Modern Vespa

hi the speedo on my vespa gts 125 is sitting at zero since i started the scoot this morning - i was reading that if you take out the cable and rebolt it it might work can anybody point me in the direction as to where the cable is do i ahve to remove the front panel

or would i best taking it to a garage any ideas of cost i'm in the uk


thanks

Iv'e just replaced the speedo cable on my ET4 and I should imagine it will not be too different a job. I think the cable was about £10 from my dealer. You can get it cheaper on line but I wanted genuine parts. It is not a difficult job just a bit fiddley. I think it took me about 2 hours to do but it was my first time. You will have to remove the headset to get at the back of the speedo and probably the glove box as the cable routes behind it. If you took it to a dealer they would probably charge you for 1.5/2 hrs labour + parts. If you are vaguely mechanical, have a go yourself. You would probably be able to find a step by step on Wiki for your model.

Check first to see if the cable is attached to the front wheel hub. It may have become disconnected there, if it is you can easily reconnect it there without having to open up the headset.

There's two cables running to your front hub- one goes to your front brake, the other is your speedo cable running into the hub. undo the metal plate where the cable goes into the hub (one bolt) push the cable in and put the retaining plate back on. good luck!

I took it to the local vespa dealer although i think they are pricey for anything they sell/do fist mechanic without even looking at it said £70 considering i use the scoot daily i just had to agree anyway i went to pick it up 2-3 hours later

shop owner tells me he had no idea my vespa was supposed to be getting looked at and mechanic is away out so he apologises and goes to get another mechanic and says he will look at it now

anyway mechanic pulls about 10inches of cable out and says it is broken, but offers to order cable in for me said it would cost around £40 to replace and reckons he can prob fix without removing the headset etc

is that a good price i'm in no way mechanically minded so cant really attempt the fix on my own

cheers for any advice

also am I safe to drive the vespa in the meantime albeit will have no idea what speed i'm doing

It's not difficult, more fiddly. I replaced the one on my GTS. The cable costs about £15. Make sure you get the correct one, there are two and they are very different at the hub connection end. Even Piaggio parts system gets confused here.

You don't need to take off the glove box, but you do need to take off the headlamp, the horncover and loosen the mud guard (and also the clamp underneath). Pull the cable out from the top with a piece of string attached to the bottom end, that you can use to pull the new cable down and through. You will have a bit of difficulty threading the rubber bung bit through the mudguard.

£40 all in is a very good price.

I'm clearly still a newbie.

I saw the title of this post and immediately assumed it was a question about the woefully inadequate swim trunks/togs for men... in which case the only possible answer would be 'no'.

thanks mate mechanic reckons its a 30min job so fingers crossed like i said i'm not very confident fiddling with bits on scoots - i struggled with my first oil change

The cable cannot be replaced without removing the headset no matter what the mechanic tells you. The cable is held into the wheel hub by a plate and a simple bolt. The other end is screwed into the back of the speedometer unit. You have to remove the headset to get at that connection. While it isn't especially difficult; the mirrors have to come off, the brake resevoir covers and the horn cover have to come off and then five more screws. After that you have to sort of wrestle and maneuver the headset cover off and once you finish with the speedometer cable you have to reverse the process. An experienced person will probably spend about 30 minutes or less taking off and putting the headset back on. If the mechanic thinks he can change the speedometer without removing the headset he is not an experienced Vespa mechanic, beware. He may be a good mechanic but you should know he is not experienced on working with Vespas if this is what he said. By "headset" I am referring to the top cover that the brake resevoir cover screws into not the part that has the speedometer in it.

You should learn how to remove your headset - it's very handy to know and you can change your headlight bulb, tighten steering clamp, adjust headset bearings etc - plenty of clear instructions on here.

hi there

gettign nowhere with the garage that are supposed to be fitting my speedo cable so thinking about having a go myself - i've found links on how to remove horn cover and headset but no actual videos, pages on how to fit the speedo cable can anyone point me in the right direction


thanks

I haven't seen a video on removing the headset but I'm sure there are step by step with photos here on MV. A few things to remember if you do it yourself. 1) Be patient and take your time. 2) Don't overtighten the screws especially if you are screwing into a plastic base. 3) When trying to get the cover off it will hang up on things that you can't see. You have to be gentle and coax it and keep working with it remembering it is plastic and can break if you force it. 4) Be sure that everything fits together without hanging up on something before you tighten the screws. A wire hanging down and getting caught on the edge of the headset is common, make sure they are all tucked up inside before you tighten the screws.

If you don't want to try it yourself and you aren't happy with the mechanic you can always look for a Vespa dealer. This is not a hard project for an experienced Vespa mechanic who has removed many a headset. It is a little tricky the first time. Maybe you can find someone near you with a Vespa that has done it before and is willing to help. Good luck.

I prefer traditional swim trunks, and those around me at the beach seem to appreciate it.

thanks for the advice, prob being the garage i took it to is the only vespa dealer in my city, i ahve been offered help from a vespa owner who is working away from home for 2-3 weeks so will give it a go, if all goes badly wrong i'm sure he will help me put it back together

thanks again

heres the vidoe by the way if you want to watch out of interest

GT/GTS: Headset Removal Video

That is really an excellant video and as you can see it isn't all that difficult. I will add two things: 1) When you are removing the screw underneath the headlight I stongly suggest you hold a magnet against it while unscrewing it. If you drop it, it goes way down inside and you have to take a lot apart to try and get to it or go out and buy a replacement which is a pain. 2) Doing this with your shirt off is optional. Good luck and tell us how it turns out.

I had to swap the speedo cable on my GTS a few weeks ago, and as long as it's a simple break, it's super easy to do once you have the headset cover removed (which is the tedious part). It's much easier to get at if you remove both the front and back covers, although you don't need to remove the speedo from the headset cover itself. Just wrap a bit of rag around the aluminum collar nut that holds the speedo cable to the underside of the speedo, and gently turn it counterclockwise with a pair of pliers to unscrew it. Then use needle nose pliers to pull the inner cable out of the housing, and it should slide right out. Next, apply some grease to the new inner cable and slide it down through the outer cable housing. You may need to turn it slightly one way or the other once it hits bottom, to make sure it goes in all the way. Then screw the aluminum nut at the top of the cable back onto the speedo, finger tight at first, then by using the rag and pliers to tighten it the rest of the way.

Before you put the new cable in though, check to see where the old cable broke, and inspect the outer cable housing for possible damage in that area. Hopefully it isn't damaged, but if it is, you'll need to replace the outer housing as well, which is a bit more difficult. Otherwise it'll keep breaking inner cables, which is no good. Piaggio only sells speedo cables as a set that includes both the inner cable and outer cable housing anyway. The trick I've learned is to insert the new inner cable through the bottom of the outer housing, and secure the end of the inner cable to the fork with a zip tie. Then slowly work the outer housing up through the frame, without moving the inner cable, so that it "holds the place" of the outer cable. Then, guide the new outer cable over top of the inner cable that's sticking up inside the headset, and slowly work the outer cable down through the fork until it appears beneath the front fender. It might help to coat the outside of the outer cable housing with some grease, to help it slide more easily. Then detach the inner cable pull the inner cable from the fork and pull it out from bottom of the outer cable housing, and pull the outer cable housing through until it reaches the front hub. Insert it the inner cable into the outer cable housing the right way round, from the top down. Make sure both the inner cable and outer housing are properly seated and attached to the hub, then screw the aluminum nut at the top back into the speedo, first finger tight, then tighten it with pliers, again wrapping a bit of rag around the aluminum nut to avoid damaging it. Hope this helps, good luck!

That is a great video - thanks Mitch! One more caveat though - don't just muscle the mirrors loose. First, pull up the rubber boots at the base of the mirrors by turning them so that the thick part faces forward, then just slide them up the mirror stems. Next, unscrew the brake reservoir covers and slide them up the mirror stems as well. Then loosen the locking nut at the base of each mirror, and both mirrors should unscrew very easily without any effort.

The pitfall with muscling the mirrors off is that this can damage the threads, because the locking nuts place tension on the threads to keep the mirrors from moving while riding. If you strip the threads on the mirrors, you'll need to buy a new pair, which aren't all that cheap (unless you can find a good set of used ones); if you strip the threads inside the headset, you'll need to buy a whole new brake reservoir for each side that's been stripped, and those are definitely not cheap!

thanks for the advice, i'm gonna order the cable today so will hopefully have it tomorrow and if the rain goes off i'll make an attempt at changing the speedo cable tomorrow so will update you all on my progress

quick update - cable arrived this morning 45 minutes later speedo working

took off the horn cover , headset and fed the new inner cable through old outer cable - very easy

can't believe i was gonna pay to get this fitted at a garage


thanks for all your help guys

nice to hear - now you can replace blown headlight bulbs, tighten your steering clamp and re-torque your steering bearings !!!! It's all pretty basic stuff and saves you a ton of money, the only time a mechanic works on my bike is for belt and roller changes or tires.

That's actually pretty basic stuff too... learn how to do it and you'll save a fortune. The tool cost is probably about £50 all in, starting from scratch.

Agreed DougL. It's over 20 years since I last tinkered with mechanical stuff. Bought my scoot only recently and in no time had (amongst other things) the transmission cover off and new starter bendix, belt and roller weights done in not much more than an hour. The main thing to watch is that you seat the belt deep into the driven (rear) pulley to avoid pinching in the driving (front) pulley which will stop you from torquing up properly and at the very least bugger up the outer half of the latter, but there are loads of posts on this on MV and (dare I say) elsewhere on t'interweb. Tyres not quite so straightforward; for me it's cost effective to buy online at best price and have them fitted and balanced at a small independent garage locally.

PS - You will need a couple of tools to lock the pulleys. Some people have made their own, I bought the Buzzetti ones which have worked well for me and were "cheap as chips" 8)