Modern Vespa

any ridable scooter on a trailer is wrong..... they have bloody wheels ..nuf said

Absolutely stunning. My mate had an '84 that I loooooved. Simply the coolest car I've ever been in. Unfortunately some of the local bams took exception to it an put all the windows in for him - don't think he ever got it back on the road after that.

He gave me a shot once, which just made my day. Think sideways round a corner on a single track road when suddenly you meet a car coming the other way. Thankfully theirs was a narrow car and they'd pulled into the verge for the car I was following.

That was a big lesson for a teenager, and not my proudest moment, but no harm done and I reckons my driving made a pretty sudden improvement on that day.

Again: lovely car.

Say you lived in Chicago - which of the US rallies would you attend?

Andrea

If they were within driving distance (because the scoots on a trailer) then why not ride to 'em!!!!!!

Clive

Because a person doesn't have a TS1? <shrug>

850 miles one way to a rally is a long, long way on a 150. Shit, 450 miles one way is a long way to ride at below 65mph after work on a Friday.

Which ones do you ride to Clive?

Andrea

To fully appreciate the distances and circumstances in the US, imagine the following-

In the distant future, you are living in Barcelona. Due to war and terrorism, everyone in Spain has started to stockpile weapons and drive pickups. They wear funny hats and most hate scooter riding sissies. You still own Vespa because you think that it is a neat way to pass time working on it in your bunker. Vespa World Days is being held at Chernobyl this year (around 3200 km away) and global warming has turned everything from Italy to the Ukraine into a desert.

Do you trailer your scooter?

Nice... 8)

You forgot to mention the 18 wheeler battlewagons and the fact that every small village has been destroyed, leaving spaces of up to 200km between towns with petrol...

Desi B.

Is it wrong to put 250cc cruiser bikes in caravans.

Thats how I bought my little bike to Spain. Stopped by the famous Guardia Civil just by Madrid. Theres a moto in your caravan. Yup!
Don´t want to know any more, go away.

Jim and Clive

Lets put some perspective on this for you, although I'm pretty sure Jim saw my ScooterBoy World posts on this 2 or 3 years back. Can't remember if he was around then or not.

I live just to the west of New York City. One of the better rallies in the area is rideable. That's Boston, and the rally site is to the north of Boston now. The distance is about the same as London to Paris, or Leeds to Southampton for Jim.

Its rideable for an afterwork run on a Friday. Afterwork means not using precious vacation time.

Most scooterists in the US don't have a rally anywhere near that close to them. I am lucky to be living in the Northeast, where cities/rallies are closer together.

Living outside the North East, to go to a few rallies in the US they have to start driving way early on a Friday morning to even get there before Saturday Sunrise. They'll probably break the speed limit to do that amount of mileage in that amount of time, travelling at speeds that aren't attainable on an everday, 150cc or less scooter. They don't have the vacation time available to them to take 4 days off each weekend they want to ride to and from a rally, because they only get 10 days total vacation a year.

So they trailer their bikes.

Imagine living somewhere in the UK where your closest rally is Milan.

Then you might get an idea of the distance plus only have 10 vacation days a year problem.

However, my point is that modern 200cc plus bikes have lots of speed and storage space, and can attain faster cruising speeds over long distances, speeds comparable with cars and trucks, therefore there is no reason to trailer them.

Andrea

I had a regular old e28 535i. best car i've ever had. and the last of the pointy-nose BMWs. I miss it!

This made me laugh and Andrea you bring up some very valid points.

Why bother starting a thread that would only yield negative attention?

200+ miles round on a pk50 thatll do 32mph down hill with the wind behind you while slipstreaming a truck just because you wanted to be there ... so why cant you manage 400 on a scoot thatll do 65

whoooaaaaaa is that the start of the new terminator.... "t4 on a t2"

Thanks m8! I think back in those days you needed a bit of skill to drive a fast car, unlike today where you can go silly speed and the electronics keep you on the road (until you overstep gravity itself and have a big off). When I got my first 535i I was about 21 and fresh out of a Cavalier...you can imagine the learning curve! 8)

hjo. I've had about 12 of these shark-faced characters. Can't get enough of them. For me, it's what a proper BMW looks like. I'm really excited about my new one, I hope it's as good as I expect, but it's just not pointy enough

Here's my other one. It's a 518i that I use when I go to the UK. My friend was driving it and got rear-ended and shoved into the car in front. Can't remember what vehicles were involved (it was last week) but my friend described himself as the filling in a shit-car sandwich

Being quite new here, and trying to learn everything I could about Vespas before I buy one, I've read almost every thread, and I must say, this thread has become the inane thread I have seen disgracing the good graces of Modern Vespa.

It appeared to start because someone wanted keep people from sharing the joy for their new purchases. You know, when you get something new, you want to a friend or something, to share the joy. Well, now the thread has everything in it, bird pictures, smashed cars, and to be honest, as I type this I am laughing so hard I can't see what I'm typing.

Now, I'm left with the lingering embarrassment that my previous post is in this thread somewhere.

Well, I guess the the point is you are saying 200+ ROUND trip. Most people can do that standing on their heads. Thats a couple of hours on a scoot each way. Thats much different than alot of Rally's Andrea is talking about.

For instance, The distance from Saint Louis to Chicago is about 300 miles... ONE WAY. Even if you could go 55mph the entire way, it would take like 5 1/2 hours. But since you can't take the freeway/expressway on most 150's, you would need to ride the side road. I'd say it would take 7-10 hours of riding. I dunno about anyone else, but that just makes my a$$ hurt thinking about that long of a ride one way.

This thread couldn't really be anything other than inane "I'm sick of looking at pictures of Modern Vespas, on ModernVespa.com" - were we expecting a sensible debate?

nye

wimps


put some concrete in your cup

i cant stand riding my scoot anywhere

i like to trailer it to get gas

sometimes i'll push it places

i just can't bring myself to just get on it and ride

i'm gonna go trailer it right now and get something to eat

my scooter isnt real .. i just stalk someone with one

I'm really not into scooters but I have a trailer fetish. I bought the scooters so I have something to use my trailer collection for.

I hate showing up at the trailer rallies with a naked trailer. It's wrong and I get less points in the custom show.

I have a really sweet trailer with ramps and everything, and if I didn't put scooters on it sometimes people would think I was into MotoX. AND I can't ride 2 at once but I can get 2 on the trailer....

aaahh cmon sifty you can ride from one side of nz to the other in the same distance it takes me to ride to town and back. better scenery there sure but still

Funny you should say that, because for us riding into town actually requires riding to the other side of NZ.

At a rally everyone mocks the trailer until their own bikes ends up on it.

"i drove my bike to trailer week 2009."

We just got back from the White Sand Mayhem rally. Excellent rally!!!!!

We trailered a total of 1,347 miles to ride about 150 miles. Well worth it!

This was the first out of town rally I attended that I rode to.
225 miles 7 1/2 hours each way. I think that is the last time I try to ride back on Sunday after the day's festivities all hung over from the night before. Ride back on Monday with a decent nights sleep.