Modern Vespa

So heres the damage. its probably totaled no? the person apparently knows how to hotwire but didnt see the blinking red light of the immobilizer as any kind of deterrent so the bikes totally trashed now. The key housing is pretty thrashed, you can see metal chipping from someone beating the steering lock as hard as they could, thats probably whats going to do the bike in for the claim unfortunately

i got insurance for it, put 33,000 miles on it in 4 years and was really wanting to make it to 50+, with a definite understanding that the oil problem on these was gonna definitely contribute to it capping at around 80 or 100k tops. I did love it too. im really sad to see it go. bought this bike with the insurance money from when my mom passed away, its terrible to see this go out the way it did.


few questions though,

was the oil issue ever resolved on the HPE in the later year models?

im thinking of getting a new one. and the HPE is probably the most affordable option with the insurance payout. i know the hassles that it comes with but they are gorgeous looking bikes and i know what im getting into so i'll know to top it off every 400 miles or less.

did the oil eating issue get resolved in the 310? i would imagine so. Would be nice to be able to do long distance drives again without hour long pitstops to check the oil level.


and finally, if this one gets fixed and insurance wont total it out, it should be safe no? id imagine the fork is still good, all that stuff in the legshield isnt engine components, its a lot of electrical and coolant system stuff, so my guess is that it probably would be good to drive after the most likely 2,000+ repair?



RIP old buddy

Well that sucks. It's certainly fixable though.

HPE oil issue solved, yes.

Hi
you want to bury a slightly sick patient. I don't see anything wrong with that.

It was hardly an issue with the oil consumption on the HPE, most people needed to top it up every 1000 miles or so, no big hardship when you consider 2 strokes need oil on every petrol fill

Awwww.. that really sucks.. Sorry for your loss.

I'd fix it, but I get overly attached to vehicles.

I know it looks bad, but it's just plastic and wiring.

Depends on your deductible, and whether the insurance company wants to have it repaired or write it off.

If they give you a check, you could fix it in a couple of weekends with the correct parts, if you can find them for an older GTS like yours.

Good luck.

Agree with 25BIKEZ above, certainly fixable. Finding the parts will probably be the toughest part.

Can't speak to repair, but I have the next year for that bike (same color even!!!), and just took it on a 1500 mile trip over 10 days. Oil was perfectly fine when I checked it every morning.

In fact, I don't usually even need to top it up between oil changes. And based on the color/texture, I could probably get away with more than the 3,000 mile recommended (but I change it religiously anyway).

This is my daily commute vehicle - it's got a smidge over 22,000 miles on it. (I'm a teacher, so not much daily commuting in the summer, and I live in town.)

I'm just gonna be honest it's more a hassle when it's your every day vehicle and your previous Vespa didn't have the issue. It was my every day bike and the hotter your engine gets for a longer time it was certainly frustrating. I stopped getting the oil light after the second year cause I adjusted. Would have been less of a problem if the dipstick wasn't right above the muffler too. 2 stroke isn't really traveling more than 600 miles anytime soon antways.

Illinois has a crazy law where they junk any vehicle younger than 9 if it's totaled which is super sad!

Sorta hoping it survives just cause I wanna see it make it to 150k miles. I feel like I can at least get it up to 50k lol

That's what I was thinking but the steering lock is really jacked up. Someone went to town on that steering lock with a crowbar to the point where there's a chipped off piece of metal and the key housing is so damaged that I can't turn it now Same here if insurance offers only to fix it I won't be sad about it

Great to hear I really love the design on the body of those bikes, feels like a 2009-2015 is a downgrade

If they total it out I'd get a 2023 or 2024

I'd hope it survives! But the main thing that might do it in is how badly they jacked up the key housing, key won't turn anymore

I have a quick question so others can learn. Was it locked with a visible deterrent such as a U-lock? Did they still try to hot wire it with a lock on it? Or did you just trust the immobilizer as your primary security? I've seen knucklehead thieves try to hot wire a locked bike before, like l9cked with a serious lock that was highly visible. Sorry your scoot got victimized.

Ugh, been there myself with an GT200 I had. I had not chained it, and there was even a camera on it (they never caught the guys but the cops were pretty sure they knew who they were). I fixed mine.

I truly feel your pain.

Eric

If you have the keys, you can probably carefully clean the scrap out and turn the cylinder. All you have to do is get it to the OFF position. I rebuilt a lock cylinder on an LXV in a similar scenario.

NorthShore Chicago fellow rider here....

Heartbreaking story and photos. Where did the vandalism occur...neighborhood to avoid??

If it's affordable, after a good 33,000 mile run, I'd say it's time for a new one...turn an awful situation into a celebration of sorts!

I've probably seen you on lakeshore! I go up there a lot



It happened on the south side but I've had a Vespa on that block for 10 years! I think it was someone going up damen every day.

I did A month ago see a dude who asked me if I wanted to sell my bike and I told him "it's got 32000 miles and needs 2,000 dollars worth of bodywork" and he was riding a beat up p200 with broken spots right where mine are at now lol, front was all messed up on it so I thought he crashed it. He had 80,000 miles on it


The genuine that was next to my bike is gone now. I think the thieves went in to steal two bikes

I used to put the disc lock on it, people try to move it to park and that resulted in it getting dropped several times. I got too cozy with it on the street though, it was right on a corner; shoulda disc locked it but I do believe the disc locked genuine right next to it got stolen and in terms of miles and it's appearance, giant side dents, gasoline scarred paint job. it's no longer brand new and not really attractive to theives

I am puzzled by your comments about a GTS "oil problem". I have owned an '08 250 GTS and a '15 300 GTS. Neither had any problems with excess consumption of oil. I have read a bit here about higher consumption of oil in the first year or two of ownership of the first years of the HPE. Most owners seem to have reported that this stabilized with time and I have seen no reports of premature engine wear or failure in this model linked to long term lubrication issues. Owner reports also indicate that this consumption problem no longer seems to be occurring in more recent HPEs. My two cents worth is that if you like the GTS, then ride one - whether that means repairing your present scooter or replacing it.

I love the gts! But the 2020 and 2021 do eat oil and can ruin the engine if you're not looking at the dipstick every 600 miles, in my experience, riding the bike 32,000 miles. It slowed down on oil consumption a bit but it still ran pretty dry if I waited till 800 or 1000 miles.

I had a 250 for 6 years and that thing ate zero oil. Drove it from Chicago to upstate New York and back and didn't lose a drop. First year of owning the 21 hpe I burnt an entire engine worth of oil till the pressure light would flicker if I stopped too hard on one trip to saint louis from Chicago. And this was a month after an oil change at about 1200 miles. And after the service too

I don't think it was a bad bike by any means but hearing that this problem was resolved makes me really happy! It was a hassle

If you no longer have a GTS250, please amend your profile to suit. I'm sure we're not the only ones who were bemused by your oil consumption remarks...

That looks totally repairable back to working condition - not new condition mind! Repairing the broken lock properly might mean getting a new outer lock cylinder welded in - personally I wouldn't bother, just have the immobiliser antenna secreted away somewhere along with some switch to enliven the bike. The plastics should be easily sourced and replaced.

Behahahahahahha yeah I'll update it when I get a word on where this one's headed I'm ok with it surviving, I just put 1200 dollars into the service interval and had to switch out a bad tire, the service intervals get cheaper the older it is and I love the color, and I sorta wanna see how far I can get on it past 35000 miles. Will be a sad day when it's gone if it's gone. I'd like it to make it through it but it's up to insurance now

That's not normal, I've never felt the need to look at my 21 GTS oil level until I've rode at least 1000 miles and even then it's never dropped by much.

I think you must have had a bad un.

I do too. I think they fixed the problem at some point. Mine would just straight up run out if I didn't check it at 600 miles. Like if I missed it at 1200 miles it would be a dry dipstick