Tuning 1980 Vespa p125 for the Salton Sea TT [scooter]  By  raventurous (Read 3,392 times)

Hey! Thank you... it's my hope that we can get some better stuff; my dirt-bike boots are a size too large because I can't find anything of quality in a lady-size. It suuucks.

Yes to rattle-canning the p125, as I flat-blacked my p200 earlier this year (http://raventurous.com/rattle-can-repainting-1981-vespa-p200). I'd like to go a different color than that p200, if for no other reason than I'd be able to tell them apart~. Any suggestions? Because everything other than black seems like it may show every defect, of which there are many.

I'm also vaguely considering turning this into an offroading bike, but I don't know enough about tuning to know if that's a rotten idea for the Polini-kitted motor.... I'd love feedback about that, too, if you have any beta.

Hey Raven, when you do the TT just make sure the wind isn't in your direction or you'll get a whiff of "Ode de Sulfur"

Thanks for the info! I'll definitely check out the tuning info. As for the gear, the trouble is that the -manufacturers- aren't putting out womens-specific gear in anything other than entry-level stuff, especially in adventure and off-roading gear. It's a real bummer to have to weigh the balance between safety and fit. I do love Cycle Gear, though, and buy most of my things there.

A co-worker who just retired couldn't part with his ET4 after he got his 300 GTS. Night and day difference between the two bikes but there is something about the ET4 that he just can't let it go.

I ride an Aprilia Sport City 250 and aside from the BV350 or BV500 have not found much out there that tempts me unless they brought the SRV850 with ABS and Traction Control to the States.



For a cage I am now running with a Isuzu Diesel powered Fiat 124 Sport Spider convertible which is almost as good on fuel as a bike (45 to 50 mpg in the city).

We have a Cycle Gear in town and I use them for rain gear helmets and gloves. Its hard to beat their Sedici line of gear with its lifetime warranty. Leather Up however beats them on price though the warranties and quality of goods are not always as high as Cycle Gears.

Micah at AF1 will answer the phone and guide you on your tuning efforts. You don't have to however he can supply most of the parts you need to tune and maintain your Vespa. He can quickly get parts that most other shops will make you wait months for too.

My nephew owns a 2 stroke Buddy Stella and really loves it however for running across the State on a 70+ mph road I'll take the 250cc Aprilia with its 15" SportBike/Metric Cruiser tires.

The Fiat was a CraigsList find and cost less than my bike. Needs some work but its rear wheel drive and aside from learning to deal with Diesel is all technology I can deal with. No ECU computer with a pretty basic 5 speed manual transmission. Fuel injection is the old belt driven mechanical injector pump so technically if you can power the fuel shutoff valve you can push start it. Just repacked the front wheel bearings putting in new seals, replaced all the rubber brake hoses, brake pads and transferred the front rotors to the back and replaced the front with new rotors since they are all the same and the back ones were scored. Since the front do most of the stopping I figured that the new rotors would be best up there and since the front ones had plenty of life in them to serve on the back wheels for some time. Rear rotors were scored due to faulty brake service done by Tire Kingdom for the previous owner. They did not align the slots in the rear caliper pistons with the pins in the brake pads scoring the rotors from the improper installation. Put in a new emergency brake cable while I was under there too. Also put in a new master cylinder since it was leaking. Tire Kingdom ignored the shop manual advising that the rubber parts in any OEM spec brake components were not compatible with synthetic fluids and put DOT4 Synthetic fluid in anyway instead of old fashioned DOT3 non-synthetic ruining the master cylinder and rubber hoses. The hoses on the right side had collapsed and were completely plugged. The also left half the bolts loose on the front suspension when they aligned it which I also corrected while I was under there. Parts are available through just about any Adap, AutoZone, Napa, Oreily, etc and there are several US vendors making new replacement interior and exterior body and trim components too.

I just bought it to drive when I was working on the bike since the bike now it has 26,000 miles on it and I want to catch up on some preventative maint. With the top down I find it is closer to riding the bike as you are not isolated from whats going on around you. I find most cars confining and muting to your sense of whats going on around you.

You should see folks looking for the truck at the stop lights when they hear the Diesel and come to the realization that its this little red 2 door Italian convertible.



Need to put on a gorilla suit and head for a roundabout only I'll be more careful:

I'll see what I can do about the link.

Lets see if this works better for you: