Scooter Punk Kids Fabrics

Sorry about the long hiatus from posting... strangely, my instinctive response to Jes's swelling belly has been to spend all my free time either in the studio, or curled up on the couch with her.This morning though, I was searching for some unique cloth to make a baby sling out of and found this great baby-mod print. It's cotton thermal, so I don't know that it would be good for a sling, maybe a

Does Google Dream of Electric Shepherds?

Who says good old hard Science Fiction is dead?Check out this piece by George Dyson on Edge, Engineers Dreams. It's deeply researched, historically accurate, with a geek's lovingly obsessive attention to detail. This is what Science Fiction is supposed to be, a lens through which we get hazy glimpses of tommorrow.I'd tell you more about the story, but it's short, and I'm avoiding spoilers.via

16 Agosto Scandy Bar...ska, ska, ska!!

Próxima festa do Vespa Gang Mod Club já está marcada para 13 Setembro no Europa. Entretanto gostariamos de ter um pequeno meeting festivo com alguns membros que se encontrem por Lisboa antes/depois das férias verão, anotem dia 16 Agosto no Scandy Bar, a entrada é livre.
Vamos ter muito acima de tudo muito ska, northern soul, rhythm'n'blues, com Pedro "42" e Zapata, Tougher Than Tough entre outros selecters...podem já começar a aprender os passos de dança, não!? Seus pês de chumbo!! Teremos shot's de Rum Pampero, cocktails de fruta (!), capiroskas e cerveja muito fresca acompanhar...

Para quem ainda não conhece os grandes clássicos de ska, as melhores bandas actuais, os japoneses com mais ska no corpo, os tugas tb...pode carregar nos botões e baixar a coisa...aqui

Na AGIP de Tercena

Bom, algum dia tinha que ser. Normalmente evito os postos de abastecimento que discriminam os motociclistas, o melhor castigo é pelo menos não ficarem com o meu dinheiro. Mas hoje, a combinação de falta de tempo e falta de gasolina revelou-se fatal. Obrigado a uma paragem forçada na bomba da AGIP em Tercena, rapidamente me apercebi da minha insensatez... Este é daqueles postos que tem afixado em todas as bombas a seguinte informação: "Motos pré-pagamento Obrigado". Este texto está gravado em pequenas placas prateadas mandadas fazer para o efeito, não se trata de um simples papel para ali colado. É portando uma discriminação persistente e convicta, não uma coisa temporária resultado de algum abuso.

Outras considerações à parte, é curioso como em Portugal se consegue (facilmente) levar avante estes pequenos atropelos às mais básicas regras de uma democracia. Se a placa dissesse "Ciganos Pré-pagamento Obrigado" ninguém poria em causa a sua ilegalidade, mas, por alguma razão, as motos e as pessoas que as conduzem podem ser discriminadas sem chatices de maior.

Entrei no posto e tive a conversa do costume com o empregado. O homem falava com uma altivez de quem me tinha apanhado a roubar e me tinha frustrado os planos. Explicou que eu poderia atestar se deixasse com ele o bilhete de identidade ou se lhe desse um montante superior ao que imaginava gastar, e após o abastecimento poderia receber a diferença. Não tinha tempo para discussões e meti dez euros. A juntar à festa, o homem não me deu o recibo e quando o exigi, tenho a sensação que ele não o tirou da impressora, mas de algum sítio ao lado, onde já estaria. Provavelmente anda a fazer alguma intrujice, ou a roubar dinheiro da caixa. Enfim, coisas estranhas se passam na bomba da Agip de Tercena. Uma rápida pesquisa na net revelou que não fui o único contemplado com este tratamento, ver por exemplo este caso. Até me parece ser o mesmo empregado.

A AGIP nem site tem para Portugal, e fiquei sem saber a quem reclamar. Se tivesse chamado a policia, já os estou a ver a dizerem-me se eu acho que eles não têm coisas mais importantes para fazer...

Tudo isto me irrita solenemente, tenho que fazer alguma coisa. Há de existir alguma maneira adulta, educada e civilizada de resolver o problema. Para já, gostava de deixar uma mensagem... Aos senhores administradores e trabalhadores do posto de abastecimento da Agip de Tercena: ide comer um cagalhão.

O Vespa Gang Mod Club em Julho foi assim...

Finalmente nos chegam algumas imagens da festa de Julho, que decorreu no passado dia 12 Julho no local habitual, o Europa.
Uma noite muito quente e suada, ainda para mais no mesmo dia havia festivais acontecer por toda a cidade. Mas a nossa noite foi um outro "festival". Como vai sendo habito...Queremos agradecer a todos os presentes e desejar boas férias a quem tem direito. Para já avisamos a navegação que vamos realizar festa convivio no Scandy dia 16 de Agosto, para todos aqueles que têm de ficar em Lisboa e que precisam de um local onde se possa ouvir boa música e encontrar gente conhecida e restante gangaria...a entrada é livre! Anotem nas agendas electronicas...o dia 16 Agosto...Scandy Summer feeling!!!

Reflexões do mau pendura

O assento traseiro da scooter até parecia convidativo. Tinha espaço, não era demasiado alto e disponibilizava um raro e útil encosto. Tudo naquele banco parecia sugerir conforto e comodidade por muitos quilómetros.

Mas não era o caso.

Para começar, eu sofro de mau-penduritis crónica. Um caso grave. Por um lado, sou muito alto e algo pesado, normalmente provoco algum desequilibro em qualquer veículo de duas rodas quando me sento atrás. E ao ser mais alto, levo com o vento todo na cabeça. Depois também sou daqueles que acha sempre que teria executado melhor determinada manobra que o condutor ou teria reagido muito mais depressa a uma eventualidade... Enfim, andar à pendura não é comigo.

Munidos desta informação, imaginem-me pendurado na traseira de uma muito incómoda Hyongsontonwang 250, que até era um modelo de tamanho e performances razoáveis, mas desenhado para transportar crianças, aparentemente, e não dois adultos. Coisa que, devo notar, a pequena Scoopy não tem problemas em fazer. Pilotada pelo jovem afoito jornalista, mais preocupado em aviar enlatados que em desviar-se dos buracos, aquela sessão rapidamente se transformou numa tortura. Já se sabe que a suspensão traseira não é propriamente o ponto forte das scooters, mas neste caso o problema era preocupante. Para mim, claro. De joelhos muito flectidos, a tentar caber no assento e não sair a voar dele de cada vez que passávamos por cima de uma tampa de esgoto a velocidades ilegais e manifestamente desnecessárias. Ir à pendura sucks!

A small glitch...

A small hiccup, the boys at the scooter shop and I got our wires crossed a tad, I was asking for a hub assembly but got the hub in the mail instead so i have sent it back awaiting to see what they can find for me. In the meantime I have a few more jobs to go ahead with, been working too hard to get the cases done, hate it when life gets in the way of scooting! My other parts from GPS Imports arrived, just waiting for a couple of weird items now and will set off on the journey of reassembling. As I am not touching the paint work other than touch ups it shouldn't be too long before I can get her on the road.

Sempre a travar

No Sábado emprestei a scoopy à Marta, ela precisava de ir a Cascais. No regresso, além de se queixar de alguns enlatados com tendências assassinas, que ainda abundam nas nossas estradas, mencionou um problema com a luz de stop...

Fui ver e realmente havia um problema. A Scoopy estava a enviar flashadas de luz vermelha como se não houvesse amanhã, e sem para isso ser solicitada. Bastava subir o motor de rotação, flashada vermelha. Paragem no semáforo, arranque, a flashada vermelha não se desligava. A circular a fundo pela marginal, flashada intermitente para o pessoal ficar na dúvida: "porque raio é que este gajo vai a dar toques no travão e a acelerar ao mesmo tempo?"


O Blogger insiste que a palavra flashada não existe, mas o que é que eles sabem? A questão é que a scoopy anda por aí a enganar os outros condutores provavelmente desde que veio da revisão. E eu sem dar por nada.

O problema residia na manete do travão e nos contactos electricos lá existentes. Aquilo são uma data de peças com ar sólido e competente. Não me estava a ver a desmontar caixinhas de metal com muitas molas lá dentro, fiquei com a ideia que se mexesse só ia fazer pior. Então e a solução?



WD-40, obviamente. Pronto, Spray Bala também teria servido. Está como novo.

O dilema

Os leitores mais atentos (mas quem são vocês?!) terão reparado que as actualizações deste blogue são cada vez menos e porventura de cada vez menos interesse. É assim pelo menos que eu vejo a coisa. Só me resta explicar o porquê.

Tenho um novo emprego, que obriga a algum empenho e me consome bastante. Ainda me estou a adaptar ao sitio, ao trabalho e aos seus ritmos. Não tem sobrado muito tempo nem disponibilidade para estas páginas. Por outro lado, com este trabalho surgiu o possibilidade de conhecer de outra maneira certos aspectos do mundo das duas rodas. E ter algumas experiências bem interessantes. Nas últimas semanas, por exemplo, tive oportunidade conduzir todos os modelos de scooter da Honda e participar no ensaio da Suzuki Sixteen (essa meia prima da Scoopy) para a Motociclismo. É claro que gostava de ter aqui falado destes assuntos, mas, às questões já mencionadas (falta de tempo, bla, bla, bla) há que juntar o pequeno problema de não poder aqui partilhar fotos, uma vez que elas têm de primeiro ser publicadas por quem as pagou! Isso desmotiva-me de trazer para aqui alguns assuntos, que depois não posso desenvolver em pleno por essas razões profissionais. Um pouco frustrante.

Enfim, o blogue tem portanto estado em banho maria. Eu continuo a andar de scooter, todos os dias. A foto de cima foi tirada no fim de semana, em Vila Franca. Na verdade, depois de dois anos, já não me sinto muito maçarico, embora tenha consciência de que ainda sou relativamente inexperiente. E essa é outra questão, o objectivo inicial destas páginas era partilhar a visão de um scooterista iniciado e eu já não me vejo como tal...

Então, valerá a pena continuar? Só mais um blogue, com um tema bastante especifico, escrito numa língua minoritária..? Eu ainda penso que sim, mas não com muita energia.

Achei que devia esta explicação.

Scootermania

O segurança do meu trabalho, moço dado a luxos e confortos, diz que já tem uma Burgman 250 apalavrada. Um outro colega meu, cujo veículo habitual é um Land Rover, confidenciou-me que está em vias de ser o feliz proprietário de uma Vespa LX 50. Esta semana passei por acaso com um colega no concessionário Honda onde a Scoopy costuma ser revista e presenciei um certo movimento de pessoas. Coincidência ou não, estava um senhor engravatado, que tinha chegado num BMW, a experimentar uma pequena Honda Today.

Eu sei que está calor, e é o tempo das pessoas que acham que as motos e as scooter são solúveis em agua, as tirarem das garagens e levarem a dar uma voltinha, de calção e chinelito. É também aquela altura em que se descobre que a galinha do vizinho (que tem estado na garagem) tem mais pinta que a minha, o que obviamente obriga a fazer um upgrade.

Depois há os aumentos loucos dos combustíveis. As pessoas começam finalmente a reparar na diferença brutal de custos entre o uso diário de um automóvel e o de uma scooter. Tenho pena que seja só por isso, mas há coisas que parecem estar a mudar.

Update

I am focusing on finding a job. I still need a few parts and then a place of our (my family) with a garage to wrap up the Vespa. I haven't forgotten it. I am a little burned out on it at the moment, because before moving I put 40-50 hours in a very short time. It is locked away in storage and the gas tank is coated in 2-stroke oil to prevent rust (remember I did not treat the inside of the gas tank).

Olá...um refresco para ti, um refresco para mim!...

O calor e o Verão estão aí finalmente. Muitas actividades do gangue, uns foram para Peniche confratenizar e ainda vieram a tempo da festa de sábado. Outros andam atarefados com trabalho e a planear as férias. A festa no Europa foi bonita, pá! Muito calor e The Ratazanas a darem-lhe com força! Os festivais de Verão vão ser destino para muitos encontros e desencontros. Desculpem a pouca actividade aqui do blog, mas o Verão assim obriga. Estamos por aí...na rua! Com as nossas Vespas...a caminho de uma praia qualquer...

A Special present for Sophia

I decided to give Sophia one special gift to make her rebirth complete and make her feel special ;)

I was very lucky to snag this plate! I must be the only fanatical SS owner in this state so far? :)

The new plate arrived today, I was hoping the blue would be the same as the scoot but not quite :(

Doesn't matter, she will look great with it on, we had to try it on for size...sort of.

Southern Right Whale in the bay

Portland, Victoria.

You often hear that Warrnambool is the place to go to see whales up close, they have a viewng platform at Logan's Beach so you can see the whales playing out in the ocean.

However...if you want to see whales up close, you should come to Portland. :)

The BIG Clean Up

Granny always said 'Patience is a Virtue'.

Granny didn't have an SS180 in the shed waiting to be ridden for the first time!!






I've been fairly busy with work so haven't done much with the SS over the last week or so. I have an order almost ready to go for the last of the parts and will get into the reassembly as soon as the cleaning is finished. Before I tackle that, there are some jobs to do on the cases.


One case stud bolt hole needs a weld up from the inside as it has made a small hole due to someone screwing it in a bit too far! Another job is the hole for the gear selector shaft plunger has at some stage been drilled out wider than it should be so will get that fixed too while I'm in there.

Here's the very basic steps left before I can ride Sophia for the first time.

1. Fix the cases.
2. Bead blast cases and all engine alloy bits
3. Clean all the engine bits that can't be blasted.
4. Reassemble engine after renewing all rubber buffers, gaskets, bearings and seals etc
5. Put rear hub on with new brakes, put engine back in.
6. Remove headset and front forks for inspection, renew bearings, seals, cables etc
7. Reassemble headset and front end, renewing hub bearings and speedo drive, new brakes
8. Wiring and timing checked (as per the pre-marked cases)
9. Lube up as recommended in manual, greases, oils, fuels
10. Last Safety check, inspect all nuts, bolts, cables, EVERYTHING!
11. Start her up, tweak mixture and timing as needed
12. Vroom Vroom.
13. Check everything works and book a roadworthy test, rego and go!

**Fingers Crossed** I hope this is the way it all unfolds, stay tuned for more over the next week or so. It's deathly cold here at the moment so I'm avoiding shed work at night until my Pot Belly Stove is fixed. Wuss!! :)

Temos festa!! Sabado no Europa!!

Atenção gangaria!!!
É já no próximo sábado, mais uma noite do Vespa Gang Mod Club. Desta vez convidamos os Ratazanas..."música do esgoto" segundo os próprios definem a seu caracteristico som. A coisa promete... A partir da meia-noite no Europa, sempre no Cais do Sodré. Depois haverá after-hours no Bar Americano... Vespas e Lambrettas na porta...as outras ficam ao longe!

Até já!!

Scooter locks for Bajaj, Stella, Vespa Ps

When you live in an urban area there isn't much you can do to fully prevent your scoot from being stolen. All you can do is make it such a pain in the butt for the thief that he passes it up and moves on to the next scoot.

I have seen people rely on their steering column locks. I have also see guys, at shops, that are 5'2 wheel barrow the scooter by lifting the front tire and rolling it into their garage when in neutral, because the owner forgot to leave his/her keys.

P-Series (Vespa, Stella, Bajaj) style scooters weigh approximately 250 lbs. With a pick-up truck and another guy in an alley you could quickly wheel barrow the scoot into the shadows and then the two of you could pick the bike up into the back of the pick-up. Will that ever happen? Probably not, but it could. And for under $150 you could probably avoid that.

A good lock for the P-Series scoot is made by On Guard called the "Beast" 5017LPT (costs $98).  It is pictured above.  You run the hammer arm between the front shock and fork.  As the bike rolls forward or backwards the chain will wrap around the wheel and lock it up -- unless of course you are lucky enough to lock it to something.  It fits the Bajaj like a glove when installed the way it is in the photos below (any other way it won't fit) and I am $1400 theft guarantee the Beast offered for scooters. I also tested the 5' Kyrptonite New York Fahgettaboudit (costs $150, but only offers $1000 for theft for scooters) in the hopes that it was long enough to wrap around the legshield and lock at the fork; unfortunately it wasn't.  In my opinion either lock is a heck of a deterant.

My research shows that On Guard is as good quality as Kryptonite and is a little less expensive.

Here's one closer. In order for it to fit, the lock must be facing upward towards the fender. From the looks of it it will be a major pain in the butt to bust up the lock without totally damaging the scooter, which I think thieves would want to avoid.

Below are pictures of how the lock looks installed on a Chetak. Remember a Vespa P or Stella would accept this lock as well.

Additionally -- as a second lock only -- it would be wise to get a long cable clock and run it tight around your legshield and lock that to the Beast lock as well so that the headset could not be turned freely without removing the cable.

Is this an SS180 crank?

This is my crank

It's not like the round ones shown in the parts books?

Does anyone know anything about this type of crank.

Is it better for performance etc to have the round design or the 'cut' design like the one I have?

Cheers

Sam

UPDATE: 7th July

Thanks to some help from a couple of fellow SS owners I have established the picture in the parts book is really a generic after market crank and the one I have is from an SS :)

Saving an SS180 from Asian Restoration

We've all heard the nightmares of "Asian Restorations." Come to think of it I only know ONE person who has a nice and safe Asian restoration.

Although, I must be honest . . . I have family in Vietnam (my wife's family) and I would love to go over there with some money and send her uncle (a local) to pick up an old TV175 S.3 I scouted out and yank the engine and keep the body, etc. (seeing as I have a spare TV motor) and I could make my wife a TV too.

Anyways, back to the point at hand . . . another SS180 restoration blog is alive and well thanx to Scooterchick Sam. A-freakin'men! to see an Asian scooter being saved, especially a VSC.

Please check out her SS180 and the issues she has to overcome. Click on Scooterissmo.

Thank you for the support and kind words Sam. I need the encouragement too.

Please leave comments for Sam and push her on. Lurking is cool, but we bloggers need feedback too.

4th of July Update

Happy 4th of July folks and 38th wedding anniversary to my parents!

Just a quick update . . . VSC is in storage. I am not doing much work on it until my wife and I get our own place in the Bay Area and I have garage to work on it in. There is very little left to do -- probably can be done in a total of 5 casual hours.

I am hunting for a job (I am an English teacher) and that is where much of my energy is going right now.

Regarding scooters . . . I have decided to begin to research and assemble a parts quote to begin restoring my 1962 Lambretta TV175. I will be blogging that restoration just as I have with my wife's Vespa, but I will be doing a lot more of the work on my own. You can begin to follow that blog, but it is moving slower than the Vespa's. Since I don't have the ability to work on the SS180, I figure I can do a lot of work on planning the TV's restoration from behind my computer.

Also, for you total newbies I have another blog that offers great generic information for all scooterists as well as the Bajaj/Stella/P-Series crowd. The site is titled Bajaj Restoration, but it has nothing to do with restoring a Bajaj -- I just wanted to keep my blog names similar. Nonetheless, I believe it offers useful tips.

Have a Happy 4th!

Traveling with your scooter

My wife and I have traveled with our scooters a bit . . . to rallies and such. We often borrowed a trailer from a friend or rented a $25 U-Hual motorcycle trailer. I use to have to drive our scooters into Philly for tune-ups and learned quickly that it's not all that easy to tie down your scooter (NEVER USE YOUR KICK STAND -- compress the suspension & leave your kick stand up) with certain equipment. So I figured I'd tell you the equipment you need.There are two types of motorcycle tie down straps: (1) ratchet or (2) cambuckle. My preference is the cambuckle, but I must stress that you get what you pay for with either of these. I am not a fan of the Home Depot or Lowes straps as I have not had good luck with them. If I am looking for inexpensive ratchet straps I go to Costco. You want heavy duty quality.

Ratchet straps -- if you use a lower quality ratchet make sure that with the loose line you tie a knot at the base of the ratchet as it will build up a small amount of slack and then begin to slip and your scooter will start to lean in the trailer behind you over time as you cruise down the highway. Trust me on this one. The other pain in the butt is de-tangling them. It sucks. I probably have 3-4 hours invested over the years in getting the knots out.

Cambuckle straps -- my buddy Ted has a set that is about 3" wide and you give a nice pull on each side and the bike locks in place beautifully. It took us 5 minutes to have the scooter loaded and tied down in the back of his truck, whereas ratchets always took me so much longer. There was no excess in the strap. It was nice and clean and ever so sturdy. Similar to the cambuckle straps pictured above, but wider and shorter straps.

I also purchased Canyon Dancer "Handle Bar Harnesses" and feel that my scoots are so much safer and sturdier in a trailer or a truck because of the Canyon Dancer. This was a great investment. It makes traveling with your scoots easier too.

The last thing you will want is a wheel chock to lock the front tire in place, whether in a truck or a trailer. You have a ton of options. Economy ones look like these from Harbor Freight Tools:

The one above is my preference for when you are in a trailer.  Just screw it into the wood base.


These are fold-able and are small.  Great for in the back of your truck.  You can stash them under the seat when you aren't using them.
You could make something like this out of wood if you prefer.

With a Canyon Dancer, two straps, and wheel chock you will have easy installs of your scoot and super safe travels.

Of course, you can do all this stuff on a budget, for example, two small pieces of 2x4 will make a great wheel chock in the back of your truck.  You can buy cambuckles and straps separately and bring it to your local shoe repair shop and ask him to use his heavy industrial sewing machine to sew the straps -- usually $1 per stitched area.  This allows you to make heavy-duty straps at a fraction of the cost.

Thanks to fellow SS180 owners

Although they are probably not aware of it, I have been lurking and learning from SS180 owners all over the world by reading their blogs and forum postings.

This is a specific thank you to Eric and Jeremy who have both got SS180's and decided to share their adventures when restoring. Follow the links to the right to see their projects.

I have also been able to follow some of Eric's advice to other SS owners on the Modern Vespa Forum, who are dealing with the same issues I am. It has all been very very useful and saved me loads of time and stress.

Thanks Guys, it's pages like yours that help put more Vespas back on the road.

Whew!

I've had time to go over the SS180 to see what is actually missing, broken or 'bastardised beyond recognition'.

The biggest issues so far have been the broken hub assembly, the missing air filter, bellows and speedo cable and seals. I am fairly relieved that I will get this job done for about $400 including parts as I will do most of it myself and have found everything I need. I won't be changing the paint for now, just happy to get another Vespa off the scrap pile and back on the road.

It's all about the cosmetic stuff now but I have a list of stuff that is missing that I will try to find.

Luckily I have a good friend who is an engineer and will make some of the sacrificial items for me like cotter pins, welsh plugs etc as well as weld up repairs for the case or repair holes with helicoils, making this journey a little less stressful. I know at anytime if I ever get stuck I can call him and he'll help me through it but I get a big kick out of doing as much as I can by myself.

GPS Imports to the rescue...again!

I had all but resigned myself to the fact that this project was over when I discovered this. IE: How hard would it be to find an SS180 front hub assembly in one piece because mine is in 2!

Just as I was disconnecting the front brake assembly I noticed some lumps under the paint work. I gave the brake backing plate a tap with a wooden mallet and a fine crack appeared, you can see it just below the spring here...

I started to pick and chip away at the bog to see what had been covered up.

Eeeek..
The front hub is cracked and joined by bog (not welded at all) and 2 little screws from the front side of the backing plate.

A quick call to GPS with fingers and toes crossed (and a quick word to the Vespa Gods) paid off.

Steve has a good looking 2nd had unit for $150, all he has to do is find it amongst his treasure trove of scooter goodies and I'm in business.

Ordered so far

2nd hand hub assy -$150

Carb seals -$10

Points set -$15

Gear change tube washer-$2

Air Filter -$27

Next Order I will need

• Speedo cable and drive pinion
• Engine Gaskets and Oil Seals
• SKF Bearings from local shop or my shop stock

I will be beadblasting the cases and hubs myself using a mates set up, I expect this to make them look like new!

At the moment I am having my shed lined and potbelly stove flue fixed (it's bloody windy here in SW Vic!) and when that's done I'll be back out to scooter nights in the shed but for now It's just too damn cold at night.

I'll attack the case work and hubs next

The very First Warning Bells are sounding

I knew I would find some dodgey stuff as I went along, it's from Asia after all.

What I am banking on though, is that regardless of the crappy chrome and shiny paint, there is still a soul in this old scooter. I need the workings and frame to be OK, I don't really care about the little "fix-its" along the way, they go without saying as this scooter is 41 years old.

So, what did I find? ....Gulp....

The Seal is stuck in place with god knows what?? Haven't attacked this yet, I am currently about to beadblast my cases, hubs, flywheel and anything else I can find to make shiny :)

......Stay tuned....

The "rebirthing" of Sophia begins

How to bring an Asian Resto back to life

The old catch phrase that went hand in hand with Vespa, "From Rome, with Love" needs a modern update.

"From Asia-to rip you off (& with no regard for your safety what-so-ever!)"

The insidious invasion of Asian scooter restorations obviously equates to rising numbers of classic scooters sitting in sheds all over the world unable to be registered or ridden. This scourge on the classic scooter world is as detrimental to their history and tradition (IMHO) as it would be if it was written off or put in a car crusher. I have personally seen scooters that have been ‘restored to death’. It will cost more now to 'rebirth' the scooter than what it’s worth, in both time and money. This is very sad, as many are now just shiny ornaments as people hang on to them in a hope that one day they will be able to get it on the road.
I have seen this industry grow in an alarming rate over the past few years. I remember when I first went online looking for a classic scooter as a project and there were 3 scooters listed on Ebay for sale, one was in Vietnam and the other 2 were here in Australia. Recently when I did a search there were 18 classic Vespa scooters online and most were from Vietnam or low mileage classics for resale here. This means one thing to me. It’s dead and it can’t be fixed as reputable bike shops won’t touch them, don’t know enough about them or parts just can’t be found.
This scenario must play out every single day, all over the world. I hate to imagine the number of classic scooters that are dead, sitting in sheds and workshops worldwide never to be fixed because some little Asian workshop has sacrificed its soul and ‘restored’ it to death.

The Waiting Yard!

(waiting for your well earned dollars!)

During my many years of reading and research I discovered that these workshops are often set up and run by westerners who have seen the scooter boom coming and wanted to get in on the action. Many corners are cut to save money in what they describe as the “restoration process”. Commonly, lots of Bondo is used to make the scooter look like it’s just rolled off the assembly line.They have had a hard life in Asia, having been imported en masse in the 60’s and 70’s as a cheap means of transport. Clones of the Vespa Scooter were licenced to be made in India and Indonesia (and other parts of the world under different names) so after market parts are plentiful in the region. Asian parts are often ill fitting and seriously unattractive, but it is increasingly hard to find genuine parts or New Old Stock (NOS) these days so the market is flooded with cheap (and ugly! see pic below) repro’s.


Just about every scooter rider or enthusiast I know has a list of what they would like to own in the perfect scooterist world. My list had a GS160 on it as do most others.

I also resigned myself to the fact that I would probably never find one here but a girls got to dream.

So when I came across an SS180 online for sale and did some research I started to think I might still own a classic from the GS series style scooters.

One look at it told me it was an Asian import, one thing I initially always tried to steer clear of under any circumstances but I decided to check it out anyway. Over the last year or so I have really been thinking about the numbers of Vespas coming out of Asia that are now basically buggered because of it. That made me quite sad. Surely they can't all be bad? I started to think that I might be able to find one to bring 'back to life' and even up the ledger, so to speak. I kept an eye out online for what looked like a decent project.



I had some basic starting criteria for my search.

• The scooter had to be here in Australia with paperwork


• In running condition, no noisy engine, no noisy clutch or clunky gear change.


• No metal fleck in the gear oil


• No welds, joins or mega bogged sections


• No bent fork


• Matching case sides


• Matching engine and frame numbers


• As many original parts as possible.
  

I didn't care too much about the colour, the tyres, the cosmetics or all the vietchrome, all that can be fixed.

Can she be bought back from the brink? Who knows? What I do know is I will have enormous fun in the process and the end result will be very rewarding having saved another classic from the rust pile.

So, I fell for the colour right away as it’s my favourite blue and as we are both 1967 ‘SS’ models I thought that was a ‘sign’ that I should see what I could do to rebirth her. I was communicating with the son in law of the owner and established that it came from Bali and he bought 2 of them, one for him, one for his lady friend. They had them crated and bought back to Australia but sadly they split up not long after so his Vespa dream was never realised. He gave me a good report on the running order of the scooter and then we got down to business. I got it for a good price and had it transported over from Adelaide.
Sophia, as she’s been christened, arrived late on a freezing cold winter’s night but as soon as I saw her for the first time she made me smile.

As she is an Asian import, the very first thing that must be done is a complete systematic pull down. For anyone doing this, I can’t stress this enough. Do not trust anything, check every single nut, bolt, gasket, shim, cable, screw and bearing from the tip of the front wheel all the way to the number plate holder and everything in between.

So it's time to get the nails dirty again.

Just like last winter when I pulled Lola apart, I expect to find things that make me laugh, gasp with horror, scratch my head with curiosity and amazement and swear in Italian (so she understands me). I fully expect it to be loads of fun too. There is no feeling of desperation this time as there’s 2 ‘spare’ scooters parked in the shed for me to ride while Sophia is on the operating table.

I will be keeping track of all the weird and whacky stuff I find on this scooter as I systematically pull her apart one bolt at a time.

I will also be keeping a tally of what it costs in parts and labour for the job.

OK, here we go, strap yourself in!

First Step- Prepare the Operating theatre, get all the tools, books, light and warmth you'll need.

I recommend getting a few buckets and label them "Clean", "RIP", "Repair", "Reno", "Replace".

As you pull things apart, decide what you need to do with it, put the item into a zip lock bag and label it immediately. You can throw it in whatever bucket it needs to be in and deal with it later. If it's something I think I might lose track of mentally (or forget how it came apart) I'll add a highlight to the manual page for reference later or highlight the item on a photocopy of an 'exploded' parts diagram. So on the bag with all the front brake bits in it, I have written "PG 75" and have also made a note of all the bits that weren't there when pulling down.
There are often missing washers, grommets, bushes etc and all these can be replaced if you follow the parts diagram if you go and make notes at the same time.

and then later, you can check the front end too