Modern Vespa

For your amusement

Could I suggest that if you don't want to damage it any further you keep it on the black stuff.

After all that's what it was designed for.

You do more on your Vespa than most people do on their adventure bikes!👍

Yes, but at what cost.....cost.....cost.....

Every bike can be an adventure bike if you use it wrong.

If you decide to use it at all.

See what I did there ?

anything's a dildo if you're brave enough.

.... wait, what were we talking about?

And I thought that I have some issues.

Have you got a malformed undercarriage from inappropriate use?

Crying now.

It's too early for this.

It might be later than you think.

Steelbytes - Worth it for some of the pics on your Instagram. Could probably take out the floor board and bump that back out if it bothered you?

Though I gotta be honest, to Bill Dog's point, if I were you I'd probably have one beater for the stuff you get up to treating it like an ATV (all terrain Vespa), and one I try to keep pretty.





...Any excuse for more bikes, right?

the damage vs enjoyment is worth it

next time I lift the floor for some other purpose then I will smack it out a bit in a crude way

but I'm unlikely to get a 2nd bike as I don't really have physically room plus then I spend lots on the 2nd bike as well. two bikes = twice as many mods to do

I don't have any pics of my Sprint & me doing small forest paths, but I'll salute you - there's some strange satisfaction in taking bikes out of their comfort zone

Bikes, mind, I'm talking about just bikes.

If you have adventures on it and it's a bike then it's an adventure bike

Did a similar trail on a Pan European! (Honda ST1100)

George Melly runs into Mick Jagger and the conversation goes like this -

George - Mick, you are looking old.

Mick - They are just laughter lines.

George - Nothings THAT funny.

Not that you would want to reduce your ground clearance, but I wonder if you could fabricate (or repurpose) a skid plate similar to what the ADV and dirt bike crowd uses.

If your design followed the upward contour of the leg shield it should help prevent rocks and dirt from getting trapped. Finding a suitable place to attach it to the frame is probably your biggest hurdle. Might also need to be a U shape or in two pieces as to not interfere with steering.

I don't want to sound like anyone's Dad but that's a lovely scooter and your adventures have already buggered the clutch and the belly pan.

What else are you going to damage in your pursuit of glory ?

Get a Beater ( and tidy your room )

Isn't this bike his beater/adventure bike already?

Might I then suggest people lock their urban scooters in garages so they're not stolen, and trailer them to a bucolic countryside setting to avoid getting them totalled by careless drivers.

Some of those poor sods barely got to enjoy their rides.

I think SteelBytes needs a "Hats Off" award for stress testing Vespa's.

I love this.

Sounds like you at least had a good time acquiring the damage, and you didn't acquire any damage in the process.

Better yet, why don't they send him Vespas every year to test?

Damage is always sad but each one of those f'ups has a story and they are a WAY better narrative than the biddy that knocked your scoot over in a parking lot. Buy the bits, make it whole and make sure you show us all the rest of the places you want to go!
I keep seeing 8 year old bikes with 400km on them such that you have to change every bit of rubber and drop of liquid so you get to buy a (cough) new bike that hasn't even been broken in. In fact, you could buy a Vespa and put it in your living room as a coat rack and it will always be pristine.

Coat rack? That's what tread mills are for.

OFG

Yeah nah

I'm not trying to push the limits that hard. I haven't even bothered with crash bars

It looks more like rocks (or the ground) are pushing hard against the front of your GTS.

Are you going to try to seal up that crack in the finish to prevent corrosion?

Yup. Won't do a perfect job but will be good enough as it's mostly out if sight unless you get down

several other bits have been damaged by this behaviour. its certainly how I killed my steering bearings and possibly related to the death of a throttle body or two. Trashed the side trim twice by dropping it (mud once and snow once). And the dust ... have to change the air filter every 5000km or so, it's got into cvt cover bearing and destroyed that and also into the swing arm exhaust bracket bearing. Rear mudguard got broken. and other things I can't remember

btw, it's not about glory it's about adventure and exploring and challenging my skills.

my room? so I can park a 2nd bike in there?

PS, it's two clutches I've killed

Crash bars just get in the way of maintenance.
I put a set on, then took them off and sold them for a loss just to avoid having to take them of again, and again, and again.

And they make the scoot significantly heavier, add to drag, and are pretty ugly really.

Is that crease gonna be a problem for whatever you aussies need to do for an inspection certificate?

inspections? nah, we don't have them

In the early eighties I got a 1969 Toyota Corona from my neighbor after her brother had crashed it.

It was a manual 4 speed rear wheel drive 1900 cc engine.

I attempted to remove the oil drain plug and could not get the thing off to save my life.

Well I thought, the car will not last long without fresh oil so I may as well hasten it's demise...

The damn thing was indestructible!

Of course I had to do some body work and replace the radiator several times. And it needed a new clutch at one point but the suspension, running gear, and engine survived incredible torture.

It finally became unrecognizable as so much sheet metal was warped, disfigured, or just removed with a rigging axe from multiple crashes but still ran strong.

I learned to drive a four wheeled vehicle on two wheels in that car.

There is something to be said for really pushing a vehicle just to see what it takes.

My friends all referred to it as "the war car" because it looked like it had been through a few battles.

Of course I was in my early twenties at the time...and it was the early eighties in USA. What is wrong with you?

Wrong with me? Plenty.

Seriously though, I'm 51 and have the attitude of 'do it while i still can'

I'm right there with you, 52 next month. I stopped worrying about getting all the work done on my house cause that just dips too much into my wrenching and riding time. Age was an after thought till i turned 50. Had to replace my water heater yesterday though.😠 Money I could've used on the Vespas.

If you did it on an Adventure Bike it wouldn't be much of a story.

Am I right or am I right ?

It's the equivalent of doing a 1000 miles a day on an R1100RT.

Am I right or am I right ?

I love how this is self-deprecating in a third person sort of way.