Modern Vespa

I was about to order a Haynes manual so that I could start to understand what was going on beneath my GT's cowls when I ran across a couple of different options.

Vespa Motorsports features the techbook for general scooters 50cc - 250cc, including Honda, Piaggio, Vespa and Yamaha.



I also ran across a Piaggio/Vespa specific Haynes manual on Amazon, but only covers the ET2 to the 1996 GT. Not sure how far up a creek I'd be when I eventually upgrade to a 250cc...not to mention that I haven't read any feedback on this one whereas the aforementioned techbook seems to have gotten good reviews.



Finally is the Haynes Twist and Go manual for automatic scoots of 50 to 250 cc, though judging by the cover it covers a good many brands.




So which would you go with?

Thanks,
Bret

You should try to find out in wich book your model is best covered.

I have the Piaggio/Vespa manual.

I see you have a GT 200. This model is covered in this book.

all three.
you can never have too many service manuals.

if you could only get one, i'd say that the "piaggio" specific book is the best. however, the other books cover some other inane random information that really helps put everythng into perspective.

between the FSM, the haynes piaggio specific manual and MV you should be able to figure out just about any fix.

best,
-greasy

Anyone know if the Piaggio/Vespa one covers the Fly150? I don't want to buy it and have it be the Fly50 or 125 (i'm pretty sure those are the Europian cc's)

I appreciate the response. I will eventually add all three manuals, I'm sure, but was mainly referring to a starting point in my manual collection. The Piaggio / Vespa specific one seems like a no-brainer and would definitely cover my GT, but being that I am really considering selling the GT shortly and upgrading to the GTV 250, I wasn't sure if the book that specifically deals with scoots up to 250cc would be more useful than the Vespa one which only details up to 200cc. (I'm not the world's greatest mechanic, so I'm not entirely sure if the info / technology that applies to a 200 is relatively the same as the mechanics of a 250.)

Bret

According to www.themotorbookstore.com, the Piaggio/Vespa manual covers the following:

Piaggio Sfera (50, 80, 125); Typhoon (50, 80, 125); Zip, Zip SP, 50, 4T, 125; Fly 50, 50 4T, 125; Skipper 125, Skipper ST 125; Hexagon, Super Hexagon 125; Liberty 50, 50 4T; Liberty 125; NRG MC2 50, NRG MC3 DT, NRG MC3 DD, NRG Power DT, NRG Power DD; B125 Beverly; X9 125, X8 125 1991-2006, and Vespa ET2 50, ET4 50, ET4 125; LX2 50, LX4 50, LX4 125; and GT 125, GT 200 scooters, 1996-2006.

Whereas the Haynes Scooters Techbook covers: PIAGGIO
FLY150 2005 | BV200 2002-on

Don't they offer the official workshop manual?


I'd go for that rather than a Haynes any day.

Hey Bret,

Check this link out before you go spending any of your hard earned!

[topic630]

Best,

David

That's what I use. The Haynes or 'joke book' as we call it or 'haynes book of lies' as they've become known in British motoring cycles is not as good.

Haynes aren't as good as they used to be. Saying that I've bought one for every car I've owned and for each scooter too!

Thanks for the link. I'd actually already downloaded the workshop manual, but was looking for some supplemental material to go along with it that would hopefully explain the mechanics of it all in a bit more layman's terms. (The Vespa workshop manuals just throw you in there, and rightly so...they're written for mechanics.)
I found the Haynes 50 cc - 250 cc manual online (not the Vespa-specific one, but the one featuring Vespa, Honda, Yamaha and Piaggio) for over half off, so I'm checking that one out first.

dansmc.com is the web page of an elderly Christian motorcycle mechanic with pages and pages of experience, wisdom and opinion. Lots of stuff unrelated to scooters, lots of stuff explaining how engines and transmissions work, how to overcome daily mechanical problems (stuck nuts and bolts) all leavened with biblical quotations and political ponderings. The mechanical stuff is great. The rest is crap. Or vice versa depending on the reader. ( A Christian uninterested in motorcycles could possibly find the web site interesting, though probably not as useful as the other way around. Or both, or neither).