Modern Vespa

I have a 2023 vespa primavera 125 and although I love it for how it looks I hate how it rides. The roads aren't great here, I feel every single bump and it's also ridiculously noisy on bumpy roads to the point where it's kind of embarrassing! I've already adjusted the preload by going up a notch at a time, I weigh 195lbs and have front and rear racks and rear crash bars on my vespa, given the extra weight I felt like the second last notch (third) felt the best but still doesn't feel good. My vespa is just used for city commuting, short trips, nothing too high speed. Is it worth upgrading the shocks? I'm genuinely thinking of just getting rid of this scooter, I'm tired of the back pain!

is it front or rear that is giving you problems?

I'm guessing it's "bottoming out"? generally this ain't noisy but is not a great feel

I'm guessing it's the rear, the front of the scooter feels fine but I feel every bump in my back. It definitely used to bottom out before I adjusted the preload but I don't think it does anymore as in the bumps definitely don't feel so severe but i honestly didn't expect it to feel this bad either. I see videos of people riding vespas down cobbled streets, feel like if I did that both me and my scooter would literally disintegrate!

take the preload to max.

the noise is typically other things like stuff in the glove box or under the seat. For me a major source of noise was the folding bracket that holds the topbox and also the topbox lid.

I'll try it but honestly I feel like the ride is so bad that there is no way that just going up another notch is going to fix it. Going up two notches only made a tiny difference, I can't see how going up one more will do much. I had a honda cross cub 110 for a while and the difference was unbelievable, it was so smooth.

yeah, but better than nothing while you workout your long terms strategy.

you can try after market shocks which may help *if well adjusted* but you are still stuck with the very short travel of only 6-7 cm (*).

Basically to avoid bottoming out, if setting preload to max ain't enough then you're going to have to slightly firm up the compression (firmness).


(*) both oem and aftermarket.

of course there is the possibility that's your shocks are simply stuffed ... but for such a new scoot I'm not assuming this

Sorry if it's a stupid question, I really don't have much mechanical experience but how do I firm up the compression?

I'm also wondering if my scooter possibly has some kind of fault? Like I watch YouTube videos of people riding the same model on shitty roads and theirs seems fine. No noise, no change to their voice whereas mine is all over the place over bumpy surfaces. I live in Ireland, we have only one dealership here and it's four hours away so sending it back for them to check it out is expensive. I'll do it if I need to but I'd want to be sure these is actually a problem before I pay for the scooter to be transported.

only can adjust compression with aftermarket shocks can't even adjust preload on front on oem. sigh

make sure you do investigate other sources of noise as said above

I'll try adjusting the preload to the max tomorrow and see how it feels and thanks for your advice, scooters aren't so common here especially Vespas, there are a few GTS around but I've literally never seen another primavera here so I don't really have anything to compare it to. I'm having serious regrets about buying it especially considering I don't have easy access to a dealership.

a thought on noise hunting ...

stick it on it's centre stand and then stand over the front wheel facing the bike with a leg each side of the wheel. place a hand under each side of front where it has an edge as it curves back under (not under the plastic centre strip). then you'll find that it's not hard to lift a few inches as the bike pivots backwards on the stand until the rear wheel reaches the ground. then drop it and listen.

I think you're right about the racks being the source of a lot of the noise. I'm going to try to cable tie them down tight so there is no movement and see if it makes a difference. I'll still feel like Stephen hawking after the ride though even without the noise 🤣

One last question! Can tyre pressure make a difference? I currently ride on 26psi front and 32psi rear.

Yes.

What does your Primavera manual recommend? I run 26/28psi @ 20C on my gts.