NYC Scootering - New York City scooter news, views, and reviews » vespa lx150

Modern Vespa Drum Brake Adjustment

admin — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 13:00:15 +0000

Maureen’s back with a simple but important maintenance consideration for all four-stroke Vespa owners and machines with a similar set-up: How to take up the slack and adjust your rear wheel drum brake.

Most modern scooters run a disc brake on the front wheel and a drum-brake on the back. A drum brake is cable operated. Pulling the brake lever pulls the cable which pivots an arm that pushes the brake shoes against the inside of the wheel (or drum.) Cable stretch and brake shoe wear require occasional tightening.

If your rear brakes are feeling spongy, check out her video below. Them’s some clean rims. Wish I rode daily in Florida. A polite suggestion Maureen – work on your torque wrenching technique:

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Vespa Brake Fluid Maintenance

admin — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 15:53:08 +0000

I’ve got hydraulic brake fluid on my mind this week. So it’s great timing to unearth the latest four-stroke Vespa maintenance video from Maureen in Florida. We’ve featured Maureen several times in the past with her great videos on regular preventative maintenance, converting your Vespa LX or S back to its original European turn-signals, and cleaning the air filters.

Maureen shows you how to tell when you need to top-up / bleed your brake fluid, and how to go about doing so. Her LX150 is the patient on the table, but the principles are equally valid for any disc brake scooter:

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Spotted in NYC: Sad snow

admin — Fri, 07 Jan 2011 16:14:16 +0000

I think this site spotted on the street near Union Square this morning sums up life in the Big Apple right now. Since the December snow storms, garbage has not only remained on the streets but is now spiraling out of control. The saddest kind of winter garbage? Christmas trees thrown out to die.

Something else that’s sad? That Vespa won’t be going anywhere today. Not if the rider values their road safety.

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Piaggio discounts select Vespas

admin — Wed, 25 Aug 2010 03:01:50 +0000

Given the economy, it’s no surprise that Piaggio is keeping the pressure on moving inventory with the latest in a line of discounts. It’s also a way to help national Vespa dealers clear last year’s stock of some of the carburetor models that have re-emerged with fuel injection this season.

Piaggio are calling it their Hot Vespa Summer (apparently no-one told them it’s raining in NYC right now.)

Through October 31st, a local trip to Vespa SoHo, Vespa Brooklyn, Vespa Queens, Vespa Jersey City, or Metro Scooter (apologies to any of the local dealers I missed) could net you the following deep-discounts:

$1200 off the Vespa GTV 250
$1000 off the Vespa GTS 250
$500 off a carbureted Vespa S 150, LX 150 or LXV 150
$400 off an LX 50 with two-valve engine

You can check out VespaUSA.com for the break-down on the scoots but know that some of them have been retired from the site with their newest equivalents taking precedent.

As always, there’s some small print:

* GTV 250 offer good on new and unused 2008, 2009 and 2010 models.
* GTS 250 offer good on new and unused 2008 and 2009 models.
* S 150, LX 150 and LXV 150 offers good on new and unused 2008 and 2009 carbureted models.
* LX 50 offer good on new and unused 2008, 2009 and 2010 two-valve engine models.

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JustGottaScoot reviews the Kymco Like200i

admin — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 19:13:55 +0000

The new Kymco Like 200i – if you think the models look cramped, then we recommend you try before you buy.

David Harrington over at JustGottaScoot.com continues to bring great scooter related news and reviews to the web and this time he’s back with another comprehensive scooter review. This time, Kymco’s unashamed take on the Vespa LX, the Like200i.

Whatever you, I, or David think of the name “Like”, it turns out that there’s actually a lot to “like” about the scooter – there I said it.

David and his fellow reviewer Jordana found that the bike has nice (albeit lifted) styling, good pick-up, nice storage with a top-case as standard, and in particular great braking with disc brakes fitted as standard both front and back. The bike also plumps for 12″ wheels giving it an air of classic with the added value of additional handling.

The one caveat emptor? Ergonomics. David doesn’t outright say it, so I will, it sounds like the scooter has been understandably designed more for the frame of its South East Asian target audience leaving some of us Westerners feeling a little cramped in the leg-room department. However, as David points out, testing the sitting position is an important decision on any scooter purchase, and the Like still has a large potential audience here in the US.

To read JustGottaScoot.com’s full review, click here. The Like 200i is available in Black, Red and Ivory and retails for a very competitive $3,399.

No word yet on when we’ll be seeing the Like 200i in NYC, but Kymco’s area dealers here are Vespa Soho/Carbon Negative and Coney Island Avenue’s Prospect Cycles. Prospect Cycles currently stock the Like in its 50cc incarnation.

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Spring Vespa Bliss – $500 off MSRP

admin — Thu, 20 May 2010 13:29:21 +0000

Image courtesy of VespaUSA.com.

PiaggioGroup Americas have begun their latest promotion. This time to encourage new riders for the 2010 season while allowing local dealers to work through their stock of retired carbureted models.

The promotion will help clear the way for the company’s recent introduction of the “i.e.” fuel injected models which run cleaner and at lower fuel consumption while allowing potential riders to pick up some fantastic machines at a discounted price.

Through July 15th, anyone purchasing a new or unused 2008-2010 non fuel-injected Vespa S150, LX150 or LXV150 at local dealers will get $500 off the MSRP.

For more information, click here.

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Cleaning the air filters on a modern Vespa

admin — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 15:19:22 +0000

Florida scootergirl Maureen is back with another helpful video. Another one of these and she’s going to need a talent agent. This video demonstrates the location, removal, cleaning, and re-installation of the air filters.

The scooter in question is an LX150 but the process is the same for similar scooters in the modern Vespa family.

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Vespa LX/S euro-turn signal conversion

admin — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 16:50:59 +0000

We’ve covered this simple mod briefly ourselves based on Baksvn’s excellent step-by-step, but who better to give us a detailed step-by-step video walk-through than everyone’s favorite Florida scooter girl, Maureen.

In this video, Maureen shows us every step of the conversion which should take about an hour. The conversion kit itself is available for $59.00 direct from Motorsport Scooters. The kit allows US contemporary Vespa owners to remove the black plastic turn-signal pods that have been added as an afterthought to the scooter design to meet US road requirements.

And if you haven’t done so already, don’t forget to check out Maureen’s excellent LX/S maintenance videos here.

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Buy a Vespa, get active.

admin — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 20:54:46 +0000

I’m not quite sure which marketing guru decided there was simpatico between Vespas and video game workouts but Piaggio have announced their holiday offer, and anyone buying a new Vespa this holiday season will get a free copy of Electronic Art’s Active Personal Trainer for the Nintendo Wii.

Here’s the offer in full:

Buy a new Vespa LX150, S150 or LX150 this season and you’ll get the following:

$500 off the MSRP.
A free 2-year extended warranty valued at $350.
A free copy of EA SPORTS Active fitness program for the Wii.

To learn more about the offer, head on over to the press release at Vespa’s North American site. You can read all about EA SPORT’s Active package at its official page.

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Get $1000 off the MSRP of a brand new Vespa

admin — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 18:48:25 +0000

Just got an email from the good folks in Fort Greene:

Vespa Brooklyn have just announced an amazing deal commencing Columbus Day. Take $1000 off all 2009 Vespa LX150s, S150s and GTS250s in stock.

In addition, you can get $500 off the MSRP off the LXV150 and GTV250 stock they have.

No updates to their website yet, but give them a call to learn more.

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