Gymkhana on Vespa

The hard core bit of Visby Vespa Club's event is the gymkhana with slow race. Last year the team "Mainland" beat "Gotland". This year it was the other way around. I think team Gotland had the five or six top places. Tobbe from Gotland won the slow race.
Sun and good roads made this an super event.
Back next year? Of course!

Mr "Spetan" was on the Mainland team, here on his PX 125.

Linda from Gotland on her 1963 Vespa Touring. She was second overall.
Below; Jonas borrowed my Vespa GS 150.

From the slow race, Hampus takes a beating by the Tobbe, the final winner.

Nina och Max awaiting the standing.

Rideout at Östergarnslandet

Visby Vespa Club's run and party is in full swing. 12 scooters were at start in Ljugarn at a café.
No "faro basso" this year, except on participant Stickan's arm in the form of a tatto...
The goal for the rideout was lunch at a restaurant in Herrvik.

A stop on the way:

At the small harbour in Herrvik:

Scooter Theft & Vandalism

Taking care of your Vespa should be a high priority and that includes more than just regular maintenance. It seems scooter theft and vandalism may be on the rise. In the past few months I have had two customers bring in their Vespa scooters after being tagged with graffiti, another gets her starter button repeatedly broke off and five others have had their scooters stolen. How and why is this happening? Better yet, what can be done to prevent it from happening to you?

Modern Vespa scooters come from the factory with a few built in theft deterrents. All models are equipped with a locking steering column and most come with an anti theft immobilizer. The Asian built Piaggio Fly and Vespa S DO NOT have the immobilizer. The problem, I believe, is thieves are unaware of the presence of the immobilizer and think they just have to overcome the locked steering column. However there is no way to bypass this electronic anti theft system, new components would need to be purchased at great expense, which is the last thing a thief wants to do, spend his or her money on a stolen scooter.

If you're on a strict budget there are many things you can do to prevent theft from occurring. During the day park in a busy, public place. At night, park in a well lit area. Try to vary the parking place, although it's nice to always park in "your" parking spot, nothing tells a thief you're "home for the night" more than seeing the same Vespa in the same spot at the same time every night of the week.


I highly recommend installing a FACTORY VESPA or PIAGGIO alarm system. They are designed to fit and work with your specific model of scooter. These alarms have a two button remote and have a built in motion sensor. The alarm unit starts at $208 plus tax and also require an adapter cable for each specific model for an additional $40 to $58. If you have a GT/GTS/GTV the alarm costs $232 and the cable is included. As always I offer FREE installation on any Vespa OEM accessory purchased through me saving you some $$$.


If a lower cost option is what you're looking for, Vespa offers a bright yellow disc brake lock for $23. These are basically a padlock that fits through your front brake disc stopping would be thieves from rolling your scooter away, however a couple of burly people can still lift your bike and you have to REMEMBER to REMOVE the disc lock before driving off or risk damaging your bike and yourself.


The coil cable lock is your most affordable option at $12. This is what most people would call a "bike lock". These locks act as an obvious visual deterrent, if there are two scooters side by side, one secured with a cable lock and one without, then it’s clear which one is the more attractive option to would-be thieves.


Finally we have the Vespa "Chain", a Heavy duty square 8 mm link security chain
with padlock. The chain is sheathed so as not to damage your wheels comes in a holder. This is a seriously heavy chain! Cost is $116

For maximum security you ideally want to secure your Vespa to a fixed object, a lamppost, signpost, telephone pole etc. When possible use the back wheel to secure your scooter, since you park with your back tire backed up to the curb you DON'T want to have you leg or head sticking out in traffic as you futz around with the cable/chain, JUST MAKE SURE YOU REMEMBER IT'S ON THERE!

Space age helmet for Vespa

As always - a happy smile!
Just showing off my cool space age visor. I found it on a veteran fair last year. Yes, I immediately bought it, perfect for an old Vespa or Lambretta. It's marked AGV Made in Italy. The strange thing is that I found the helmet at the same fair, by an other vendor! I'm not sure if it's an AGV helmet, the sticker is borrowed from one of my son's helmet.

At least some sun, even if it's just of the evening variety.

A "postcard" from the small harbour of Herrvik.
Tomorrow it's raduno time!
Visby Vespa Club's sommer meet is at last here. Hope to give a report tomorrow before the official dinner. The weather forecast, hrm, no good so far.
The picture below are for the Swedish scooterists:

Foto do dia

Foto de Irene Ruscalleda
    

Apontamentos visuais Pinasco

   

Vespa sulla Vespa!

Sorry! Scusa! Entschuldigung! Anteeksi! Ursäkta! Pardon! Excusa! Desculpa!
O e' un'ape?

Lambretta for restoration?

This is some heavy task! A 1956 Lambretta LD 150 in rough condition and non-complete. I think the current owner might consider a sale.
No side cowls but it is fairly straight and only surface rust. The engine is not seized according to the owner.
Fortunately (?) I have an object similar to this so I don't need to buy it!
I wonder if anyone ever will take on the challenge? The LD models of Lambretta are not as popular as the TV 175 series III, Li series III and GP's, the faster and slimmer Lambrettas.

One owner during it's past was apparentely a lover of the oil company BP, British petroleum or Best Persian as it was known as in the beginning.

Foto do dia

Foto de markusmichael
    

Larry Crowne

Larry Crowne. Pronto, já falei no raio do filme. Tem scooters.
Link directo  

The end of this blog

Yesterday, I sold my wife's 2002 Bajaj Chetak. Last week I sold my 2003 Bajaj Chetak. She no longer was riding and has a fully restored 1967 Vespa SS180. I am in the process of restoring a 1962 Lambretta TV175. Without a doubt, the Bajaj Chetak was the perfect first scooter for us. Our bikes continue to run strong and who knows we may see them again in the future if we are lucky.



What I leave behind is hopefully some useful information for the newbie and novice Bajaj owner or a person considering entering the scooter world. This blog serves as the legacy of owning Bajaj Chetaks for nearly ten years.

The greatest wealth of help, information, and Bajaj family can be found at the Retro Bajaj Forum. The good folks there were my mentors and I owe them so many thank you's. They are friendly and loving like the Lambretta family -- not like Scoot BBS.

As you see in my binder, I have the parts catalog and maintenance manual. I recommend you download those now and create a binder and make notes. You can download those and more here at BajajUSA.com.

I recognize that the Chetaks are not as popular as the Vespa Ps and Stella's, but arguably they are as good as a Stella. Hell they are both made in India for better or worse. A new 4-stroke Stella sells for $4200 from a dealer. I strongly encourage all Bajaj owners to recognize the value and reliability of their Bajaj scooters when selling and most importantly keep a fair price. A 30 year old original Vespa P200 in great condition still pulls $3000 with a lot of miles on them. There is no reason a good condition Bajaj should go for less than $2000 when it costs over twice as much for a new Stella 4 Stroke, which is a very similar bike.

I also stress to you that you purchase parts now that you think you will need in the future. And hold on to your old parts you replace. They may need to be repaired and used again in the future. There is a limited supply of parts available, what ever was left when Bajaj USA closed their doors. Used parts from busted bikes may be necessary some day.

Shops that may have parts:
San Francisco Scooter Centre (Barry G. is well stocked)
Scooter West (Steve)
Pride of Cleveland (Phil)

Take care of and your Bajaj. It is the perfect first scooter for those who appreciate the vintage culture.

I predict a long life for the Bajaj Chetak and know they will remain a steel workhorse in the scootering community.

Good bye "SCTx2" and "PUTx2" (our license plates on our Chetaks. All that is left of our bikes are the license plates, which hang in our shop and the fond memories and photos).

If you wish to learn where owning a Bajaj took me or you found this blog to be informative and you benefited from it you can see my restoration of a 1967 Vespa SS180 or the work in progress 1962 Lambretta TV175.

Tool kit

Don't go out and buy yourself a tool kit for $30. Print out a list of all the tools from the Bajaj Parts Catalog. Then post the tools you need to Freecycle in your area as well as watch Craigslist "Free Stuff." If you frequent garage sales, you can assemble a kit. If you are less patient, take you list to a flea market/swap meet and I pretty much can guarantee that for $10 you can assemble a Craftsman-quality tool kit and find yourself a nice bag to boot.

The tools in the scooter kits are poorly made.

On the other hand, if you are not or do not have access to a welder to make you the rear tire jack, spend the $8-10 to buy one. It's a good investment.

Tire gauges can be found too for cheap.

Build your scooter tool kit for 1/3 the price with quality that will out live you ten-fold.

2002 Bajaj Chetak sold

There was a second person who wished to look at my 2003 Bajaj Chetak scooter, but missed it. I gave him first dibs at it as well as a price cut, because he just missed my scooter. I sold my wife's scooter to him for $1700, which is a fair deal.

Below is the Craigslist listing. It sold in 24 hours.

2002 Bajaj Chetak w/ 4K miles &many upgrades - $1850

Before reading on, please note that this bike has a clutch and is a 4-speed on the handlebar - left handgrip and lever.

Two years ago my wife was 3 months pregnant and into the garage her 2002 Bajaj Chetak went and stayed except for a weekly ride around the block to keep the oil moving to reach the engine gaskets. Now with our daughter she is just not riding at all and the bike needs to go to new rider who will ride it often and proud.


My wife is the original and only owner. The bike has never been crashed. It did have a fallen motorcycle hit it while parked, but the damage is minimal and Barry G. of SF Scooter Center gave it a clean bill of health. It's beneath the floor matt and even when you see it you'll laugh at how small it is. Body is in really good shape, especially for the bike's age. It has always been garage stored. Less than normal wear for a bike its age.

Before you gawk at the price, consider that a brand new Stella 4-Stroke runs for $4200. This scooter is way less than half that price and has only 42XX miles on the ODO. Beyond that it will rally any Stella 4-Stroke all day long. If you wonder about the value of this Bajaj call Barry at SF Scooter Center and ask him. He has sold 1200 of these scooters and is very familiar with them. He would sell this scooter for over $2100. Title is clean and is registered as non-op since my wife wasn't riding it - to save us money (but you will have to register it anyways so no difference to the buyer).


History: about 500 miles ago, Kent L., who was the official mechanic for Bajaj USA, performed a comprehensive tune-up and safety check on this bike. It runs solidly and is extremely dependable. It is a first kick bike. It will easily pull you SF hills. Bike includes chrome rear luggage rack and chrome crash bars upgrade. The bike has received well over $350 in upgrades in order to ensure a long-hassle-free life for you, including new float bowl at gas tap, two brand new tires, spark plug resistor cap replaced with NGK one, new spark plug, brand new battery, halogen upgrade headlight bulb, battery regulator/rectifier (the 2002 ones broke down and did not recharge the battery properly) upgrade, and a 2003 Bajaj flywheel (the 2002 flywheels had a tendency to break). As of July 25th, 2011 oil was changed, new headlight bulb installed, and a new battery were put in.

To sweeten the deal, I'll thrown in a brand new "Cuppini (Italian-made) legshield trim" set, which you can install on the Bajaj to chrome it out more. Price it out and you'll see it's over $50 to buy and ship it to you.



With low-miles/similar condition, Bajaj Chetaks like this sell for around $1600 without the upgrades. Upgrades and recent tune-up is about $450 plus $50 for the legshield trim puts a fair value around $2100, but I'm letting this bike go for a lot less. If you buy a used scooter you are still going to have a tune-up and probably new tires, maybe a battery, etc. You don't need anything at all with this bike.

$1850 cash and it's your's. I have title and DMV bill-o-sale on hand.



Note: engine cover not on for Craigslist photos as I was riding without to let the new flywheel settle before I hit it again with the torque wrench.

Replacing tires

Sometimes the dang tire grabs on to your rim halves for dear life. You tried bead Dawn Soap along the tire and the rim, let it sit, and usually it works, but not this time... A little bit of heat from a heat gun will do the trick and make your job so much easier. Remember, I said, "a little."

How to replace hand lever on your scooter

It is wise to double nut or use a nylock nut after adjusting any cable on your scooter.

To adjust your throttle, clutch, or brakes you follow a similar approach with your 3rd hand tool plus a ratchet.

Note: often Vespa & Lambretta throttle cables are thicker and you need to score with a file or Dremel your 3rd hand tool so the cable can properly sit in the tool. Very easy to do.

Owning the proper thin spanners will make your clutch/gear box tune up so easy. You can bike these thin spanners online for bicycles.

How to change your oil

In the past I have always used Yama-Lube, a good semi oil, but it proved to be a hassle to always go to a Yamaha dealer for oil. So I switched and began to just go to Auto Zone for the Valvoline pictured above.

Replace 2002 Bajaj Chetak Flywheel

The 2002 model of the Bajaj Chetak has the reputation of the rivets shearing off and the flywheel hence going bad. It did on my wife's bike so I upgraded the flywheel to a 2003 one.

Facts not in slideshow:
(1) Note the difference between the 2002 and 2003. The flywheel holding tool mounts to the two holes (not threaded) on the front of the flywheel. The 2002 tool mounts to the back side of the flywheel and the 2002 flywheel does not have those two holes in front.
(2) When you remove the old flywheel count to make sure you have the correct number of broken rivets. Note that in the slideshow there is a picture with 3 rivets in front of the removed flywheel and 2 stuck to the magnet inside the flywheel for a total of 5 rivets.
(3) Make sure you line up your new flywheel to your stator (as long as you have not moved your stator, if so, you need to reset the timing - when ever removing your stator use a sharpie to make a line so you can line it exactly back up as it was) as in the slide show at 1:20. Look for the arrow and marker marks.
(4) After you install your flywheel, ride a few times. Let the engine heat up and cool down. The flywheel will settle. The use a torque wrench to tighten back down. Do not over tighten or you run the risk of braking an item or two.
(45) SF Scooter Center told me to torque to "43 ft lbs".

Foto do dia

Foto de mrashdi
   

Vídeo musical com classe

Um telescópio não é algo de extraordinariamente interessante certo quero dizer tem sempre alguma piada poder ver objectos estupidamente distantes mas a coisa fica por aí ou talvez não ora tomemos por exemplo o Sol situado a 8 minutos-luz da Terra isso significa que a luz da nossa estrela demora 8 minutos até chegar a nós uma consequência engraçada disto é que quando olhamos para o Sol cuidado

Luggage

I have done grocery shopping and even Costco runs on my scooter - no joke. My wife and I bought "clearance" aluminum racks from Target. The one photoed here is a small one and cost me $7. My wife bought a huge one, that cost her $10. Many people just use plastic crates. I wouldn't count on bungee-cords . . . rather I would hit your hardware store up and buy 4 strips of "framing" metal and some bolts, nuts, split washers, and flat washers to sandwich and lock the basket in place.

I chose use hardware that allowed to remove my basket without tools any where I went. It cost me about $10 total, but you can do it for a lot less if you wish. I tend to over do things. My basket was extremely sturdy and mounted to my rear rack on the BBQ grill.

I held everything in the basket with a bungee-cord net.



Amazon sells similar baskets for $12.

E agora? Já posso?

Tinha prometido a mim mesmo que até o motor durar de origem, não mexia na Vespa. Não a kitava, quero dizer.Agora o piston e a culaça foram-se, devido ao perno que trava o segmento superior ter decidido que estava cansado de cumprir (bem!) a sua função e resolver sair do sitio. E o cilindro precisa de ser rectificado...Já posso mexer no motor?

Ancora una Vespa sidecar

This original Piaggio sidecar for Vespa might be for sale. At the moment I'm negotiating with the current owner. The sidecar has been resprayed in this metallic blue colour. For me that's bad, my plan is to have a sidecar attached to my 1956 Vespa 150 (VL3), il Struzzo, that will get an original light grey colour.
I don't think we had any side cars of the italian Longhi brand here in Sweden. I've seen some german Bender and Royal sidecars attached to Vespas. Steib was also an option but I think that was mostly for motorcycles.

As you can see, the very small enamel Piaggio-badge isn't in top condition. Very hard to find, seems a bit like the badge on the Moscone outboard motor, but it's in another size.
The wind screen is ordered some ten years ago or so. I believe it's too short compared to the original screen from the 50's.

The seat is absolutely original and in good condition.

Foto do dia

Foto de Sérgio Moura
   

Tudo sobre a Lambretta LN

Bem, tudo não. Aí uns 2 ou 3 parágrafos.
Lambretta Originale from LifeLongariLoman on Vimeo.
A apresentação oficial da nova Lambretta LN decorreu há poucos dias e as reacções começam a chegar ao super-computador da Horta que agora as digeriu e regurgitou numa dose pequena de fácil digestão. (todas as apreciações desta posta são de validade duvidosa já que eu nem sequer vi o bicho ao vivo)

Aquela

Fiberglass Fender Repair

My original fender was in need of some work. When I bought it I thought I can repair this easy. I had repaired surf board in college working with Sanding Resin glass and cloth. My work was good and clean, but after speaking to my parent's neighbor Jack, who was a professional with glass and epoxy, and learned what was needed to properly repair this fender I knew it was beyond what I preferred to tackle.

Luckily, Jack offered to take it on. He uses the West System Epoxy. He is a glider instructor and built his own glider. Aircraft folks use this system and he referred to it as aircraft epoxy.

He told me it something like 100 times stronger than fiberglass. Hell the Lammy fender is referred to as "chopper" work in the fiberglass community. It is cheap and fast to produce many many fenders. Jack had to cut back and rebuild the area around the crack by hand. It looks great!

The fender overall was in fair shape.

There were noticeable chips and even stress cracks.

There were chips and the mounting holes had cracked and became too large for the hardware.

I will dry fit the bike after body work and before paint and then line these holes up and re-drill them.

The nose was misshaped a hair and Jack rebuild that as well.

Jack said he had to "feather" (this he said is the lay-man's term. I forgot the glass worker term for it) to build layers for maximum strength.

He reinforced all areas that would be stressed by a vibrating Lambretta.

It feels so good to know the job was done right.

Jack found stress cracks and explained that they would only get worse, so he cut back the source and rebuilt it and reinforced it. It will no longer stress crack.

I am amazed at his precision and accuracy. He told me the entire fender took him two hours.

Looking at it before one last time shows it was decent, but now the fender is something I will not have to worry about thanks to Jack.


Jack is "retired" he says and "not for hire". He is eighty years old. He said he'd do my fender at costs, which was $12.00 (yes, twelve dollars).

Above is a soap box derby car Jack build from scratch with epoxy. Even the steering column and frame he welded. The only thing he bought was the tires.

These old school fabricators are hard to come by now and I hope to get some garage time with Jack and learn at least a little.

For $12.00, a nice bottle of wine, and a framed picture of his soap box derby car winning a race I have an original fiberglass front fender ready to go to the body shop, who will sand it down and fill it up (little to none will be required) where necessary, prime and paint.

In early 2012 I will work with Jack and my dad to learn how to work with the epoxy and repair my dad's Sun Fish sail boat. After that experience I should be confident working with the epoxy and have the ability to make repairs to fenders and such -- of course not as good as Jack did.