Modern Vespa

Hi All,

First post here and thanks in advance for any help.

My 2020 Sei Giorni was stolen yesterday but luckily quickly recovered a few streets over due to it getting called in by a neighbour and a rapid police response that spooked off the 4 guys stealing it. (Neighbours thought there was a murder by the response!)

At first glance it looked like the ignition cylinder was the only victim but walking it home I noticed the steering was crooked. Basically the handle bars seem to have about 15-20 degrees of free play before really connecting with the front wheel and making it turn. Once on the other end of lock it does the same thing in the other direction, eating up the play and only then turning.

Now I say free play but there is actually some slight "traction" to where if I get the front wheel off the ground it will turn it, but as soon as the wheel is on the ground the resistance is too great and the handle bars turn that 15-20 degrees before any change of direction in the wheel.

I presume this is a result as part of them trying to force the steering lock, but I can't quite figure out what's causing it. It's not the usual bearing tightening, it's a huge amount of rotational play in the column. Is there an adjustable component that can be tightened that explains this (seems like a hell of a safety issue if it ever loosens up on you) or is something seriously kaput with my steering?

I'm hoping I just need a new lock cylinder and steering lock block, and an adjustment somewhere on this steering issue but fear there may be a costly repair for this steering play thing.

Really welcome your insights!

Thanks,

Greg

Yep, sounds like theft damage.

There is a clamp inside the plastic headset where the handlebars clamp onto the steering column. This would be the first place to look.

Unfortunately, it means removing the plastic headset clamshell — or half of it, actually — which is fiddly but not impossible.

Here's a wiki article on removing the clamshell. This is old, and there are likely some differences between what's shown and your own bike, but the general idea is probably the same.

GT/GTS: Headset Cover Removal

personally I would just let the insurance pay and take it to a dealer to have them do the estimate and fix replacement of parts.

In my case at least, there would be a $500 deductible to overcome in order to have my insurance start to cover the parts/labor from repairing the theft damage, so it's a burden either way.

Sorry about the theft and damage to your scooter.

I had a motorcycle stolen from our apartment parking lot back in Minneapolis in 1980. It was a less than one year old 1979 Suzuki GS1000E. Unlike your situation, the bike was never recovered, and my insurance at the time didn't pay out enough to allow me to replace it with an equal machine, so for some years after that, I bought and rode older used motorcycles.

Thanks Jess!

Yeah, after some digging and looking at parts diagrams today this is also what I was hoping for. Called the dealer and they naturally suggested it'd be much more and that a whole new steering column would be needed. (as well a a whole new ECU to get new keys to work)

The rotation is a bit weird but maybe they stretched the clamp or made it eat into the metal so it's not as tight. Not sure why there is this degree of play after which it "hooks up" to the steering, maybe it's the bolt that tightens the clamp making contact with the shaft as there's a cutout for it in the shaft itself.

Will tear down and report back. Cheers!

Insurance have already denied a possible claim because they thought I had a dedicated garage (I live in an apartment).

If anything like the US repairs will likely be way over your deductible and here in CA theft is a non-chargeable loss meaning no points against or increases in your policy.
Also any little scratches to parts or paint will be replaced or fixed.

*Sorry to hear your tight a$$ insurance company denied your claim.
Wrench on and Good luck 🍀

Well that sucks, but I applaud your willingness to jump in and get it fixed with your own two hands. Post some pics up as you go as there are many on here happy to help. And I hope you have a place under cover to do the work in, it's getting cold. Good Luck.

not needed if you've still got your keys which I assume you do.

when buying the new key barrel it comes with new blue & brown keys uncut and unprogrammed. transfer the chip from the old brown to the new brown (it's a removable chip). then you can 'program' the ecu to accept the new blue with a sequence of brown,blue,brown insertions and removals (detailed in the workshop manual).

As described above, you likely don't need a new ECU, but you do need a new keyset with tumblers. It's hard to say why you would need a new steering stem if they were just pushing the bike somewhere to have a bit of privacy while trying to hotwire it. That's usually the sort of damage you get from an impact that bends the stem and possibly the frame where it inserts. If it wasn't running, they would have to get up a lot of speed and then ram it into something. The odds are that the metal tube the ignition stuff goes into was damaged when they tried to break the steering lock.
It sounds like the bolt that holds the handlebar to the stem is loose, and needs to be tightened to get rid of the play.

For reprogramming the ECU to the new keys, the second half of the Wiki article describes a very good method - thanks to GermanGTSDriver.

ALL: Programming New Keys