Modern Vespa

[quote="Thom"] Yep, he's the only one I know in PDX with a T5. I just assumed there had to be another one out there in somebody's garage. Probably the garage of an ugly old guy.

Don't pick on Matt. I'm gonna post on his MySpace that there was some guy on an internet message board that was making fun of him and T&P is gonna get all "The Warriors" on your ass.

My apologies Dave .....But I have heard some pretty outlandish speed claims before & I was a little quick on the draw.


Back to your DR kit.....they are a great kit that is a little like having a bigger stock cylinder.
Great choice & reliable.

All good. Why is it when I look at the pic in your signature I start humming Macho Macho Maaaannnn... I want to be - a Macho Man!

[quote="MJ"] Don't worry....... Matt is well loved here in Southern California....I get phone calls every few weeks or so from him. (Moving to Portland was the smartest thing he has ever done to get him out of his rut & I know he LOVES it up there.)

I wont mention his "secret" nickname up here.

There are many many funny stories about Matt in our little circle of friends.
If you know him you can vouch for the fact that he is a character.

[quote="Thom"] Yeah, he's a good sport. He came to my ugly sweater party a few years ago and started a dance floor in my living room. I'll see if I can't dig up the pictures when I get home this evening...

ummmm...his "dances"?
are stuff of legends......

What do you guys make of this one?

(not for me, my wife was looking at it)

http://london.kijiji.ca/c-cars-vehicles-motorcycles-1989-Vespa-PK50-Italian-Import-W0QQAdIdZ65248749

The dimples in the first picture make me wonder....

uh...no. You don't want a PK50 anyways. It's the perfect combination of ugly, angular, and slow. ( don't get me wrong, i love the PK125, but it's because the engine makes up for it's aesthetics )

I wouldn't worry about the dimples... asthetically it's butt ugly, but for ugly it looks pretty good. It's going to be a slow bike - but still street legal and pretty cheap. Just realize it's a shifty 2-stroke and not a modern twist n' go.

Deetto to that......

Here's an exciting new prospect:

http://toronto.en.craigslist.ca/tor/mcy/776233167.html

I've emailed the seller for more details.

ERIC.....

Femsatronic opinions?
I have heard tell that someone was making replacement coils for those?



(even though I think that the whole hubub about Femsatronic has been blown a little out of proportion...a bit of truth....a bit of scooter mythology mixed in.)




Nice looking bike from what I can tell from the pics....details please.


(If you posted shit like this on the BBS you would get swoooooooped on!)

Damn. If I'd found ANY Rally two weeks ago I would have been all over it.

Hate the colour, but if it's in good running condition that price is alright for Toronto.

Weird...i had a dream last night i bought a pristine Rally 200.

Femsa opinions? Stock up on the original boxes ... the repops are utter shite.

Personally, i've done the ducati CDI swapout ( aka the Brazilian Trick ) on multiple rally 200's and it's been awesome. Never had problems. Plus you can get one of those engine brackets for the P200 to attach the CDI and run it mounted on the engine instead of on the frame like the femsa, which is a better place for it.

-Eric

So switching the crank and the ignition on this model is pretty much inevitable, right?

No... not at all.

I'd keep it stock. The p-series crank / flywheel / bearing conversion is a costly one. I'd just rock the stock rally 200 crank until something goes wrong with it.

Use the stock stator ... but swap the CDI over to the ducati style using this guide.

"To use a Ducati P-style CDI on a Femsa Rally, just hook up the green wire from the stator to the red terminal on the CDI, the red from the stator to one of the greens, then ground the black wire to the post as normal, but also add a jumper from there to the white terminal on the CDI (also ground the Ducati unit's redundant ground jumper), and then clip and cap the blue wire from the stator. Oh, and then send me your Femsa CDI. Basically, on the Femsa system, the Red is the power to the CDI, the black is ground, the Green is the pulse from the pickup telling the CDI when to spark, and the Blue is the line back to the condenser. On the Ducati system, the green is power, the white is ground and the red is the pulse from the pickup. The Ducati CDI has a condenser/capacitor built in, which is why the blue wire is not needed in the conversion. In fact, you can just trace that line back to the stator and remove the condenser and send that to me with the CDI too if you like. Good luck."

[quote="Thom"] there's still nicknames I haven't heard about? So far i just know my pseudonym, then acquired Mailman, Pet the Kitty, Worried Matt, That Guy, and Brian Posehn. Seriously, there's a bit of a surplus here.

why all the hate for the 125... man... i feel so singled out.

for the record: the P125 is an awesome bike with tons of potential-- and depending on the application it can be much better than the p2.

the T5 is, and will always remain the best motor vespa ever made. thank you mr. kerr.

the PK even in 50 form is an awesome bike. if you ever have the chance to buy a PK for less than a G do so.

matt (aka the mailman) is one of the several reasons i'm into the T5, so i blame him-- mostly.

matt, we miss you back here in SOCAL!! But, we're glad you've found that happy place uptown.

best,
-greasy

Don't worry, you didn't miss out. It's a scam. Bike doesn't exist/he just stole the pic from the net.

Hi:

Just to update the thread, I ended up buying the PK for my wife ($800) and found a '74 Rally 200 in Buffalo for myself. The Rally is from a guy that a lot of people I know vouched for, and is in pretty good shape. He's putting the finishing touches on it this week and we'll hopefully be bringing it back soon. I'll post pics once it's here if anyone is interested.

Thanks again for everyone's input. Maybe I'll see some of you on the road or at rallies once I get comfortable with driving.

d.

You mean riding