Millennials Not Buying Harleys  By  wheelbender6 (Read 1,750 times)

I don't doubt some of the problems are self inflicted but many issues are repetitive and not due to owner abuse. You don't have to peruse Modern Vespa long to see how devoted the owners are. They accept the issues to be part of the continuum. Still they don't shy away from documenting some of the engineering and electrical let downs. I appreciate their honesty.

Still have no idea where you are coming from with this stuff.

I checked Modern Vespa and there are only issues with a guy causing ABS faults by installing two very different sized tires on the bike that is so far out of spec that not even the newest ABS Flash can overcome it, some stalling on a bike that has not had a valve check in over 6 years and is over 10 years old, a Yamaha rider with a real problem, someone with a left brake switch problem which impacts a myriad of other brands and similar checking the most recent dozen or so threads. Yes some 25 or 50 year old bikes have known issues however they are still operational after a quarter to half a century.

I won't bother going back through months of threads there looking for the few that might be real problems with a new bike. Those in my experience just do not happen at that high a rate and when they do Piaggio will take care of it for you if you allow them.

The Piaggio Service Station Manual is less than $10 and puts it very plainly. "A failure of ... is more likely to be due to the connections rather than the components." and leads you through what fuses and connectors to check for pulled wires, blown fuses and the occasional switch that may need attention. Most can be dealt with if you go by the book without any new parts with the exception of replacing a fuse.

One of the biggest issues I see aside from lack of SOP maintenance catching up with them after several years is with people who mod their bikes with add-ons and pull a wire, cause a short, etc that automatically start changing voltage regulators and other parts known to be highly reliable instead of really investigating what they themselves had done to shoot themselves in the foot. Those that left the ignition switch on and shut the bike off with the kill switch running the battery down and then burnt out their starter trying to get it to crank on the now weak battery are also a common one. Some will even tinker with the bikes and break things during the warranty period and not man up to it or have a simple issue covered under the warranty but try to cobble it themselves instead of letting Piaggio do it right under the warranty and then complain about the reliability of the bikes.

People having issues with used bikes that were messed up by the previous owners actions or problematic due to being recovered thefts are really out of scope.

Again if you follow the simple inexpensive, easy to follow maintenance schedule in the owners manual and don't do the things they specifically tell you not to do such as spray water up underneath the fairings into the wiring harness and controls you will see very good long term reliability. There is no magic formula aside from reading and doing as the owners manual instructs. Most required services are fairly cheap when you consider that they will need to be done every year or so and not monthly like on some other bikes. If there is a problem, a new Piaggio for the most part has a 100% 2 year parts and labor warranty plus service bulletin services are taken care of free of charge and not limited to the warranty period or original owner.

Hmmm. No problems.  Here's one of my Modern Vespa favorites. Guy was cruising when the motor quit. Not running WFO. Yes, I had tio look it up, but I had seen it revived a few times.

modernvespa.com/forum/topic130381.2?highlight=valve+break

See how many others chime in with stories of blown motors.

Yes, you can go on once in a while but by and large there's something....like this from today.

modernvespa.com/forum/topic155819

Here's why this happens Matt. I'll tell you because you will listen.

Over the years, until MV Augusta began production, most Italian bikes were one or two cylinders. Given that, weight was a major issue. They were nuts about weight. Wiring and connectors were as thin as they could make them, engine components and gear box components were exotic and hardened to an inch of their lives but as small as could be made. They also use exotic materials that saved weight. 

BUT. Reliability suffered at the hands of owners who treated them like Japanese motorcycles. They also didn't last anyway. In the 70s Moto Guzzi owners had to replace broken shift return springs annually. This meant full engine removal and disassembling the gear box. In pursuit of light weight Guzzis had chrome bore lining instead of iron liners. It worked great, was light and lasted to about 50,000 when it wore through to the aluminum it was bonded to. Historically Italian bikes have always been the Sunday bike while another Japanese or German bike was the daily driver. 

Remember the Cook Neilson/Phil Schilling California Hot Rod was described by Neilson like this. "The only part on the bike that's still Ducati is the engine cases. By the time we got done everything else came from outside."

Let me put this out there because I checked. The Vespa 300 weighs in at about 340 pounds. The Piaggio BV 350 at 315cc weighs in at 390. Do you think the BV's frame weighs 50 pounds more than the Vespa's?

Scrupulous mechanics can drag an Italian scooter up to around 75,000 miles. An exceptional one can get 100,000 or more. Joe Average citizen will pay many times the original purchase price in dealer maintenance. Those light weight components will break and fail without proper supervision.

Judy in Hawaii stated she's paid enough to buy a fleet of Sprints to get to 44,000 miles.

There's a reason Japanese and BMW scooters are so much heavier and it isn't cost cutting at the factory.
It's for longevity.

Being held prisoner in Area 51 Tom.