vintage Vespa

I have to take issue with the Vespa being regarded as superior to the Lambretta sorry! :p

Being a Vespa rider I confess to being a little scared by the handling at times ... with the engine being positioned over the back wheel and off to one side the compromise this arrangement causes becomes very apparent over uneven surfaces ... damned twitchy to say the least! Nowhere near enough weight over the front wheel to keep it all stable!

Lambretta positioned their engine low down and forward of the rear wheel and also kept it fairly well within the centre line of the chassis and wheels ... the whole scooter has far better balance and poise because of this.

I've always been a Vespa fan but I'm the first to aknowledge that the Lambretta is the superior design ... superior designs don't always win the day though. As rangefinder shooters we realise this of course! :p
 
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Double Negative said:
Touring the country, 35mph at a clip! :p
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Patience is a virtue when riding the Vespa any distance ... the day I took this shot was a 300k ride and the temperature was hovering around 38deg C.

Seventy k's per hour was fine and it felt like it could do it all day ... which it did! :D

Sadly the PX200 is languishing in the shed at the moment with a blown front shock. The local Vespa dealer here in Brrisbane has quoted me over $400.00 for a replacement which is extortion for something that looks like it should be on a box trailer. I think there's a big scooter place in Germany that can have one delivered to my door via Fedex here in Oz for around $150.00 which is likely the way I'll go when I can spare the money from my photography habit!

With no oil in the front shock the thing is near unridable! :p
 
Oh I'll take an old Honda any day.....

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Beautiful Vince ... I love that bike!

Feel free to post more shots of it! :D
 
Keith said:
Beautiful Vince ... I love that bike!

Feel free to post more shots of it! :D
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I love this bike too -- don't think I'll ever sell it!

Tomorrow (Sunday) is the last day of the Vintage Japanese Motorcycle Show in Jefferson, PA, and it's also the day of the judged event. So I'm riding the beast up there tomorrow, and I'll be sure to take a few snaps.

Last year the bike won Second Place in the 'Most Unique' category, which seems rather odd -- i mean, if you're the most unique, wouldn't there only be one prize? And, if you get Second Place, does that mean that you're the second most unique???

Now I'm hot to trot on buying one of these helmets:

http://www.exclusivehelmets.com/buy.html

Check out the 'Belvedere' (I'm partial to the 'France' one). Is that the most beautiful thing you've ever seen or what?! Would definitely look good on a Honda or a Vespa!
 
@ken nyus: It's a end of fifties, beginning of sixties Lambretta Li 150. I had one and used to ride it every day for 4 years. Its a fantastic scooter. I have also owned a 54 Lambretta LD and around 10 Vespa's the last 10 years. The "worst one" was a 50ccm Vespa Special with 25 horsepower doing 0-100 km/h faster than a new car. Took 4 years to bild and tune and cost ****loads, and at the end it was dangerous to ride. I ended up selling it to get a Hasselblad and a vacation i Greece.

Now I no longer have scooters (but i have all the camera equipment I need), i had to prioritize. But in a few months, having just got a job after 8 years of studies, i'll be gettng a Vespa again.
 
I like scooters, perfect city transportation. I shot this Vespa with my hassy a while ago:



Personally speaking though, Vespa's are a bit annoying since basically everybody over here seems to ride them, and most of them are yuppies in their suits... I prefer a Honda for myself (evil dslr shot ;) )

 
When you have a Vespa you are supposed to have a suit, to be a real MOD ;-P

I love lambretta's, the Honda is really cool, but the Vespa has some advantages. Since thay don't have a frame they are lighter than others, and since they have direct power transmition the engines are simpler and more easy to tune. I guess i'll have to dig up some photos here too soon...
 
spiderfrank said:
"fenderlight"? do you mean the chromed bumpers?

It's in Itlay, yes, i didn't now it was particularly rare, for sure it's very well restored
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"fenderlight " is what we in Europe and You in Italy call "faro basso", spider ;)

Somebody still uses it? I know a couple of guys that still use old rangefinders too.....guess that's a fair comparison of enthusiasts. I have abandoned my old PX 200 for a new Beverly 250....but my rangefinders still resist the DSLR competition :D:D
 
Keith said:
I have to take issue with the Vespa being regarded as superior to the Lambretta sorry! :p

Being a Vespa rider I confess to being a little scared by the handling at times ... with the engine being positioned over the back wheel and off to one side the compromise this arrangement causes becomes very apparent over uneven surfaces ... damned twitchy to say the least! Nowhere near enough weight over the front wheel to keep it all stable!

Lambretta positioned their engine low down and forward of the rear wheel and also kept it fairly well within the centre line of the chassis and wheels ... the whole scooter has far better balance and poise because of this.

I've always been a Vespa fan but I'm the first to aknowledge that the Lambretta is the superior design ... superior designs don't always win the day though. As rangefinder shooters we realise this of course! :p
Click to expand...

I'm with Keith: from an engineering point of view , the Lambretta was much more "right", but the legend never hear the brain...
 
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