Modern Vespa

Engine in the front, engine in the rear, leg shield or no, cvt or shiftie, three wheels, two wheels...sure.

...Just no unicycles, motorized, electric, or otherwise.

(This message has been brought to you by the number 1, the letter U, and an unexpected twist in my instagram "suggested" feed.)

Seems buttons have been pushed

Better the electric start than the old-fashioned kick, yes?

I saw this pic today on insta - I see it as a challenge 😀

(Think it is in Bali?)

Without getting too serious, in a good MV spirit, I'll have to say I'm both 'old enough' and originally a country boy that I'm permanently amused by the, mostly business driven segmentation effort of various 2-wheelers.

For sure, Vespa is primarily optimized to be a city & sourroundings vehicle. Still, can't see this being a distinctive factor in whether it is a motorcycle or not -categorizing.

Give me my Sprint 125cc and I'll race through the nearby forests against my neighbour's Kawasaki Ninja anyday. And I would win.

Give me my Bonneville and a piece of highway and I would loose the same race against my neighbour, that darn thing is really fast on tarmac.

I'm born and grown without many paved roads nearby. It seems I'm too old to learn to think I'll need an adventure bike to visit my old home - a Vespa would do nicely. Could easily take it with me to forest paths too and go pick some wild berries or mushrooms.In real life, the short wheel base compensates nicely the low ground clearance of a Vespa. Of the Vespa range, I'd choose a Primavera/Sprint for this though, not much need for power in the woods and extra weight is always just extra weight.

....resisted the temptation to add another Vespa in the woods/mud/desert clip, the supply never ends. Should have filmed my own at the time, but I did not have a GoPro then.

Tons of great examples of people doing all kinds of crazy stuff with Vespe on Instagram/the web...

I love the Vespa Power account which posted this the other day:

https://www.instagram.com/p/Cp5xTfMgII2/

Other great Vespa IG accounts: nicola_limpennatore, _vespe.truccate_, vespisti_scarburati, etc. You don't need to tell me people do extreme stuff on a Vespa. I'm Italian. Check these guys out. They are my people being crazy lol. I used to be in a whatsapp group chat with some of these guys but it's literally over hundreds of italian vespa fanatics and it was too much even for me lol

... but again, if this kind of thing was common place, we'd be pointing out active people within our own community doing this stuff, and not having to find far away outliers.

On GS and ADV forums, you don't need outliers, the people are right there, and they'll let you know they've ridden across the alps 852 times after they left their job and divorced their wife and bought a GS. Many have even written books that all start exactly like this lol

"...and after the divorce is when I knew I needed to take some time off away from work, and re-evaluate my life, and so I bought a GS and decided to ride across the world."

So creative, so inspiring, so original

My buddy with a big property north of Montreal takes his GTS250 off-roading frequently. That thing has over 100,000 km on it, it's an absolute tank.

No one's saying it can't be done, just that this kind of riding on a Vespa isn't common practice like it is for so many motorcycles in so many online motorcycle communities.

And yes you should definitely turn on the gopro next time, I'll watch lol

MV does point out the members that do this stuff. There's even an award you can get! :cough: SCBR :cough:

Good-natured ribbing aside...ADVrider has the Battle Scooters section for a reason. There's also several threads here of members that do some serious traveling and some here are overlanders. It's not the main focus of the forum, though...that's why a number of us are also on other sites.
I think this tangent is at risk of derailing the OT, though....

I am a math teacher. I ride a 150cc Liberty MOTORCYCLE in CA.

Wuzdat?

true but most seems to be NSM Vespa typically a PX, a lot less frequent for a GTS etc.

I'd love to see vids of your buddy's 250 off-road


Note: I hope when you guys say off-road you aren't simply meaning unsealed / gravel roads

"ModernVespa" is a term coined to describe the state of the Vespa in 2005.
Anything radically different is Not So Modern.
Hence MP3 and Electrica really belong in that category.

I had off-roading in my head when I wrote that. I'd love to see an MP3 off-road

I have taken mine, with pillion, on roads so rutted others with only 2 wheels toppled. Been a few years, though. Ask fledermaus about it, I'm sure he'd remember.

I tell people I ride a Vespa. Mostly because I want people to think I am cool because I have a Vespa.

Spoiler alert: I am not even a little bit cool, so this is just a desperate ploy.

If they don't know what a Vespa is (god forbid!), then I say I ride a scooter. I don't think of a Vespa as a "motorcycle," even though I had to get a motorcycle endorsement for it.

MP3: "It's *just* different enough to warrant a forum of its own"

For a category, how about "Radically Modern"?

MV-Bot would disagree.
ATTENTION: NSM and MP3 forums are now MERGED!

OMG! I've been living in an alternate timeline since 2013!

which are these?

I was at the Piaggio agent today and an Aprillia owner asked me if I had a motorcycle. I said "interesting question", I have a Vespa. His response, "that's a motorcycle"!

having fun with ai can confuse the topic

How many fingers does he have?

In my state tagged 50cc scooters say "Moped" on the plate. I've had the discussion with a few non-riders and it didn't go well.

an adequate amount to ride

cdwise,

Much the same here in Minnesota. Everything above 49cc is
State defined as a motorcycle. This is not so much descriptive of
the two wheeled vehicle as it is the need for a motorcycle endorsement
on your drivers license.

The State here is pretty laxed on licensing. Under 50cc you don't
need anything. Kind of like riding a bicycle. Over 50cc you need
to take a test and get your auto drivers license endorsed.

However, you can get a permit to drive a motorcycle as easy as
getting a library card. Permit limits you to no two up riding, must
wear a helmet, and no riding at night. In practice, you could never
take the test and just renew your permit every year. My son did this
to occasionally ride my scooter.

When asked, I tell folks I ride scooters.

Bob Copeland

In Georgia it is a Target...

Wikipedia sez:

A scooter (motor scooter) is a motorcycle with an underbone or step-through frame, a seat, and a platform for the rider's feet, emphasizing comfort and fuel economy. Elements of scooter design were present in some of the earliest motorcycles, and motor scooters have been made since at least 1914.

I'm confused

According to the Garden State:

Does that plate say 5CRU1 (SCREW1)? I don't know if there's meaning to it, but there should be!

maybe the 1 is an i, so pronounced screwy?

Maybe it should be a d?

You call that gravel??

Funny, as I read the post I immediately went to that road....and only then read my name.

Sully,

I was also on that dirt wheel gutted road adventure. I think Fledermaus
was leading us to the Amish Super Store in the wilds of Wisconsin.
One of the dirt road curves was so bad I only stayed up right
by stopping. I think that was when Fledermaus got the "Dirt Road
Rambler" reputation.

Here with a few photos from the Amish Super Store in those
bygone days of yore.

Bob Copeland

Vespa are Vespa ! Period. The rest are just 2 wheelers. For all the Vespa riders: we are so much special .

Funny, I hadn't looked at it that way till now. Last tag was B3NU2. I was just happy to have plates I could remember right off the bat.

This post was not quite
What we were hoping to see
Try again, perhaps?

The iconic Vespa SS90 has always thrown a spanner in the works on this topic.

Apparently, M2 in California allows you to ride a motorized bicycle, moped, or motorized scooter only. The first two are:

A two- or three-wheeled device, capable of no more than 30 mph on level ground, and equipped with fully operative pedals for human propulsion or having no pedals if powered solely by electrical energy, a motor producing less than four gross brake horsepower, and an automatic transmission.

And the latter is:

A motorized scooter is defined as any two-wheeled device with an electric motor, handlebars, a floorboard for standing on when riding, and the option of having a driver seat which cannot interfere with the operator's ability to stand and ride and/or the ability to be powered by human propulsion.

I sometimes call mine a motorcycle. To me a 300cc bike is considered a motorcycle. All the companies now looks like are offering a 300 motor. 150 and lower I would think of them as scooters or mopeds. But I usually tell people it's a Vespa a class of it's own.