Modern Vespa

I hope somebody can help me.

I was looking for the mileage to do the 2nd service and I found different answers. I have a GT 200 and the bike's manual says it should be done at 4,000 miles. The workshop manual (I downloaded here at the forum) says at 3,750 miles. Looking at the warranty book, there is a slip for a 2nd service at 2,000 miles for oil check and the 3rd service, the oil exchange, at 6,000 miles. When had you guys done your 2nd service? (the one with the oil change). I regularly check oil level and top it when necessary.

Thanks!

How many miles do you have on your scooter at present? It never hurts to have it serviced "early" rather than later, as maintaining your scooters oil is key to it running properly etc. I can't speak for the GT, but I'm sure someone will chime in with insights...

I service the scoot early. every 3k oil change and gear lube change, I service the air filter every 1k. check tire press every week. but thats me and my style.

It has 3,373 miles on the odometer. The 1st service was at 630 miles.

If I do every 3k as mentioned I should do at ~3,700 miles.... fits with the workshop manual.
I guess between 3,750 and 4,000 should be right. Besides every 3,000 miles makes sense.

Thanks for the replies!!

I hit 3000 and took it in to the shop for my second service...

... the mechanic wanted to wring my neck when I told him I had my first service at 600 miles and needed my second. He stressed the need for the "every 2k" check up (oil change and the like) with major service (belts, rollers, etc) done every 4k or so.

Granted that could be "drumming up business" thing, but I've known the folks at this shop since before they opened so I take it at its face, that they were genuinely concerned that I went 1000 miles over my service schedule.

So from now on I'll be more diligent about every 2k checkups.



.02

I can actually tell when my auto vespas have needed a service. They got a little harder to start and gets a bit sluggish and less peppy. Not massively, but riding the same route to work everyday you notice those little things.

It seems if I do a lot of slow, in town, stop and start riding they've needed servicing sooner in the mileage schedule than when I've mixed the riding with some highway or open road runs.

However, I've also noticed that if its way early in the mileage schedule and I lose some pep, a good blow out on a highway gets the pep back. When I've looked back on my riding patterns before this I've generally only been doing the short, 3.5 mile work run just before.

Its been the same for the old ET4 as well as my current GTS.

Pretty anecdotal, but your bike does give you a lot of feedback about what it needs.

Andrea

I called my dealer at 2000 mi. for my second service and he told me he had finally gotten an answer from Paggio USA that it should be done at 3750.

Chris

Thanks for all the answers!

I'll go with the 3,750 miles schedule then. And it's true about the feedback of the bike. I do the check up myself and after the 600 mi till now i made 2. basically waht is needed is oil top up, a little bit, tire pressure check and clutch cleaning with brakelin. I use my bike to commute everyday and I was having the pep thing after while when on a stop. I realized tooo that long runs on the freeway gives the transmission system a good cleaning blow. Now I just take the freeway to commute and I can tell that the bike is so much happier!!

She was born for the hwys and fwys.

Are Piaggio USA pulling figures out of thin air in the states?

(These figures are for the GTS, the GT gets a 4000 mile service)

Q. Why don't you read what it says in the US (yes, US) version of the Workshop manual, which you can download form the technical library on this very site.

A. 10,000km (6000 miles)

This question gets asked lots and everyone seems to disagree what the real figure is.

The 2000 mile figure is NOT correct...

everyone should change their oil like underwear, everyday or for some every week but definatly no lees than once a month but if you calculate in the reference of engine running time would that in effect change when you should change the oil or do you add or subtract from the current or futuremileage then only divide out the bs later.

Doug, I see the point you are trying to make. However, have you ever considered that the riding habits of the majority of US scooter owners are very different than your own?

Take a guess at the percentage of bikes we see with the mileage over 2,000 and how old those bikes actually are?

ndrea

Oh, I don't disagree at all. Once a year OR every x thousand miles. Whichever comes sooner.

I just don't think people should be persuaded into doing a service every 2000 miles every three months!

The USA LX150 manual states every 3750 for an oil change. What I am trying to say is that USA servicing requirements are exactly the same as Euro requirements!

So: 250cc plus = oil change every 10000km or annually

Less than 250cc = oil change every 6000km or annually.

Simple really....

Three months? 90% of our service bikes haven't reached 2,000 miles at 3 years! We have very few customers that have reached 6,000 miles and we've been selling auto Vespas since the end of 2000.

We have a need to be able to give a quick easily remembered statement over the phone. Too much info can confuse some people. If some one asks more questions we always elaborate and give lots more info after asking lots of questions about riding habits. Also, for some reason many, many people do not remember the time scale, only the mileage. The warranty book and its service coupons is the most regularly referred to service schedule by our custmers, but for some reason they only see the mileage part and not the month time scale next to the mileage.

This year saw more 2001 to 2004 ET4s being pulled out of long term storage than any other year. We got lot of calls asking why the hell wouldn't their bike run as it only had [any figure less than 500 miles] on it. They often insisted that they didn't need to have it serviced because the first service was at 600 miles.

Only about 20% of the bikes we have sold are serviced regularly. I count once a year as a regular service.

60% of the bikes that come in for service have tire pressures that are dangerously low. A lot of people just don't check the tire pressures, even when the bike is stored for the winter (October till late April).

Only 10% of our auto customers ride their bike in and wait whilst the service is being done. The rest have us pick up the bike and drop it back. Our service radius is about 30 miles max, with the occasional longer distance customer. We have a waiting area, fresh coffee, tea and wireless internet.

The regular servicers generally tell us when they can feel their bike is in need of a service.

BTW, Piaggio USA now advises dealers to start checking the belts at 4,000 miles, due to the different riding habits between US owners and their European counterparts.

Anyway, as a Brit I can tell you that in the majority of cases riding habits and road conditions over here are very, very different from back home, especially here in the metro NYC area, and I used to live and ride in London. Plus the blame game over here is way, way bigger.

Andrea

This is a really interesting perspective, Andrea and I see exactly where you are coming from. Most of us do around 5000 miles per year over here.

How does NYC differ so much - apart from not being allowed to filter?

Just commuting I do 100 miles per week. Once a year servicing will suit me fine, I suspect.

Oops, made a mistake. 10% of services are whilst u wait, 15% are drop up on one day pick up on another (only 40% of the 15% are within 24hrs), the rest are pick ups and drop offs.

I'm a management account by profession. I love tracking data and mapping trends

If you're ever over here in the NYC area let me know. I'll lend you my GTS for a while and you can see how different it is to ride in this area.

Lots of stop and start and racing from light to light. The roads are generally very, very straight and you can see the lights a long way ahead. It encourages people to try and beat the lights on the avenues. Traffic jams everywhere, especially at the tunnels, bridges and cross town. People just don't want to give up their place in line and alternate merge either. I used to try to filter but realised I would lose my license if I carried on so I've cut way, way back on it.

Its very hard to keep to a smooth throttle action because cars drivers are less lane disciplined. Several times in a day I have to take evasive action by gunning the throttle to move away from danger, or taking a real risk and hit the brakes hard. This is my option of last resort if I know there's a car behind me. To many cell phone talkers not paying attention. The highways, barring parkways, are filled with big 18 wheelers. Many Vespa riders over here rightly are very nervous about riding on major highways and take back road routes instead, so even more stopand start. Very few new Vespa riders have over 5 years riding experience, so I can understand why. Drivers can be very, very aggressive - more so than any place I have ever been. So aggressive that my mother was scared enough to cry the first time she visited me in this area.

The road surfaces are very bad and full of the most hellacious potholes I have ever seen in my life (and I am originally from the Isle of Wight, pothole heaven). Several times a year we get a case cracked from hitting a deep pothole at speed. During the winter months road surfaces are covered with a thick layer of salt which causes no end of problems with sezied hardware fixings on the undersides of the bikes when they haven't been serviced for a couple of years. That salt stays around till the first really heavy rains in the spring.

In NYC itself garage parking for the winter is hard to find. Its not unusal to see covered bikes on the street with snow piled around it. Very few people have an off street parking alternative.

Andrea

can't help myself I have to do this

when in rome , do as the romans
when in london, do as the londoners
when in new york, do as the new yorkers
when in ??
ect, ect 8)

Well some of us, who don't go to work on how scooters, wont do many miles at all..and now that winter is around the corner..even less...im still running in.But after iv had the 1st service at 1000k..(600.mile)..i would hope to have my sevice every year, even if done low miles..martyn

I've had the dealer do the first few services and I've gone in early, rather than late. I have no issues and I'd like to keep it that way. My dealer said that I could come in every 2000 miles, with the way that I ride. Since I don't agree with it, I'm not going to. I'll probably change my oil about every 3000 miles and once in the Spring. I'll see them every other oil change.

Wow! What an offer! Would my A (same as your M endorsement) cover me in the US? I have driven on your freeways before (in Atlanta) and the traffic is heavy and lane discipline terrible.

I enjoyed your description of NY streets. We forget that the UK is more temperate than NYC in that we only get maybe a morning a year of very light snow at most - the gritters are also fairly rare.

Doug

Yes, your license would, plus when riding my bike with my permission you're covered with my insurance, so long as you're older than 26

To avoid problems with the NYC checkpoints, when I loan a bike to my UK friends, I usually give them a letter with my US DL number and other of my personal details on it, that states they have my permission.

I also recommend that they have travel insurance that will cover them for medical, as my insurance won't cover them for that.

Andrea

instead of doing the spring oil change you are better off to have it done after your last ride of the year. This will ensure the contaminates don't just sit there for 2-3 months or more and add corrosion/gunk to the inside of the engine

Sorry, I was unclear. I have it changed before I park it for the year, and I will do it again in the spring.

Over-maintenance is okay, right? Well, I guess better than under-maintenance.

I don't change oil, just add new when it needs it. So technically you are continually changing the old oil with new...

You're kidding, right?

I wondered how long it would take before someone responded to that...I just didn't think it'd be Nightwing.

good to hear that



note to self: never buy scoot from trowel& cuffs (poor maintenace practices has original oil filter installed)

Maybe no one took me too seriously, but I know a guy who did that with his car... poor car was dead before 100k miles.


On mine I run Royal Purple oil bad ass stuff.
and i follow what my manual says or is supposed to be interpreted to say.
That way it is on Piaggio. Like they probably give a hoot anyway.

sorry trowel & cuffs I forgot to add this

Anyway, I don't think I ride my vespa as typical here in the US. I bought it in april and now it has 3,400 mi or 5.440km. It's been 6 months and here in L.A. I'll keep riding during winter. On this basis I'll make ~7,000 mi 11.200km. Taking the fwy everyday riding at 40-70 mph for 30 min morning and 30min more in the afternoon makes the engine runs better than the street stop and go. Looking at the color of the oil I'd say that 3,750-4,000 miles is a good time to do the service for someone who rides daily. for the weekenders probably due time will come before mileage.
Btw, I'm from Brasil and besides the cellphone assholes on the traffic, people here tends to stay more on the same lane compared to Brasil. People are insane there and don't respect bikers at all. I lived for a time in Mexico city and was terrible too. Here for me is great. I guess if I drive in the UK I'd be in heaven!!!