Modern Vespa

I posted yesterday about my wife's LX50 being stuck in steering lock position. The key would not turn at all and the steering could not be released. It was my first post and I was shocked to find that experienced MV'ers took me for a thief trying to start a scooter I had stolen.

It is not an unreasonable suspicion, I came to understand, after I thought about it and heard from a few frequent posters. One of the folks who replied was JimH of Maine. He is a "locksmith and scooterist." And he is an amazingly generous, patient, helpful person. He spent literally hours with me on the phone and email trying to help me diagnose and fix the problem.

As it turned out, I was of course not a thief, but in fact a victim of a thief. Someone had tried to wrench my steering column lock loose by violently twisting the handlebars. The scooter is in the hands of the dealer now.

In the process I learned a little bit about how many people JimH has helped over the years, totally free and selflessly. Thanks, in abundance, to a wonderful man, JimH.

The only thing that upsets me about jimc's responses to these types of questions is that he always get there before me. I would have responded the same way. Yes, you're right, it is a very understandable assumption based on hard experience.

My ET4 was stolen when it was brand new several years ago, and the thought that the only way it could have been ridden was because someone, innocently or not, helped the thief get it running without the keys leaves me cold. On the other hand, the thought of what I am going to do to said thief, if I ever catch up with him, keep me warm at nights.

So, while jimc's response may be likened to getting a cold bucket of water in the face when you walk into church, any smarta$$, theiving, ba$tard, sonufabitch, waste of skin, lower-than-whale-shit-on-the-bottom-of-the-ocean horse/scooter thieves won't get any easy ride off of a scooter they didn't work for.

The victims of friendly fire stagger bit, post again with an explanation, and then jimh's shift takes over.

They've both been of very helpful to me in the past. Jimc helps me keep my scoot running, and it's running with jimh's key in the ignition, too.

There is now balance in the universe.

Seems like the place for it so I thought I'd drop a public line of thanks to Jim as well, thanks for sending me the blanks man, was having a time finding them around here for less than $20 a piece!

Yep...that's Jim...he callee me to discuss my need to have a couple of keys cloned and got them back to me rather quickly...hey Jim not to be a spoil sport but do you have a back up apprentice if you retire?

Gotta tip my hat to Jim too. He's currently cloning a couple of keys for me, and at no additional cost to me, is re-keying my top box lock so that I only need to carry one key for both the ignition and the top box. Thanks Jim. Please don't retire anytime soon.

I second that. Jim is top notch and offers great help for the people on the Not So Modern side as well

I'm glad JimH could help.

The fact is that just about once a week a "new member" asks how to break into a Vespa, or bypass the immobilizer. Forgive us for being jaded.

P.

Jim is the best !!

He's made keys for my BV 200 and Vespa LX150 and re-keyed both top box locks so I only have to carry 1 key for each scooter.

His service is fast and very reasonable. What a great resource for the scooter crowd !

And to talk to him with that Scot's accent is a real hoot.

While I haven't had a key issue, I do have to say that JimH (along with a few other cognoscenti) have taught me more through their substantive posts than I figured possible. Seriously, there are times I search mechanical issues with JimH or Eric as one of the filters... even before wading through my Hanes manual.

Immensely valuable asset to the community.... and amazingly snark free too! 8)

Props.

Jim is an incredible resource and we are all really fortunate to have him around. It's kind of astounding actually. We love the guy, can you tell?

Thanks

I feel equally lucky to have met and spoken with some fantastic individuals over the past few years. I will be around for awhile

We are a relative small community and i am glad to be part of it.

Cheers