Modern Vespa

From the article: The improvement in customer perception of our brands and products around the world has enabled us to achieve very interesting margins, which we should consolidate in the coming years," CEO Michele Colaninno said in a statement.

https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/vespa-maker-piaggio-posts-record-nine-month-profit-2023-10-30/

I know Vespa is going after a younger demographic, but I get a lot of questions from older bikers. And the over 50 population is huge in USA.

OK, things are going well for Piaggio.
Good for us too I expect.

It's all those dragons they're selling.

Hmmm, I finally fit into a group.🤔 The 50 and above club. I'll actually be 52 in April.

What took you so long?

C'mon in, the water's great.

(That last bit was a lie)

Welcome to the Dark Side. We have cookies!

I hope Michele puts some of that money towards buying toilets and better lighting for the Moto Guzzi museum. You'd think it was in a third world country. Especially if you went to the Ducati museum first.

Adri, my buddy has a Ducati Cuchiolo. Have you ever seen one of those?

Honestly I hadn't, but I looked it up, realized I must have seen it at the museum, and sure enough...!

BajaRob,

You old fart. Now, all those crazy physicial things you did earlier will be revisiting you in the form of aches and pains. Heck, if I turn my upper body too fast, out of nowhere comes a kink and pain.

You may not qualify as an Old Geezer for another 10 years.

Bob Copeland

Sorry, Bob -- I had to remove the stock photo. Those guys are ruthless.

Yeesh, having passed 59 you mean I'm on the verge of Old Geezer?

I often tell folks I work with that I'm old. When they heard I was going out tomorrow night to catch a punk rock show they made sure I knew I could call in on Thursday if I needed to sleep in.

50? I can't even remember 50!

I definitely felt on the downward spiral after I turned 30. I've adapted and making due but these reading glasses blow! Do I qualify as a senior rider yet?!

Reading glasses are the absolute worst. While I appreciate the visual assist, they rarely remain in position while I'm working on some part that requires a position other than vertical, and it almost always takes me more time to track down a pair than the actual purpose that requires them.

Curmudgeon fo' sho'

All you kids amuse me. I will be 86 this year, and I ride my scooter every day and do Scottish Country dancing twice a week.

Show off!😂🤣

For my 50th birthday, I 'gifted' myself a new Suzuki Hayabusa.

For my 70th birthday I bought me a BV-400 in cometo silver and blk. A very fine touring scooter. Looking forwards to upcoming warmer weather. I have several destinations planned.

Nice. For my 50th, I went the other way. I bought an HD Ultra Classic and immediately went on a 2 week tour.

Wow.

People turning 35: Let's do two week tours on a carefully customized 650cc (or less). That sounds nice.

People turning 50: Let's do two week tours on a 800+ lb motorcycle. That sounds nice.

People turning 65: LET'S RIDE ACROSS THE CONTINENT ON A 50CC SCOOTER. LET'S DO IT IN ONE WEEK. THE BIKE SHOULD EITHER SUFFER A FAILURE, A CRASH, OR BE THREATENING TO FAIL THE ENTIRE TRIP. THAT SOUNDS NICE.

The generation gap on this forum is absolutely wild

I think that for some, their definition of 'adventure' shifts as they grow older, and there is a tendency to come full circle and perhaps attempt to revisit what they remember as positive experiences during a less complicated, less regimented, and less planned part of their younger years.

In my case, I still have at least one foot firmly planted into the 'big, bad, heavy, expensive, motorcycle' end of things, but my relief valve for all that is my GTS Vespa, as well as variety of relatively smaller machines owned over the past six or seven years along with the big stuff.

It would still be a good trip, but seriously, there's little effort nor adventure in riding my Rocket 3 or Trixie's 1200 Speedmaster to St. Paul next May, but taking the Vespa 300 is a whole different ballgame, both in my mind, and to the folks along the way who will wonder at the sanity of the old goofball on a scooter travelling so far out there in the middle of nowhere on such a thing, no windshield, no saddlebags, no cruise or 'premium sound system'.

I can't wait!

This is why having a range of bikes is the secret to happiness ^

Variety. The spice of life.

That is absolutely right. Falls of your nose. Very annoying.
There must be a solution for that.

This is funny and somewhat true.

A man (or woman) must know his/her limitations. At over 65 now, that 50-300cc is just so much easier for me to hold up than the big heavy stuff. I no longer try to kid myself but I still know what fun is.

It would still be a good trip, but seriously, there's little effort nor adventure in riding my Rocket 3 or Trixie's 1200 Speedmaster to St. Paul next May, but taking the Vespa 300 is a whole different ballgame, both in my mind, and to the folks along the way who will wonder at the sanity of the old goofball on a scooter travelling so far out there in the middle of nowhere on such a thing, no windshield, no saddlebags, no cruise or 'premium sound system'.

I can't wait!
[/quote]

What you just said is how I feel about riding my chopper. I didn't make the frame but I fabbed and put together everything else on it to fit me. It's totally the adventure. I'm definitely not a lifestyle Harley guy. I got the T Sport cause my wife likes to come along for rides. She can't wait to get on the back of one of the scoots too. Doesn't matter what you ride as long as you're having a good time. I'm riding the rigid to Cabo again this year before I'm not able. 😂 I'm also planning on riding the P200E down there when it's done. That'll be a great adventure!

Do you see yourself turning into one of these people or staying the same as the years pile on?

I'd hate to stay the same. There's no growth in that.

I started riding on scooters, then rode primarily cruisers for over a decade. I've been a Harley owner for most of my cruiser time (Sportsters and V-Rods) and even worked for Harley-Davidson.

However, even back then I never understood the appeal of the 800 lb motorcycles. I still don't get it now. Especially after doing a pair of multi-week, two-up touring trips on a 650cc BMW GS at literally half the weight.

Nowadays I still have a scoot (GTS250), a pair of dual sport/adv bikes, a trio of retro motorcycles, and a four cylinder Z900RS for when I want to go braaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaap really fast... but no cruiser.

So, my riding has definitely changed over the last 17 years as my life circumstances have changed, and both will continue to change as well. Right now I want nothing to do with trikes (unless you count an MP3), but in reality my best case scenario is that I get really lucky I'll get to live a really long life, and at some point buy a trike to keep riding... Ironic much?

That's the funny thing about life: We hate the end but we hope we'll make it anyway

I actively resisted the entire cruiser genre from about the beginning of the 80's until about 2005 or so, especially when they started to look an awful lot like Harleys.

Then, in the early 2000's, I decided to get a test ride at the Sturgis Rally on a Kawasaki Vulcan 1500, and I liked the bike, so decided that I should stop generally crapping on the entire genre and actually experience them, and soon after bought a Honda VTX1800R, which I also liked although I only had it for a season.

Soon followed a 2006 Kawasaki Vulcan VN2000, a beautiful Honda Shadow Aero 1100 in that wonderful 'dreamsickle' orange and cream, then followed that bike with two Polaris Indian Chiefs, and of course, my two 1200 Sportsters (2004 and 2015's)

In the mid-90's, I owned a 1200 V-Max, but I don't care what they labeled it as, I don't consider that bike a 'cruiser', nor do I my current Rocket 3R. They're just big, nasty, Standards.

Trixie had a 2013 Harley Deluxe which she remembers fondly, and a 2003 V-Rod which she doesn't. She has her reasons...so I'm told.

Every once in a while I get a hankering for another V-twin cruiser, they fit a specific niche that I find very satisfying.... WHEN I'm in the mood for that kind of satisfaction, that is.

Friday afternoon I spent some time at a local Motorsports consignment shop here in Rapid City, and was attracted to two bikes he had.

One was a very, very, nice, very clean, 2004 Yamaha V-Max 1200. Absolutely stock, with about 10,000 miles on it. If I was financially set right at the moment, I'd likely have it in the garage on Monday morning. That machine is a unique and crazy thing to experience.

The other is a gigantic, 2004 Kawasaki VN2000. It's also in nearly mint, stock, condition...even the (GASP!) exhaust system is still stock. It has under 4000 miles on it, and even if a gargantuan pig of a motorcycle, the engines on these things feel, and sound, like Kawasaki must have bought a bunch of DC-3 Pratt & Whitney radials and chopped off a couple of it's cylinders and stuffed them into these big-ass bikes. They were asking $6G's for it. Put this mongo motorcycle in 5th gear at 50-55 mph and it gives the most satisfying 'Chugga-bump, Chugga-bump, Chugga-bump' sound and feeling as it effortlessly lopes down the road. Belt final drive, liquid-cooled, maintenance-free hydraulic valve system, tubeless tires/wheels, hp somewhere between 90 and 116, depending on the source.....oh, and 800+ pounds of fat bike pleasure, as long as you're not shoving it around the garage that is.

Unfortunately, the shop didn't have even ONE Vespa or other Piaggio machine.

I've owned both of these models before, and each was a hoot in their own respect.

This kind of thing is why it's SO difficult for me to buy another GTS300, and it's my eclectic tastes in machines of every type that tempts me adrift from another scooter acquisition by constantly throwing relative bargains in my face of bikes that I have fond past memories of, and there are SO many like that.

It may not seem like it to some, but my long and 'wordy' post here IS relevant to what it might take to get me onto a 2024 Vespa GTS in explaining the distractions that.....well, distract me.

But, happily, I already have a nice, modern Vespa GTS300 HPE, so It's not like I'm desperate to replace it, or add another essentially identical machine...though a red one WOULD be nice.

Yes, life's ride is a full circle. started w/a junked out Cushman. On to small street ( 2 stroke ) bikes, dual sports, flat trackers, a trials bike, choppers, cruisers, tourers, over 30 MCs. Cushman, Puch, Garrelli, Hodaka, Kawasakis, Triumph, Yamahas, Suzukis, Hondas, Victory, Vespa, Ural sidecar rig, BMWs, Kymco, Harleys, And now a Piaggio BV 400. The scooters have always been fun. Although the Ural was a hoot. Lots o miles, lots o smiles. The only other thing I'd like to own/restore would be an old Zundap Bella scooter. But I'm happy to spend the rest of my life on the BV.

My very first experience with a moving motorized two-wheeler was a ride on the back of a neighboring farm kid's Cushman Eagle, so my MC roots ARE founded in scootering.

My VERY first motorcycle wasn't a Zundapp Bella scooter, but a clapped out 1955 Zundapp 250 that my dad bought for me when I was 15. It would run sometimes. I don't think he paid more than $75 for it.

I managed to get my first traffic ticket with it, though not for a moving infraction, but for riding it without a proper license, courtesy of the Minnesota Highway Patrol.

Just saw an older, but not really old 50cc Vespa (something S?) and thought once again, that those have that something I especially like about Vespas. The wheels are ridiculousoy small, they are slim, light....and they make funny, soothing noises

This, I'll admit, from a very European viewpoint - Vespa mostly being a vehicle to ride within and around villages, towns and cities and sometimes between them.

I do hope something like that will still be around if I'll one day start looking for a Vespa. Nowadays the 50cc is just a tad too slow in our towns, but a 125cc has more than enough acceleration and top speed.

For my 50th birthday, I bought Rocket, my 2006 Vespa GT.

It changed my life.

Made it a lot better.

I still have it, 107,000 miles later.

Bill

I would imagine that some people, probably from the large motorcycle end of the rider spectrum, would view that riding 107,000 miles on a Vespa scooter as an ordeal, admirable for sure, but an ordeal nonetheless, rather than the accumulated pleasure and adventures that such a number actually represents.

There is a unique freedom in riding these relatively small machines that is more often than not overlooked by the vast majority of other riders.

nope