Modern Vespa

Sitttin' on my hands & wallet for the time being like everybody else, so no TW200 or Kawa KLX 250SF any time soon. GTS was always gonna have to be a semi-ADV ride anyway, so I tried it out in Anti-Lexus-Scoot mode today.

Not brush-busting, but dirt road? Forest road? Singletrack path? Shallow sand? More Giorgio Bettinelli than Ewan and Charly. Looked to be a fair amount of that madness on the rougher cannonball routes. Who else has done it?

Put the articulated knee/shin armor on and did a bit today; grassy berms & hills, packed dirt/rock track, dirt path. Not a lot at any speed to speak of.

It's heavy for the role, but did great as a pack-mule. Pulls steadily and balanced up and down inclines at ultra-low speeds, have to stay frosty and attentive around the loose stuff; not as tightly manuverable, or appropriate for kicking-off the big stones, but overall, seems to qualify well as a non-technical ADVer. No mud, of course. Carries a lot of gear and crapola; at 75, gets you to the country or makes miles fine.

Right now, I'm wondering about more appropriate do-it-all tires...

yee-haa.

I've done all sorts of gravel roads, we have a lot of those around here. Only the really loose gravel was scary. Remembered to keep the throttle on as this will keep the balance. Soft sand - only got like 10 meters of that, not a place you want to be with a GTS. Small hard dirt tracks are all fine, just pick the right speed. Wouldn't go anywhere with loose bigger rocks or jagged edges, don't fancy being with a flat in the middle of nowhere.

I've ridden my GTS on a lot of gravel, mud, and snowy roads. Even some sand in places. It's certainly no dirt bike and would benefit greatly from some more aggressive tread but if you are patient and keep your performance expectations reasonable you can negotiate a lot of terrain.

You can see some pictures from one gloomy ride I made showing some of the terrain that the GTS can handle. The appear in a post called [url=http://vespalx150.blogspot.com/2007/11/ride-to-nowhere.html]RIDE TO NOWHERE[/url]

Thank you, Gents. Steve, I've read and enjoyed SITS before; good to see someone breaking out of the from home-to-work-&-back, errands, and coffeeshop to coffeeshop drill, sighing at traffic lights. Continuous, uninterrupted movement is the core of two wheel pleasure.

Fat and heavy over a very low C.O.G. and good pulling power at microspeed kept the GTS very well anchored. I can see that the pre-set needs ratcheting up and the tire pressure kept at the low end of reg'lar for good non-pavement security.

I wish Bettinelli's books were available in English - a guy with admitted zip mechanical know-how faces every known variant of riding surface on long trips. Yowza!

Two attributes of the GTS kept me away from touring motos: the sheer ability to carry a lot of stuff, and the power to make slab time decently. One soft super-duffle strapped behind on the pillion, and a bullet-proof 5L jerry-can, and I'm good. Got the GI folding shovel, and would like a folding brush knife: for a mud-hole that must be passed, filling it with chopped undergrowth works.

Hoping more folks with live-ammo experience will chime in...

Be careful. The engine oil sump (part 846096) is vulnerable to being damaged by road debris. I developed a crack in mine from riding ON road in a construction zone. Somehow a rock got thrown up and banged the sump, followed by a leak and red oil light. Fortunately I was near my dealer at the time and they were able to get the part quickly and it was not very expensive ($55 parts plus labor). But I have considered asking Vespa to develop a shield to prevent that from happening again.

Confirms my suspicions. Hmmm, maybe fab a bolt-on steel bash screen...

you might go to a 4X4 truck shop. Some of the modern "rock crawler" and general off road trucks are using a plastic type gear box and oil pan guards. I believe why is that the thick plastic slides over things easier than metal. Plus metal skid plates tend to be too heavy. Just a suggestion for sump protection.

Ok I feel like a fool now i can't find the skid plates i mentioned. But i have seen them before in Jp magazine.

The dealer tech said to carry a tube of plumber's epoxy (and spare oil) if you're planning to go to remote locations where similar freak occurrences could happen again. The crack was small enough that I could have made a temporary patch and refilled the oil and made it quite a few miles with sufficient oil pressure. Fortunately it happened near the dealer so I was not stranded.

That's a thought - I hadden't gotten anywhere beyond J-B Weld.

Actually, I was thinking that a shaped steel screen or lattice in a frame wouldn't be too heavy or restrict air flow...

I rode on a golf course the other day

pretty fun!

Oh you're bad. Around here that will get you shot. They take their golf seriously. Walk a dog, ride a scooter, both capital offenses....

Mark Twain said "Golf is a good walk spoiled".

About right if you ask me.

P.

I've tried it on relatively smooth fire roads and unpaved mountain roads, and I had to slow way down. The short suspension travel really beats you up on the potholes. If I rode on dirt much at all, I'd get a dual-purpose motorcycle instead.

Cheap and light. They only protect from thrown debris.

The heavier metal plates are used for rock crawling where you may end up using the slid plate for exactly that: supporting the weight of a 2000kg truck on a rock while you winch the truck off the rock.

If you have sufficient ground clearance: you just need to stop the rocks from beating a hole through the underbody. Otherwise: you need something to withstand the full impact of your vehicle.

they paid me to be there! It was for a charity raffell...hit a hole in one and you win the Vespa.

And there I was thinking you were a scofflaw, a rebel...