Modern Vespa

http://www.flickr.com/photos/35987984@N00/sets/72157594499158270/?page=2

i don't know this guy, but i see the copper colored bike looks a lot like the one posted over in the gallery forum. at any rate, some amazing photos!

What makes you believe these are Vietnamese restorations?

jacqui

Well, for 1 because in the descriptions of the photos SAY they are from vietnam...pictures of bikes that have come through the mechanic's shop. Look at the pics! Some of these things are some really horrific bodges; welded up broken engine mounts, improper bolts, etc. Most people over here would throw away an engine case if the main shockmounts or engine mounts were to break off, rather than dangerously re-weld the chunks of cases back together.

The vietnamese do it because they can peddle it to the unwitting overhere for thousands.

Click on any of those first 12 pictures and mouse over the box highlighted in the picture to read the description of what is wrong if you still don't see it.

I still have doubts. The roll over indicated vietnam vespa, but it seems to me these are perhaps bikes from Vietnam being restored somewhere in north america. The quality of the restoration might be dubious, wherever it happens to be.

jacqui

I would be willing to lay down a substantial bet that that bike came over on a boat. Doubt all you want....those first set of pics were pretty typical things you see on a bike from over there. I've seen enough other mechanics with similar photo galleries.

Oh...and it's not just bikes that arrive in this country. One of the more famous web-galleries of vietnamese bodge-jobs exists on a french webpage. They get the same junk shipped to them as we do over here...same as England, etc... They have the same ability to hit "Buy It Now" on the same auctions on ebay.

-Eric

I'll back Eric up on this one. That's a VietBodge, no doubt about it. Even if we didn't have the benefit of the pictures being labeled as a Vietnam restoration, Vietnam has elevated the art of the bodge to new heights (or depths, as the case may be) and is legendary for repairs of very questionable safety. There are very few places in the world where you can find bodges of that degree, and Vietnam is way way way up at the top of the list.

Besides, if the photos indicate it's a Vietnam restoration, and it 100% fits the pattern of bad Vietnam restorations, then what possible basis would there be for believing the restorations are happening in North America?

If it walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck....

That's not to say that people don't bodge stuff together here. I've picked up some bikes off of farmers that have some really strange ingenuity born out of necessity ( for example a junction box constructed from a piece of wood and nails, with wire strung from nail to nail like a primitive electronic set ) .... but i've also seen things like pictured that i know came from a farmer's hands too : actual threaded bolts in the brake cam / pinch bolt areas that are just supposed to be steel pins with a retaining cotterpin to hold them in place, etc.

I guess the underlining message is that, as a buyer, you should have an understanding of a bike down to a nut-and-bolt level. If not, you should have a mechanic in toe who does, and who can go through any bike you might have interest in purchase so that you don't ride around on a bike like this.

-Eric

I think theres some confusion here, the shop in the photostream isnt making viet-heaps, they are repairing them and warning/educating people about them. The whole photostream is from Motoretta in Torronto. Many of the other shots in the stream are of their works on non-heap vint scoots and modern scoots as well. Its a legit shop that appears to do quality work.

http://www.motoretta.ca/default.aspx

Just to be very clear, you are stating your belief that the scooter originally came from Vietnam, not that the restoration being depicted in photos is a Vietnamese restoration project. I say this because I wouldn't want people to associate Motoretta in Toronto (where the photos were taken) with the whole mess caused by Vietnamese restorations.

it DOES seem like Toronto gets more of it's fair share of vietnamese bikes imported there, though. I don't know why specifically, but there's been any number of shady scooter shops to come and go in that town over the last 15 years....maybe they have something to do with it.

It's like Florida, So Cal, and Toronto seem to be big entryways for vietbikes into this country.

God bless the fact that original condition Allstates are still being rolled out of midwestern barns for next to nothing.

-Eric

That's our shop. Glen, our tech's flikr page. The motor shots are in fact from a Vietnamese bike. And for the record, we've never seen one that was salvagable. We keep a stock of 5 port Stella motor's just so people can at least get a usable machine from their ebay purchase. We've seen some frames so badly bodged it wasn't even worth putting a new motor in it.

The blue VNB is not Vietanmese... the rest of the vintage bikes are Italian or local. You'll know a Vietnamese bike when you see it.

how many do you have come in to the shop throughout a year? i bet people are surly when they find out...

Most common response: "but mine is a good one, I saw it on the internet."

i've been observing the scooter shop photos on flickr for some time now, its a great insight to see what comes in the workshop and the work done in progressive frames.

culturesponge

"if you have a racist friend, now is the time now is the time for your friendship to end" - jerry dammers.

Thanks Michael. That's the point I wanted to make without naming a specific dealer.

jacqui

What a fantastic set of photos - and terrifying!

I've heard about these bikes on the net for some time and always wondered, "just how bad could they be?" Question definitively answered! Yikes!!

I have a friend who travels to Vietnam annually and insists ther Vespas are top notch despite all my claims that they're crap. He keeps saying he'll bring one back with him one of these days. Think I need to show him this, but I have a feeling he still won't believe me.

man... SE asia restos.... dangerous doesn't even begin to cover it.

and that welded rear shock mount-- that makes me want to cry. only bad can come of that.

i'd be embarassed to bodge something like that-- even at the race track.

best,
-greasy