Modern Vespa

new assy can be had for under $150.

Yes if one can be found. My GTS was a Feb build date which used a different configuration than all others starting in March. So no new ones exist

Wait what??
Is that common for the HPE?
In the old 250's the belt and rollers almost lasted 20.000 km's

My '08 250 GTS and my '15 300 GTS manuals both recommend belt replacement at 15k km (about 9k miles). Looking at an HPE manual, it looks like the belt change recommendation is 10k km (about 6k miles).

yeah I remember that fiasco you had now. that was on an 06 right?

For my 2012 BV 300 every 15k km is recommended for replacing the belt and the rollers.
I had a first replacement at 15k km.
Most recent service was at 35k km and according to the technician the belt and rollers were fine. He said he'll replace them at the 40k km service.

Both are the best gts engines Vespa ever made. The 2006-2010 is a tank, only thing is you'll have to replace the recall exhaust gasket and the recall fuel pump if it's after 2008, both will be done for free at any dealer! Mine made it beyond 45000 miles with zero problems except a starter that failed one time! Swap out the engine cut off switch, you would be surprised but those go bad after decades of either using them all the one or not at all. Mine would pop on randomly until one day I found out the cause of the deceleration at highway speeds by tapping the housing and getting it to do it while it was idling. It can be slower than a 310 or a 300 but you won't really notice, you have to be smarter on the freeway about when to slow down or speed up. It's top speed is around 82 with the governor kicking in at 84. I miss the outside temperature gauge every day lol

No joke I drove a 2006 from
Chicago to New York State and from nyc to Chicago all in one trip and the engine oil didn't budge. Incredibly well built engine

Given that, the 310 is considerably faster and feels safer because of that. I've been able to stay well ahead of free way packs on it because it can comfortably drive 80mph without the governor popping on. You get more reaction time the more distance you can put between you and traffic with the 310. The mirrors on the 310 are sorta garbage and need to be replaced with the primavera mirrors right off the bat but some people like them.

2012-2019 is also a very good era.


I would steer clear of any 2020 or 2021 HPEs. Mine are oil even after 35000 miles, it's a nuisance and it needs to be topped up every 4 or 600 miles, which is fine if you don't drive it a lot or go on long trips. The governor also kicks in around 77mphnor 80mph and it kicks in sooner than the 2006 gts 250 does. You can feel it drop down to first gear pretty hard to. These engines didn't get the road testing that the other ones did and it's endemic to all motors in cars and 2wv of that era. That said mine had zero engine trouble despite bottoming out on oil maybe no less than 6 times and made it well past 35000 before some moron tried to steal it and totaled it while failing to steal it

The 22, 23 and 24hpe all are great bikes though from what I hear!

Had the exact same problem and it's the engine cutoff switch failing. You can actually cause it to fail in humid conditions by tapping the housing of it and the engine will completely cut if it's idling. If op buys a 2006 they should definitely replace that switch! It's really easy to do

In my case it was a small fire in the engine bay Which caused some sort of cable ground failure somewhere.
After lot's of fiddeling and searching I fitted an extra ground cable, Minus battery to frame, to engine, to injector housing. After that it ran just fine.

places that can repair vespa gts abs unit way cheaper than replacing:

GTS 300 ABS. Lever jammed (Post 2749105)
"he folks I sent my seized ABS module to: they WERE able to repair it and it's on the way back to me. Yay! Cost was $250 plus shipping"

Module Master
Moscow, Idaho
(208) 892-0764
http://modulemaster.com

and

https://vespaforum.de/viewtopic.php?t=63598&start=15
"Glaubitz repaired my hydraulic block. It cost €200 net. It only took a few days (for the mail) and has been working flawlessly for 2,000 km." (google translate)

Glaubitz GmbH & Co. KG
Görlitzer Straße 53
02763 Zittau
https://www.ecu.de

(this should be a wiki article)

Then you ain't the person who should buy used.

Especially if in your place pre-2010 vehicles cost approx 4.000.

Please put it in the Wiki then!

As for the discussion regarding burning oil on the HPE engine, I know that the early models burned a bit, but my 2023 has not needed any oil between changes.

That includes riding it in the 2023 Cannonball where I checked it every day, finding it full each time.

It is now over 13,000 miles and has been perfect since new.

I changed the first belt at 6000 miles but am holding off now at 7000 on the second belt. I will probably push it to 8000, but no long highway trips until after changing it out.

For the coolant lines, I have two old GTs, a 2006, now two months from me owning it for 20 years, and a 2007. Both have the original coolant lines with no signs of deterioration.

All Vespas will require regular maintenance, but if well cared for, they are sweet machines.

Buy new or used, either will serve you well.

Just make sure you ride it regularly.

They don't like to sit.

Bill

when looked after a 2019 300HPE can do high mileage.

https://www.instagram.com/p/DOVTFszk6hK/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MTgxZ2xianowdW81Ng==

(scroll back in his account to Oct 2019 and you'll see when he got it)