Modern Vespa

ewww. think of it as a free colonic irrigation. from both ends.

New tires always feel strange. Often, it's because they're round, and you're used to riding on square tires that take more effort to lean. Suddenly you've got nice round tires, and the bike feels almost twitchy, leaning without even seeming to mean to.

And I just realized I'm putting a coherent statement into a thread that's not meant to be anything of the sort, and you all are probably wondering why I would do such a thing, so I'll just back slowly out of the room so you can get on with whatever it is you do in here.

we talk crap in here jess. how dare you make sense and offer sound advice in a thread that is dedicated to precisely the opposite. fexsake. some people

cheers btw - twitchy is exactly how the K61s feel right now

Do you mind? We are thoroughly coherent and literate.

We just happen to talk coherent and literate nonsense.

Genie you are always welcome to meet up for riding lessons

I'm pretty good at 1 to 1's.

Bill X

Genie, the caps are there before weekend.
And a little carefull with heidenau when cold. This is a performance tire, so need to little bith warm up, before go full speed. They are not so soft as Pirelli. I thin you like them.
I have now Bridgestones Hoop B02. !30 in front and 140 back. Supertyres....

And now i gone unpacking my just received new Ben Sherman watch.

Both sound great. We've got my folks staying over that weekend, but as usual we have no idea when they are arriving and leaving. If I can make lunch, I'd love to.

I bet you do. I just bought everyone those really chocolatey Gu (can't do the umlaut) choc brownies to say thank you.

ATM it's like an office love-in (but normal service will be resumed before too long and we'll all go bac to snarling at each other, I'm sure)

cheers marc i look forward to receiving my valve caps. i had heard that the heidenaus require a bit of warming up at temperatures below 6C - i'll try and avoid going WOT until i get to the end of my street

Go for it, Genie

Have my Heidenau K61 130/70 back and 120/70 front tyre for some time now. Though the Heidi's may be a bit 'stiffer' thus less comfortable, but their steering ability is just amazing!

Twist and Go magazine really rated the Hoop last year against everything else. Pilots got the top dry vote, Hoops the top wet one... As to the "local shop for local people" post earlier in this thread, I think you might already be considered local In fact I would be surprised if you weren't already sporting an honorary DSSC sticker...

Mr Wonder Machine has truly got the bug and went to look at the new Honda SH 300.

But since the SH 300 doesn't fit me and he's even taller, it is too small! He is looking to upgrade to a 250cc machine after his test, with good storage but something that can wiggle through traffic and still deal with a motorway.

Any suggestions? He doesn't fit on the GTS either. At full lock, his knee gets in the way of the handlebars!

Are you sure he won't fit the SH300?. It seemed much the same size to me as the 125. Most Piaggio scooters will be out. I don't like the position on an MP3 or and X7 (loaner) and I am a shorty in terms of inseam.

Nexus 300 might work.

So might the Yamaha X-City

He struggles with the SH 125, and trails his leg at full lock. I do not like this.

The new SH 300 is supposed to have more leg room but is actually worse than his current scoot.

I wondered whether the X7 or Yamaha X City might be better. Is the X7 also for the shorter of leg?

I found the X7 to be awful. I just edited to suggest the X-City!

Yes, I think that's a goer. Looks not bad either.

An X9 250 Evo would suit him.
It is considered by many the best of breed of the yet-to-be-replaced flagship scooter.

I think the above scooter is just awful to look at and who choose the colour scheme - Peters and Lee ?
Give me the classic Vespa shape any day of the week.
I'll admit that the Yamaha V-Max 250/500 is a pretty sexy machine but the big wheel scoots just look awkward and out of sorts to me.
I know that Doug is a big fan of the handling abilities of larger wheeled rides but the look alone is enough to put me off.
I remember meeting a sales lady from Fiat at an Expo who was promoting the Multipla ( which we all know is ugly as sin ) and she kept saying the same thing - the handling is really good. But it scares children love !
If that's the best thing you can say about a "ride" it's not for me.
Call me old fashioned but for me I've got to want be seen in it or on it.
Today im going to commute on the Hornet so my dent man can remove the floor pan ding it collected when it decided it was tired and wanted a nap on the tarmac.
Counciling is going well thank you.
Ride safe all.
Bill X

actually i don't mind it. it seems confident in its awfulness. i'd ride it.

well to be fair i would ride anything other than the Interloper right now because i hate my new tyres

Just a thought - have you double-checked the tyre pressures? I've never had the right pressures in tyres after fitting, they are always far too high.

kelvin is a careful bloke and got it just about perfect - 25 in the front, 30 in the rear. after my first 10 minutes on them i thought for sure he'd overinflated them to about 150psi.

nothing for it but to bite the bullet and get back on [*shudder*]. they can only get better.

Genie : 1.8 in front and between 2.0 and 2.0 back.

my gauge reads in psi - i believe the correct pressure is 26 in front, 29 in the back?

Yep you do.

Wonder, I can accept a reasonable offer on a 3.5 yr old X9 250 with 20k miles on the clock

What about an X-Max? (Nicer than an X-City imho). Or, seriously, an X9 would be v good for a taller bloke (even then, you'd think about a screen extension for longer journeys).

It's not just legroom that counts for tall people, in my experience. It's the fact that when Mrs BB folds up say 5 t shirts and a pair of jeans for her, it fits into a GTS topbox very easily, with plenty of room for a book to read, a toothbrush, a bottle of wine, etc (all the essentials for a bike holiday). Whereas if you're a 6ft-er, then the storage in a GTS is a little small. One great thing the X9 has going for it is that the Piaggio topbox is the size of a small suitcase.

I'm riding the GTS to work at the moment. I've still got a package in my cupboard that would fit in my X9 box with no problems, but will require bungying and netting to the back of the GTS (and I can't be ar$ed with that this week). I love riding the GTS, but it's a bit physically small for it to be my real bike.

An X9 is probably what he needs at 6 foot 3. He also needs a top box for his laptop for work and a screen to avoid being buffeted into a ditch.

Looks, well, he's riding a Sh 125, looks in a scooter plainly aren't important. Big wheels important, storage important. Out of the two us I take care of the good looking bit. So when I say the X City looks not bad, this is a relative thing - also it looks a bit better in white.

I can't persuade him down the Vespa route though he did try mine out, he is too long of leg for it unless the seat is shaved down to get rid of that silly little hump thing.

We rode into town together today, and then I realised that I had the day off. D'oh!

genie - New tyres always feel wierd for the first 100 miles. I liked the Pirellis because they scrubbed up very quickly. I am sure they will fit soon.

i guess i'm just whinging because i loved the Pirellis immediately. there was no 'breaking in' period. the honeymoon was short, though, and i don't like the idea of changing my tyres three times a year - those Pirellis took four months to get down to the wear indicators! i'm beginning to suspect that they may have been an old cobwebby pair that the shop had sitting around in the back.

No, my pair are getting there too, and they were brand new. They are really soft!

I hated whatever tyres they put on the LX range, they took ages to break in and I felt like I was skating on ice for the first 75 miles.

I've worn down the front tyre on the GP800 in the four months since I've had it, but then I've somehow done 5000 miles on it!

Off to do some more tomorrow: the Somme for battlefield tourism, good food and hopefully nice roads too. Back Tuesday night. Yay!

Senior moment!!! That's happening too soon!

Oh dear, they looked at me when I got there as if I had two heads.

Just cleaned the 300. God, rust and pitting after only five months. Not too impressed, though surprisingly the exhaust doesn't look like shit.

I did that once or twice! Very weird feeling.

My GP800 is in for a service at Walton Road Garage[1] in preparation for the Somme. They gave me a ratty old '55 GT125 they'd taken off someone's hands as a loaner. Definitely a City Bike, scuffs dents and cracked plastic all around, needs a bit of work and a new rear tyre, but it runs beautifully. It's the most responsive Leader engine I've ever had right from cold, none of the usual hesitation. I might ask them how much they want for it. I feel the urge to fettle something.

[1] CBS Whitton don't sell them, so haven't trained up on them and politely refused to do the service - quite understandable. St Albans is an hour away, or an hour and a half when an Ace breakfast is factored in. Walton Road Garage is 6 minutes away, and they're nice people. No-brainer.

Go on jim, give it a good home!

I was thinking of taking his nibs up to St Albans and back down via a nice pub or two (after all its pretty much where I grew up and there are some nice roads) but got a bit stuck because the nature route is the A1 (M) which he is barred from due to the shame plates. I'll have to look into the Bs for something more interesting.

I hope both you and Alice have a good jaunt across the Channel.

If it's going for a song I just might! Come off the A1 at South Mimms (M25), third exit off the roundabout towards the services and immediately turn left. First exit at the next roundabout and head for London Colney or second exit towards Colney Heath. The latter is a lovely bit of road. Both bring you out on the A414 just suth of Snorbums proper. Definitely!

Thanks! I'll try to take some pics The party includes 5 IAM Observers so I'll be on my best behaviour (plus 3 non-Observers and 2 pillions).

I looooved my GT125 and I still wish I hadn't had to sell it to buy the Nexus. A while ago I briefly had a 200cc loaner which, like Jim's, was a bit of a dog (including an exciting banana-shaped brake lever) but performed even better. Buy it, Jim, you will not regret it!

You see this is why my husband is stupid for not getting a GT/GTS. There is nothing better than a Vespa which has been thrashed a bit.

yay marc! my very very beautiful blue valve caps have turned up thank you so much.

i'm going to weigh them on the digital scales at work just to compare their weight to the plastic ones but i'm not too concerned about installing them as my new valve stems are very short and stubby and of a better quality than the old ones.

1 cap = 0.035273 oz

GP800 back home now. GT125 back with Walton Road Garage - who wanted GBP1250 for it. There was far too much bodywork to be done to justify that, plus it needed a new rear tyre and probably new variator, belt and rollers, as the tranny case hadn't been looked at for ages. Oh, plus complete renewal of brake and coolant fluids. I might have paid GBP650 or 700 for it in that state.

The rollers on the GP800 were completely shot. Huge flats on them all, one down to the metal! The belt was still in fairly good nick after its 12,500 miles, I'd have said it was good for another 3,000 before it needed replacing, but as the service interval is 6,000 miles and a service takes 4 man-hours (true!) it makes sense to change it now.

One thing I had mentioned to them was that occasionally it would stall when throttling right off and coming to a standstill. Well it did it again right after I left, so turned round and asked them to re-check it. One of the mechs said it should all be fine as they'd 'reset the throttle'. I asked if he meant they had reset the throttle position sensor, and he replied yes! ARRGH!!! That must never be done unless a new throttle body is fitted!!! He also insisted it wasn't possible to reset the idle settings!!! Luckily another mech quietly said that No, they hadn't reset the TPS, but had adjusted the idle settings, and he was the one entrusted to use the diagnostic unit. Phew... He upped the idle speed a nadgers and it seems much better now.

He also reckoned the muffs were interfering with the front brake lever. Hmm, not convinced, so when I got home I checked - the brake light switch just needed repositioning by 0.5mm, as it would often not turn off with the lever released (and not a muff in sight).

So not wholly convinced by these folk, but at least those who actually do the 'diagnostic' things seem to know what they are doing. Very friendly bunch though.

OK, was that enough waffle?

That sort of story frightens me, as I don't have nearly enough clues to detect such errors And AHAHAHA NO to their price, ptui!

Kate, forgot to ask - you feeling better? I can't decide whether your many posts today are a good or bad sign