Modern Vespa

Looking at getting either a Vespa Primavera or Piaggio Liberty. Looking for opinions from those with experience with those two scooters.

OFG

If you want a capable and reliable scooter at an attractive price - go for the Liberty. If you are hopelessly in love with the beautiful metal body and paintwork of the Primavera - there is probably only one choice.

The Liberty has large tires which ride more like a motorcycle. It has a shorter range with the smaller gas tank. The handlebars are a bit lower. It is considerable cheaper (price). It has the nice flat floorboard. It's easier to work on. If you damage the side, you replace the plastic and don't need a lot of body work.

The Primavera is smoother ride but has smaller wheels. Riding my country roads and RR crossings, the Primavera doesn't jar me near as much. The seat is more comfortable. The handlebars are not as low and has a seating position more like the GTS. The tires are wider than the Liberty. More accessories available.

The oil/hub is same access on both but the valve adjust is just a bit easier due to the wider panel on the Liberty, but dropping the rear shock makes both an easy job.

The Liberty requires removal of panels starting at the back to fully remove the front, but you can do some wiring/accessories by wedging your hand between the panels without fully removing for most mods.

Shorter front fender on the Liberty can (depending on your roads) make the area behind the front tire very dirty, but it is simple to clean. I cleaned it daily.
The Primavera can put on a short fender extenda and avoid most of that dirt thrown on the panel.

The Primavera footrest for the passenger is very different than the Liberty. If you plan to carry a pillion, make sure they test sit on it or you could suffer some back pain after a short ride.

I found that I miss the flat floorboard the most. But had I not had the Liberty, it wouldn't have been such a big item on my list of missed items on the Primavera.

If you want a windscreen, you have a small choice with the Liberty, BUT you can use GTS windscreen though the cutout for the headlight is round instead of that triangular shape. Function vs looks.

Another thing about the windscreens. The Primavera windscreens work as expected. The Liberty needs some black moulding or other way to block the headlight beam from glaring on you IF you ride at night. You can search the forum for solutions and examples.

Last thing I can think of at the moment is the angle of the ignition switch. On the Liberty it is easy to just insert the key and go. On the Primavera, it is at a slight downward angle that seems to throw me off even though I know it is like this. I've never heard anyone else mention this, so it may just be me.

Ooops, one more last thing. On the Liberty, you can remove the fuel insert to make the fuel filler hole large and not spew the fuel. On the Primavera, it is molded into the tank and can't be altered. 99.9 don't, but just in case you would.

Have you seen this video?

I chose to get a Medley over a Vespa based on practicality alone. Bigger wheels, lighter, better handling and more storage. And a fair bit cheaper.

I chatted with the guy that made that video and after that, he convinced me to get the Liberty. I don't regret it. AS Robot said, it's the best bang for the buck.
I would have preferred the Medley too when I was making the decision. But not available in the states.

Well clampett seems to be your guy - he has both!
I love my Liberty ~!- had it new since we unboxed it at the dealers, summer of 2017.
However - if you're only going to buy one - you probably will face buyer's remorse that you didn't go with a genuine VESPA!
I'll let it go at that - esp considering the neighbors....



O.S.

I have a Liberty 150 and a Vespa 300, so while I can't compare it with a Primavera per se, the ride feel of the bigger-wheeled Liberty vs the Vespa is quite different, personally I really prefer it. The flat, large floorboard makes it easy to carry items, as well as to adjust your seating/feet position quite a bit as needed. The only thing that annoys me to no end is the fuel tank-- it's a small tank (so I'm filling up more often), and it's a tricky tank to get full. However, every other thing about the bike is awesome, so it's a worthwhile trade IMO. It's a super fun and reliable little workhorse.

As for the price point, I bought mine new from a dealer and it was about $4000 out the door, with taxes/tags/etc. My S.O. just bought the Justin Bieber 150, same engine as the Liberty, and his OTD price was closer to $9k.

Personally, if (heaven forbid) I could only own one scooter, the Liberty would win every time.

The Bieber is just white Primavera with stickers. My dealer is taking those stickers off and reducing price to sell them.

Too funny

All I have to say is it is not a Vespa.

Depends on how you look at it. For me personally, a real Vespa is a 2 stroke manual shift. Not that I don't like modern Vespas. It's just that growing up it's what a Vespa has always been for me.

Having owned a Sprint 150 and a Liberty 150 within a few weeks of each other, I'd like to echo everything that Clampett said above. One thing I would highlight a bit more is that the ergos many be different enough to warrant spending a little time on them and thinking about how you ride. I have long feet and long legs, so while I initially thought the Liberty was going to be fine, the lack of a sloping frame to let my feet stretch and the slightly more compact ergos of the Liberty (ex. can't easily turn lock due to knees in the way) have finally driven a wedge between us and I'll probably sell it soon. Moreover, there seems to be a lot more easy aftermarket options—I got a used Corbin seat for the Sprint which really changed the ergos to downright spacious.

Now you know how gullible I am. I thought I'd finished spending moola on my Primavera but Corbins have treated me good for the past 30 years. I still trying to resist!!!!!!

Well, can't argue with what works for you - but I'm 6'3.5", size 14 W boots. and I love the ergos of my Liberty. That long bench seat lets me move all about!

O.S.

The first thing the dealer told us was that the Bieber logo is just a sticker and you can take it off, lol. BF doesn't care and left it alone. He loves the white, but dang it is a beast to keep clean...

I told him a Liberty would have been much easier to maintain, as he loves mine and it was his close-place second choice.

To be honest the Bieber is a Sprint in white with stickers and to be completely honest the Sprint is a Primavera with a square headlight....

Whether or not something is a Vespa really doesn't depend on how you look at it. The way the world looks at it is that if it is one of the metal body models Piaggio builds as a Vespa model, and Piaggio puts stickers that say Vespa on the side and front of the scooter at the time of manufacture, it'a a Vespa. If you have a list of Vespa scooter models provided by Piaggio, that model will be on it. Piaggio also makes small metal body vans. No matter how you look at them, they are not Vespa scooters. What surprises me is how many people list Piaggio scooters on craigslist or facebook marketplace as Vespas. Like the three wheel Vespa MP3 you see every now and then.
To paraphrase Magritte, c'est ne pas une Vespa.

We'll obviously if it comes out of the Vespa factory and it has a Vespa badge on it, it's a Vespa. What I meant was when I imagine a Vespa, I imagine an old shifty. And it's not a Vespa MP3. It's a Piaggio.