Modern Vespa

Well, I'm back to this forum and riding a Vespa, not back to the United States. I accepted a position near Lausanne, Switzerland from my employer in late August and moved in mid-December. Importing my current Vespa GT made no sense, so I homed it with friends. Since December we've been driving a Passat station wagon we rented until our ordered car arrives, and no scooter!

That changed this weekend when I picked up my new 250 GTS with ABS. I had the shop put on 2 new Michelin Sports I had inserted into my ocean shipment, add the chrome kit, and put on a windshield that may be Barney-esque but keeps me warm during the morning commutes (along with a fleece lined scooter skirt.

Here it is on it's first outing this weekend, about 10 klicks from where we live. It's in the Lavaux wine region, and that's Lake Geneva below. I skied in the Alpes you see in the background that morning. Life has tough choices.

At the bottom there's the view from the cockpit. Courtesy of my wife, karendj. We're still working on her Vespa, as the local Swiss importer only offers black, silver and dark blue colors for the LX, and she wants something a bit more "vivant". She will be the major driver for or cool new car we're getting this weekend, though.

It's great to be on two wheels again!

Some people have all the luck! Welcome back Larry. Killer scoot!

The windscreen looks good and I know how they help your comfort. Those are great pictures. I make wine in Dallas, but my grape squeezin's come in a mylar bag.

*Jelous

Nice meeting you in Denver.

Take care.

R

8)

That is just awesome. Congrats Larry and welcome back.

Great views and scoot! (Do your feet a favor and wear some decent boots!)

Welcome back welcome back welcome back Kotter oops I mean Larry.

Your scooter looks great and the photos are great too of your new country of residence.

Welcome back! (Welkommen Sie wieder!) Beautifl shots. It's hard to believe that people actually live in places like that.

Bienvenue chez nous!

What a neat place to be. Within a stone's throw of all that European culture.

I'll bet you'll miss Survivor, Who Wants to be a Millionaire, etc - all that good N.A. cultural stuff.

We're heading to France later this month, so I know the pleasure you feel being where you are.

BTW, we have scooters waiting for us, not Vespas, but Peugeots.
Oh well, better than nothing.

PLease send some of that killer swiss chocolate back here to us in the USA. I really dont think there is a bad picture that can be taken in switzerland. its so beautiful. thanks for the beautiful pictures. dr

hey Larry !
keep the photos comming

what kind of car did you order ?

how do you like the ABS ?

Well, NapaCoach, the jury is still out on the ABS. I found the brakes not be be as sensitive as the non-ABS version, which I really liked, and the ABS unit takes up space in the glove box. You know, I may never know the one time it keeps me from harm, though. The weather here can change from sun to rain to snow, so I thought this was a good idea.

As for the car, we got a Mini Cooper S, laser blue with white stripes and roof. Kind of like this one...

http://www.mini.co.uk/html/model_range/mini_cooper_s/home.html

We pick it up Friday. Maybe not that practical in some respects, but it's 170HP powering only 1200Kg and drives like a turbo-charged go kart. Well, it is a turbo-charged go kart! And it gets over 40 miles to the gallon and parks into small places we could never get a sedan into. I guess it was the pratical choice!

Nice work Larry
Wow - what a bummer having to ride through that awful scenery

Wouldn't have a cage without ABS, but 2 wheels???, I'm not so sure.
BUT it seems that most of the Euro bikes/scooters are going that route.

Might be worth a try. Wonder if Vespa can do a retro??

Didn't Survivor start in Switzerland? I know it's not American for sure!
I hope you can keep up to date on Britany and Anna Nicole though

Amazing photos - please post more! I had the pleasure of visiting Lausanne many years ago on a bicycle tour through Europe - incredible place...

I would be jealous of your awesome drive but I get to drive through this this afternoon.

Rinshu, there appears to be a wide space between the two lane of cars. There's a certain pleasure in being able to exploit that!

Perfect for lane splitting, in California!!

Welcome back. The scenery there is beautiful. It looks just like Pennsylvania.

Congrats on the move and scoot. Keep the beautiful pics coming.

Tim

wow it's SO beautiful there! hooray for your new vespa, and good luck with the wife's (she should just get a gts too!)