Modern Vespa

Hi has anyone purchased vespa bit's from alibaba or aliexpress..seem cheap which normally means rubbish..just wondering if anyone has good experience before purchasing...

Lots of stuff from aliexpress and mostly good. Occasional fail but sooo far ahead financially overall

I was looking at the wheels on alibaba and it seems the Chinese make the wheels for piaggio aswell..so can't be too bad..
On aliexpress they make fake scorpion and akapovic exhaust for £70 plus shipping..has anyone purchased one of these as a lot cheaper than anything in UK including second hand items on fleabay..

My rule is I don't buy things off Aliexpress that might either burn my house down or put me in hospital.

Same. This of course also applies to eBay and Amazon

There was a guy who sold a bunch of Vespa stuff from China. His name was thescooterbud. You should definitely start a thread about him, those always go over really well

I don't think an exhaust will catch fire maybe fall to pieces through dodgy welding and materials used lol..
fork guard.
Suspension guard
Exhaust system
Bluetooth speaker..
Wheels

~gets spray bottle~

no! bad! *squirt* *squirt*

I don't think that is the test. China is able to manufacture quality goods and absolute crap. The difference is the oversight and quality control which takes place.

I see fake parts the same as fake handbags, watches, etc. It's a theft of the original designers intellectual property. I won't be a party to it.

Has anyone actually purchased anything as it seems all hear say...
I'm looking for people who have purchased any of the above items or similar vespa parts for recommendations..

If it's not a copy of something already out there, then go for it. There is already a fair amount of Chinese made parts on the scoots from the factory, so I don't see why anyone would get all wound up about it. In the end, it still is - you pay your money and you take your chances.

Boy do I have a deal for you.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005068578092.html

Or maybe you need this?
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005596829398.html

OP there are a ton of cheap farkles you can bolt to your scooter that aliexpress will take money off you for.

I'd start here:
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005004439255771.html

Are Ferrari and Rolls Royce drivers heading over to Aliexpress to rebadge their rides with Piaggio emblems? Why no Kia or Toyota logos? No apple or swoosh?

Ferrari and Rolls Royce drivers heading over to Aliexpress to rebadge their rides with Piaggio emblems? Why no Kia or Toyota logos? No apple or swoosh?

???????

It's fine to buy new fangled sparkly stuff for vespa off these sites. Mirrors, engine covers, bar ends etc. But would strongly advise against exhausts or electronics. A few friends have purchased these items with horrible results. Longevity being the key thing. They all fell apart and were just all around shit quality. You get what you pay for.....

Thanks tidwillow.. a lot of the stuff on my bike is broken and has cost me a small fortune to put right but I'll take your advice and keep buying my parts from sip..

If you look at the horn cover badges in Znomit's post, you'll see that you can rebadge your vespa with the Ferrari and Rolls emblems. So I was curious if anyone who drives either of these fine automobiles rebrands said Ferrari or Rolls Royce with a Piaggio badge.

Thats just like riding a Vespa wearing a HD jacket. Some things you just don't do. However, wearing a Vespa jacket on a H.D - I'd like to see that.

I got rid of the HD jacket. But it's hard to hide the 40 + year old Harley tattoo while I ride around. I got tired of that one question "Why not a real bike?". So I let my licence plate frame say it. And from the Harleys, Triumphs, Hondas..... that I have owned, I loved them all. No hate in me.

When they come out with the switch covers for the 2023+ GTS I know I'll be buying a set as I really don't like the chrome ones that Piaggio is putting on scooters that are otherwise have all black trim. Heck if I could get a really good 3d model I'd 3D print my own right now.

Yup. I purchased some passenger footpeg extensions for my GTS from Alibaba and we (the missus and I) absolutely love them.

That being said, the whole kit is two chunks of metal and four bolts. Kind of hard to screw up, and even if they failed far away, I could still get us home.

Would I want to buy my next drive belt from alibaba? Nopers.

yup.

I think a lot of people need to check the origin of many of the parts of their vespas - many of the parts clearly say made in china on them. It aint the country that is the issue.

and Tesla get plenty of their parts from china and also make whole cars in china ... but of course china is bad

For the record, there are some products made in China that I think are fantastic. My drones have been made in China, by chinese companies, and I can never get over what they have the capacity to do.

But that's a field where the Chinese company is actually pushing the limits and even innovating.

The reality is, for most two-wheel applications, Chinese companies are still behind. Their idea of R&D isn't research and development, it's Replicate & Duplicate (often as cheaply and crudely as possible).

When I had a mechanic working for me we had to stop letting people bring us parts to install if they weren't name brand stuff. Too many people asking us to install no-name junk from China that typically came with issues, and taking the money wasn't worth upsetting customers when they got their bill or got sub par performance because of sub par parts.

I bought muffler for my Sei Giorni on Alibaba. Long thread here on Chinese mufflers. Happy with purchase.

It gets worse.

A lot of the raw materials that China uses come from mines in Australia.

Ewwwww.

and their workers wear jumpers made from kiwi wool

Hi ended up buying the turbo max exhaust system rather than the Chinese copy and placed another order with sip ..

Cheap stuff I have liked from AliExpress: 12V seat heater pad, heated grips, handlebar muffs, phone mount/wireless charger, scooter skirt, knee pads, motorcycling gloves, combo digital clock/thermometer, stickers, mirrors, mirror extenders, LED strips and bulbs.

Would not purchase large stuff via AliExpress. No model for support or any help if damage occurs.

Piaggio has factories in China where they make a lot of Aprilias and Piaggios for the Asian and NAFTA markets. They make the Vespas in Vietnam. The issue you run into with a lot of the "stock" parts on Aliexpress is that you are sometimes buying real parts that failed QC. That's why they are so cheap. A lot of the accessories for the new Vespas, racks, bars, etc, are coming out of Vietnam, and anyone who's been around motorcycles for a while can tell you about Asian Chrome. As far as things like footpeg extenders, they can't screw that up, so that's something I would buy and use from Aliexpress. Just make sure the bolts are automotive grade.

They used to make Vespas in India. LML made them for Piaggio for non U.S. markets. LML is the company that made the Genuine Stella, using real Vespa tooling. Maybe that's why it's so good, at least the 2 stroke model.

I would expect scooter parts from China to be about the same quality as what comes on a Chinese scooter. Many people have gotten well over 10,000 miles out of certain mail order Chinese scooters, not including Tao Tao, Roketa, or Tank. But I wouldn't want Chinese parts on a Vespa.

And yet Modern Vespas are full of Chinese parts (and Indian and ...)

Asian chrome lol. Real chrome's impoverished freckled cousin.