Modern Vespa

Hi, all!

So, I'm the bike nut gearhead of my group of friends. I've been riding and racing (amateur) motorcycles for nearly 20 years.

I maintain all my bikes and cars myself. Including, vintage and classic Italian cars and bikes, Japanese bikes, German, etc. So, experience with all of them.

Best friend about to buy a '76 Vespa, and asked for my help assessing the one he wants.

What am I looking for? What weaknesses do that vintage have? What are key enhancements/mods/updates to make them reliable and consistent performers that we shuld look for?

Any thoughtful advice/recommendations welcome and helpful.

Thanks!

Welcome! Sounds like you're qualified to help your friend through whatever problems they may encounter with the scoot. '76 vespa could be a lot of things. Any chance they know what model and/or displacement it is? If they don't know what the model is, they probably should figure that out before buying it since older vespas will need work and some can be slow as hell while others can be quite fast. Some knowledge of what they are getting into might be valuable to them. Well, 70's US Spec Vespas are known to have funky electrical systems - kind of thrown together to meet DOT spec when really something which wasn't broke in Europe should have been left alone. Still, those electrics can work just fine if it's all there. Avoid highly tuned pipes unless you plan on highly tuning the engine to match. Generally, the stock pipes work well enough and maybe a Sito Plus (not regular Sito), if available for the model, can open it up without sacrificing reliability.

There are cool options on some scooters to upgrade to electronic ignition. Sometimes this is more trouble than it's worth, but depending on the model that might be something to think of.

All in all, I'd recommend finding out the model before they make the leap. Even then, I'd encourage them to leave it stock for at least several months of regular riding to give them the opportunity to become accustomed to the bike. Frankly, many old Vespas are just fine stock for what they are: a scooter. At least encourage your friend to get a feel for how a healthy stock scoot should run before they begin to pimp it out... they'll have a better feel for how much they would like to tune it, if at all.

Some sweet models it might hopefully be: Rally 200 (the fastest stock vintage Vespa you can buy). Sprint Veloce (a peppy 150). A Primavera or an ET3 Primavera (fantastic smallframe scooters - good power to size/weight ratio).

Have your friend be wary of vietnamese/southeast asian restoration scooters. They tend to look gorgeous to the uninformed but can literally be death traps. Look for excessive chrome, yellow centerstand boots, and 2-tone coloring (though that will show up on legitimate scooters as a custom paint job). We have a sticky bodge thread at the top of this section with more info. They are usually "60's" era scooters, but that's not a rule.

Good luck and keep us posted!

just get a p200 or p150. parts are easy to find and the p series is great to learn on. good luck and stay away from the bodges.

There's a really sweet looking 76 Vespa Super on craigslist in El Segundo. I posted the link in the deal o the day thread.
Maybe that's the one you're looking at?

what are those..!!? is there a thread or something I can learn about these things!?

Wow! You guys are great! Thanks so much for all the excellent info.

From what I understand, the bike's completely reconditioned, both inside and out. Apparently, even the headlight and housing and floorboards are new.

Yes, things like this suggest it's been dumped, but he also claims new exhaust, brakes, rubbers, rings/pistons, wiring harness, etc., etc.

We won't know till we see her, but sounds promising, and from all your comments, it seems like the standard Italian affair - great motor & chassis, electrics and ancillaries dodgy. Got it. Typical.

Keep you all posted!

Oh, and apparently it's a Sprint 150, which I think you've mentioned is a good one.

Post some pics though - we see a lot of bodge sprints here, and "completely restored inside and out" might well indicate that, rather than the scooter having been dumped. If it's legit, a fully restored sprint would be a nice ride with fairly accessible parts, though, so here's hoping!

Post some pics before you do anything, and ask to see a paperwork trail.
Work like that is a possible sign of a bodge - a scooter imported from places like Vietnam where they take wrecked bikes, make them look pretty and shiny but under the veneer are death traps..

If that ride has been restored, then the owner shouldn't have any problems showing some receipts for parts. Don't tolerate ANY avoidance of your questions. Personally, I would keep looking for an unmolested original.

red flags, big waving red flags.

post pix before you part with your hard earned cash.

best,
-greasy

Listen to this man, please.

I got a bad feeling about this...