Modern Vespa

Not mine. This guy has lots of interesting bikes for sale. What's the lowdown on this Lambretta ? http://tricities.craigslist.org/mcy/886928088.html

what's up with the black parts on the sidepanels? Did he cut them or is that some sort of black sticker?

Not a bad deal. I'm not doing jumping jacks, but it's not bad.

It's not a Lambretta, it's a Servetta. Kind of the Stella to a Vespa deal. Shouldn't make any difference to you, just be aware there are a bunch of small differences between the two.

My guess is that it's black tape to protect the sidepanels from scuff marks from a pillion passengers shoes, or to cover up existing ones maybe?

Servetta, I see that now on the speedo.Learning all these old scoots is a challenge.

Well, not quite. There is no relationship between Stella and Vespa (as far as I understand) unlike the relationship that existed between Serveta and Lambretta.

A Serveta is simply a Lambretta manufactured at the Eibar factory in Spain instead of the Innocenti factory in Italy. Still the same high quality - just with Spanish specs.

You're both right.

It's an Innocenti licensed production... and many of the original Servetas ( ONE "T" in Serveta, please ... TWO "T'"s in Lambretta ) were constructed using mostly italian parts.


That said, as production went on, there came to be a lot of serveta - specific parts on these bikes that were different from their italian predecessors. ( Remember that Innocenti stopped manufacture of italian lambrettas in 1971 )

Notice the glovebox - it has louvers in it ... the airbox and glovebox became the same thing on servetas starting in the mid 70's. They used a spanish electrical system ( Motoplat ), 6volt, points, battery... a system that was pretty similar to the Rally 200.

Other things like the big square black plastic switches, rubber floormats instead of aluminum rails, etc .... all serveta. Not really better or worse ( ok, those black plastic switches suck ..those were definitely a WORSE ) ... but 'different' in most cases.

alright ...spring loaded panel latches were a bad idea, too. I like the older wheel-type ones.

From what I understand, LML (Stella) used to make Vespa PX150's. Badged as such and all. When the trade agreement ran out, they still continued to make them, but just badged them differently. Local changes were made starting from there. Same basic story as the Serveta, except Vespa was still around and Lambretta is not.

There are some that argue that the quality of metal on the servetas is actually SUPERIOR to that of the older italian counterparts. ( even if the bikes aren't as collectible )

I think you'd have a hard time finding a person with a stella who says that the quality of any part of it is better than that of the PX150 elestart.




but i get your points otherwise. I think ( to me, anyways ) Serveta = quality done licensed production. API / SIL / LML / and countless others .... sub-quality licensed production.

Sounds similar to other Italian stuff also. Some of the later Ducati scramblers were made in Spain, collectors usually prefer the original. There were also Spanish Fiat cars and they were named Siat.