Modern Vespa

If I came home with a citation for doing 90 in a 75 mph zone,
my wife would hang a for sale sign on my 500.
Can't let that happen!

I thought my Fuoco was a little slow ( 140km/h-86mph claimed) compared to my Tmax ( 170km/h - 105mph) indicated. Just after running in the engine i tried a Top Speed run and got an indicated 144km/h (89mph), still disappointing. And the stand was scraping anytime I do spirited riding on both sides. The rear end is also limp compared to the solid front end.

But on Saturday i fitted a Givi screen and managed to get an indicated 165km/h. Perhaps the combination of the Givi screen in reducing turbulent flow and the engine loosening up after more miles were the reason.As for the handling weakness, pumping 36psi in the rear and 32psi in the front, as well as setting the preload to the 4th step kinda solved the problem. The handling is transformed and although the stand still scrapes, the ground clearance is significantly better.

An indicated 165km/h (102mph) is an actual 154km/h (95.5mph)on GPS. As fo the storage space, I solved it by installing a Givi bracket and a top box.
The Fuoco felt rock steady at that speed with very light weaving felt on the rear end on long sweepers taken flat out, but not serious enough to worry me. I'd think another 5-7hp and an increase of Top Speed to a real 105mph ( 170kmph) would make me a happier man.

About Indicated Top Speed, I know for a fact that Japanese bikes notoriously overreads when compared to European speedometers. When I GPSed my BMW Boxercup at 236km/h ( 146mph) the indicated speed was 249km/h ( 154mph ) while at the same time various Japanese litrebikes on the same stretch of tarmac were indicating anything between 264-270 km/h ( 163 - 167 mph )


Proof of Top Speed


The Givi screen


My other Scooter

It's not the speed you go, but how you look doing it. Maybe I'm a showboat...no wait I'm definitely a showboat, and I just wanted to add to this thread that while I've had my old 250 up to 93(prob 80ish real speed) and so far my 500 has only gotten up to 95(88 real speed), I enjoy my 15 mph cruises through the small towns round here WAY MORE than the speeds I've hit on the highways. YOU CAN'T SEE ALL THE GUFFAWS AT THOSE SPEEDS! lol

I had a cat chase me once and I think I got it up to 45.. I never could read that dang speedometer..What I noticed..The more miles you put on the engine the better it Purrs.....

That's not too bad mate! The sign might read 'Rob In Denver' for sale. Then you are in real trouble.

I have recently had my speedo up to 105 mph I suppose that is roughly 95-97? It was as stable as could be and I loved every minute of it.

I have seen several posts of speed on the 250 of well over 70-75. Can the 250 really go that fast? My impression was it topped out mid-60s.

My 250 is pretty new (700mi), and I opened her up all the way last night. RPMs were 7-8K, and pushed a fraction over 70 on the speedo in level flight, which I assume means mid-60s in reality.

She might get a little faster the engine breaks in, but I doubt I'll do a "real" 70 any time soon.

Hi Dead Money...I have a 250 and the speedometer was reading 80 mph, but I had my wife drive behind me in the car and she said I was really doing about 72/73 mph.

This thread might just save me some money. I have been considering if I want a 400 or 500 just for a little more speed but I think 70 is plenty so maybe I will go back to what i was thinking in the first place....a 250. I am so confused.

Do I dare? No laughing... afterall, we are MP3 family right? I'm proud to say I hit 42mph just yesterday on my 25 mile voyage around my area. It felt wonderful....I may try 50 tomorrow

Hi Dead Money,

My original reasoning for the purchase of the MP3 was for my wife to use my car for everyday errands (still get good gas mileage for a 1998 vehicle) and park the SUV (use only when needed...traveling with the dogs, groceries, have lots of people). I commute about 30/40 miles round trip on the MP3 and the ability to fill up once every 7 - 10 days for less than $12 is amazing. Plus the fact that it's a blast to ride has sold me. I guess what I'm saying is figure out what you want from the bike (250, 400 or 500) and make your decision.

In the famous words of the group Sister Sledge...We are Family Seriously MySkyMizer, I know what you are talking about...I first started out on side streets, then moved up to a 2 lane highway and conquered the interstate (in this case I-5) so as you become more comfortable with the bike, you'll drive a little faster (within your abilities of course).

Hey roofscoot,
The greatest thing about your photos is how your 500 is like , "Hey Mercedes, you can hold my helmet, punk!" Glad to see Fun beats Form and Function any day!

Thank U Spartan '84....I think I'm following your path, only I'm doing it in Florida. I WILL take my time.
Btw....I loved Sister Sledge when they sang that song,......wanna dance?

That is completely false. Speed does not kill......

The abrupt stop at the end of the speed is what does it.

Hi MySkyMizer...Let's dance, you want to lead or should I Just take your time and you'll get better and better...I used to come home from work and practice around the neighborhood to build up my courage...this of course was my first scooter/motorcycle...and then I took the MSF Course.

Riding a 250cc 70mph most of the time while you are on the road is sort of like pushing the bike to the limit all the time. I always ride 10 to 15% less than the top speed. Thought that might prolong my bike durability. Longer life span for spare parts too. Other MV members stated that larger wheels have longer life span and other pros and cons on the larger MP3's. So, it might be worth it to really consider the pros and cons before purchasing this dream bikes. But than again, I am pretty happy with my 250 but I guess a higher cc one will be much better as I am now well verse with its performance. I am only keeping my 250cc because 'The are things that we have now are the things that we can only dream of having in the past'. Cheers!

MP3 250: 5,500 above sea level, fresh belt and rollers, no rev limiter.

1120 9/12/2008 11:51 5509 ft 0.5 mi 0:00:20 84 mph 111° true N37 34.104 W115 39.411
1121 9/12/2008 11:51 5413 ft 0.2 mi 0:00:09 86 mph 120° true N37 33.961 W115 38.933
1122 9/12/2008 11:51 5359 ft 0.3 mi 0:00:11 85 mph 129° true N37 33.868 W115 38.729
1123 9/12/2008 11:52 5320 ft 0.6 mi 0:00:25 85 mph 130° true N37 33.726 W115 38.508
1124 9/12/2008 11:52 5217 ft 0.5 mi 0:00:22 84 mph 130° true N37 33.399 W115 38.013

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=N37+34.104+W115+39.411&ie=UTF8&t=h&z=16&iwloc=addr

Riding the 250s at 70mph or better yet at WOT all the time is not 'pushing them to the limit'. These scoots are not built like motorcycles. They're designed to be ridden well beyond anything you can throw at them. There was a post about this way back and JimC commented about this. They're really not in any trouble by the normal day to day WOT highway riding. It may cause your rear tire to wear a bit faster, but as long as the proper oil and maintenance is used, your engine will just smile back at you at these speeds.

Oh! Dear! I have been taking it real easy on the bike after I have changed all new tires, brake pads, belt and oil. Thought it will help with the life span of the bike. Guess I can now ride the bike like when I first got hold of it. I didn't actually waited for the bike to fully break-in when I rode it like 'I stole it'. Thanks for the info. Cheers!

Barry....I'm going to "2-step" my way right to the MSF course here in FL come mid December at our local Harley dealer (YOU already did that step.....lucky guy! Did you do it on a scoot or cycle?) I will be on their Harley Buell...they don't teach on any scoots....must get full cycle license here in FL! I'll let you know how "they" led me in "Let's dance"
BTW.....that's a great Bowie song!
Sky

I Busted the Lambretta

I hit the limiter on my GTS. Looking forward to trying it out on the 500 come next spring/summer if I ever come across a clear stretch of highway. 50 km/hr over the limit in Ontario gets you an automatic license suspension for 3 days and your vehicle impounded, plus a charge of street racing and mandatory court appearance.

Be safe out there.

Hi Sky,

Yup, took the MSF in August at the local college but they didn't let me use the scooter. Had to learn how to ride a "real" motorcycle...lol...but I did it and even went to the DMV to take the motorcycle test. Passed with flying colors and now have a regular passenger car license as well as the M1 motorcycle designation Best of luck and please keep me posted regarding your results.

I have heard trees are the #1 killer on American roads. If you like to drink and drive, are between 18-35 years of age, and like to drive in the late evening time, you have hit the danger trifecta and are at a high risk of injury or death. Speeding doesn't help chances much, but at least it didn't make the top three. Still no reason to move down the food chain. I took the 400 to 80 on a new two lane road with no traffic. It was a little windy, so I backed off before going any faster. A deer in the road, or turtle, or __________ would have wiped me out, so I will not do it again. Just a brief moment of wonder, twist of the wrist, and an extra 15 MPH for a brief few seconds. A ticket would also stink, as I don't need any more financial burdens. I just scoot to work and back, and have saved a bit on gas in the process, so I don't get to open the 400 up much. Had a long trip to a service station on a day off, got an itch...and next thing I knew I took the red pill-

So what you're saying is, to drive safer, we need to wait until we're 36 or older, get drunk, and then drive in the mornings. I'm in!

get drunk-

the get drunk thing is still in the top three- unless you are riding passenger, which may allow you to fall off. it's not the 80's anymore- people don't know how to drive drunk now- I guess the cell phones, higher speed limits, and socialism (jab) have made it harder...

this year alone in Singapore, six guys have been killed, one seriously injured and one is still in hospital in four accidents involving cars and trees. so what are our chances on a bike?
we shouldn't be asking how fast we've gone on our bikes. staying alive is way more cool to me.

Had my 400 at an indicated 97mph this morning. It might have had another mph or two left in it, but I had to slow down. Wish I'd had the GPS on. Don't know at the moment how far off my speedo is, but assume it indicates a bit faster than true.

As my old German flight instructor once told me...there are old pilots and bold pilots...but...NO OLD BOLD PILOTS. I want to live long enough to get even with the government.javascript:emoticon('')

Was cruising at 85 mph on Friday when coming home from Oakland on Friday. Was tucked.

93 on the speedometer of my 500. I sped up to pass a horse trailer that moved to the shoulder for me. I was thinking, "Man, this is smooth," looked down and saw what I was doing and dropped back.

i'm with you, brother. my dad used to say, better be late than be dead on time.

I was able to get up to 75 on highway (first time) then I backed off since it was 65, but I backed off too much because then I could only hit 60 dont know what happened......thats on a 250.

So for as of 1/2009...76mph on a rural straightaway....

outside tempe...indicated a bit over 150 km (my mph is too small to read at that speed), my gps was 89 mph

but i rarely ride over 80 mph...eats gas...so for highways i usually do 75 mph

g

According to GPS my top speed was 83, but that was with pretty much all the right circumstances.

I'm curious, though: is there a limiter of some sort in the MP3s to keep us from overworking the engine? I've been able to do a little speed testing and I've found that when the tachometer hits 9.5 (around 80+ mph) the bike loses it's power as if I'd let go of the throttle, but kicks back in the moment speed/tach have begun to fall again. This results in a string of quick little "bucks" like I'm bumping against an invisible barrier.

This is all on a 250, by the way.

I haven't seen that on my 250 Spaz but my fastest is 79 tucked with the stock screen on a level 4 lane. I cruise nicely at 60 though and that is all I need for my commute.

That is the RPM limiter. I started hitting it at about 7,000 miles. Once I replaced the stock belt and rollers with stock OEM parts I noticed a 1,000 RPM drop for any given speed at the top end. Put another way, as the belt and rollers wear the engine will have to turn at a higher rpm for a given speed. In my case once I put new parts in, I was unable to get the rev limit unless I was going downhill with a tail wind.