Modern Vespa

Hey guys, I just got my Vespa back from the paint shop so I thought I'd share. I work for Vespa Clearwater and this is my personal bike but also the guinea pig for the shop, I've had her for a little over two years and got bored with the silver - plus I wanted to throw on some stuff from the S.



It may be hard to see in the pic, but color is a darker red than stock (not quite vintage red). Its called Imola Red and its a color I picked out of a BMW paint chip catalog, used mostly on their M-series cars. I also replaced the glovebox with the inside legshield of the S and filled in the running lights on the front. Shaved all the reflectors. Saddle seat and tail lamp are also from the S. I'm having a buddy of mine make me up a set of Rally-style reflective stripes to go on the cowls and front fender.

Mechanically its running a 190 kit, SoHo racing cam, and a malossi variator. Scorpion exhaust thats been on there for about 10,000 miles and never a lick of trouble with it (though I'm eyeing a swap to a PM pipe).

that's prettyyyy. i lovee the S interior leg shield with the exposed 'pockets.' so handy.

Very nice! How fast can you go with your engine?

Its super quick off the line but top speed seems to have suffered after installing the malossi variator, it indicated slightly over 70ish. I need to find some time to mess with the variator weights. Also considering dropping the malossi for a polini variator, as I've heard it has a better acceleration curve/top end and perhaps going with their gear kit for a little more top end.

Before the variator I seemed to get to 75+ fairly quick. Granted I was about 20 pounds lighter back then (I need to go to the gym!). With the new variator wheelies are no problem though.

I'm also running the larger tire in the back, which as I understand makes my speedo slightly more accurate. I need to borrow someone's GPS to get an idea of true top speed.