November 2010 Archives

When last we left this project, I had realized that the motor was not getting any two stroke oil, and had removed the old top end.  I had started preparing the new top end for installation, and that leaves us here...  

I previously modified the locating pin on the barrel, and made sure that it fit ok.  Now, I prepared the barrel further by chamfering the ports.  Basically, I just took a file, and smoothed out the edges of the ports inside the barrel.  When these are cut, the edges are quite sharp.  They can quickly wear down the piston rings.  It helps to just smooth them down a bit to reduce any possibility of bad stuff happening.  Every little bit helps when building a motor.

Read more below the jump!

There are a bunch of guys in Southern California who are really trying to get scooter racing off the ground.  They want to set up some speed timing events, with the ultimate goal of joining the sanctioned events at Bonneville.  Some friends of mine were ready to roll down there from the San Francisco area to compete, but decided to skip it at the last minute due to rain.  It looks like it was really wet and cold, so I guess my friends made the right decision.  Hopefully next year I can be a part of our Oakland group's entrant into the event.  In the end, a friend from San Francisco actually won with the fastest scooter.  Kudos to Patrick!

Here's a link with a lot of great photos of the event.  While you are there, check out some of the interesting new scooters being built by the California Scooter Company.  Brand new scooters, built in the US... hard to imagine, but true!

Scooterlounge was off last week for the Thanksgiving holiday. We're back, refreshed, and full to bursting with leftover turkey! Mmmmm.... turkey sandwiches....

There are a number of people out there with the same great idea.  That is to take the beautiful classic Vespa body, and marry it with a sweet new electric motor.  One of the first to do this was friend of the site, Jeb, at Soundspeed Scooters in Seattle.  Now I just found another person working on this, in the UK, I think.  This build is very tidy I'm curious to see how fast he gets it going, and how long the battery lasts.  Here's another interesting conversion. Honestly, it is just a matter of time before there are a lot of mail-order bolt on kits like this. 

For the non-wrench, I just read that LML in India (maker of the Stella in the US) is working on an electric "Vespa PX" bodied scooter.  The pictures of the LML prototype make the motor look a bit hokey, and like an afterthought.  Nevertheless, this is one to keep your eyes on.  LML have a four stroke motor in the PX frame that will be for sale in the US soon.  I would not count them out for creating a mass-market electric.

I actually rode one of these conversions a few years ago. It was a Vespa Super that was converted by a guy in the San Francisco area who worked for Tesla Motors. It was set more for

At some point in the future when all the Vespa LX's and MP3's and Honda Elites are long gone... we'll still be riding our classic Vespas.  Maybe not with the lovely ting-ting of the two stroke motor sounding in our ears... but I'll take an electric whoosh as an alternative to scrapping my scoot when all the gas is gone!

As the Italians have shown with virtually all of their scooter advertisements, sex sells scooters (or anything else, for that matter).  Here we have a feeble 50's mid-western attempt to pose a leggy blond on a scoot for a promo.  Clearly, they don't get the concept.  It is Wisconsin... I happen to know a large-ish lake nearby.  They surely could have put the scoot near it, and had her in a swimsuit.  I guess there's a reason why the Vespa buried the Cushman in sales!

Via: Wisconsinhistory

This is a photo of Dr. Eberhardt Sarfert, who ran BMW Motorcycles from 1979-89 on his Glas Goggo scooter, circa 1955.  The Goggo was one of the best scooters of the era.  It was solidly built and had a lot of of very advanced features for its time.  Just look at it. This looks as crazy space-age today as it did back then. Admit it, it would stop you in your tracks if you saw one driving down the street. A truly amazing scooter. I love them.

Of course, they were very expensive, and not a lot of them were sold compared to the Italian scooters.  They are very difficult to find today, especially outside of Germany.

Via BMW Owners News, Feb 2007

I have no idea what prompted this photo shoot. I don't really care. I'm always in favor of photos of beautiful superstars astride vintage scooters, no matter what the context.

This was in the December 1955 edition of Popular Mechanics.

Via: Modernmechanix

A friend of mine has a 2005 PX 150, a fairly rare scooter in the US.  In fact, his was one of the very first brought in for that one-year-only scooter here in the States.  That doesn't mean much though, since those first 600 scoots got some fairly basic "upgrades" like a special metallic green paint, brown seat, and a small badge with the "limited edition Serie America" number.  The PX's are great, and since there are only a small handful in the US (a few thousand at best), it is really worth seeking one out.  In any case, my friend bought this used, with super low miles on it... but it just never ran well.  Eventually, he got tired of trying to make it run right, and brought it by for a thorough going over.

The first thing I did, was take off the carb to clean it, and check for anything strange.  I immediately noticed that there was a problem.  As you know, the PX's have oil injection.  There is a special carb that works with the injection system.  If you look at the photo above, you see the bottom of the carb.  There is a small hole at the bottom right of the carb.  That is the hole that the two stroke oil goes through on its way to be mixed with the gas.  We like that hole, because it means we don't have to mix the oil with the gas ourselves.  I've seen people disconnect the automatic oil injector because they don't trust it.. I find that silly.  

Now here we see the carb base gasket.  Notice anything?  There is a small impression on the bottom right where that hole in the carb sits.  Note that there is no corresponding hole in the gasket.  This means that the oil injector was blocked off, and no oil was getting into the cylinder.  Yowch!  You can buy carb base gaskets for oil injected carbs, and non-oil injected carbs.  It is pretty important that you don't use a non-injected gasket on an injected carb.

Click below the jump to see what happens with no oil!

The first Vespas made at the Spanish factory in Madrid in 1952.

Via: Vespino<

You know that you shouldn't.  You know that you don't want to.  But you know that, deep down, you really like three-wheelers.  So go home, fire up your browser, and, when nobody is looking, peruse these awesome Lambro photos.

It is now confirmed, Piaggio has reversed themselves and decided to put the venerable Vespa PX back into production for the 2011 model year.  They are only going to make the 125 and 150cc versions - alas, no 200's.  I doubt we'll ever see the mighty 200cc two stroke Vespa motor from the factory again.  In any case, HOORAY!  Sadly, there is virtually zero chance of them being available again in the US. 

Via 2strokebuzz

I love this photo. It shows a couple of late 40's Cushmans in all their Kodachrome glory. You just don't get over-saturated reds like this in digital photography! These guys are having serious fun.

Via: Smokstak