Modern Vespa

okay, so one of my p's had a previous bad life. when i got it, the headset was destroyed from a large branch falling on it during a storm.

got that fixed, and moved on to other things. for awhile now, i've been trying to figure out why the mf-er will shift fine 1st through third but hate going to 4th gear.

finally pemkt and my friend dave figured it out. when the tree branch fell on it. it slightly bent the metal tube of the handlebar assembly down.

as you rotate the shifter, the 'blocky' part of the handlebar rubs against the metal underbody of the headset. it's a small gap, but by the time you rotate it all the way to fourth, it's metal rubbing against metal, and that's what's making it a bitch to shift in to fourth gear.

here's a pic of what i'm talkin' about willis:



if i could bend the tube/assembly up an eigth of an inch or so, all would be fixed.

i was thinking about hanging the scooter upside down in bad weather and hoping a big ass branch would fall off and hit it, thus replicating the original disaster, but that seems like a lot of work.

any ideas on how to bend this back without dropping the whole front?

You might want to just replace the tube, but I suppose you could just take the tube out and straighten it with a pipe bender. It's probably still going to be wonky, though. The tube isn't too expensive.

Unless I misunderstand and it's the lower half of the headset that's warped.

Is it just the tube that's bent? Just order a replacement. You also could heat it with a torch and that might help it bend.

If it's just the shifter tube that's bent, you don't need to drop the fork.

Remove the headset and remove that shifter tube to try and rebend it.

You might have to unhook your cables and wiring to that tube. Also remove the horshack (cotter) pin that holds the plastic ring where your cable ends sit.

Slide the tube out and straigten it.

i also think i can fix these kinda things in my garage.

like my buddys smally fork thats bent.

but chad, i'm sure some one will follow me and say just buy a new one.

i will say be carefull of the alum in the set.

check for cracks

man, i didn't know you could just buy a new tube. i'll do that then, sounds the easiest. untiul then i'll just rock third gear.

guy before me me already welded the whole aluminum headset back together, so no cracks there.