Modern Vespa

Likes:

1. Very smooth ride. you don't even feel the rode
2. Love the windscreen. It really cuts down on the wind.
3. acceleration on the Vespa is awsome.

Dislikes

1. the turn signals. I'm used to slide side to side only. On the vespa you need to press in before sliding. I keep seeing myself looking down to see if the turn signal is on

2. Gas. On the Ruckus it lets you know when your tank is full. On the Vespa you need to watch the gas so it does not over flow.

3. BIG ONE. The breaking. I thinks it's in part because I read many places that Vespa has one of the worst breaking. My Ruckus stops on a dime. My Vespa it slides a little before it stops. I usually stop farther behind then I do on my Ruckus. The breaking scare me\


Hows the best way to ride 2 up without the bike tipping over? I have no plans to, but just want to know.

I find mine a bit torquey... at the low end... it makes it kinda fun though.
I've bottomed out the shocks a few times... the roads here are terrible.
I have a cut down windsceeen... it is great, but i'm not in love with the look.
it's great acceleration off the mark, but it is kinda wimpy as you gain speed...
perfect for urban riding.

I don't need to push in before signalling, only to cancel the signal.
I turn on the machine so I can read my gas indicator... I've spilled gas many times. A lot of bikes don't have a gas indicator/

Congratulations on you new GT300...

1. Turn indicators will engage by sliding to corresponding side to which you will turn without having to push down. Then to disengage...press down again and turn signal will disengage. You may want to hook up an audible signal (buzzer; I did) details can be found on Wiki.

Note: Regardless, I will periodically press down on the signal turn indicator to insure it is turned off...especially when I come across an cross road or intersection.

2. Gas fill up: I've resorted to simply knowing approx. how much gas is needed with the corresponding indicator on inst. panel...~1.5 gal @ 1/2 tank...~ 2.0 @ when the light goes on. Would recommend that you consider the evap. hose modification in case you overfill and / or gas expansion in your fuel tank (there are actually two parts to this mod. part 1 is on Wiki...part 2 is on a current posting which involves the evap. hose / overfill hose from the neck of fuel tank / cap...completed 1 and working on 2)

Note: Regardless, recommend you remove your "no pets" carrier under your seat in case your overfill...trust me you don't want this to happen...

3. Windscreens is intended to help deflect wind at higher speeds...depending on your height even the fly screen helps...remember the on coming air flow deflect off the shield and goes up and over...
your height will determine the amount of buffeting. It helps me when I'm on the freeway...looks are secondary...(I use fly screen).

The brakes (not breaks)
For a 325 pound machine (dry weight), I find the brakes to be more than adequate. I've ridden many a motorcycle with brakes that don't work as well as those on the GTS series scooters. You have never ridden a larger, heavier scooter or motorcycle............... so you just need to practice and get used to the braking capabilities.

BTW: If you're sliding, I assume you mean the rear wheel.............If so, you're using too much rear brake which is going to cause you to dump the scooter on it's side. You should be using more front brake than rear since that is where most of your stopping power exists.

road

custom

Yeaup. Sliding to a stop? That's brake locking, and if it's always happening it's likely operator error.

If you send the scooter to me I will check it out for you.

Regarding the sliding, do you mean the brakes are locking up and the rear wheel is skidding? Miguel

I used poor words in describing it. It just doesn't stop as fast as my Ruckus.

We have a Honda Metro which I believe has the same drum brakes as the Honda Ruckus we also have the disc brakes on our GT200 2005.

There is no real comparison on the disc vs. drum brakes...whenever I take out the Metro I have to exercise caution due to the increase stopping distance. Hence, I don't quite understand why there seems to be an issue with the brakes of the 300.

Could be braking application? On a straight stop (most of the time) you would use gradual application of front brake followed by rear brake to stop...you'll get 70% of your stopping action with the front. If you use your rear brake as primary you will notice a difference. I use rear braking (if necessary) / throttle control on turns only.

My son has also ridden the GT200 and has a Suzuki GSXR and commented postively on the braking action on the GT200...

Aside from the weight differences, there should be no reason that the ruckus could feel like it stops better. Those are tiny drum brakes. Tiny.

The same way you ride solo. Tell your passenger to behave as if they are a cinder block strapped to the back seat -- they move with the bike. If it's leaned over, they lean with you & the bike. If it's upright, they are upright. If you're stopped, their feet are not trying to touch the ground. They're just along for the ride -- not contributing to it.

I have to agree, despite other shortcomings, the braking on my 300 is quite outstanding. It feels better than any I've used.

The braking on my Vespa is great. Maybe you glazed your brake pads? New pads need a bedding in period. If they are glazed, they will provide poor performance.

I'm thinking he's using too much rear and is locking it up. I've grabbed HUGE handfuls of LX front brake + rear in the past, and I've never locked either up.

you should, for practice. While going straight. Learn o control a rear lock and a front.

Heh. Well. Actually, ignore me . I don't want to be responsible for anyone accidentally injuring themselves

When I rode threw the neighborhood today I dids practice breaking.

You're doing that on purpose, right?

Braking on the 300 is subpar but adequate if you are used to it. My Zuma 125 had such good front brakes you could do stoppies on it. All of my other bikes had brakes that were better too but they all had dual front discs.

As far as the gas the fuel gauge is horribly inaccurate. When my bike says empty it has a gallon left and not spilling is nearly impossible during fill up. I prefer a wider nozzle where I can see the gas rising up in the tank. Having the filler nozzle under the seat is the dumbest idea ever.

The ability to do "stoppies" (as if any sane person would want to) has far more to do with the weight distribution of the rider/bike combination than it has to do with the quality of the front brakes.

I'm sure a 130-lb. seated rider on a 350-lb. Vespa 300 could never do stoppies, even if it had dual front discs. On the other hand, a 170-lb. rider on a 220-lb.(?) Zuma should have no problem, especially if the rider shifts his weight higher and forward.

Yeaup. I'm getting the feeling people don't know the mechanics involved in controling their vehicles.

I just love all the comments about filling up. Rediculous. I have yet to spill gas, I never remove my pet carrier, I could care less how many miles I've gone or how much gas is left. I just put fuel in it.

Hold the nozzle over the pet carrier and don't squeeze the hell outta the trigger. Pretty simple to me.

This isn't a 10 second pit stop, slow down, watch what you're doing and gas won't go shooting everywhere.

It's funny the OP compared Ruckus brakes to the Vespas. The ruckus was my first scoot and thing was huge for those tiny drums. I've had discussions with my crotch rocket friend (Ducati Xerox, MV Senna, MV Tamborini...GSXR) about getting the Jettin Brembos and he said the brakes on the Vespa are overkill to begin with.

Yeah, I've never had the tank overflow either. Of course I don't pump it in at the full rate of the pump - the tank's tiny and the neck is short! Use your noggin.

The turn signals work by sliding. Push in to cancel. If you're one of those people who ride around town with an indicator permanently on, get in the habit of pushing the switch at regular intervals.

The Vespa's brakes are brilliant in my opinion (I have a GTS 125). Beautifully progressive feel, not much fading under intense use, powerful enough for two-finger application in the city, and powerful enough to lock up either wheel should you require. More powerful brakes aren't going to stop the Vespa quicker - you'll just lose feel.

Another good point about the Vespa's braking is that the front suspension has anti-dive properties due to its geometry. On the other hand, the rear suspension is pretty poor due to the large unsprung mass (common to all scooters, and worse with heavier engines). So braking on a rough surface does increase the stopping distance by more than it would on motorbike or car.

Now that I've done 2600 km on my Vespa I'm starting to get a good feel for the brakes. It takes a little time. I did lock up the front a few times at the beginning - easy to do if you're not fully aware of the large rearward weight bias on a Vespa. With a bit of practice, the weight bias is actually very good for braking (much like a Porsche 911 has famously good braking because of its rear-engine layout).

To understand this, you must know that tyre traction doesn't follow the simplistic friction laws you learned in school. More weight on the tyre does increase its grip, but not linearly. This means you get better traction when the weight is more evenly divided between the two tyres (with a slight adjustment factor for the larger contact patch of the fatter rear tyre).

When you start applying the brakes on a GTS, the weight gets thrown forward until the front tyre has greater traction than the rear. On a vehicle with a more even weight distribution, the bias towards the front is more dramatic when braking - which is detrimental to overall traction.

In practice this means that for sudden quick decelerations you'll need to grab a handful of rear brake and less front brake, because the weight is mostly at the rear to begin with. The longer the braking application continues (e.g. over half a second), the more front brake force you must apply at the expense of the rear. The optimum balance depends on the weight and position of you and your passenger, your tyre types and conditions, the road conditions (wet, rough, etc.), and other lesser factors such as the amount of fuel in the tank. With practice a lot of this becomes nearly automatic.

I am so happy that the grammar/spell check police are here.
are you going to correct the european spelling of TYRE now as well???
OH and there's a Mispelling / typo in the Topic of the OP
"Lkes and dislikes...."
hey now
"go big or go home! " LOL
where's NIGHTWING I need an officer here now.

I have a GTV and three Ruckuses (Ruci?) Ruckus' ???

Anyway, the brakes on the GTV are far, far superior to the drum brakes on the ruckus. Something must be wrong.

I've found the brakes on my 300 to be..."safe." Not sport bike responsive, but not wooden either. They seem to fit the Scooter's intentions.

I believe it really comes down to the pads that they chose, and they chose to have something that wouldn't be too grabby for the average rider. I'd be willing to guess if you wanted more aggressive feeling braking response you, you would just have to look for something more performance oriented. On my Duc, I always went for EBC HH pads. More bite, harder braking, BUT more mess and faster wear on the disc.

Side note: If you only have a few miles on your scoot, being new, it could also be the pads just have not bedded in yet...use your brakes aggressively (without endangering yourself) a few times and their "bite" should improve...use them too gingerly over and over again, and pads can glaze, causing their braking ability to drop.

"Old" trick on my Ducati, was to put new pads in, find a long straight empty back road, cruise in a straight line, dragging the front brake with a bit of force, until you felt the lever compress...done.

Apparently you don't ride your GTS hard enough to boil the brake fluid. If you're going to do some serious fast paced riding through the twisties, the extra surface area provided by the Brembo caliper will provide a lot more braking power and generate much less heat in the process. But I agree with your point that the stock brakes are fine for everyday riding, most people don't push it to the extent that I do at times...

I agree that if you follow your fueling practice there is NO problem. I don't get those peeps who spill gas.

Secondly, your buddy is nuts about the brakes on the GTS. I have ridden sportbikes and even Kymco 16" wheel scooters, and they all have vastly better brakes than the GTS. The GTS brakes may be adequate, but they are in no way overkill--that is unfathomable coming from a sportbike rider.

I know i only have a GT200, but it stops a hell of a lot faster than my Ruck with the stock brakes. Now that i have the brembo front on the ruck, it stops real fast, but its also considerably lighter and doesn't go nearly as fast. also when i fill up the nozzle will click. the ruckus just has that little bar in the neck of the tank. first few times i ended up with gas all over the place.

Bagel,

It's that re-entry glow on the front of your scoot that gives you away.

-Arjen

On the Ruckus the gas noozle actually turned off when the tank was full. The Vespa I saw the gas bubble up(not spill over)and I was like wow. Then I stopped pumping and the gas went down and the gas gauge was full.

Vespa is known as being low end breaking qualitry. Even in reviews it is reviewed as one of the worst.

My 300 stops on a dime. Maybe your Ruckus does stop faster, but it's also a tiny scooter. Have you taken the 300 out of your neighborhood yet?

I must say the dual disc brakes on my 2010 GTS 300 are a hundred times better for stopping smoothly and quickly than my 2008 LX 150. Dual disc makes a difference as opposed to the disc/drum combo. It's definitely a shorter stopping distance on the bigger scoot, even though it weighs more. I have used it on the freeway as well as city/urban driving.

I have never experienced slide or anything like it, with either machine. I apply both brakes firmly with a 'squeeze' never a grab (unless a cager is stops short in front of me) because the front brake will naturally stop quicker than the rear. In fact, due to my motorcycle safety course, I have trained myself to apply the rear brake slightly before the front to reduce the risk of 'high siding' in the event of a panic stop.

I have ridden bicycles forever, so maybe the brake issue is not so much a deal for me because I am used to applying hand brakes. In fact, I now over-apply the brakes on my bikes because I've gotten so used to extra pressure to apply force to levers on my Vespas due to my small hands.
I have slid the rear wheels on my bike as a result (and once dumped myself at a light, lol)
Usually if I see someone sliding while braking, I attribute it to the rider's technique rather than the machine.

"Vespa is known as being low end breaking qualitry. Even in reviews it is reviewed as one of the worst."

I find the BRAKING quality on my GT200 to be pretty good...saw good reviews regarding Vespa BRAKING as well.

Oh really? When compared to what? Ducati's and other sport bikes? I've owned over 40 motorcycles in the last 40 years and the GTS/GTV brakes work just fine for a 22 hp/326 lb. scooter. The brakes on my BV500 are much better than the GTS series but there are three discs on the BV................but the BV also weighs 105 lbs. more. The brakes on each motorcycle or scooter are designed by the engineers to work safely with the weight and horsepower of the machine. You can't compare apples to oranges.

Take a class a learn to use the brakes

or

Sell it before you total it.


Seriously.

XLR8:

Niderbip QUOTED the poster !!

I think they brake quite well!!

thx.

You're right! My Bad!

Congrats on the new purchase. I've been riding a GT for 4 years now and the 300 is definitely tempting. The Vespa GT series has its faults, but brakes are not one of them in my opinion. As others have said, I think you need to apply more force to the front brake and you'll be pleasantly surprised.

I wish everyone included their weights with the braking comments : )