the good the bad and the ugly By cyborg (Read 873 times)

[cyborg]

i made a mental note of things when i took her out for the maiden run,,,THE BAD and UGLY,,,sticking shifter made shifting slow and unsure,lots of neutral dump out the clutch nothing there unintentionally,,the rear brake is made of wood,,carbon/kevlar rear shoes will clear that up,,,front needs the same but not as bad,,,,,the pizza cutter tires hardly envoke confidence and are also made of wood,,already have tubeless rims and tires waiting,,,and i can't wait to find the turn signal beeper and chop that thing up for firewood,,,,the cheesy a$$ hand grips are the soft foam rubber jobs that are mushy and will wear out in no time i can tell,,,,and the mirrors are so big they can double as canoe paddles,oberon billet convex miniature mirrors to the rescue again,the rear tail light looks like it wants to be a dinner table and will leave as soon as i find a good replacement,,the side reflectors are as ugly as i am and have already been removed,,,THE GOOD,,STELLAR ENGINE!!!nice power throughout the rev range with a nice little hit at the end,,, this thing is going to be fast i can tell,,,nicely spaced gear cluster and when you hit the correct gear and fan the clutch a bit you get a surge of power you just don't get with an auto,,i'm surprised to find english made Girling brakes and shocks front and back and without fiddling with them were set pretty decently,,altho i wasn't pushing it at all,,,seat is wide and comfy and feels well padded ( a little on the hard side but i'm sure that will break in as time goes by),,STELLAR paint!!!! who would have known?;;smooth and deep,,,lots of it,,,,nice gauge,,well thought out and everything easy to read,,,even in the very bright sun of today,,,,STELLAR MAINTAINANCE!!!!!!!!! lift the seat turn a lever side panels comes off in seconds with no wires to fu(k with,,contact made by spring loaded pressure connections for battery and engine also,,,,repairs and service in 2 words EASY PEASY!!!!,,,A SPARE TIRE!!!! i've carried plug kits,,tubes powerlets,,,never had a bike with a full tire wheel combo,,i think i can jump my car with this battery too,,large,,,nice glove box,,,,and very roomy floorboards it"s a large frame scooter so it just,,,well larger,,,,that's all i got out of a 29 mile first time ride,,i'm sure i'll have something more to bitch and moan about and crow too ,,,,all in all worth the wait,,,more to come

[Bashan]

That easy access side cover to the engine trumps ALL of that other stuff. That would be heaven on Earth to service. Why don't they do that on Chinese bikes? It can't be that much trouble! Rich

[cyborg]

i don't know Rich,,,this stella is a copy of the long running PX series vespas and all the other earlier models were set up this way,,,i do believe the big vespas have removable side covers,,,why they dumped it on the small framed models is beyond me they are the ones that could use it the most

[Guitarman]

Spring loaded plastics? Oh I can only dream!

[cyborg]

It's really super easy,,a chimp could do it,,,so Rich and I are shoe ins,,,after setting up a table and some carpet i hit my stopwatch on my phone walked over to the scoot removed both panels for the second time ever,,,and i wasn't rushing so i didn't fu(k the paint,,,,26.4 seconds,,,thats both sides and walking to and from the table,,if i would have had a helper 15 seconds both sides easy,,,and full access too,,,,nice

[cyborg]

One more gushing YEAH GOOD!!!!!! i forgot to add an actual kick starter that works!!!!!!!!!! after the maiden voyage i let the beast cool down while i was fiddling with it,,,and i said hey i didn't try the kicker yet,,,rotated the mill to tdc,,,turned on the key ,,no go on the first try,,,second attempt,,,BINGO i win the prize!!!!,,,i don't even know how many times i tried the kicker on the et,,hot,cold, warm i never could get the thing to lite with the kicker,,,and as a side i always could bump it with the manual trans,,,

[fugaziiv]

The good tires and rims make a substantial difference, but the old PX geometry will never allow that bike to ride in a way that I would consider "stable" by modern standards; it's always going to be a bit "live" at speed. It adds to the charm of the bike after you get used to it. A lot of the reason for this is that the reciprocating mass of the engine is not in line with the wheels on these old (new/old in your case) bikes. This along with a very steep steering angle, short wheelbase and small wheels mean they have an inherent instability by design, you do gain easy access to the engine however.

None of the large frame modern Vespas have removable side panels either. Gotta go down the hole on those too.


Matt

[cyborg]

Bummer on that design,, I think if you resign yourself to just removing the engine for service and just do it to get it out of the way and perform the required service and put it back in ,, instead of agonizing over it

[fugaziiv]

Yep. Just gotta commit to it. It really helps if you have one of these in the garage:

www.harborfreight.com/1000-lb-capacity-motorcycle-lift-68892-8495.html

Really, if you are going to work on your own machines then lifts pay for themselves rather quickly. Add some tie down points and one of these and you can fix darn near anything without too much effort.

www.amazon.com/Motorcycle-Center-Scissor-Hoist-Stand/dp/B00E8HGCEY/ref=pd_sim_sbs_auto_6?ie=UTF8&refRID=0MD8XG8MWW2J304QB78A


Matt

[fugaziiv]

Oh, and while I'm shopping...

This too:

www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000COC67E/ref=pd_luc_bxgy_01_01_t_lh?ie=UTF8&psc=1


Matt

[cyborg]

Handy dandy to be sure,,I try to shy away from harbor freight myself,,, I try to use only snap-on They are more buy in but I feel the quality is better and my man brings it to me at my studio or my home for something bigger

[fugaziiv]

Aug 18, 2014 15:50:43 GMT -6 cyborg said:

Handy dandy to be sure,,I try to shy away from harbor freight myself,,, I try to use only snap-on They are more buy in but I feel the quality is better and my man brings it to me at my studio or my home for something bigger

Snap on? You fancy!


Matt

[cyborg]

i just like the quality,,,i'm no great shakes believe me,,,i've given my snap-on man $50 a week or more for 25 years,,,i do have a rather nice collection now,,,it just adds up over time,,,if i were to buy it all at once now ,,,probably a $100,000+ tool set then the boxes would be another $9-10 thou,,,they have served me well,,,they make working on my cars and bikes a breeze,,thats all i care about ,,,,i watch his sales too ,, i don't like throwing my dough away,,i'll take gently used tools from him and he watches out for them for me,,,i'm a picky bastard and i don't want them all beat up,,,if they don't look close to new i don't buy them,,,like 2 weeks ago i got a 1/4 ,,3/8,,1/2 drive certified and calibrated torque wrenches in the box used for $300,,,super deal,,,they were as new,,,so i grabbed them,,,for less than 1/5th price of retail new,,,and as a side note to anyone that reads this thread,,,you can pickup high quality tools on ebay and craigslist for just a little more than the chuff they sell at HF,,,,i do it regularly,,and also i buy broken snap-on tools there and at garage sales,,,bought a broken 1/2 drive swivel head 26 inch ratchet at a garage sale for $6,,,next time my man came around i handed it to him and he gave me a brand new one,,,over $200 for it new,,,BAM!!!!

[Kaveman]

"i don't know Rich,,,this stella is a copy of the long running PX series vespas and all the other earlier models were set up this way,,,i do believe the big vespas have removable side covers,,,why they dumped it on the small framed models is beyond me they are the ones that could use it the most"

My understanding was that the smaller Vespa's side cowlings also came off just like their big brothers. There might be a tad difference on what holds the sides on between Piaggio's various 150 and 200cc Vespa models and the LML made copy's. The Chinese scoots don't have this option. I like being able to pop off the side without having to use a ratchet wrench and a screwdriver to get at my engine .
Concerning the 8" and 10" tires on the older Vespa's ( and my Stella 2004 2T) : They weren't exactly made to go 60+mph in the first place ! That's where the Chinese scoots larger tires have an advantage . Trust me on this , it is "fun" enough just going 50+mph on these tires. Aerodynamics are not the greatest on any of the older Vespa's either. Same goes for my 2T. One positive I see is that the Vespa's parts quality are much higher than the Chinese scoots. The parts last longer. My 2 shekel's worth !
willc.

[cyborg]

Yes I agree with your statement,, I had the et on the freeway going downhill 75mph+,,, a little twitchy is the understatement of the century,,, we won't try that on the Stella ,,, strictly surface streets for this one and I'm not trying to make it any faster really,, it's not what I want from this thing,, switch to tubeless rims and tires ,, pipe and carb to help out with acceleration a mirror change and it's a wrap,,,, OH and chop the turn signal beeper into kindling