Modern Vespa

Hi all, I recently bought a 86 vespa 125 without checking it out myself ( stupid mistake I know ), but I was assured it had an engine rebuild including a new clutch. I'd only done about 10 miles when I heard a rattle and now the clutch has stopped working. The cable moves the lever at the engine end but makes no difference. Does anyone have an idea what it could be. Tia.

How much rattling are we talking here?

My guess is that the circlip popped off the clutch and the plates are now loose.

Remove the clutch cover and see what's going on in there.

It'll kind've suck to sort out, but you can do it with the motor in the bike. You'll need a clutch castle nut tool to fix it if it hasn't been replaced with a modern fastener, so either order one ahead of time. My guess is that it'll be the castle nut because it costs 20% of a flange nut, which would come out of the seller's profit.

Thanks for the reply, it was only a slight rattle. What I did notice before it totally failed was that with the lever in the scoot did creep forward a bit and didn't need much release before it accelerated,. What do you think might have caused the circlip to pop off like I'm hoping it has.

It could be the circlip spring got a little bit over-compressed and didn't seat into the groove on the clutch. More annoying (and expensive) will be if the basket has spread.

Get some pictures to confirm that's actually the issue before we go too far down the diagnostics & repair rabbit hole, because that's not the only thing that could have failed, but that's the one that you usually see right after a rebuild.

Thanks again, looks like il have to invest in some sort of jack and take a look under the cover.

You don't need a jack. A 2x4 or the like to go under the center stand feet an another short piece to go up under the rear fender and you're good to go. You just need to be able to get the rear wheel off to access the clutch cover.

You'll need a 13mm socket for the wheel nuts and a 10mm socket for the clutch cover.