)...

I wish I had just kept the frame square instead of trying to follow the curve of the legshield like I did on the sheet metal version, but these things happen.

Anyways...let's get to the pictures.

Not bad Kemosabe. Maybe a bit shorter, but still, it'll work, and will look good, and have grip, if plasti-dipped.

Eeeeek!

20ish years ago I flattened a PX glovebox with my knees when a car didn't see me and pulled out. I'd hate to think what my legs would've looked like hitting that thing with bottles of wine in it. One knee is still gimpy today.

How about putting it on the other side?

Chur

Highly improved.
Your rack has a crumple zone!
I mean - it would be wrapped around your ankle like a felon's anklet - but you would probably still have an ankle.
Lighter gauge still - also seems a solid plan...

Excellent !!

Nah, that would be nothing like a felon's ankle bracelet. So I've been told...

Given the upwards angle and shortened length, I really suspect it would just fold up in any sort of crash worth discussing. It's also now short enough that the issue would be if I had something sturdier than a burrito on the rack at time of impact.

I think this one will work. I may shorten it a bit more, even, but I don't think I can go any lighter gauge without compromising structural integrity.

There's a lot of stress on the pivot point up at the front, and it's completely unsupported other than the lip of the rack.

and other than the asymmetry out on the end, it'll fit on either side, unlike the sheet metal version. I put my 2t oil on the other side with the gas can when I need to carry something.

And the thing that keeps getting overlooked in the whole discussion is that I'm not riding around with this thing in place all the time. It's explicitly for when I am carrying something that needs to sit on the rack, which isn't all that often. The rest of the time it's folded out of the way. To me, that's an acceptable level of risk. If it weren't I probably shouldn't be on two wheels anyway, and especially not the two wheeled beasts that I build.