Modern Vespa

Hey everyone, my service manual says I should inspect the drive belt every 10,000 km and replace it every 20,000 km. But I've seen a lot of comments suggesting that these belts can fail at around 10,000 km.

I'm planning a long tour across Europe and Russia this summer, which will be over 10,000 km. Should I carry a spare drive belt and a set of rollers, along with the tools to change them?

Also, how can I diagnose potential issues with the drive system? If you have any resources or tips, I'd really appreciate it.

Thanks!

I think there's an error, and it should be every 10,000km

2022 Sprint Sport belt

The GTS 300 puts a lot more pressure on a belt than a 125cc.

Will you be near big cities, or in the middle of nowhere and how much space do you have?

When I travelled through Europe on my 125cc Sprint, I bought two breakdown policies but I only carried a puncture repair kit and an air compressor - no major tools etc.

If you are doing a lot of miles, then I'd be tempted to find a Vespa garage half way and have an oil change / belt change at 5000km - rather than carrying everything with you.

Have you got your trip planned out?

This is the page that i see from my manual. I did write my vin number to vespa manual download page and i downloaded this. [/img]

with a replace interval of 20,000km as shown in your manual, I'd suggest replace before the trip and then you should be fine. you might say don't need to replace yet but doing it early is cheaper than breaking down thousands of kms from home

These engines used to have 5000km services, which they then stretched out to 10,000km. When they were 5000km, the plan was always Inspect, Replace, Inspect, Replace etc.

They then got rid of the 5000km mid service, but I think have made a mistake by using Inspect, Replace every 10,000km for the belt.

My app and manual both show completely different service intervals for the belt. One says every 10,000km, the other says every 20,000km - so someone has definitely made a mistake!

The 5,000 km service was never more than an inspect/adjust service for tyres, oil and brakes. Which are all things a user should be doing at far more frequent intervals anyway. That's why it was quietly removed - it was pretty meaningless, and those who paid dealers to perform this 'service' were being bilked.

I do guess also somebody made a mistake. 20 000kms belt change might be to much thats the reason i want to bring a belt with me.

As suggested earlier: replace the belt before you leave on your trip and it should do the 10.000km. Having to replace it every 10.000km means the belt will do at least 10.000.
But if you feel more comfortable about it then take a spare belt with you. Nothing wrong with that.

Another question:
10.000km is quite a trip. It will take you quite some time.

I see you want to cross Europe and Russia.
Can you do that? And how did you arrange that in practice?
I mean there is no way I could get into Russia now considering the present situation.

A belt change on a 125 at 20,000km (12,000) miles isn't unreasonable. Back in the day when I had an X9 125 I'd change the belt at 15,000 miles (25,000km) just out of paranoia...

Correct i do better take care of it beofre the trip, well in the past i did this trip on a Honda nc700x which was quite nice with my wife. I lost her last year so it will be a sentemental trip for me. I do bealive i can handle the lesser cc bike.And yes there is war going on there but i will aproach from Georgia side so far no drone or rocket attacks there and i dont think they will see my vespa as a threat too . anyways i will do this trip but i want to carry less.

Sorry to read you lost your wife last year. And you plan to repeat the trip you did with her years ago. I can understand that.

But what about practical things?

Your Vespa will not be considered a threat, for sure, but what about visa and all of the bureaucratic documents you need to cross borders?

Planning to visit Russia via Georgia from Istanbul means you go along the south of the black sea to Georgia and then to Russia. But from there to go to Europe? How do you plan to do that?

Note the GTS 125 has a different engine to the Sprint and different to its bigger siblings. Water cooling is integral for starters.

Hi,

I do plan to sent my Vespa to Spain via Ro-Ro ship and arrive to Spain by plane.

We did the same way before. Than finish touring around europe and return to Istanbul. Afterwards no problem.

But the other way entering to russia and getting from russia to Europe is a problem ofcourse.

Hope they will finish this war soon, cause Russia and Ukrania are very beatiful countries for riding.