Well folks the moment of truth is finally here, and I’ll save you the wait and skip to the point – she works and she’s beautiful!

Following last session’s final closing of the headset and one or two cosmetic closures, all that remained in this final session was to wheel her back outside, attach the wing mirrors and fire her up. Read on after the before and after photos to see how everything came together in lucky step number 13…

Left: Before the rebuild. Right: After.

Before the rebuild. Solid mechanically, but lacking in the looks department.

After the rebuild. Rust-oleum "Signal Red" proves a close but pluckier color.

L-R: The headset before and after. Goodbye two-tone. Goodbye rust.

L-R: The floorbaord before and after. Maybe now the board won't fall out.

L-R: The front fender before and after. This was replaced outright with a new fender and painted to match.

L-R: The engine-side cowl before and after. After a waxing you can see your reflection in it. A huge improvement.

Before heading out on the road for her maiden voyage I took the opportunity to do three things: grease, wax, and the photos you see above.

First, a liberal application of grease to all the moving parts in direct exposure to the elements, particularly around the front and rear hubs. I also put a liberal amount under the footboard over the rivets I used for the floor rails.

Second, a liberal application of wax. I used the classic go-to, Turtle Wax Super Hard Shell and man this stuff really brings up the shine on the new paint job. I made a point of waiting until the last possible moment during re-assembly before waxing to give the paint job as long as possible to cure.

After wheeling the bike into the open I definitely spotted some areas of the paint job that could do with a little more TLC – a small run here, a thin patch there – but overall it’s an amazing result given it’s Rust-oleum painted on with a roller, and the wax really buffs this stuff up nicely.

Car owners who have gone down the $50 paint job route have commonly said that it’s a “5 feet paint job,” in other words it doesn’t hold up to close scrutiny, and I’d have to agree. The bike looks like a million dollars from 5 feet and beyond, but you can definitely tell it’s not a booth spray if you press your nose closer.

However, I have to say that on the cowls where I was really anal about wet sanding and applying very thin coats you’d never know it wasn’t a spray job. So it’s a matter of the more patient you are, the better the result.

All things considered, given this was done inside my apartment without special paint, equipment, overspray or fumes I’m very, very pleased.

Third, photographs. There was no way I was taking this puppy out on the road without getting her on camera before I sully her frame with NYC’s potholed streets and my shakiness away from a shifty for a while.

After the photo session, she fired up after a couple of quick starts and belched out a huge cloud of white smoke into the bargain and I left her to idle for a few minutes without a hiccup. Once out on the road she handled nicely especially given some of my concerns over the new tires looking a little wobbly on the rims. Also, the front fork assembly turned smoothly without any judder, which would have indicated the need to tighten down the bearings.

I didn’t mess with the back brake, but the front brake is definitely more effective than it was prior to the rebuild. More likely this is more to do with a better cinch up of the brake linkage than the fact that it’s a new cable.

Talking of cables, the speedometer worked immediately, so no issues with my new cable there, and all the electrical works like a charm including the new halogen headlamp.

In fact, the only real problem I had were the wing mirrors that rattled loose a couple of times within the first day or so of riding. These just needed to be tightened down with the force of a thousand gorillas until they weren’t going anywhere.

So there you have it. No doubt I’ll post a follow up post or two once I’ve gone back through my paperwork and gotten a sense of what she cost me, but for now this chapter has come to a close. I hope these posts have helped any of you looking to restore a bike. I certainly did my research and owe a huge debt of thanks to the folks on the forums of the NY Scooter Club and Modern Vespa and a whole myriad of sites out there that either had or gave great advice. A special thanks also to Richard Hoar’s VespaMaintenance.com which proved invaluable in the front-end work and JPM’s painting tips.

For now? It’s time to get back out on the road before I have to put the PX under wraps for the upcoming NYC Winter. Honk if you see me out on the road…

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