Modern Vespa

The service schedule for valve adjustment on the the GTS 300 (pre-HPE) is every 20,000 kilometres (12,500 miles), and for the HPE engine it is every 10,000 km`s.

There are some who suggest that the valves must be inspect at the first service on 1,000 km. I just want to say how important this is. I recently bought an older GTS 300 with only 1,500 km on the clock. I lower the engine to check the valves, and one of the inlet valves was too tight and had to be adjusted.

Never play Russian Rolette with your scoot by neglecting the valve adjustment.

Checking and, if necessary, adjusting the valve clearance is part of the 1000km/620mi inspection, but ONLY for the air-cooled engines in the small frames (50/125/150), i.e. Primavera & Sprint.

For the liquid-cooled engines in the GTS (125/150/300 HPE/ 310), this is only part of the 10000km/6200mi inspection!

I've had to adjust the valves in several bikes at the 620 mile mark - non of them air-cooled.

It's not arduous, and when done at the same time as oil changes etc only adds 10 to 15 minutes of time, if that.

As I say, the setting on my GTS 300's valves was not correct and had to be adjusted.

Please note that different specifications for valve clearance are given in the workshop manual for the different markets (EMEA, NAFTA, APAC). This must have something to do with the respective exhaust regulations.