Modern Vespa

Red+orange FTW, I still say. Good stuff!

FTW? is this a good thing....

sorry, i'm old and live in suffolk

For The Win! (Good)

And I agree - looks suitably individual. 8)

270 kit

V4 head

sounds fast.

FTW, i see! all good stuff then 8) 8) 8) 8)

don't know whether it'll be much faster, probably just better power in the mid range for overtaking, i'm not expecting the earth, it was going to have new piston, rings etc etc this winter anyway so when the 270/v4 was announced it seemed the sensible way to go, if it is faster then BONUS

and yes i could just buy a 300 BUT pathfinder has 25,000 hard ridden rally miles on it, it's a faithful friend, i'd rather re-build the engine when it needs it and re-shell the body when it needs it..........

orange powdercoated chassis with vintage red graphics............ now there's an idea 8) 8) 8) 8) 8)

Oh yes the Pathfinder is looking good. I can't wait to see it in the flesh.

Money well spent Maver.

Bill X

Tomorrow morning at 3am I will have been on this blue planet for 45 years.

How odd.

Billy X

bloody hell you know the time ....... my dad left me mum to get on with it and went home for a kip ... the next day at work his mate asked him how his wife was doing and he just shouted bugger and shot off in his car

They do say when I was born there was a kind of hush all over the World plus a whole lot of laughing.

Bill XX

Bill, Happy Birthday then matey. I hope at 3 am you will be wearing a party hat.

Maver, the pathfinder is looking sweeeeeet. 8)

Congrats, is that in human or dog years Bill?




Sorry guys but can i ask a serious question

I am talking to a dealer regarding a part exchange of my LX and would having a rear rack and fly screen add value to the bike or not?

Also there are some stickers on it, will they damage the price?

Happy Birthday Bill 8) 8) 8) 8)

I am no expert but I would guess a dealer would suggest there is no value in the screen and rear rack, so you may be better off removing them and selling them on ebay. I guess a dealer would say that stickers would reduce the value but as long as they are removed properly it should not be an issue. Can you remove them with a hair dryer?

Love the above pic. Thank you 558.

Take all the stickers off. Make it look as tidy as possible.

Sell it on Ebay you'll get so much more for it.

Bill XX

No, sadly, sell separately. Yes, remove and buff up the paint to eliminate any evidence. A hairdryer is useful here, as suggested, as is white spirit and T-cut followed by a polish. But Bill-Dog can give better advice on polishing.

Happy Birthday to Bill!

Stuart - when I was selling mine, I used something called "Crystal Glo" to clean it, which brought up the metallic paint really well. Yours is the same colour as my old LX.

It looked so good I had regrets about selling it (and I still regret not having that paint). Anyway I nearly got pretty much near full value for it so a good clean does wonders.

Happy Birthday Bill!

If you're working today, don't let anyone forget it's your day.

I'd use a hairdryer to get the stickers up and then use WD-40 to get sticker residue off. WD-40 works on everything. Stinks like a motherfucker but it's a miracle lube/solvent.

Happiest of happy birthdays, Bill! Hope you have a wonderful bday and here's to many many more (or at least as many as you can get away with out of nappies).

In that same vein, Husky's "Cock Inn" March 7th ride will coincide with my own birthday (same day) so sadly I won't be able to attend. I plan to be trolling a local cemetary, boohooing in my self-indulgent but oh-so-endearing and/or pathetic way about my advanced age and general decrepitude, and howling to the heavens about "why Why WHY ME?" This debaucle ultimately commences into SnivvleFest - the point at which I become a choking, shoulder-shaking goblin of weepy snotty messitude. I do this every year. It's a new local tradition, a social attraction even. Seriously, it's better than a puppet show. Folks come from miles, bringing lawn chairs and picnic lunches just for the spectacle of watching my woe-is-me nervous breakdown. Fabulous. Next year, I'm thinking about adding a BBQ.

Oh, and there's also that whole living in California thang...not so close by. C'est la vie.

Happy birthday Bill!

It IS still your birthday in the States ....

Thank you all for your Birthday wishes.

It's nice to start my 45th year on such a high note.

To please myself I may buy myself another helmet eventhough I've just sold my Airoh.

Does anyone out there have a black soft touch open face Vespa helmet going for a song ? If only I could find one.

Yes I'm working today and yes I'll be buying the cakes as is the tradition.

I'm not going to be celebrating it in anyway today but I do have plans to meet up with friends for a major nosh up at the weekend.

558 One thing you must not do is use T-Cut on paint unless it's been totally bleached out by the sun.
It's far too harsh and leaves awful swirls in the surface so in the words of Grange Hill - Just say No.

There are far better "cutting"products out there but it's a shame you don't live closer because I'd offer to spend an afternoon on it and make it shine like a pin before you sell it.

It's a shame that I can't suggest anything that you can buy in Halfords because most of the stuff I use is "borrowed" from my contractors.

Why not try and get more for it by putting it on Gumtree or Ebay rather than getting less from a dealer who will want to make a good mark up on it ?

Bill XX

In fairness to the bloke, from what i have seen he has offered what the privately sold bikes on the net are going for.
I have emailed Scooter World seeing if they are interested as everything in their shop is so expensive there is a chance they will offer more. Doubtful but worth a shot.

The closest thing i have to polish is car wash add-to-the-water shampoo stuff, that'll do, I dont give in to peer pressure 8)

Happy Birthday, Bill! Creth, we will raise a glass to you from the Cock.

Happy birthday, Bill!

Jim said: An old-fashioned Dunlop 'pencil gauge'. Honest.

Either:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Draper-26443-tyre-Pressure-gauge/dp/B0001K9RHQ/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&s=automotive&qid=1265825144&sr=8-6

or

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Draper-74308-Mounting-Expert-Pressure/dp/B001FCMTCY/ref=sr_1_17?ie=UTF8&s=automotive&qid=1265825311&sr=8-17

The second is probably better for scooter wheels.

PS. I've just been thinking: I bought one of the second ones when I bought my first car in 1968 and still use it - good value for money!

Scooterworld offered me bobbins for mine. Did much better on gumtree.

Thank You for your Birthday wishes Husky and Mr Wonder.

I'm actually not 45 today I'm £44.99

When we next meet up I'd like you to give the Ka a drive seeing as you were once in Fords employ.

The only present I got today was from my dent man who brought me some freshly mixed crystal white touch up paint for the Ka.

Touching huh ?

Bill X

Colder than a witches tit here so please come and collect when you can. Its not like I've ever use the bugger.

Sure thing. I'll try and come and get it as soon as possible.

It's a shame to not use it because it's a lovely helmet missus.

So much for going down the full face route huh ?

Bill XXX

Putting this here 'cause it's the most fun place on MV, and this is fun

From Modculture

http://www.modculture.co.uk/culture/culture.php?id=61

I'm trying to figure out if I'm a "Quadrophenia Mod" or a "Mod-life crisis"!

I can think of one that needs to be added, can you?

I guess I'm a not-a-mod, since I spend a lot of time denying accusations of modness from my colleagues.

Mmm, I look at my collection of ska, 1960s club music, soul records with my weakness for powerful coffee and tootal scarves. I am a denier. I just like nice things, that's all.

My plumber, Dave, reckons that's a bunch of shit and I am a mod. He's a rock n' roll man himself.

Great article and I loved the illlustration style!

Looks like the car drivers are taking a leaf out of the motorcyclists book:

I ilke that is not just a simple graffito. We need to invent a name for the 'bird'. I guess they are giving the parking wardens the bird?

I assumed it was a mouse? (Hint: that ain't a tail that's draped over the regulations.)

I think it may be a rat. There's a harder-core group amongst the NoToBikeParkingTax lot called:

Riders
Against
Tory
Stealthtaxes

who are probably responsible.

Ronin, I could try and deny it but I'm somewhere between "Revival Mod" and "Indie Mod". I'm actually way too young to be a revival mod and (although it hurts) too old to be an indie mod the way it's described there. And I always deny it if anyone ever mentions it.

ETA: Also, with the current situation, I'm fast turning into "Internet Mod".

Jim, I'm liking the pissing rat. Is that likely to have any impact, positive or negative, on the "no to bike charging" campaign? I could see it going either way.

The signs get defaced quicker than they get replaced, so gradually more and more parking bays become free. Westminster is using parking revenue as an income source - probably illegally - and their latest proposals have finally woken up the car drivers and West End businesses to protest as well. Defacing the signs (so making the bays 'free') is about the only non-violent protest that can be done on a daily basis.

So, the more the merrier really? People power: I like. 8)

Is it all on-street parking charges that are of questionable legality?

Two layers of possible illegality - first for the awarding of the 'pay-by-phone' contract in the first place. Secondly with Westminster's new proposals, the BBC found out that these were cobbled together after the council decided it would look at new parking charges to fill a general budget deficit - and if true, that really *is* illegal.

Westminster have been bent for years. No surprises there.

Has anyone noticed how many damn Tescos there are in it? No coincidence.