Modern Vespa

Greetings! I've been following the forum for quite a while and I am excited to send in my first message today. Thank you to all of you who provided so much information leading to my decision to buy a Piaggio scooter here in Turkey.

I've a Piaggio Medley 150 scooter with 2400 km on it. I'm more than happy with its performance and quality. I have two questions about it and I'd be happy if anyone can help.

1- When I steer while going very slowly (less than 10 kmh, let's say), the handlebars (or to whatever they are connected down there on their way to the front wheel) make a weird, grinding sound that you'd expect to come from an old bicycle. It's similar to a brake squeak but I'm sure it's not the front brake, because the sound is there even when I'm not touching the brakes. At the 1000 km service, the service guy said this may be because of too tightly tied cables or something to that effect, and trying to fix it may cause more headaches since they'd have to remove a lot of stuff to reach those cables. I'm not sure if that's really what's at issue. I'll be taking the bike to another official service shop for the 5000 km service in any case.

2- I'm still worried about what part of the scooter you can wash with a car shampoo (I've recently bought Meguiar's Wash and Wax) and rinse with water from a bucket. Can you get water in that area right above the rear wheel and below the seat. There are a lot of cables and electrical and mechanical stuff there. Should I get on with it like it is nothing, should I use an old toothbrush to rub off some of the dust that gathers there (especially on the rear shocks), or should I just keep away?

I know that Medley's not available in the US, so for comparison, you can think of as a liquid-cooled Liberty or, perhaps more accurately, as a baby Beverly.

Thank you in advance!

Hello and a big welcome to MV.c, glad you like the forum 👍 and there is a lot of good people here willing to share their Knowledge and advice

Lets try and help you out, 🤔 cant see it being cable clips/cleats strangling the outer cable as it is a metal spiral that can take quite a bit of external force, sounds like it could be a build up of dust, grit, cheap white box pads causing brake rub, this should be picked up on a service and a simple blow out with an airline could cure, worst case brake strip down new pads.

As for washing, wash as normal rinse off with clean water and a sponge, polish using a wax polish, any bare metal parts or chrome you can use ACF-50 anti corrosion spray.

The only thing I would not advise using is a pressure washer due to forced water Ingress.

Remember scooters are used in wet and snowy countries with out any adverse effect to them.

Happy miles, ride safe 😉👍.

Disc brakes can make a light rubbing sound at low speed from the pad dragging on the disc, especially with sintered metal pads. A bit of grit/gravel caught in there will make a proper squeal.

As for washing the bike with a car shampoo, I have been doing this for decades and nothing has exploded or fallen off - yet. You will be hosing off the shampoo in any case to leave the surfaces clean, and if I'm feeling fussy I will use an air blower to blow out any remaining water at the end. Unlike cars, there is an expectation that the controls, engine and wiring will all get wet from use in rain, so they are designed to cope with that. Don't go pointing the hose into the air intake, but otherwise relax.

My only caveat would be a pressure washer and I would not use that except to clean really grubby engine cases, but never anywhere that there is an exposed bearing i.e. wheels or suspension joints, as the pressure can push out the grease.

I am a fan of silicone spray around the engine compartment and any exposed cables, but never aim this at the tyres or the seat or hand grips as it is slippery stuff. I've been using Armor All protectant on exposed black plastic and rubber parts parts to keep them at their best and can heartily endorse that as well.

Thank you very much BUGGSY and cadbury64. The cleaning part is now all sorted out, I think. The next time I take the scooter to the service, I'll see what they think of the sound coming from the handlebar movement at low speed. Maybe it's to do with the brakes, after all. I think the owner of the particular shop I'm planning to take the scooter next time owns a Medley himself, so that's a good thing.

In my limited washing experience, if you're using low-pressure methods like sponges and sprays, you can get almost anything wet without repercussion as long as it's reasonably warm when you do it, and the scooter has the opportunity to dry off - perhaps with a nice high-speed run.

So don't, for example, wash the scooter and immediately cover it.

On your #1, this would bother me too, but your mechanic is saying you probably don't want to pay shop hourly rates to fix a simple issue. Most owners are well-served to be able to take their front covers off for inspection and adjustment of minor stuff under there. People say "oh, I'm not mechanical, I can't do that stuff" - well, fine, but you're going to be enjoying your scooter at the whim of your mechanic's availability. These machines are INTENDED to be somewhat user-serviced, and as thousands of YouTube videos demonstrate, it doesn't take a lot of tools or know-how to perform basic stuff.

i am from Turkey too, your vespa is brand new and it is normal noise coming from your brakers, i did have the same noise until 2500kms than its gone or my ear gone i dont know which.

never used pressure wash just rinsed it with hose thats it.

Ranke,

I have a bucket with an extended handle soft brush. I use Dawn dish soap in the bucke of water.

1. I use a hose to wet down the whole scoot.
2. I scrub everywhere with the extended handle brush.
3. I then rinse thoroughly with water.
4. I use my electric leaf blower to blow the bike dry.

You could also dry the seat with a towel and ride it to dry it. On the dragon red Vespa a use a detailing spray and rub off with a towel. My Kymco has a flat blue finish. I just wash the Kymco.

After each ride, I spray the bugs off with Vingar Windex. It will not chemically dull your plastic windscreen. If you get the bugs off quick, they will not harden on.

Bob Copeland

As far as keeping the engine clean, a lot of dirt bike riders spray the bike down with WD40 after they wash it. Then, after a day in the dirt and mud, the dirt comes right off with a hose.