Modern Vespa

Did some research before buying my GTS, and from my understanding the service interval were 625/6000/9000/15000 miles, etc--with minor "check stuff" intervals at 3000 mile "in-betweens".

Now I get my warranty book and they have 625 then every 2000 miles thereafter. That's just crazy--I do that in 6 or 7 weeks. Dealer does no service on Saturdays. Am I supposed to take a vacation day every 6 weeks? I haven't even discussed what these services would cost me.

I'm a pretty good mechanic, but at 56 I'm not in the mood to do too much crawling, but this is just crazy. I guess I'll take my chances with the Piaggio warranty and take care of things myself--by the service manual intervals, not the warranty manual.

P.

That will probably invalidate your warranty. I have the same problem. I'll follow the warranty manual, even though I'm a better mechanic, IMHO , than the ones working at my dealer.

As long as you can change the oil and filter at the specified 3,000 km intervals, replace the rollers every 6,000 km and the belt every 12,000 km, you should be fine.

With the proper tools, this is all DIY work with minimal crawling!

Thanks, from what I can see in the service manual it's not such a big deal to DIY. I will keep receipts and a logbook for warranty claims.

I have a good set of metric tools (from my former life as a motorcyclist). Looks to me like I need a big Torx (does anybody know the size?) for the right side swingarm/muffler hanger, a variator and clutch holding tool, a steering adjustment wrench and a 24mm socket for the rear axle.

Here's to sitting on cold concrete with filthy hands.

PS--Freakin' love the bike!!!

P.

The bolts that hold the muffler on are 6mm allen heads on my GT 200. Not sure about the GTS, but it should be similar.

As for tools, the most important is probably a decent torque wrench for the variator nut and the driven pulley nut on the clutch. Mess up the torque on those two and you're in trouble!

Other than that, you're going to need a variator holding tool of some sort. The factory part is nice but costs $90 or so. With the GT we can get away by modifying the standard $25 ET variator tool, but I think the GTS needs the real thing.

You will also need a clutch locking tool, although many of us have made our own. Do a search on this and you'll find out how.

Enjoy the bike!