Rebuilt rear shock

The guts of the rear shock are not much different than the front shock.

The rear shock housing was powder coated to look stock.


I ordered a new stock shock spring made by MeCur and had it powder coated black to look stock.

We replaced the oil with the same motorcycle suspension oil we used when we rebuilt the front shock.

Once oil was added it was sealed back up and looks really nice and matches the front shock we rebuilt. It also saved me some money to do this way -- not much -- but I like consistency in the looks of the bike.

Rear shock spring

It is time to rebuild the rear shock so we can install the engine in the chassis. Just back from Christopher Markley today is our stock MeCur spring powder coated black to match the color the factory would have produced for this bike originally. It cost $12.50 for the paint and it looks great (there is some dust on it in this photo, but the paint is perfect)!

We will use the same motorcycle shock oil in the rear shock as we did in the front. It may help stiffen the ride a small amount and help cut down on drifting.

I was so dead-set on using a performance spring, like TaffSpeed, and I am glad I learned that drifting is not entirely due to the shock.

Lesson learned:One side on the shock was NOT powder coated and I asked Christopher why that was the case. Here is the answer I got:

"You beat me to the e-mail. Put those ends facing down. When powder coating,
you can suspend the part on wires or let it stand on its own if it has a
flat surface. Regardless, wherever it touches, no powder. Seems on the
springs that shortly after installation, the powder or paint if you use
paint will quickly wear away as the spring seat grinds around against the
shock spring support. So I opted to not suspend the parts on wires, since
the suspension points would have been on a visible surface of the spring.
This way, they look pretty and the part without powder would have lost its
coating anyway in use. If you're worried about it, a smear of thick axle
grease where the springs meet the shock could postpone corrosion, but it is
inevitable at those mating points eventually."

Does your scooter drift around corners?

So I have been "stuck" on buying a Taffspeed P-Series rear spring to use with my original VSC rebuilt rear shock, because I want the scoot to ride stiffer and not drift around corners.

My daily rider is a Baja Chetak and I have the shock setting to this stiffest on my scoot, whereas my wife has her's set at less than the half point and I dislike riding her bike because it feels like you're riding on a cloud. It's too soft. I figured that because I tightened my suspension settings that it put more pressure on the spring therefore making the ride more responsive.

In speaking with Palmog, Tom G., and Christopher Markley I've learned that I was wrong -- it's not the spring that prevents the "drifting". All three of them told me to replace the spring with a stock spring.

Here's what Palmog said:

"As for the spring, Vespas are designed to carry two passenger and the spring rate is not so important as for the rear shock, IMHO, a standard/stock shock should work fine. Test it first and buy reinforced one if you really want it.

The drift of the rear tire would be improved by the absorber and the mounts. Is this what you want to improve, isn't it?"

In a follow-up email I told him that I replaced the engine mounts with Clauss Studio mounts and asked what he recommended for addressing the absorber issue. He responded . . .

"The dumping power of the absorber can be controlled by the oil rate/grade. The rear shock for Vespas are quite easy to take apart and the replacement of the grade of oils (you can use some fork oils) is relatively easy. The practice would be endless so I would like to suggest you don't be serious about that tuning. The feeling would be changed day by day. As for the stiffness of the rear shock, it tends to result with being uncomfortable during long rides. That is completely different with the choice for the front shock, in my opinion. Ride it first as it then you'll have an idea."

**** **** **** ****

I will buy a stock shock spring and set it up to be manufacture spec. My wife does not care as much about riding a bike as a race-scoot.

If you wish to learn more I recommend reading up suspension from the techy guys on BBS.

Rebuild Rear Shock

I've changed my mind. I have opted to rebuild the rear shock using a TaffSpeed spring. After chatting with a few folks on the Super Sports Yahoo Group I opted to reuse the housing on my rear shock. For consistency sake, I had the housing powder coated in silver to match the front shock. This is NOT true to the bike, but again this bike is mildly to moderately customized. I feel good about reusing the rear shock and not replacing it. A lot of SS owners replace it with the red/white adjustable Sebac shock for $90, but I didn't want to strip it of paint and powder coat a new shock to match the bike and in my opinion original parts are important to use as often as possible.