Modern Vespa

Got a call from a friend that lives probably 50 miles away. He had picked up this p200e from his friend in Toledo. The story is this guy was highly influenced by a US YouTube scooterist with his builds, that he decided to build one himself. First of all, he plastic dipped the entire bike black. Partially broke down the engine and was going to mount a Pinasco 215 cylinder with a Pinasco variable timing ignition. A new SIP p200 conversion harness was bought for the bike, oil tank removed, drums media blasted to aluminum, front brake switch thrown away, and honestly too many things to list.

I felt the bike was worthy of some TLC and I could not be any more right! All the plastic dip was removed to find the original white paint in great shape.

Full engine rebuild with a rotary pad repair for scratches. BGM 57mm crankshaft, Malossi 210, VMC Molle clutch, VAPE Static ignition, long 3rd gear otherwise stock P200 gearing, 24.24e carb, ceramic coated BGM Box, oil injection put back into place.

The wiring loom- guess what? Put back the stock USA market p200e wiring loom and the conversion to run full DC setup could not be any easier!!! The mega plus here is full functionality of all lights/signals whereas that would have been lost with the Euro conversion Harness.

SIP cable set and front brake switch put back into the system.

Silver matte powder coated rims, drums, and flywheel cover.

Full BGM shock program.

I feel like I saved one from the tinkerer crowd. It's like we won one. It's a good feeling.

Great save Senior Gick!

Another one save from an ameribodgetinkerer. Nice work!

So you used a Vape static ignition - DC? What about the headlight? Isn't that AC?

I'm intrigued by this build and may do something similar

The US market sealed beam AC headlight will work better off a DC Vape conversion.

Top notch work!!! Beautiful

Awesome looking scoot!! Interested about the rotary repair... any details on that that you can share?

No, it's all DC. Used the single yellow harness and VAPE DC Rectifier. At the rectifier, tie the purple that is going to the headset to the X wire on the flasher that would normally go to the original Ducati unit. it's that easy.

Gorgeous.

I can't believe why someone would dip the frame, especially if it looked like that to begin with. Nice job. 😁

My first thought when I saw the photos of the original paint.

People are stupid. "Look, I made it custom!" (( with $10 worth of plastic spray from Autozone ))

The double yellow harness can also be used in this manner, kinda that easy.
A wire has to be added from the engine harness to the battery side.
Existing black is connected to chassis ground. You need two wires direct from the stator to the DC regulator/rectifier or it won't work.

Sprints and Supers with indicators can also be converted to all DC, kinda easy.
6v sealed beam needs a voltage reducer, and the horn needs to be converted to DC.

This can fit in the headset:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B08MZVXHP5/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Snap off the tab. On my '74 VBC it was PNP:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B06XX38Z5K/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Never heard of someone plasti dipping a Vespa. It's cheesy for sure. But better that than sanded down with 80 grit and rattle canned. Nice to discover a clean white P under there. All that blingy tuner stuff…destructive in the wrong hands. Glad it found its way into yours.

There is a tote of new parts that came with the tinkerer bike not used- Polini velocity air intake, float chamber spacers, DRT float chamber, "sport style" SIP exhaust with two end pipes, SIP gear pulleys, etc. etc. Some of this stuff is optical tuning while other things are simply not needed. I just know KISS is a better approach. The bike paint & body is very, very nice. The guy that know owns is extremely happy with the outcome . . and should be.

Well done, looks nice.
A great touring machine now !!
If it was mine, the first thing I would do is change the rear light for a Europen one. The American ones look really

Move to the USA and you can make that happen.

I noticed a few guys in the forum in USA use the European rear taillights, but maybe there is a law that you need to use the American ones? Not sure how it works there.
Here in Switzerland we normally have to keep to the EU rules for parts even though we are not officially in the EU, which is strange.

no law in Indiana. . . . but i certainly cannot speak for each State.

A Euro taillight on a P-series does not look right in the USA.

It's a preference thing I guess. I kept my North American spec tail light because it's original and this is how I remember P series bikes when I lived in Toronto in the 80's. I like the metal bracket and the touch of chrome. Looks more substantial to me than the plastic euro light. I have a euro light on my Stella. It works and looks better than the one that came with it.

Turns out this guy is on ModernVespa asking questions about his "build" back in 2017.

Love the Blue paint work, beautiful....

Thanks! It's the original color or matched very close. I have a preference for keeping things stock. I try to keep original fasteners and fittings unless they are generic. P series don't typically get that kind of attention as they aren't particularly collectible or rare.

I keep my stuff for a long time. I came to regret tossing stuff from my VW bus in the 90's when they weren't that special. The ugly thing you toss out today and replace with a crap part from overseas may look different to you in 10 years. I know I'm not sitting on a future goldmine. But when I see a cleaned up original part, maybe with a little wear and tear, it makes me smile. When I see it 10 years from now it will be a bigger smile.