Modern Vespa

I'll start:

I think I gave SIP $45 for this Maru's Factory hub nut cover.

I might of even had to wait for it to come back in stock, which gave me plenty of time to come to my senses... of which I did not.

Ugh, is it really confession time? Fine...

I bought the GTS USB Power Plug thingy from Scooter West.
https://www.scooterwest.com/usb-power-plug-vespa-black-gt-gts-gtv-gtspp-usb.html

Usually I like looking at what they do and figuring it out myself (switchback LEDs from Amazon run a fraction of the price of their running light/turn signal kit)... but... I guess I just didn't want to cut into the wiring harness of my 3,000 mile pristine GTS...

I spent $60 US on something I probably could have done for $20 in about and an hour of my time... and still haven't installed it

I just received a OBD2 adapter for a bike that I don't own anymore.

Got myself a big box from sip for my 2023 Gts,cost around £320/$388 +shit loads in tax and delivery and the best part is it still won't fit my open face helmet.

For me this is an easy one. The ($400) SIP PORDOI matt black swing arm. I was blacking out my bike and saw this. I don't NEED this at all but got caught up in the whole process. I honestly can tell a difference in turning/cornering overall but it was completely unnecessary it except for asthetics. Vanity....

But you wouldn't have got the cool cover with "USB" embossed on it. This way you'll never forget what's under the cover. 😂

Amazon link

lmao, yep...

And there are much better ones than that out there, too. I just had to find one with "USB" clearly visible on the cap.

The fancy gas cap from ScooterWest. Nobody sees it and I think it didn't fit quite right and always left a gas smell after riding. Went back to the original.

I have the blue metal "70" gas cap on my blue 2015 GTS300!

Well anyway I see it when I am filling up.

bar end mirrors.

yes they look great. and they probably work fantastic too if you're...of less stature.

i'm 6'1" there's no sugar-coating it....they just don't work for a taller guy. back to the OEMs for me.

I've had this and the Zelioni in my 'cart' forever… I painted my OEM one but the urge is still there.

I bought this RiderScan wide-view mirror thinking it would improve safety.

Turned out to more of a distraction.

Probably the aluminium CNC luggage hook by Zeloni.

Great build quality and finish, but required the seat to be fully removed to fit, which was a bit of a hassle.

Also, not really that noticeable and still performs an identical function to the standard plastic one!

The engineering and materials are definitely worthy of the price tag, but it just doesn't really add enough to the Vespa for me to feel it was a good purchase at £58 / $70.

8 Gallon Fuel Cell on the rear rack.
The bike was a death trap and developed the famous front wheel wobble at about 20mph, and didn't stop shaking until you came to a complete stop.

Yeah, eight gallons is a lot. That's around 50 pounds, not including the tank itself.

I ran Cannonball 2008 with a 4 gallon tank and Cannonball 2012 with a 3 gallon tank -- the fuel was heavy, but the bike wasn't any more or less wobbly than normal. I did notice I had to adjust my lean angle a bit over the course of the day, as I used up fuel and effectively moved the center of gravity downwards.

I picked up a cheapo red anodized aluminum dipstick. I cross-threaded it when installing and ended up leaking oil everywhere before I discovered it. Back to the original one now.

Chrome suspension cover for the front....what was I thinking!?!?

I actually bought mine at a local marine store. Waterproof, 2 USBs ... I think it was twelve bucks.

The hardest part was the half hour I had to spend drilling a hole and tapping into the harness. If that makes you feel any better.

Silliest accessories on a Vespa scooter, you ask?

I would enter the $10.60 derelict trombone I purchased from a local music store to use as a silly 'prop' at last August's Sturgis motorcycle rally.

Do I 'win'????

I say no -- you got a good prop for a very good price. That's completely the opposite value proposition of most farkles.

Floor Mat.

Piece of shit.

Solid win. I would buy a trombone for $10 in a heartbeat! Used to play it in high school. It would be worth the money just to make sound effects with it any time the missus tried to have a serious conversation with me.

Of course, It's no substitute for bagpipes, but can still be used to dominate any conversation if applied with a seriously lacking talent for playing large brass instruments, which I have an abundance of.

I should probably mention here that I also have acquired several other silly Vespa accessories in the form of a 3/4 size Cello, and a small but highly 'marbelized' and colorful accordion...neither of which I can play crap with, but that has yet to stop me.

Here they all are awaiting fitment on my GTS, and another image of the accordion riding 'cupcake' on my Vespa in downtown Sturgis last August (just to show that I'm not blowing smoke up anyone's ass about this, and really did 'accesorize' my bike with this stuff, at least for a week back in early August.

I bought one last year, it found a home on my bedroom floor and never made it onto my GTS. I finally just offered it to a member here as a freebie and shipped it off.

Now, if I can just figure out how I could strap that 83 inch span DC-3 onto my back for the '24 Sturgis Rally, it would be EPIC!

Perhaps look to Mariokart 8 for inspiration.

It needs to somehow be mounted overhead.

That would be epic!

And pray for zero crosswind.

If it could be mounted overhead, then I could consider getting a couple of propped 25cc engines in it and have them help with the highway cruising duties.

OMG! I can see it now!!!!

I convinced someone else this was a good idea, and his rack snapped on the first day. I ended up going with a last minute bike change, to a BV200. My cousin made me a rack for it, which also broke. The seam in the tank split on day three, and drenched me with gas. So I had to turn the cell on it's side and run it out, because I was having what I thought were fuel issues going from the rear rack to the floor and then pumping up to the carburetor.

no baffles in the tank to stop the slooshing?

What, you didn't do extensive testing in advance?

I had a semi-custom rack both times -- standard rack but modified with struts. The second one was actually a bit simpler, and with only 3 gallons, it wasn't so bad.

Patrick is of the opinion that the step through is the proper place for an aux gas tank, but then you need a fuel pump to get it up to the tank (on a GTS, anyway). I rejected this idea and made sure that it relied solely on gravity, as gravity never, ever fails. The same can not be said for fuel pumps.

And on Cannonball, fail-proof is def a good thing.

EDIT: photo of the second rack, off the bike, and a photo of the finished tank setup:

I switched bikes about two weeks before the event, and can tell you every way a BV 200 is different from a GT 200, and what parts you are planning on using that won't work. He finished welding the rack at the hotel in California. Not my best cannonball planning.

Don't be so sure.

But if it does, there are plenty of options.

https://tinyurl.com/ykap5r3y

I used a 3 gallon Aluminum, baffled tank on my 2 Cannonballs. Stock rear rack on the GTS and SMax seemed more than up to the task. The GTS rack with tank survived my nasty crash in 21 so well, I put the rack on my replacement GTS. The SMax rack with the same tank survived a full 8 day run, including some Arizona desert running and Nat'l Forest service roads in New Mexico.

It might be the most photographed gas tank of any of the forums and facebook groups I'm on lol

CNC dipstick. The OEM one worked fine. But the Red one looked pretty. Then I spent a few hours trying to modify it so you could see the oil level. I finally gave up

take flat file and make the end of it flat on 1 side, then take a hacksaw blade and make a couple cross lines for min max levels. you'll be able to see the oil level better against the bare aluminum versus the red color


or send it to me and i'll use it