Modern Vespa

Hello All,

I bought an '09 BV500 (black-n-tan) last week and took it out for my first long ride yesterday. For those familiar with the San Diego area, I went out 94, north to Julian, then up and over Mt. Palomar and back to Point Loma. The ride was about 180 miles total, with lots of great twisty roads favored by sportbikes on the weekends.

My point of reference prior to this ride was my Ducati ST4S, which I've decided to replace as my street ride with the BV.

Some things I noticed on the ride:
- the rear suspension doesn't hold a candle to a proper motorcycle suspension, which is unsurprising given the huge unsprung weight of the engine and transmission. It can definitely be a bit harsh. I had it set on the 2nd of 4 preload settings. If there are any suggestions on how to smooth things out a bit, through either adjustment or upgrade (Malossi?), I'd love to hear them. I'm hoping that when my wife and I go out for rides, our combined weight (along with a topcase that I'm waiting for) will help to smooth things out a bit.
- the front suspension is decent, and gave me no real problems. Quite competent, although not track-day material.
- Other than the choppy rear, the handling was surprisingly good for a scooter. Amazingly enough, I'm pretty sure that my pace through the curves was probably pretty close to what I'm willing to do on the street on my ST. I found that the bike's balance through the curves was greatly improved by just leaning forward and pushing my shoulder into the turn a bit in the corners, putting more weight on the front and off the heavy rear. I was able to scrub the rear tire all the way over, and the chicken-strip on the front is down to a quarter-inch or so.
- Being on the BV when the traffic slows down or for boring freeway stretches is FAR better than on a motorcycle. The throttle spring is fairly light, and not having to use the clutch all the time makes for a much easier ride. I find that on the scooter I'm much more willing to just slow down and enjoy the view.
- Wind protection with the stock screen was very good. I found little air pushing me back, and my helmet was in a nice, smooth airstream (I'm 5'7"). It remains to be seen what my wife will think of the wind on the back.
- Using the linked-brake setup in the twisty bits was very entertaining and new compared to the typical motorcycle setup. With no clutch on the left, I was able to trail brake with my left hand (actuating 1 front and 1 rear disk) and then be able to immediately feather in gas with the right after I had the speed dialed in. My coordination and smoothness was far better than the admittedly ham-handed way that I sometimes go through a corner (no driveline lash here...) on my big bike.
- The riding position has its ups-and-downs, but in general I think I finished fresher than on the ST. I had no numb-right-hand problem that I usually get, and the only complaint I had was a bit of back tiredness from sitting up.

All in all, I had a really great ride. I have no regrets about buying the BV, as its very adequate twisty-road sport-touring chops (so far) are greatly complemented by its incredible ease of use and utility around town. Although I still like the silver paint job available on the BV250, I did find that I was glad to have the 500cc power on the interstate and climbing hills during sport riding.

Happy riding,

Tom
San Diego, CA

Congrats on your new scoot.

I used to live in San Diego and wish I had my BV500 when I lived there but I am still happy to have it in Austin. I just got mine a couple months ago and am loving it so far. I can't provide much input on the suspension unfortunately.

Oh and my 2009 is silver so you can get it in that color.

Photos of my new 2009 BV500

Nice report, Tom. Thanks. My two finalist were the GTS and the BV 500. The classic won out, but I sometimes wonder how I'd like the 500 powerplant, (like my old bike, a Honda Silverwing Interstate GL500 - the motorcycle of old, not the current scooter version).

hmm... chicken strip is about 1/3 of an inche, I cannot lean more since the bikestand is scraping the ground. But I will do 2 clicks after reading your post and see if it improves.

Hi Tshugart3,

i have an 07 BV500 and I love it. It is a great riding machine. I had a 2003 Sprint and I agree the BV500 is just easier to ride easy on. But it can hual when it needs to. It does turn well though it can run a little wide in the corners. I accoun that also to the unsprung wieght on the back. Never tried pushing more forward in the corners, I'll have to give that a try. I have managed to scrape my center stand in both directions. I left the shocks on the first setting though. That might make a diffference in the cornering clearance. There are some aftermarket shocks but I'm not sure who makes them.
Glad to hear you are enjoying your BV, same here.

Ride safe, Ride long.

Hi Tom,
my beo500ie is based on the same frame as BV500 with some minor differences. BV500's first series had some problems in the ride behaviour department, and Aprilia did some good work in this area when it came to modify BV500's frame for its '06 Scarabeo 500ie. Subsequently, Piaggio applied those modifications to the more recent BV500 ('06-'07 onwards).

Back to your report, Italian BV-Scarabeo riders found the following modifications quite useful to improve handling, ride, stability, etc:

1) A very good solution to the back suspension problem is in fitting a pair of good aftermarket shocks. Our 'standard' solution is a pair of solid, coherent and widely adjustable (though expensive) Bitubo:
http://80.68.199.26/bitubo_database/FMPro?-DB=prodotti_eng.fp5&-Format=scheda_prodotto2_en.html&Nome_prodotto=WME%20Scooter&-Find

2) As to the front end, some found some improvements with the following solutions:
- refilling with a good SAE20 fork oil
- fitting new Bitubo Springs:
http://80.68.199.26/bitubo_database/FMPro?-DB=prodotti_eng.fp5&-Format=scheda_prodotto2_en.html&Nome_prodotto=MF%200&-Find
As to me, I think that a fork oil change is more than sufficient (but, you know, bikers and scooterists can be VERY fanatic...)

Finally, a pair of good tyres make a sensible difference. The more widespread solutions are:
- Pirelli Diablo Scooter (a huge favourite and must have)
- Michelin Pilot Sport SC
- some are trying Metzeler FeelFree and say they match up to Diablo but with a bit more mileage.

Hope it helps!

Sport bikes definitely have a big edge in the twisties. But in practicality, comfort, and ease of use they don't hold a candle to a scooter.