Modern Vespa

First, this is my 23 GTS, the sidestand is NOT the self retracting stand of earlier bikes. I went to visit a friend, the house is on a hill. Parking there is always tricky, backing into the drive way is tough, riding on to the flat part then backing out works best.

As I backed out, I hit the rain gutter nest to the curb and the bike would not roll back, and being a hill, almost impossible to roll forward, even with power. I put the side stand down, the plan was to get off the bike, roll it forwards a few inches, then back and into the street. Easy peasy.

Except that the hill made the bike feel really top heavy really quickly, and the bike rolled over on it's side. I was able to upright it, start it, and ride away, as I didn't want to assess damages on the uneven surfaces.

The side stand pushed up into the body, and it is over towards the mid line of the bike. There are several small dents in the bottom of the bike, and it's hard to tell if the bend is the stand, or the welded on mounting bracket is bent. Right now, the foot of the stand is almost too far to reach with my foot to put it down.

The left lever broke off, the mirror and side trim got scratched, and the left rear panel had some scrapes and a minor dent.

I'm not happy, but what can ya do? It's no longer a perfect specimen. Neither am I.

Stickers FTW.

Ouch...that sickening feeling of your first mishap....

The lever isn't too hard of a fix. Cosmetics, well, your call....

Slopes are surprisingly challenging. I had my first off trying to do a slow speed turn in front of my garage. Inexperience, for sure, but the slope was a big contributor.

I think I will peel the stickers and put on a rubber tank pad.

As for the brake lever Scooterwest quoted me $50 for a new one. I am still looking for a better price. Let us know if you find something!
Thanks
Tony
AliExpress has this one
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256808010528666.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.main.1.19dc529aKF3As7&algo_pvid=f432c55c-1176-418c-aabf-0ffd3a234a54&algo_exp_id=f432c55c-1176-418c-aabf-0ffd3a234a54-0&pdp_ext_f=%7B%22order%22%3A%2216%22%2C%22eval%22%3A%221%22%7D&pdp_npi=4%40dis%21USD%2121.29%2121.29%21%21%21153.15%21153.15%21%402103245417425120374308437ec41d%2112000044203663336%21sea%21US%213036398536%21X&curPageLogUid=5iII1mmQpG4L&utparam-url=scene%3Asearch%7Cquery_from%3A
I have not purchased one as of yet

AARGH! Here's the exact same URL without the tracking dross:
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256808010528666.html

my life depends on my brakes (and by extension, the levers *NOT* breaking when needed the most).

not sure i'd trust the lowest bidder's potmetal. because at 13 USD there's no *WAY* that thing is billet anything and turning a profit.

remember, there's no penalties in china for false advertising (a.k.a. flat-out lying) and ali is notorious for "you bought it you own it" when it comes to buyer complaints.

floorboard luggage rack? you betcha.

brake levers? hell no.

spend the 50 bucks man. jesus.

Take a look at ebay. I've purchased several things for my scooters on ebay. Never a problem with quality.

Piaggio, Burgman, Forza 300, Kymco.....all were new bikes.
Look at seller's rating.
Doubt one there would snap off any easier than did your Vespa's.
O.S.

I agree! Using a high quality lever/perch is high on my list. I put these on my PTW last year. $400 was a bit painful, but you gotta pay to play.

Quality aside, how interchangeable are brake levers? Do the generic ones fit Vespas? I've only bought OEM, and have not had occasion to buy very many.

It depends. The Scooterwest website says the HPE 2 levers are different, prolly because of the Brembo master cylinders.
I found all my old Honda levers from years ago were interchangeable because the brakes were all Nissen.

Hi
my Vespa fell twice: once it was on the ground and the rain washed away the soil, the second time it was a strong wind.
my choice is crashbars

When it comes to brakes, you are betting your life or risking a serious injury that the cheap $12 Chinese lever is just as good as the $50 one. For me, personally, it's not worth it.

There's a notch cut in the OE lever with the intention it breaks a portion off, rather than the entire lever breaking, in the unfortunate event of impacting pavement.

It's designed this way so that the scooter can still be ridden (assuming no serious damage/injury results) away from the incident.

Levers that snap because they're made with the melted-down remains of whatever came out of a dumpster the previous day then painted all pretty are not the same.

Some may prefer a lever without the notch which therefore stands a better chance of remaining unbroken, and if it does break, ride accordingly and just use the other brake.

If it's a shifty, I can more understand having the notch (on the clutch), but I'd risk it on a bike with 2 brake levers.

Mine didn't break in my crash 🤷‍♂️

Mine broke at the notch and the lever was fully functional. I dropped my 2012 and it bent, it had no notch. Curved the brake lever and there was some binding at the perch.

Went to Scooterwest this am and Robot offered me a deal on a single silver notched lever, same as the one I broke. I felt as long as I have it open to replace one lever I might as well get a set of the black levers for the bike.

My side stand was bent and the bike leaned more, one option they gave me was to bend the stand back, but I opted for a new stand as I would be waiting for the stand to bend again.
Scooterwest is an awesome shop.
PS crashbars would have saved the rear panel, for sure. Robot gave me the number of the paintless dent removal guy the shop uses.
That and a new decal and it will be fine.
Or just a decal. I'm in no rush to figure out what to do as there is no bare metal under the scratch.
Just good Italian primer.

Quote ( Robot offered me a deal on a single silver notched lever, same as the one I broke.)

I'm curious, what was the price on the OEM lever?
TIA
Tony

I've had the hilariously curved levers and also the snapped off at the notch ones. File down the snapped end so it's smooth and won't wreck your gloves.
I always thought the snap notch was to stop it curling but is it actually to stop it busting your trapped fingers?

The brake system on the 2023-> GTS HPE is also Nissin.

Wow. I saw how much these are going for in the US and thought I could find them in Italy for about $6-7, but dealer cost in Italy is about $28 each.

After scrolling through pages and pages of levers, I found one company in the EU that claims to have them for about half of what Piaggio wants, but I can't tell by the photo if they are the same levers. I ordered some so I guess I'll know when I get them.

Since it's a Nissin product, I wonder if any of the Japanese or Taiwanese OEMs use the same levers.

Not to be a contrarian, but the master cylinders are Brembo's.

"The biggest news for the GTS line is the changes to the brakes and suspension. Braking is important – even on a scooter – and for 2023, Vespa turned to Brembo for the GTS' system. In the front, a Brembo master cylinder feeds a Nissin dual-piston caliper to squeeze a 220mm disc, while the left lever also uses a Brembo master cylinder to massage a single-piston ByBre caliper on another 220mm disc out back. "

That's from Motorcycle Online's test.

I am a PITA in parking my bike/scoot facing uphill.

Finally got around to doing something about the fall damage. I think it looks great. Not that I wanted to drop my bike, but it's ok. I haven't decided yet on whether to peel off the rest of the black sticker, or use a sharpy or some black paint to fill in the scratches.

That rubber panel looks good there. Speaking of levers I remember many,many yrs ago a Puch brand MC my friend had. After falling over the end of the lever was bent almost into a circle. The ball end still attached. I assume that the OEM had lots of magnesium alloy in the aluminum to do that. Now that was really something. I know we'll never see that again, unless maybe racers have/use levers like this.

That's a great repair.