Modern Vespa

Hi all,

I'd been having some pretty extreme rattling issues with the headset on my 1977 P2, which I'd tried curing by inserting layers of soda can walls between the tubes and the handlebar body, and a few other similarly doomed-to-fail band aids, to no avail.

Here's how it looked/sounded:

So when I looked into more serious solutions, I first considered copper tubing to cut, insert and glue into the handlebar body, but someone mentioned that LML had already modified their headsets to accommodate brass bushings, which seemed like the perfect solution for my issue.

So I went ahead and ordered a kit (they come in plastic and/or brass, so I chose brass), and measured them to see how/if they'd fit. The tubes were mostly a tight fit in the bushes, so the bushes had to be widened slightly until the tubes could rotate semi-freely.

Next came the issue of boring out the headset to take the 27+mm bushes. I should have taken the headset to a shop to have it professionally done, but I didn't feel like disassembling the headset, and it was more fun trying it out by myself.

But if I were to do it again, considering the bushings on either side need to be perfectly in line with each other for the tube to come through (whichever bush is slightly askew will need to be reworked), I'd take the job to a shop. It should be permanent, so you might as well do it right.

Anyway, I had a stepped drill bit with a max size of 26mm, so I got another one at 27mm, plus some extensions. The idea was to do 2 passes with both sizes to go easy on the 48 year old aluminum headset, and use the extensions to go through both hoops in the headset casting, so as to be the most in-line possible. Turns out, on the left hand side the innermost bush wasn't facing the other perfectly, so I had to use the dremel to work it out.

The idea being to stabilize the headset as much as possible, a friend suggested adding weights at the handlebar ends. I didn't want the type you screw on at either end, so I went for lead cylinders to be stuffed inside the handlebar tubes.

The result is pretty impressive! No more rattling, no more crazy free play; it feels like a brand new scooter!

Nice work!

I did that a few years ago but used the plastic ones as I figured they'd be easier to replace. I have a friend with a big mill who was able to drill out the headset, this was on a Super where I don't think it's as meaty at the ends of the headset. But worked out well.

The constant rattle drove me crazy and I tried the other stuff you mentioned.

My bar end weights were big concrete expansion anchors so they'd lock in and not be too hard to get out - which I had to when fitting bar end indicators.

Yeah, I probably could have lived with it - each machine having its own quirks; but whenever I tried recording video from a gopro or cell phone attached to the headset, it was nothing but a blurry maracas concert.

Beyond the hopefully better videos to come, the change has made everything feel more precise and smooth, to an extent I didn't expect!