Modern Vespa

Okay, I found another one. Let's see what everyone thinks. Again, very little information. As a matter of fact, here's the entire ad, minus the phone number:

"100 sport. Great old bike, asking what I paid for it. Been tuned up, some rust. Muffler needs to be reattached."

For some reason, I'm really excited about this one. It's near my brother (nearer to him than to me that is) but I can always convince my dad we need to go see Jason for a weekend and take the trailer.

I'm hoping a 100 will get my fat butt moving! Is this a smallie frame though? If it is, that doesn't mean I'll get it, but seeing a 6'2" 350lb man coming to buy his smallframe Vespa, well, there's probably two ways it can go. I can either use it as a bargaining tool, or this guy just won't take me seriously from the work go. hahaha

I'd probably have to do an up close inspection, but the rust doesn't look terrible. I wouldn't think it's widespread enough or thick enough to have eaten through anything. Keep in mind, as long as there are no holes, bodywork isn't a problem for me.

If you're 350 pounds, don't buy this bike. It would be a good first bike for your wife, girlfriend, or skinny little indy rock guy.

You should be looking at P200s and Rally 200's ..and that's about it.

I'm a big dude too ... proportionately large -= 6'5" and about 230. And I look like a circus bear on a tricycle on a smallframe.

Just to add to what Eric said, my P200 is actually dwarfed by my 50cc ET2, and the P200 has the largest frame of the vintage Vespas, if I'm not mistaken.

Thanks for the priceless mental image!

That's an awesome pic, and very similar to how i appear on one.

Well, according to the email I just got back, it's still for sale, running, and they're now asking $750 for it. You're breaking my heart here guys. Just kidding. If it's a tiny bike, and the 100cc's aren't going to get me anywhere quickly anyway, I'll just keep looking. It seems like a killer deal though. It's even the same year as my first car and color as my first car.

Alright...look at it this way. ANY running bike is a good deal for $750. You could buy it...toy around with it ... learn how to ride and shift... learn basic maintenance stuff.

This isn't the bike you're going to want to end up with long-term, though. You may keep it for wife or girlfriend or whatever, but i can assure you that short of riding around the neighborhood, this bike isn't really the best suited vehicle for your needs. It may be a great entryway into vintage vespas... but you're going to want a P200 within the next year after getting this one, i assure you.


Still $750 is a pretty small price to pay to decide on whether you like this as a hobby or not ...so, i won't object. A scooter is a scooter, and if you decide you hate it, you can turn around and sell it and probably make money on it.

I like it....But then again I'm 5' 8" at 150 pounds it's the perfect size for my scrawny ass. $750 is a good price too. Almost anybody could dig that out of somewhere. The only questionable rust looks like the floor boards. In your case size matters but with that seat you could probably sit far enough back that it wouldn't be too bad (compared to the saddle style seat) and 100cc isn't that bad speed wise. Not entirely sure about this but it should go around 50 mph.

that is sooooooooooo cheap and looks really good from my point of view
(smallframes are pretty rare over here) 750 whats that around about 1100 aussie dollars way way cheap ........im 6.1 and have no idea what a pound is to convert unless its on a torque wrench


and i feel i should apologize to you mv lot for my drunkn posts last night
sorry --- i just hope i didnt offend too many

A guy in my 'hood has a 100 sport that won't crack 35mph downhill with a tailwind and he's gotta weigh 150 maybe. I'd say pass on this one dude.

Drunken posts are the best

You know, maybe you should go for it. It might be a little silly size-wise, BUT if you fix it up a bit you can sell that 100 Sport for a profit, thus INCREASING the amount of money you have available for a larger scoot after your year of riding it is up. It very well could put you into that 1500 dollar bracket which opens up more options for fixeruppers.

I think a 100 sport with a 350 pound guy on it will probably do 35mph tops. ( and that's if the compression is decent )

For riding around the block, it will work ... for an investment, he might turn a dime when he sells it. For learning how to wrench, it will work. For long term riding, and for owning a bike you can take on long rides through the mountains and whatever, this is ABSOLUTELY not the bike.

I gotta wonder if his 100 needs a tune-up. Correct me if I'm wrong but won't a Vespa 90 crack 40 with someone ~150?

Particularly because you seem to indicate that the market in the Georgia area is very tight... you might be able to flip it for 2x what you have into it after you polish it up. ( assuming rust damage isn't too bad )

I'd be around 150kg for folks who use real measurement. Or 25 stone, if you're insterested. I don't know who uses those anymore, I just think it's cool.

Okay, I'm gonna follow up on this. I can definitely see this as a "learning bike", one that I can learn to wrench and ride on, and drop a few times without getting too upset. Now, the question is whether or not I should be selling tickets to see me riding this thing in the center ring.

Oh HELL yes! You'll only widen your profit margin on this scoot!

Found another one that I somehow missed (probably because I'm clicking links even though they're for higher priced bikes now) that seems like a steal. It ain't vintage (yet), but it looks like a nice bike.

http://asheville.craigslist.org/mcy/1244326951.html

Somebody with an extra $2k should go see about this.

You know, even though a bike will START and RUN with really low compression, it won't have any balls to it.

boring out the jug oversize and putting on matching, fresh rings, you'll start to realize some of the power the engine is actually capable of. That, and change out the clutch plates to use fresh corks, and that bike will do what it's capable of. I think it's old / worn and losing a lot of the power it has the potential to produce.

I'd say buy it...it will give you some motivation to put the debbie cakes down and hit the treadmill!! DO IT!

if it was up to me and i had the money there in the bank or my wallet
id buy it for sure no matter how oversize i am, but then again im on the other side of the world and the nearest city is jakarta so i have no idea whats going on with the prices or availability on theamerican scoot scene

if i had the cash id ask you to buy it, then sell it to me at a profit for yourself and ship the little beast over here

That's a legit good price for that scooter. Most people try to pull off ~3,000 for ET4s, which is just not what their market value is any more. ETs are actually pretty damn cool... they represent the return of Vespa to the US, and are the first modern Vespa we saw over here. I like their unique styling, too, though I think my P looks good so what do I know

*Although, if you've got 2K to burn, pick up that Rally 200 I saw in Chicago. The guy still has it and tells me he's got the title and everything.

If you're counting votes for the 100, add me in to the buy camp. Tweak it up, clean it up and you got something that's gonna be fun around the block.

For that money, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain. As Eric says, just so long as you know that it's not gonna be your main scoot.

I'm 25 and every joint on me...hips, elbows, shoulders, back, ankles, knees...pop and ache throughout the day. If I needed motivation, that'd be plenty. True laziness is the determination to procrastinate in the face of strong motivation. It's also one of the things I consider myself truly good at.

Speaking of Little Debbie herself, I had some Peanut Butter Bars last night. Haven't had those in years. *drool*

Just to throw this out there, I remember when I was looking at that Primavera, Eric mentioning smallies are "harder" to work on. What's the situation here? Is it going to make a huge enough difference that I'll curse the day I decided to buy the thing or what? What really is the difference on a smallie, other than having to drop the engine to do any work?

You have a much smaller space in which things go. Yeah, you have to drop the engine when you want to work on it. You have to remove a glovebox under the seat and practically have to remove the carb to do any work on it. ( a few small adjustments can be made to idle, but jetting changes and any other work requires you pulling it off the engine and out of the bike )

Any cable selection changes ( clutch and 2 gear cables ) are in this tiny little 3" x 3" access panel on the BOTTOM of the engine, making you have to pretty much lay it on it's side in the grass to do cable adjustments.

It's the downside of packing a really compact engine into a VERY compact frame with very little clearance around it.

Okay, so yeah, it sounds like a pain, but my wife owned a Volkswagen when we met almost up to the point when we got married, so I've definitely dealt with worse.

Other downside of smallframes : practically no storage space.

that's really cheap, it runs, looks sweet.
buy it, and like eric said scoot around town and save it for a girlfriend or something

There is one advantage that nobody's mentioned yet:

At 6'2" / 350 pounds, if the thing stops working, you can just pick it up and carry it home...

- Eric

I mentioned to someone the other day that I wanted a starter bike to learn to wrench and ride on, and then said "the guy on the forum told me that I'll probably drop it too, but I don't know how I'd drop a bike that weighs less than I do."

100 sport is a good bike.A little slow yes but the stroke on the crankshaft is the same as the et3 and primi. So that means the engine is easily upgradable. Dr 130 would make it very reliable and it already has a 19/19 carb because it is a 100 sport. The only flaw but it work to your advantage in the gearing but with a lower gear ratio the bike will have more down low power and pull a heavy load easier. With a cylinder kit it will do 55 mph with no problem(even up hill). I'm 200 lbs and a three speed V90 will do 40mph with me on it. Same bike with DR 130 and 19/19 carb and a et3 banana pipe got 57 mph gps. That is faster than a stock stella.

I'm real happy with my small frame(125cc) but I'm
5'4" and 135 lbs
Oh god I'm one of those short people
I've got no reason to live

I just realized, I won't have to worry about that at all anyway. There are no hills here.

I don't want another peep out of you until you're posting pics of your new bike.

Yeah seriously my friend, buy the bugger!

+100

I check the list every morning and you have to act fast so here's a heads up.

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/mcy/1267053405.html

She. is. BEAUTIFUL!

I think if Eric told me I wasn't allowed to talk until I got that smallframe, he'll just plain old BAN me if I don't steal this bike. I was working on convincing my dad that a trip to NC was worth it for a smallie all weekend, and he wasn't budging (he has the trailer), but telling him about this would be easy.

What does it look like to you guys? She's not restored in the slightest, so i wouldn't guess she's a bodge. The only thing I'm wary about is the box o' parts situation the description implies. Either way, I'm calling him now and leaving a message. Mattgyver, if this goes through, I owe you a beer.

Not a bodge, no!

My inexperienced thoughts are these:
It's probably not a better ride than the 100 smallie. The larger engine of this guy is probably outweighed by more primitive engineering due to its age. Anyone? Suspension is probably worse as well.

But the frame will be bigger, at least, so you might feel a little less oversized for the scoot.
AND. It sounds like you are A) more likely to get it since you don't have to convince your father to make a long haul, and B) with the engine dropped and in pieces any body/paint work you need to do will be that much easier, and you are FORCED to do an engine rebuild on it.