The offending exhaust.

Over the winter I tried to stock up on some parts that I wanted to install on my 1961 Vespa VNB.  I took advantage of some sales from the usual suspects (ScooterWorks, ScooterWest etc), browsed eBay and found some deals there too.  One of the major repairs I had in mind was replacement of the exhaust that I inherited with the scooter.  It was all there, but rust that riddled the body, and the original owner had mentioned that it was one thing he had failed to address, while he restored the bike.

So I found one on eBay for VERY cheap.  Much cheaper than the ones I could find at the typical scooter outlets.  I decided to take a gamble, and gave it a shot.  It was advertised as being for my specific model, or rather, that it would fit my model, as well as some others.  Knowing that Vespa, like most manufacturers, reuse the same parts on several models, this fact did not worry me.  It seemed just on the border of being “too good to be true.”  I emailed the seller before I made the purchase, to make sure that they thought it would fit my particular scoot.  They insisted it would.  They were mostly correct…

I had the exhaust sitting in the basement of my building, awaiting install, throughout the winter.  This means I had certainly passed the allotted time to return it, if for some reason it did  not work.  But the several times I looked at it, I was confident that it would fit.  For the better part of the winter, my scooter was buried under snow, so I had no way of getting to it and really checking the fit, right up next to the original.

Summer came, and I finally got around to doing some work on the bike.  There were more pressing matters, so I addressed them first.  New clutch cable (nightmare to install), clutch adjustments, gear selector adjustments, and the list goes on.  Remembering that I had that bright, shiny exhaust waiting, I finally dug in on the install.  Removing the old exhaust was not exactly easy, because the rust that had damaged the functionality, had also mated the muffler to the header.  I sprayed some penetrating oil on it, and eventually, it let go.  Now looking at the new exhaust, right next to the original, it was obvious that the two were slightly different.  The new one had a pipe that was slightly different shape, and made it push back toward the rear of the bike a little further.  I was concerned that it would get a little too close to the rear wheel, but when I slid in into place, it cleared with a safe amount of room.  Panic over…

I have not ridden my scooter nearly as much as I did last year, and although I have taken some great rides this year, I have not put it through it’s paces as much as I would have liked.  There is no question that the replacement exhaust has made a difference in the overall sound, allowing me to start up the scooter without fear of waking every neighbor within a block of my apartment.  But the exhaust effects the running of the motor as well, and this new one should be producing different back-pressure for the engine.  While riding solo, I felt a little bit of difference, but I was also focused on other aspects of the scoot, so I was not sure that there was a performance boost.

Yesterday, sadly, was the first time I have ridden my girlfriend on the Vespa all summer.  Better late than never!  We headed out for a ride to south Brooklyn, and while pulling up the street, I immediately noticed a difference in the performance of the engine.  There was far more pep to the pick-up, even with the extra weight of a passenger (I am not implying anything about my girlfriend’s weight!).  It started out at stop signs and lights with a nice increase in torque.  I was very happy to notice such a difference.

Then I pulled into the parking lot, and despite moving very slowly, the exhaust scraped on the ground.  The incline was slight, and I probably should have approached the driveway on more of an angle, but this had never happened before with the old exhaust.  The extra length on the pipe allowed the muffler to hang lower, and I now would need to keep that in mind when dealing with any uneven roads.

Overall, I think the pros outweigh the cons, but it is something to keep in mind when shopping for aftermarket parts.  Some parts will work flawlessly, while others may be a close, but not quite perfect fit.  The slight increase in power, and quieter operation are perks worth having.  But the incorrect fit will mean that my riding will have to change a bit.  Cost vs. correct fit, you decide….

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One of several 196os Simson Schwalbes I spotted. You don't see many of these in the US.

One of the benefits of my job is that I often get to travel (I’m writing this from Portland, OR.) Occasionally that travel takes me out of the country and last week I was lucky enough to spend three whirlwind days in Munich, Germany.

Munich is quite the two-wheeled city with one of the most extensive bicycle path networks in the world. Between traditional pedal-pushers to roller-bladers to our favorite form of transport, scooters, it’s a city with more on its mind that the fine cars of German automobiling.

Typical of any European city, the scooters I saw were a mix of vintage, modern, oddities and the expected. But one thing I was not prepared for was just how many beautifully restored vintage Vespas there are in the Bavarian city. The Germans have a very active restoration and customization scene, as any reader of the UK magazine Scootering can attest, but boy was I still surprised at some of the beauties I saw even in my quick trip.

Seriously, I saw more painstakingly restored Vespa Rallys, Primaveras, and 50 Specials whiz by me on the street, than I could catch to photograph at the side of the pavement. For seventy-two hours I was in Vespa heaven.

Most of these restorations – no doubt – are due to the superb Vespa maintenance and restoration shop in the southern ward of the city, Vesbar. Vesbar has a fantastic collection of oldies in stock and for sale from beautiful patina originals to shining ground-up restorations and three-wheeler Piaggio Apes. It’s well worth a visit if you’re in the city and the pleasant thirty minute walk from the central old town area is a welcome chance to duck away from the tourists for a couple of hours. Entering the store feels like every last vintage bike has been sucked out of nearby northern Italy, flowing through Vesbar as a clearing house for the rest of the world. If you’re a German speaker you can also follow Vebar’s activities at their Facebook page.

Following is a quick selection of bikes I was able to snap during my brief stay in the city:

A blinged up Vespa P200.

One of several PK50s I spotted.

An Aprilia Mojito modern / retro scooter.

A beautiful side-street find!

I have no idea what's under the custom fur trim, but I love it. Any guesses?

A 50 Special waits patiently for its owner outside a sidewalk cafe.

A department store display for Italian coffee.

A beautifully restored Primavera.

Just like everywhere else in the world, the P-series are the workhorses of Piaggio. Check out that load.

Another beautifully restored 50 Special.

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If your scoot remained outside, after the type of weather we had this past season, then you surely know what I am up against.  That’s where the Internet comes in.  I searched for some good ways to treat this rust, and there are many products on the market for making your chrome look great, after it is already shining,  Most of these products are for polishing, but I needed a way to get it back to it’s original state.  My big concern was that the rust not be completely worked through from the underside of any of the pieces.  If this is the case, sadly, you are in the market for a replacement part.  But my rusting was on the surface, so I was able to concentrate on getting the surface rust off, and then I would worry about the polish.

I found a great trick, and was shocked at how well it works.  Aluminum foil.  That’s right, the household item that we all have in our kitchens, waiting for the leftovers.  Grab some aluminum foil, and a bit of WD-40.  Fortunately, I am confident that all of you have these items already, and they should now become part of your arsenal of tools too.  The key here is that aluminum is softer than chrome, so contact between the two metals leaves the chrome unscratched.

Here is how you get that chrome back to it’s glorious state: Take a piece of aluminum foil, about 6 inches long.  If you have the typical width foil, you can even rip it in half lengthwise, so that you have a piece about 6″ by 6″.  Now crumple it up a bit, so that it has wrinkles.  Not too tight, you want it to be like a stiff rag in your hand, not a tight ball.  Now spray some WD-40 on the aluminum, and the chrome as well.  Rub the foil along the chrome piece, making sure not to dig in too hard.  The concept is to use this foil as you would a piece of sandpaper.  Gently scrubbing back and forth on the chrome, be sure to have a healthy amount of WD-40 on the piece at all times.

This will “sand” off the surface rust, leaving the part oily, but free from the nasty debris that moisture has produced.  There are people that prefer using Coke as the lubricant, because there is an acid in the ingredients which eats rust.  I tried this, and can tell you first-hand that the sticky residue is annoying to get off, and the WD-40 seemed to work just as well.  Now that you have the rust removed, you can use your favorite cleaner and polish to get it back that shine that we all know and love.  For those of you that know that your scooter will be exposed to the elements on a regular basis, but do not have the chance to polish you scoot often, the last trick would be to coat the chrome pieces with some WD-40.  This product keeps moisture away from the metal, and should help eliminate the need for heavy cleaning next time.

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Your rear tire holder can damage the frame. The weight of the tire on the holder will slowly stretch the part of the frame where the four bolts hold the spare tire holder to the frame. You’ll then start to see spidery cracks from each of the holes. At first these cracks will be difficult to see because the holder will be in the way, but when you do see them it will be too late. Then water gets to those crack and rust sets in. A spare tire is good to have, but not if it damages your scooter, right? Gene at ScootersO can get you a really nice Scootopia spare tire carrier for your leg shield. This way, you can then put a sprint rack back there to actually carry stuff.

Well Chris, I took your advice to heart. It took a while to save up for a sprint rack and a leg-shield spare tire holder, but I did take your advice.

While it’s been nice carrying a spare, weight aside, it did always bother me that the rear spare carrier really messes with the beautiful lines of a Lambretta. There’s something about the way the rear-end arches away from the seat that unmistakably gives the Lambrettas their unique silhouette.

The photograph above shows the existing carrier with tire and cargo net. I have the side-panels off to access the bolts under the carrier to remove it.

Here’s the back of the Lammy with the tire removed and the rear-end beginning to show through.

Well, what can I say Chris, you were right on the money – the spare tire has been on there since at least the previous owner so who knows how long this has been a problem. Exactly as you described, spidery cracks appearing from every one of the four holes, and the deep brown of the rust suggests they’ve been there a while. While I can’t do anything about it now, I can help prevent these from getting worse with the addition of a lighter load…

…so on goes the sprint rack, manufactured by the UK’s Scootopia, an after-market brand that have a reputation for having quality parts in a sea of terrible pattern ones from around the globe.

And yes, I got the rack from Gene at Scooters Originali who’s the only official importer of Scootopia products in the US. Gene even threw in a set of brand new mounting hardware at no extra cost. As we say in England, top bloke.

So, while the rear-end (I can’t believe I’m saying this without a smirk) has seen better days, hopefully this fix will give it a longer life. Rust and cracks aside, it’s great to see the original silhouette of the bike shine through as the designers at Innocenti intended all those years ago. It’s also great to see the rear Lambretta badge see the light even if it’s seen better days.

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Anyone who has dealt with replacing cables will tell you that the easiest way to do this is to use the existing old cable to pull the new one through and into place. Methods vary from soldering the end of the old cable to the new one  – to using a long length of wire – to simply taping the two ends together. Either way, the thinking is the same: make sure you don’t loose the path followed by the existing cable as it disappears into the darkness.

Occasionally though you encounter a situation where pulling through the replacement is just not possible. That was last night’s situation.

I’d been having trouble with the front cable not flowing smoothly and once I had gotten the headset apart it was apparent why – the existing outer cable was stuck hard inside the steering column and pinching the inner wire cable, restricting its movement. I was left with no choice but to pull the old cable out, given that any attempt to pull a new one through would have ended with the new cable breaking loose part way through the pull. Even if I had of been able to pull the new cable through this obstruction concerns me and needs investigating. Validating my concerns, the cable only finally came free after some serious tugging and when it did, it came apart in two pieces.

The obstruction causing this? To be determined, and could be as simple as the wire clip that holds the cable routing against the frame, but it’s somewhere inside the steering column behind the horn-cast. The solution will be to remove the horn-cast to get a good luck inside and use the exposure this will provide to investigate the issue and guide the cable by hand.

Fortunately, there’s information out there on how to approach this thanks to lambrettarestorations.blogspot.com the self-proclaimed (and rightfully so) “complete guide to stripping down & re-building Lambretta scooters.” Paul, the owner of the blog even has a post on just what I need, disassembling the horn-cast.

Cables threaded down the steering column exposed. Photograph courtesy of lambrettarestorations.blogspot.com.

Like Paul’s project Series III lambretta, I have a fair amount of rust standing in the way of my quickly removing the horn-cast. While I’ve gotten most of the bolts loose that release the horn-cast from the leg-shield, a couple of rusty ones are currently refusing to budge. Hopefully a trip to the hardware store, followed by a generous dollop of Naval Jelly left overnight will help eat away the rust to allow me to loosen the stubborn bolts.

Ah, the joys of vintage. Now a half-hour brake change is a three hour dis-assembly…

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I’ve had a mental to-do list all winter. A small set of niggles I want to set straight (in some cases literally) before the riding season enters full swing. I addressed the beginning of these niggles back in November, post-purchase. Now it’s time to get on top of the remainder.

Toward the end of last year I had a rather unfortunate rear-wheel blowout when I pushed the worn tires that came with the bike to their limit. The blowout required me to push the Jet 200 home with a nasty rear flat that gradually worked its way off the rim a good thirty blocks or so.

I hadn’t noticed that this act had bent the rear rim when I originally changed the rear tire and tube. A couple of days back in an effort to locate another niggle; I had the bike up on blocks to get to the bottom of an intermittent scraping sound. With the bike running in gear and the rear wheel off the ground, it was clear that the back wheel was spinning with far more side-to-side wobble than is healthy for the long-term health of the rear-hub and axle.

Other nags? Around the same time I changed the tire following the blowout, an intermittent scraping sound dogged me into the winter months. As mentioned above, I lifted both the front and rear wheels off the ground and span them separately to finally narrow down the noise to the front hub.

Finally, on my mental to-do list: replacing the perished side-panel rubber (which looks original) to lower the chances of a side-panel popping off upon hitting one of 2011’s nefarious potholes.

The side-panel rubber was an easy replacement. The original rubber came right off (in pieces) with evidence that at one point it had been glued into place. A rub down with WD-40 soon cleaned up the grime and old glue lodged in the metal recess in the frame and the replacement rubber slipped into place easily. The supplied rubber is about three inches longer than necessary and cuts easily with a pair of scissors. This type of rubber will shrink with use and the cold, so I cut it a half-inch or so proud to allow from contraction.

The rear-wheel off the bike. The engine block is up on blocks to lift the bike of the ground.

The rear-rim replacement should have been a twenty minute job given I was reusing the existing tire and tube which are relatively new. Unfortunately I put the new rim on the wrong-way round which meant that when I returned the wheel to the bike with the tire spinning in the correct tread direction, the tube valve was impossible to get to. It took another hour to carefully remove the new rim from the tire without damaging it and reorient the rim and tube. Learn from my mistake and carefully observe (even photograph) the existing orientation of both the rim, hole cut in the rim for the inner tube valve, and valve angle before removing from your scooter when replacing tires, tubes, and/or rims so you know how to put it all back together again.

Additional warm weather on Sunday gave me a chance to examine the scraping noise in the front-hub. I used the opportunity to open up the hub and take a look inside. The front wheel detaches easily enough from the front forks but I had previously had a failed attempt to get the axle nuts loose to obtain access to the hub. It’s tricky because the nuts on both side of the hub spin in the same direction so trying to loosen one while keeping the other one from spinning can be tough. In the end, I was able to get a persistent nut loose by adding an additional second nut to the opposite side and tightening the two nuts up against each other to give me the purchase to loosen the tight nut.

The inside of the hub looked pretty good considering it had originally been seized when I first bought the bike. Being carefully not to breathe the dust I used a sanding sponge to clean up the inside of the hub and the brake shoes themselves. I also applied a small amount of grease to the brake shoe cam-shaft.

You can get a sense of the inner workings of the front hub by reading ScooterHelp.com’s excellent article on taking apart a Lambretta rear-hub which, while not as easily accessed as the front hub, works in the same manner once you get it open. The principles are also generally the same as working with the front hub on a drum brake Vespa per my previous posting.

The scraping noise turned out to be coming from where the back-plate of the hub accepts the hub-front plate into a U shaped recess. With the front of the plate spinning slightly ‘off-round’ it was catching the back-plate in places. I added a little bit of grease being carefully not to let the grease get inside the hub which needs to remain dry to prevent the brake shoes from becoming slick.

A flat bladed screwdriver also allowed me to bend out a couple of dents in the recess that were catching on the spin.

All in all the front hub removal, clean up, and replacement only took an hour or so and appears to be spinning without the scrape (for now.)

Left on my to-do list? I’ve just put in an order with Scooters Originali for a new headlamp/horn handlebar switch. The current original one works fine except for the horn switch, but no amount of jury rigging will keep the horn working for more than a couple of rides. Ideally I didn’t want to have to replace the whole unit, but it seems like my only option.

Also on the order is a new front brake cable inner and outer. After taking the hub apart and cleaning it up I’m confident that the scraping noise will subside, but the existing front brake cable is struggling to maintain tension between the brake linkage and the front brake lever. It’s pretty rusty and doesn’t run smoothly through the current outer.

The front hub re-assembled and back on the bike.

I also have a new length of fuel hose and a new air box hose coming with the order both of which are looking very tired on the bike right now. The existing air box hose has more holes in it than Swiss cheese, and given this is a direct route through the carburetor to the piston, you want to keep abrasive debris out of the airflow at all costs. The current length of fuel pipe is leaking gasoline intermittently and shows signs of varnishing from past fuel that has sat in the pipe without stabilizer. It’s an easy fix and a new length of tube only costs a couple of bucks.

Finally, a little more long term, I still intend to have the headset top cleaned up and painted to match the bike.

I had ordered a replacement headset top from Casa Lambretta that I hoped would just need to be primed and painted (it’s currently on the bike in its raw aluminum form) but as is often the case with aftermarket parts, the headset turned out to be both poorly cast and a poor fit.

As a result, my intention is to return to the original, have the wing-mirror filled, the entire piece bent back into shape (following a problem the previous owner had,) primed and then painted to match the bike. I’ve been given a contact at a Gowanus body shop that Scooter Bottega uses, so I hope to report on that in a couple of weeks.

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A RetroVespa Vespa leaving India. The aluminum housing is covered in cardboard for shipping.

In our last post we began our interview with Kevin Ochel, the founder and owner of RetroVespa, a New York City based company specializing in importing vintage Vespas from a restoration shop based in India.

The importing of vintage scooters restored oversees has been a hotly debated topic with a lot of detractors, but it’s an arena in which Kevin has worked hard to prove the cynics wrong, working through several generations of improvements to get to the best restoration he can.

Kevin brought a recently restored Vespa VBB to the interview and it made a good impression.

In this post we conclude our interview, first by asking Kevin about his typical customer.

“I think the majority of my customers are newbies, a lot of them, maybe mid-life crisis guys, they want a little style. I sell a lot to Architects, people in the Design industry that appreciate the design.

You know as well as I do, if you’re a real scooter enthusiast, your not going to pay for a shiny restored bike, you’re gonna want to find one on Craigslist, or find one in a barn or, you’re gonna take pride in working hours and hours on weekends keeping it running. So as much as some guys in the scooter community clash with me, they’re really not my target audience. But I would welcome selling them and having them, you know, take a look.”

NYCS: So presumably your buyers are here in the States?

“Most of the scooters I ship are worldwide. I’ve got scooters going right now to Norway, Germany, Spain, and Australia. I just sent one down to South Africa.

Mainly in the States I sell to New York, California and Florida nowadays and Texas.”

NYCS: Are the fees associated with shipping rolled in as part of the overall cost of the scooter?

“What I do is, to my international customers, shipping’s free, and it goes to the Port. Let’s say I’m shipping to this guy in Norway that lives in Oslo; I get it to Oslo, he gets the package with all the documents that he needs, and I put him in touch with a customs agent over there, and they’re responsible for whatever the cost is to get it out of the Port; Because I can’t put a dart on that number.

Here in the States I retrieve it from the Port, and it’s in a crate, an aluminum tray with cardboard wrapped around it, and if it’s someone local I take it out of the crate and I deliver it on my trailer, or I use Forward Air and I just ship it, and I send it to the Forward Air location nearest them.”

NYCS: And then it’s their responsibility to get it from Forward Air?

“Either pick up by pick up truck or they can pay like $100 bucks and have it delivered to their door.”

NYCS: Owning a piece of fifty-year old machinery can be a challenge for any scooter owner, do you think this has been a particular challenge with restored bikes sold to first-time scooter owners?

“The scooters I’m selling are 50 years old, and 50 years ago most people knew–they how to change spark plugs, they knew where the spark plug was, they knew how to un-flood an engine, they knew how to troubleshoot a vehicle, and a scooter. Today, everyone expects to have a Honda Accord, you turn it on, you drive it 100,000 miles, you never do anything. So it is a challenge to educate my customers, and I definitely walk them through it and I give them fact sheets.

NYCS: Do they contact you following purchase?

“Although I’m not a mechanic I’ve been around these things now long enough, I’ve learned how to change cables and how to do enough that, I take my toolbox and I go to my customers’ apartments or houses and I work on the scooter, and if we need to go any further we go to my mechanic.

But you know, I’ve had some customers where it took a long time for them to get it, and embrace it.”

NYCS: You used to offer a warranty with you restorations…

“Yeah but I don’t have it anymore because I was just getting beat up on little maintenance items that were “Is it cover-able or not?” and this and that, and it especially was difficult with people that I didn’t sell to locally. But I stand by my scooters and I really look forward to scooters that I sell to New Yorkers here because I’m local and I get a relationship going, and I can help them a lot with their scooter.”

NYCS: So what’s next for RetroVespa as we get into the 2011 riding season?

“Well back when gas was approaching $4.00 back in 2008 my phone was going a little nuts, but it was warm weather. Now I put like a gallon of gas in here a few blocks away, and I saw $4.20 so I’m anticipating if gas creeps up or stays this price and the weather gets warm, I’m probably gonna have a rush on some scooters, but bring it on…”

NYCS: Is there a particular time a year that you tend to get orders? Or are they pretty steady throughout the year?

“A day like today where it just starts getting warm, people minds start thinking about the summer, they imagine themselves on a scooter; dead of winter, its tough. But I really try to promote as much as possible, “I know you’re not thinking about scooters right now, now’s the time to order it so you’ll have it for the spring.”

We’ll paint it any color; we’ve got any Pantone color you want. Go in an art supply store, grab a Pantone book, there’s thousands of swatches, and just give us the number. My guy in India has got the Pantone book there and does a perfect match to it. Some colors are real popular, you know. The original blue is a popular one. The black one looks great.”

NYCS: Has that been a significant part of the business? Custom colors for business and whatnot?

“Well it’s interesting. One night years ago I just flipped through the Pantone book and I picked about, I don’t know how many colors are on my website, maybe 20, and I just picked them’ and put them on as “suggested Pantone colors.” I’ve never had somebody not choose one of those colors.”

NYCS: With all these scooters moving through your hands, I have to ask, what does the owner of RetroVespa ride?

“Unfortunately I don’t drive one of these because it’s tough to keep them in stock and you know, once you roll em’ off, they get scratches.

I have a 1960’ Vespa GS150/VS5 – a guy from Michigan called me about 3 or so years ago, and he just said “Look I’ve got this Vespa…” and I get those calls a lot. And I said “Well send me a photo” and he said “I don’t know how to do that” so he finally got me the VIN number and instead of saying VS5 he said V55, and I said ‘Woah, okay’ and then he did get me a photo, and before it got out there, I jumped in my car and I drove ten hours and picked it up the next day, and I didn’t pay too much for it.

It’s been fully rebuilt and it’s 100% original. I mean it l looks a little bit beat up, but it’s a daily rider.”

Kevin's well worn, but well loved 1960 Vespa GS.

NYCS: Thanks for taking the time to talk with us Kevin. I appreciate your openness about the trials and tribulations of the past couple of years. One final question: what do you think when you see somebody riding by on one of your scooters?

It happens, its great. I mean a lot of times I just see em’ parked and I know they’re up at work, or they’re walking around. And I like it, its great. It’s a lot of pride.”

You can learn more about the vintage scooters that RetroVespa restores to order at Kevin’s website or by following RetroVespa on Twitter. Orders take three to six months depending on shipping and your scooter can be painted in pretty much any color with a number of performance upgrades. Prices start at $4650.

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The Indian restored Vespa VBB Kevin brought to the interview. Complete with 5 port Bajaj engine, custom pipe, and ten inch wheel conversion.

Kevin Ochel is a New York scooterist who has spent the last ten years developing a very thick skin in response to criticisms while amassing knowledge of the dos and don’ts of scooter restoration. Last week Kevin kindly agreed to sit down with us and share his experiences.

Kevin’s business, RetroVespa imports restored 1960s Vespa VBBs from S.E. Asia (first from Vietnam, then later – and currently – from India) and distributes to buyers in North America and countries around the world including the UK, Australia, Germany, Norway and South Africa.

It’s the business of exporting scooters and their sale to Western buyers that has opened up a hornet’s nest of debate (and in some cases sheer vitriol) in the always-vocal scooter community.

South-East Asian sourced sixties Vespas have arguably had very long hard lives in their home countries following years of use as daily workhorses before being restored in often poorly maintained back-street garages using less than perfect parts, mechanical improvisations, and sloppy build techniques.

We’ve reported on this phenomenon, known as “Viet-Bodges” before, so if you’re unfamiliar with the term and the consternation it’s caused, you can read about it here.

While Vietnam based companies were the first to see a business opportunity in exporting scooters to westerners, Kevin entered the business from Stateside without any notion of the hotly argued debate he was getting into.

It was following his business collapsed during the economic downturn after the terrorist attacks of September 11th, that he hit upon the idea:

“I sold an apartment, and I had some money to travel for 6 months. So I traveled around the world with the idea that I’m also going to keep my eyes open for some sort of business opportunities. And I remembered when I was in Vietnam I saw these scooters and I thought they were cool.

The only thing I knew about scooters was that my brother owned a 1980′ P200 up in Newport, and I drove it around a couple of times. And I had a great time just driving the scooter around. So I’m like ‘these are cool.

So when I came back I had three or four ideas bouncing around, and with the money running out I took the last like fifteen-grand and I went over and spent about two months in Vietnam.

I was put together with a contact through a friend of mine in Atlanta who ran a Software-Outsourcing company in Vietnam. He didn’t know anything about scooters and I didn’t know anything about Vespas other than my experience with my brother’s bike.

So we went over there, and through his local knowledge I was literally hunting – you know, chasing people down on the street and going “Will you sell me your scooter?” And man it was so much fun, it was a blast. So I brought a handful of them back. And it was quite a learning curve. Of course the first one’s I brought back had the yellow footies, and they had the wrong center-stand, and everything was wrong on them, you know.”

NYCS: Which presumably you got to learn in a very short period of time?

“Of course I did. And very quickly it was pointed out to me by ScooterBBS and other boards, what’s wrong with them and “They’re pieces of shit from Vietnam” and this and that. I had people telling me over and over, “Don’t waste your time, its terrible, terrible.”

NYCS: And this didn’t scare you off?

“There were some frustrating times. But I’m the type of person where if I pick a battle, that’s it, and I don’t pick em’ too often, and I picked this one, I said “You told me I couldn’t make/get a good scooter out of Vietnam, well I’m gonna tell you I can.”

NYCS: So it was an iterative process?

“Yeah, I like to call them “Generations” every time I’d learn and I’d fix. And the first thing that was easy for me to do was learn the aesthetics ‘Okay, you know this center stand…’ you know ‘make it look exactly…’ I got the manuals, I got the technical books and I brought them over to Vietnam. I went to Vietnam probably a dozen times you know and I’d bring the books over.

So we got the aesthetics down, and I watched the work being done but I’m no mechanic. So my next step was 2006, there was a guy that used to work at Scooters Originali, Ian. So we took one of my scooters that came right from the crate, and I go “Ian lets rip this thing apart and I want you to tell me everything that’s wrong with it and we’re going to detail everything” …had spreadsheets and everything. And every part that was either…I don’t want to say wrong, or it was manufactured there, or they used it when they should have replaced it, we made a complete list.

I bought every single one of the replacement parts we needed from Scomo and Scooterworks, and you name em’ I pulled from everywhere. And I got five sets, and I packed them in a bag and went over to Vietnam for a couple weeks, and I showed up to my mechanics, and it was like Christmas-time for them.

Because they’re amazing mechanics but as you probably know they — I think you were over there recently right?”

NYCS: Yep, back in August. (Story here) It was very apparent that they work with what they have, they’re improvising. Whatever it takes to keep their scooters on the road.

They’re very improvising. So when you give them the right parts they’re very pleased.

NYCS: So the quality of the restorations started improving?

“Yeah exactly, we got into a nice rhythm. We were maybe doing like forty or fifty scooters a year.”

Some of the earlier generation Vietnamese RetroVepas. Note the ten inch wheels on the black and gray models.

NYCS: So given things improved dramatically out of Vietnam, what prompted the move to India as a source for the restorations?

“I realized that most of the parts I was getting from the U.S were coming from India. So then I started to get some parts dealers from India shipping parts from India direct to Vietnam and then at that point my contact in Vietnam started hinting at me like ‘prices are going up’ you know ‘the inventory’s going down.’ So I was a step ahead and I planned this trip to India. And right around the time I planned the trip to India is when he called and said “Look we can’t do this anymore.”

NYCS: They couldn’t meet the prices you needed?

“It was more because of what was going on there. In the past the Vietnamese were like…these were just like things you drove around, but now as their economy improved, their middle class kind of rose up, they were able to afford these things. So then they were coveting them, keeping them.”

NYCS: I actually saw surprisingly few old Vespas in Vietnam, and I assumed that was because it’s sort of like a well that’s run dry, they’ve either gone into collectors within that region, within Southeast Asia, or they’ve come to the States.

“Exactly. The Vespa over there for them is like a family heirloom, they will not give it up, its tough to get them to sell especially if it’s still running and I understand why.

So in March 2008, I went over to India and I didn’t have my contact set up yet and I went to Delhi and a few other cities and I finally found my guy, and we’ve been working together ever since, the guy’s amazing.

In the early 80′s there was this fastest scooter every built, it was a Lambretta 250 I think, and he was involved in building the engine, tuning the engine, and shipping the engine from India to the UK, and they achieved the fastest time ever. And this is the guy who’s building my scooters, he’s the one that’s overseeing the whole operation.”

Kevin had brought with him a newly restored black sixties Vespa VBB from India that was on it’s way from a recent shoot during fashion week to its new New York City home.

I checked the bike over and – in the absence, of course, of a thorough strip-down – liked what I saw. The scooter looked and sounded great.

The engine, carburetor, and exhaust were brand new, the paint job flawless with no signs of hiding suspicious welding. Even the rivet work under the floorboards had been carefully peened and hardware choices throughout carefully considered. The after-market extended front forks and ten-inch wheel conversion was tastefully done and all cables and levers tight and responsive with plenty of compression in the (new) engine.

“This is going to a customer who lives in Soho. And this is actually his second scooter that he’s bought from me. He bought a gray one, it was you know, the regular engine, 8” wheels, and he wanted something a little quicker. So we gave him the 10” wheel upgrade, 5 port engine, and we put a custom exhaust on, it’s got 166 cc cylinder, and the carb’s modified, the clutch is modified.”

NYCS: So is this a standard offering from RetroVespa, or something custom?

“This is something custom. This is the first time we’ve done this. We do offer the 10” wheel/brand new Bajaj 5 port engine upgrade, its $500 extra. It’s great to have the brand new engine. It doesn’t have the points and condensers, I mean its kind of bulletproof, and people like the fact that it’s brand new. But it took me a while because I was a bit of purist I didn’t want to change it, so it took a little bit of convincing for me to catch up with the rest of the guys who were doing the conversion. And actually I’m real happy with it.

It’s a motorcycle dealership, the guy; I mean he’s kind of a legend in the scooter industry in India. He worked for SIL, and so his mentality; it’s a dealership for motorcycles, so they’re only gonna buy factory parts. So its a Bajaj engine coming directly from the Bajaj factory.”

You can view some videos Kevin took on a recent trip to his source in India in a previous NYCS post prompted by a RetroVespa Twitter feed. In the videos Kevin interviews his chief mechanic and provides a brief insight into the facility. Kevin shows me photos of the scooter in front of us in the garage in India…

“I’m upfront where my scooters come from I don’t try to hide it. Here are photos of the scooter. That’s one of the frames. You know, that’s the frame from that video in that room. There I am, the paint shop. You know, all one–there’s no Frankenstein here, you know, that’s the shop. I mean that’s India. You see many shops that clean in the U.S? When I walked in his place in India I was like ‘Woah!’ In Vietnam your like, you know, I think I took some years off my life over there, you know, just painting stuff.”

Stay tuned for part two in which we conclude our chat with Kevin and discuss among other things the challenges of any owner looking after a fifty-year old piece of machinery, RetroVespa’s average customer and Kevin’s own daily rider.

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2. The NYCS Viet-bodge 101 At NYCS we thought it was high time we addressed...
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Exactly twelve months after a top to bottom restoration, my PX is looking a little worse for wear. By my count the bike was knocked over a total of seven times in the past twelve months my parking vehicles.

Both cowls are now badly dented, with the battery side cowl significantly scratched when the bike was not only pushed over but either pushed or dragged along the asphalt.

The engine side cowl hasn’t suffered scratches but has a sizable dent and both left-hand side turn signal lenses are cracked.

The front fender took a number of bashes but thankfully is easy to bend back into shape. In addition to scratches though, the plastic crest that adorns the top of the fender was snapped off in one of the knock downs.

I’ve come to terms with the scratches and dents but let it be a warning to anyone considering parking their newly restored prize on the streets. At least these PXs are built like tanks. The damage is only cosmetic. I replaced the battery this morning after it sat on the trickle charger this winter, and the bike started up on second kick after sitting idle for the past three months. I’ll take my breaks as I can find them.

Photos of the damage below.

The "Fragile" sticker I brought back from Paris has found a use.

A cracked rear turn signal from one of the drops.

Another turn signal lens cracked.

The fender took a beating but bent back into shape, it's missing it's crest though which was snapped off.

At least my bike has dents on both cowls for the balanced look.

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The video provides a nice overview of the basics of combustion engines and the necessary parts to translate that movement into motion courtesy of host Jessica:

We haven’t talked about Fly Scooters before here at NYC Scootering. The company, started in 2006 and based in Oakland California, import and re-badge Chinese and Taiwanese bikes in much the same vein as Chicago’s Genuine Scooter Company‘s business model. Fly Scooters do not currently have dealers in the tri-state area.

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