Modern Vespa

One of the guys who rode up to Bike Shed Moto with us took a shine to it but offered me his mint Honda Blackbird and some money but the Honda is way too big for me to do it justice so I declined.

I offered him some money off the V7 and his ears pricked up.

I've not seen anything specific....yet.

Said goodbye to the Moto Guzzi last night.

The good news is that the guy who bought it is a Jaguar Land Rover Master Tech who has already stripped and rebuilt a California so it's in good hands.

Bringing home something new tomorrow.

I'm considering a bike again.

Back on the roller coaster.

I'm down to 2 now.

Just ordered 3 more of the mighty fine Doublegood tee shirts

In a bizarre coincidence I've just ordered three shirts with Boxer written on them with a diagram of a modern RT engine on it.

Yes I have the receipt.

Honda Super Cub. 2018. 100 miles. £3000. Mint.

Buying it? Bought it?

Bit of a story. The owner has passed away and his collection is going to be collected by the Dealer.

Once it lands i'll be going for a sniff.

Friend has one of those, absolutely loves it. They have the earlier model.

The Kymco 400 that I bought from them had been owned by another deceased rider.

Scooter Vulture!

It's what he would have wanted.. you convince yourself as you wring it's neck!

A sort of noble recycling.

It's hard not to wring its neck considering it can only do 60 mph.

I may have to adjust my horizons.

Yep, the Super Cub is a whole different ride, nothing else like it. A 1950s designed scoot with new tech. It's an adjustment, like any new ride, with the centrifugal clutch. But it is an in-town, back roads PTW, reliable as a rock bridge and get about 135 miles per US gallon. Just don't get in a hurry with it and you're golden.

Rest assured I've owned plenty of 125's so I know what to expect however, I will be missing that 5th gear.

Adjusting Horizons etc.

"First gear, it's alright (Honda, Honda, little faster, faster)
Second gear, I lean right (go little Honda, Honda, go faster, faster)
Third gear, hang on tight (go little Honda, Honda, go faster, faster)
Faster (it's alright)" - Little Honda, The Beach Boys.

Fifth gear? We don't need no fifth gear!

Says you!

I took the three-speed out of my '81 C70 and subbed in a Takegawa TAF-5 close ratio gearbox.

Modern traffic isn't impressed with long-ratio three speeds.

Super Cub Ironbutt in your future?

Yeah, I thought about that but totally maxed out it's at 60 mph so it's neck would have to be well and truly wrung for an entire day and surprisingly enough I'm not a fan of that.

I know a couple of people have done 1000 mile rides on 125's but I'll assume they all had 5th gears.

Its single seat also limits any amount of moving around to re-distribute any amount of discomfort.

Having said that I'd like to find out just how many miles I could ride in a day on a Cub.

Put a bench seat on it?

It's interesting that the Ironbutt thing has come up as I was all set to try something stupid this weekend but the Kymco's battery has failed after an extensive repair and as the battery is new I think that something didn't go back together right.

I'm starting to think that someone is trying to tell me something as last year I attempted (but failed) to ride one 3 times.

Twice because of bad weather in Spain and France and the other time because of getting soaked on the way to the Euro Tunnel and then being denied any real sleep because of a War Grave Event which took over the car park when the bar closed but the party didn't.

You can't enter these things on very little sleep so I rode around a bit and then came home but now the Downtown throwing it's toys out of it's pram.

Arse.

If I was going to try something on a Cub I'd suggest riding it in one direction just to see how far I could get and then after 12 hours turn it around and then count the total.

I may well be getting too old for this shit.

Idea for a new tee shirt slogan 🤔

My bad. I have forgotten how popular the 125 is over there. When they try to sell it over here it always comes out as - "Why didn't they bump it up to a 150"? Bigger is better mentality stupidity.

Oddly enough I can't remember the last time I saw anything of 150 ccs over here.

I wonder why.

The Benelli TNT 125 was a 135cc in the US I believe. Like you say, why bother ?

Bill, somebody has done a SS1000 on a Honda 90, a 110, and a 125. Guess there's no reason to try.

That may well be the excuse that I'm looking for

I remember back in the late 70's that you got a P125X Vespa (123.4cc) and a P150X (149.6cc) in the UK..

the 125cc gave you 8hp and the 150cc 8.8hp

when you were 2-up with full camping gear on the way to the Isle of Wight, that extra 0.8 horse made a lot of difference

My first ever scooter rally was two up on the back of a PX150 in Scarborough.

I don't think I've seen another 150cc since the late 80's.

I mean what's the point, you pass your test on a 125cc why would you then go out and get a little 150?

Maybe built for the Italian and continental Europe market?

Lots of scoots are 150's over there.

Bear in mind as well that prior to Feb 1983 you could ride a 250cc on L-plates. I think they stopped making the 150 around that time?

I have a VBA 150 from 1959 with a 3 speed

The Kymco is doing interesting things.

The MET - IN light is illuminated on the dash which tells you that the Pet Carrier light is on as the seat isn't shut properly.

The trouble is that the seat is shut properly and the light drain is flattening the battery.

Arse

pull the blub?

After I've charged up the new battery it's coming out. At least for now.

I've run into this on my Yager GT200i. There's a switch that snaps into the seat latch. It has a plastic plunger that seems to get worn down over time and it will no longer depress enough to turn the light off. I removed the switch since Kymco doesn't seem to sell it separately from the latch.

I think that you are the most amazing human being in the entire world.

Thank you so much. Incredibly helpful.

Edit, The Pet Carrier bulb is out. Fingers crossed the dash light doesn't kill the battery.

If it occurs again, try shifting the seat with it latched to see if the Met-In blinks. You may have been unlucky and had a seat latch not fully engage.

I checked and the switch is integrated on the Downtown as well. the parts diagram on Racing Planet shows both latches as part "MB1500", described as "lock f.seat inc. switch". No visual on the connection, so I'm not sure if both switches are used to trigger the Met-In warning lamp and the cargo lamp.

I have an LX 150. Just sayin'.

10/10. Thank you. Once the sun comes up I'm going to give the seat a good rake around and maybe lube those latches.