Modern Vespa

I have a problem with my Vespa pk50xl2
1st gear works top neutral also 2nd also but after 2nd gear there is a 2nd time neutral and then 3rd gear . So I have 2 times neutral. How could this come about? If I shift on again I do get into 3rd gear and then just 4th.

After you sure that you didn't install second gear backwards?

That and/or bad gear shimming can do that.

does the whole engine has to come underneath the bike and be opened to check this?

It's not necessary, but it's easier to pull the motor to split the cases, so I would.

Take pictures of the assembly process so you can go back and review them if you have issues later. Advice that's too late now, I know, but worth knowing going forward.

That's a 'false neutral' between the gears and is not uncommon on well used bikes. You may need to shim your gears to get completely rid of it, but IMO not worth pulling & splitting the motor just for that.



But you have a PK50XL2 and it likely has the single cable shift. So easy to adjust that you can try a small adjustment to see if it helps. Simply loosen the setscrew in the trunion then twist your grip a tiny amount so the cable just moves and retighten. If that does nothing, try going the other way. I had the same bike and it seemed to have a sweet spot down there.

okay, i will try, I have indeed single cable. thanks!

Since the selector is indexed internally, wouldn't that only change the position of the shifter ?
Worn cruciform ?

Logically I know you are right, maybe I had a slight kink in the single cable it doesn't like to stop on? My bike had a definite sweet spot where it was easier to find all gears although neutral was always tough to avoid skipping past.