Modern Vespa

I have an ET4 and I am perfectly happy with it, except recently I have been looking at purchasing a P200 (nothing earlier than '79) and am some what intimidated.

I purchased my ET4 while I was still in high school and at the time could've bought a new PX (now they are not imported in the US), but was drawn to the twist and go transmission of the ET4. Now, after five years on Thundercloud, I really want a shifty.

My questions are: what is the process of starting one- fuel tap levers, choke, and any other switches or processes one must go through to start the scoot? Which models have fuel gages? How about pre-mixing vs oil injection?

Although ideally I would like to find a Rally, the P200 seems more readily available and has a concensus as an excellent first scooter.

I've searched for videos and other help online but seem to only find help on going through the gears.

Any help will be greatly appreciated, thanks alot.

MIKE

Hi Mike,
P2s are great. Starting them is easy - you turn on the fuel tap so gas can make it into the carburettor, turn the ignition key and switch the kill-switch on the handlebars to the run position, hold in a brake as a good safe starting practice, and kick it over. A good running one wont take many kicks to start, often only one if the engine has been warmed up.

When you go to turn it off, pull up to your parking, turn off the petcock, and let it run a wee bit with this off to help prevent flooding of the carb, and then hit the kill switch and turn off the ignition key.

Really the only thing which is different from an ET4 is the manual petcock and kicking instead of pressing a button.

No P200Es have fuel gauges. PX200s would, I believe, like the rest of the later PX line. With a P200E you just have to know the scoot some... figure at around 50 mpg on 2 gallons you should fill up around every hundred miles. The petcock has a reserve position in case you figure poorly one day and run out of gas. Flip the petcock into the reserve position and you can ride a fair ways more to get to a station to fill up.

You will need to be comfortable with some basic maintenance for a P200, such as draining and filling the oil, changing the sparkplug, and so on, but there really isnt anything scary about them. You will learn with time more significant maintenance skills, but fear not, you can do SO much work on the P with just a leatherman and a socket set.

Visit vespamaintenance.com for most of the maintenance work you would ever need to do, including building yourself a new engine. Scooterhelp.com is also a good resource. But dont let complicated wiring diagrams and woodruff keys blah blah scare you... most of them will almost never come up in your daily use of the scoot. I am currently rebuilding my P200 engine, and let me tell you, it ran fine despite a fair number of repairs which needed to be made. The engines are too simple to be particularly finicky.

If you find any deals, feel free to run them past us here, as many have a good eye for these things and can tell you fair prices

The P200 is a lovely, strong and bulletproof scooter. On the deficit side, it does not have a fuel gauge, an electric start or disc brakes. If you check your fuel and oil levels before you start out, along with the rest of your check list, you're good to go. Starting procedure is simple: turn your fuel lever on, pull out the choke, turn the ignition key clockwise as far as it will go, and slowly push the kickstart lever down a couple of times, then kick it down hard. It should start right up. One thing to watch out for: a number of P200s, including mine, tend to have pessimistic speedometers. Unlike most scooters, your speedometer might be indicating 40 mph when you're actually going 50 (not that there's anything wrong with that). Enjoy!

To answer some questions I forgot about... you might often pull the choke out to start the scoot cold. It is easy enough, just pull the knob out to start it, and as the scoot warms up it will start to splutter and run roughly. At that point, you push the choke back in.

Premix - I believe all U.S. P200s have the autolube oil injection. Makes things easy as p.i.e. Some people convert to premix for some reason they might share with us, but the autolube system is so simple... it is very reliable and adjusts the oil flow for the engine speed on its own.

Your speedo Too? My P has the same prob. It must have come from the factory like that. My bike has 500 origial miles on it. I greased the cable and still off by 15mph?

My P200 had 3500 original miles on it when I bought it a year or so ago. I first noticed this speedometer quirk while traveling on a regular basis on a road with a 50 mph speed limit. It seemed that I was climbing up the tail end of the car in front of me, while the speedometer was indicating 38-40 mph. Go figure! I've since heard that this is one of the endearing little features of the P200.

Thanks everyone for all the help. seems easy enough, glad to see there are no surprises. I've pretty much made up my mind about the p200e, this winter I should have enough cash for one. With respect to the oil injection system- there are two tanks? As long as I keep both of them full, I'll be ok?

A welcome change from my some what optimistic speedo on my ET4!

Yeah, pretty much! a full oil tank lasts a long time... 1 bottle of 2-stroke should take you many many tanks of gas. The old gas and oil tubes running from the tank to engine can get brittle and crack with age, so you might want to inspect them to see if there are any leaks.

Regarding the speedo - the turning of the inner cable spins a generator, the electricity of which puts the speedo needle in flotation. I think the reason they read low is the older technology coupled with the age of the machines probably causes the generator to run weak.