Modern Vespa

What do you think about hot dip galvanizig and do you have any experience whit it?

I was thinkig that i could galvanize the Vespa body and its metal parts, to protect against rust.
But i'm concerned about sheet metal, specialy leg shield. There is a risk of twisting, because steel is dipped in molten zinc.

What are your opinions?

P.S. I will sand blast the body anyway and this galvanizing costs only US$30-40.

Andis

Not worth the trouble and money for the average repair / restoration, which will spend most of its life safely indoors and dry.

If you plan on leaving it outside for ANOTHER 30 years, then it would make sense.

- Eric

Will that not add a veritable shitpot load of weight to the scooter?

i've considered doing that and just leaving the bike unpainted

trim it then coat it and pinstripe it ........ the weight you cut off might be back but i bet it will look cool as

Locally sourced hot dip tends to leave an uneven hard to finish surface. Yes, it will last forever; but it will be ugly for ever.

I think there was a guy in NZ that had a cutdown SS90 hot dipped. Can't find the pictures.

If you had it zinc electroplated instead the finish will come out much nicer and there is no chance of warping the metal.

As long as you are electroplating you might as well make it chrome! Now that I could get into.

Think about an all chrome plated Vespa with sidecar!

Shit, just make it gold!

you would crash planes with that. the FAA would ticket you if you ever came within 75 miles of an airport. lol

I had a buddy with a 1947 Luscombe that was polished like bright chrome. Unbelievable!

Gold plated? That's just excessive. Total chrome plating makes sense; that would be fine.

When I lived up in Annapolis there was a guy that built a smallish boat of welded steel sheet and had it hot dip galvanized in Baltimore. His assembly job was perfect; the welding was a work of art. The hot dip caused several of the seams to get wavy and essentially ruined the boat. Its still up there. Silverwing can find it.

With a shit load of engraving

are you serious .... they look shite ..... theres been a few done over here and they get vanned everywhere ... well would you dare fide it ... apart from looking like a cunt ..........

and for gold ... just as shite look for the atlantic gold vespa p2 ..... that one gets vanned around too

(Zinc) Galvanizing would make the the frame/chassis last better against rust, but if it ever needed a metal repair it would have to be done outside because the zinc fumes are not good for you, and with MIG/TIG it's better not to do it out in the open, because your shielding gas tends to be carried away by the wind.

Except for repairs, it's a good idea.

What would be hot is making the entire unitbody from stainless steel, which would never rust, but then it might crack, and wouldn't be very easy to repair.

[ERA now makes their GT40 semi-monocoque structures from stainless, as the GT40's were never made to last, more than a race season or two.]

strange...this looks like english but i cant understand it. is there some kinda british to english translator on the innerwebs?

Dood! What thi needs is some'n fromt white rose who's learnt t'speak septic.

naa if tha wants to get inta real speak tha shud come ova ere n hang raand yorksha thad neva wek us arrt.... anyroyd a speek real queens

this one lives down the road from me and ive seen it on the road once

shite......... why have a scoot if you dont ride it might aswell wear it round ya neck


.... couldnt find the chrome one .. google just brings up the chrome tat addons

holy crap that soo blink shine, hope no rapper will wear it in their neck or they will broke their neck for sure

Thanks to everyone for your answers, it helped a lot, at least now i know about new possibility, galvanize and pinstripe
Will make the final decision when i copletely strip down and sandblast it, but since i have no plans to store it outside, it looks like that i will not galvanize it.
Thanks again for sharing your oppinion!
Andis

Here's a 50 that's had the treatment.

https://www.trademe.co.nz/a/motors/motorbikes/motorbikes/scooters/vespa/listing/4765533256

I like it.

It's ......... different, but not bad different. One of a kind for sure.