Modern Vespa

Thank you for the compliment Ned!

Me being 6' tall, yeah…the knees would like some more room. Having an inline tire carrier does provide more knee room, than if there was a standard legshield tire carrier. Going straight down the highway it isn't bad, neither are twisty roads. Gymkhana events?…not so much. You would literally have to splay your legs apart in order to not bop the handlebar ends on your kneecaps. Not a big deal for me though. I'm skinny and very limber, so i can quickly adjust my body for those slow sharp turns. I will say that going with a Kinsey report an extra 1" (or even 2) would definitely be a bit welcome…FOR THE KNEES that is!

Wow! That one looks REALLY good! I've been google searching images for other wideframes that have that same SSC 8" disc brake kit for the past couple years and i've come up with pretty much zero results, yet somehow you dig one up lickety-split.

That picture of the brake kit is quite helpful. It shows about how much angle separation there is between the lower suspension arm and the upper anti-dive link. Ideally those two would be parallel with each other, but the SSC kit just won't allow for that because of lack of space. I feel as though SSC really needs to go back to the drawing board and do some redesigning on their 8" VBB kit before they sell anymore out to the general public.

That looks like a gas tank in his spare.

Whodat - the gas tank came out fantastic. U gotta b pleased.

Love both the geometry and your finish.


Definitely need a ride report after u get it out on the road.

Dude, I'm in awe. That is so badass it's crazy badass. You'll be going plaid in no time, with style and heaps of swagger.

Dude, I'm in awe. That is so badass it's crazy badass. You'll be going plaid in no time, with style and heaps of swagger.

I did take a short 8 mile test ride around the hill on Friday late afternoon. I normally use a Sito+ on all my stock P200s, so i know exactly what to jet them all at. This time i used a SIP Road 3.0. With a Sito+ i use a 125 main, so i initially tossed in a 128 main with the Road 3.0. No seizures on my short ride. There wasn't much time to play with the jetting any further since i was trying to get out to the Amerivespa rally first thing saturday morning. I hopped on the interstate (i5) for about 10 miles. Traffic was very light at 9am, and it wasn't too fast either. I passed quite a bit of other vehicles, so i'm guessing i was cruising just past 60mph most of the time? The transmission gear ratios that i picked felt absolutely spot on. Like it felt i always had a decent amount of torque…even more so than a standard P200. The gears i chose are-
-p200 gear stack (1st-3rd)
-P125 36 tooth short 4th (stock is 35)
-24 tooth clutch (straight cut)
-62 tooth primary (straight cut)

I'll have to put a GPS on the scoot and get some real world speed numbers. I have a feeling it should be good for a reliable 65mph. Out and out top speed doesn't mean anything if the scooter isn't able to hold its speed in the hills or headwinds, but it feels MUCH stronger in the low and mid range than my other stock P200 engines.

As for handling, well 8" is waaaay different than 10"! It's definitely more sketchy…especially when you're using hand signals on an interstate highway at 60+ mph. I'm sure i'll get used to it pretty quickly though.

Like

Double like

Ha! Never accidently hit the back button when you think you haven't hit the Submit.

Looks awesome man. Great work.

Thank you! And since the top end and carb are still stock, i'm going to enjoy riding it, rather than create a 5 page thread on how to jet the darn thing.

Absolutely a work of art, John! Love how well the shiny new bits compliment the patina of the paint. Great job on that fuel tank. Your signature lights look fantastic. Another stunner!

Stunning !!

Awesome job. Not sure what's more impressive, the skill it took to get this done or how quickly it came together.

My trick is I wasn't actually looking for that kit... just following links and bumped into it.
I did see that the current offering is marked as the mk2 version. I wonder if yours is the mk1 and they actually did listen to the blog guy's advice?

What brand of primaries did you end up buying?

huh?…mk2 version? Where did you see it marked as that?


These are the transmission parts i used-

DRT 62 tooth primary. https://www.sip-scootershop.com/en/product/primary-driven-gear-62-teeth-drt-input-shaft-for-vespa-125-vna-ts-150-vba-super-px80-200-pe-lusso-1994-cosa-1-125-200-t5_40432930

DRT cush rebuild kit for 62T primary. https://www.sip-scootershop.com/en/product/repair-kit-primary-drive-drt-for-primary-drt-62-teeth-for-vespa-125-gt-gtr-super-vnc1t-11001-ts-150-gl-sprint-v-super-160-gs-180-ss-rally-px80-200-pe-lusso-cosa-t5_16069400


DRT 24T clutch cog (for a cosa clutch). https://www.sip-scootershop.com/en/product/clutch-gear-cog-24-teeth-drt-for-clutch-cosa-2-for-primary-62-teeth-for-vespa-125-vna-ts-150-vba-super-180-200-rally-px80-200-pe-lusso-cosa-t5_87482400

You know, i didn't even pay attention to how long it took until you just mentioned it. And yeah, i banged it out super fast. Just shy of two months. It's got to be some sort of record! Looking back i'm pretty shocked myself. I did focus pretty much most of my time on the build though. A couple weeks into it i realized that Amerivespa was coming up soon, so i made a huge push to have it finished by then…which i did, but barely. I had about 12 hours to spare.

Oh, and a screen shot of the GPS. 63mph. I could probably get some more speed out of it. This was cruising along a flat highway with some sidewinds. Along with the fact that since there's a saddle seat, i'm sitting bolt upright. It's like i'm a large air brake. I also need to verify the timing with a strobe gun and check the jetting. It feels like the engine doesn't rev all the way out. I just realized i can temporarily install a trailtech mini tach in order to get a verified rpm reading.

In the URL.

https://saigonscootercentre.com/product/vespa/wheels-brakes-and-tubes/premium-ssc-billet-6061-cnc-machined-ally-hydraulic-front-disc-brake-conversion-anti-dive-version-2/

60/8's sticker coming your way. Pm me.

Digital Sticker incoming!

I'm jealous

A second ride update:

The 8" wheels aren't as sketchy as i first thought. I think the reason why my initial highway ride felt sketchy was because of all the ruts in the pavement, the sidewinds, and the expansion joints on the bridge i went over (these were at speeds above 60mph).

I went for a short 10 mile ride a few days ago on the highway, and the scooter's handling was absolutely smooth. The heidenau k75 tires roll VERY smoothly at highway speeds. The suspension felt excellent at all speeds. The SIP rear shock felt great, so did the front 60psi SIP damper as well. I decided to keep the original front spring on the fork. I think it was definitely the smart choice for my particular setup. The anti-dive disc brake kit obviously minimizes the braking dive. I never once came close to bottoming out the front end, even when hard charging over the set of VERY bumpy railroad track that are out near my house. I never slow down for them while on any vehicle, and it usually rewards me with a bit up air between the tires and the ground.

I think i got lucky setting up the suspension and spring rate choices, because it feels like an old cadillac with brand new shocks…comfortable and controlled. The two large saddle seat springs add a bit of dynamics to the handling. It takes some getting used to, but it feels great. I did notice that the seat springs take out the initial hard impact from sneaker potholes that tended to manifest from out of thin air. FYI, i scale in at 158lbs, so your miles may vary with the spring rates.

I'm definitely very pleased with the braking and handling of the crazy 8s.

I managed to salvage the original handgrips. They were dry rotted, split, and had mildew stains, but once cleaned up i used a ton of Renthal grip glue on them to cement those suckers into place. They definitely look great on the scooter.

A little bit of an update…

I've been using the sccoter to commute for a while. At night the headlight output has been terrible from day 1. My main suspect has been the Trailtech rectifier that i bought off ebay. Perhaps it was a knockoff?…but the package that it arrived in didn't seem right to me.

My fancy LED headlight and spotlight were pretty darn dim. The flashing strobe brake light didn't work, nor did the horn. I never did test the the voltage output after i originally floated the ground on my PX stator, but it must have been below 10 volts coming out of the regulator.

Instead of testing everything, i threw a single parts cannon shot at a DC static Vape kit. Since i already wired up this scooter to have full wave 12VDC power, it was super fast to wire in the Vape kit. For kicks i left the trailtech rectifier in place after installing the Vape stator and rectifier. Well my lights didn't get much brighter so i came to the quick conclusion that the TT rectifier was the culprit. I then exchanged out the TT rec for the Vape rec and all was right in the world again!

All my lights are now really bright, my flashing brake light works, and my horn beeps loudly.

Fantastic!

SIP do a rubber kit for the wires…

https://www.sip-scootershop.com/en/product/rubber-cable-stator-plate-sip-performance-for-ignition-sip-performance-by-vape-for-vespa_16486100

I have seen that before. My best description of that thing is "convenient", not elegant. One of theses days i'll get an epiphany and figure something out that looks nice.

Yeah you will. I'll be doing mine soon. By the way, love your adel clamps.😉

The screws that hold the clamps inside the frame are the same screws that also attach the left side cowl to the frame. They just happened to line up perfectly on how i ran my harness. I feel as though i lucked out there.