Vespa LX 150 custom. A three stage mod story - Part I - 2020(1)-2022 - by VM Design and Tuning
...this one is about my first scooter love, that started in 2020, fueled by the pandemic.
A badly bruised, bent and neglected Vespa LX 150.
It had been crashed pretty badly.
And whoever repaired her didn't bother to make a perfect job, or at least a decent one, just enough to get her going.
And whoever repaired her didn't bother to make a perfect job, or at least a decent one, just enough to get her going.
I've always had a passion for tinkering ever since I was a kid, be it whatever, from stereos and computers, to bycicles, cars and later on, motorcycles or scooters. The Vespa was a birthday present from my wife and one of my best friends, to ride through the pandemic, as the traffic was lighter than usual at the time and I was just starting to get reaquainted on two wheels after a long period of almost 10 years when I refused to climb back on anything having just two wheels, following the almost fatal accident of my best friend at the time and godfather of my daughter, who spent almost one month in a coma and never fully recovered after a motorcycle accident he had no fault in.
So, all things considered, let's say they got an offer they could not refuse, on a Vespa, that was supposedly crashed but fixed back together and currently in good working order except a few minor details like a mirror mount and a few scratches (also some shady paintwork, but a bit more on that later), and needing only a new set of variator rollers.
So when they got me this one, first off they thought it would make a nice and not too expensive start, IF I was really to get back in the saddle, and second, they knew I would not be able to resist tinkering a bit with it, but it was supposedly just a one weekend job. So, unknown to me, at that moment started Stage I of what would turn to be a full restoration.
I got her almost at the end of the 2020 season, around october, so once the bad weather kicked in, my lack of other things to do got me tinkering (pandemic, remember, lockdown & stuff).
I started initially with a lot of enthusiasm and just a bit of curiosity, as some plastics from the handlebar did not fit correctly in position, there was the mirror socket that I knew would require fixing and the odometer was not working, although the former mechanic had assured them it was just a loose cable at the coupling. Variator, that was a thing for a second weekend as replacing the rollers was a relatively easy task but in an entirely different area of the scooter.
I was informed by the former mechanic that it was the right side mirror mount that was defective, and, as such, I had already (a bit reluctantly, as it was a tad expensive) bought the entire brake pump, as the right side mirror mount is part of the pump. Funny enough, it turned to be the left side (as you will notice from the picture), which was a whole lot cheaper as it was just a mount. I was about to return the pump to the dealer, but since the handles were badly corroded and were hurting my fingers if I wasn't wearing gloves or damaging my Tucano Urbano leather gloves when I did, and had already decided to replace them both, and the new brake handle did not fit the old brake pump, I ended up replacing also the brake pump.
But starting to open her up in order to fix those, I started noticing the bad job done by whoever fixed her after the crash, from the loose banjo bolt that was leaking brake fluid,
to the broken (not just loose) odometer cable,
not to mention the "oh, so nicely made" connection of the headlamp, with 2 wires barely held together by some electrical tape, made when they replaced the broken original H4 headlamp with a BA20s model from a 50cc LX.
I admit, that made me curious to keep opening her up to see what other dark secrets lurked beneath the thin ice. And I was in for a treat. Apart from the plastics of the front and the floorboard, that honestly my (at the time) 12 year old kid would have done a better job at glueing back together, all the rest of the plastics were more or less scratched or at least having some broken fixing point or small crack.
So I took from there and started glueing back together each and every one that was repairable, or replacing the ones that weren't.
So when they got me this one, first off they thought it would make a nice and not too expensive start, IF I was really to get back in the saddle, and second, they knew I would not be able to resist tinkering a bit with it, but it was supposedly just a one weekend job.
I got her almost at the end of the 2020 season, around october, so once the bad weather kicked in, my lack of other things to do got me tinkering (pandemic, remember, lockdown & stuff).
But starting to open her up in order to fix those, I started noticing the bad job done by whoever fixed her after the crash, from the loose banjo bolt that was leaking brake fluid,
not to mention the "oh, so nicely made" connection of the headlamp, with 2 wires barely held together by some electrical tape, made when they replaced the broken original H4 headlamp with a BA20s model from a 50cc LX.
And that was just the tip of the iceberg. Cause the plastics were only the top.
Beneath them was the metal. And that metal was in bad shape.
Not only the neck structure looked like it had been straightened with a sledgehammer and a crowbar, I noticed the plastics I spoke in the begining were not fitting cause he never managed to get the right angle of the neck back, so plastics were rubbing to each other.
As a bonus, the guy didn't even bother to scratch out the peeling paint and cover the metal with some primer at least, if not a new paint layer. And, no wonder, it had already begun to rust in the surface.
Add to that the standard rust zones of a 14 year old Vespa (at the time), like the front panels, joint areas and battery tray and you'll get a full picture of it.
So I grabbed my Dremel, my extension hose and the best grinding disks and metal brush wires i had (the ones I had for my drill or the ones for my 125mm angle grinder were either too big or not able to reach those cramped areas at the front) and cleaned every single spot of rust on that body to the bare metal.
Next on, was a triple treatment with Brunox. First off, their epoxy rust neutralizer/primer which left a purple-blueish laquer-like epoxidic surface, followed by their 1K filler-primer that left a beatiful matte white, clean looking surface, and last but not least, since I was not able to patch and seal those dreadful holes in the structure, I decided to apply a fair amount of auto body wax in all the holes that were there, hoping it would help prevent rusting the inside of that hollow structure.
End result was so encouraging, I decided to skip the painting step, especially since the riding season was about to start. Not only that, but the paint job that had been done after the crash (told you I would come back to it) was probably just canned spray paint, done by a butcher, dripping on some points, with bubbles and spikes, gassed all over the engine, and so on. So, at this point, I was already thinking of making this restoration a two stage one, with a full body repair/exchange that would repair that neck and make the plastics fit correctly, and a full paintjob done by a professional, all of that, in a second stage.
Anyway, while all this was going on, I was having the plastic parts I had replaced, all painted in a matching color and I chose a two tone color, much like the one in the 50cc LX with matte black on the lower part of the body and the original silver on the rest.
So it was time for the rest to come together, and far from getting discouraged by the rough start, I was starting to get excited, so I decided I was going to give it a complete systems overhaul and customize the parts that were not going to get changed in stage two.
Engine was running good, power was all right, only the carburettor at this point was the worst trouble, it turned out to need a complete overhaul, as it was working really, really terrible. It was full of gum and gasoline debris and also neglected like the rest of the bike and wrongly maintained, so it took a lot of cleaning, restoring and retuning, but in the end it got almost back to normal. Still a bit slow at green light, almost unnoticeable, but it's the reed valve from what I got, so given the fact the Keihin CVK-2600A is not serviceable in that area, it will require a new carb at some point. Many thanks to Fabio Todircan on that one.
But I have to admit I wanted a bit more power from the engine and transmission, so then came the upgrades.
• Variator was first, as it was already needing new rollers, got completely replaced by a Malossi Multivar 2000.
• Next, even though the whole ensemble was running fine, a Malossi Maxi Delta clutch, a Maxi Wing clutch bell, a Malossi torsion controller variator spring guide and last but not least, a Malossi XK kevlar belt.
• Spark plug - NGK Iridium (yes, I know, it is not supposed to work well on carburetted engines, but on mine it does)
• Ignition coil - although in good shape, got replaced by a Naraku Racing ignition coil, doubling the ignition voltage of the original one up to 33000 V
• Air filter element - Malossi Double Red sponge air filter inside the standard box. Went with the double red instead of single as the area I live in is rather dusty, so a bit more filtration can't be bad.
• SIP metallic fuel filter to help with the debris inherent to any fuel/fuel tank. Any fuel tank, given enough time, will eventually get dirty and getting a jet clogged at some point means having to clean the carb, way more complicated than adding a fuel filter and cleaning it at every oil change.
• The original Vespa exhaust was in good shape, but the chromed heat shield took some scratches and dents from the crash, so it got replaced by a SitoPlus sport exhaust made by LeoVince, that is one of the best choices/compromises of a street legal sport exhaust that would mix and match budget, sound and a bit more power. Also, while it's a personal opinion, I think it's a tad lighter than the original, which is a good thing, every kilo shaved off is a speed gain.
Brakes:
I started with the brakes, as they were the first to get replaced. Rear brakes were shot, almost 0 braking power, due to bad brake pads, not to mention I also wanted more brake power from the front.
• Rear: Malossi Yellow sport brake pads to replace the worn out pads.
Suspension:
I was well aware that my front suspension was deficient, as I was hearing a lot of clunking, which I presumed was not unusual for a 14 year old mono spring-shock absorber ensemble (Vespa does not use the usual motorcycle/scooter forks). Only I did not think it was so bad, until I got her on the road, and realised that every hard brake led to a bottoming out of the front, which made me realise that the front shock absorber was basically empty. So, after a thorough research, I decided to replace both the stock shocks. And since everyone was praising Bitubo shocks as a better choice than stock while still maintaining a decent,comfortable ride, and I wasn't gonna race her, I went with Bitubo.
• Front: Bitubo GEV sport front shock absorber, with a 12mm damping piston rod, gas-pressured, spring preload adjustable to twelve preset levels and with an external damping reservoir, matched with a polyurethane bushing kit from Clauss Studios.
• Rear: Bitubo YXB race rear shock absorber with gas-pressure support, separator piston for hydraulic oil and nitrogen gas, progressive double spring system, 12mm damping piston rod, spring preload adjustable, matched with a polyurethane bushing kit also from Clauss Studios
I have to admit that changing those, really modified the road behavior of the scooter, it was a lot more predictable even on potholes and way, way more stable at any speed.
Tyres:
Well, at least those were in good condition, so the Michelin City Grips 2 stayed for the time being.
Electrical:
• Poweroad LiFePo4 battery (over 2.8 kg lighter than the original)
• SIP Mk II led rear light
• Led bulbs in the original indicator lights (courtesy of Leditup). Here it's worth mentioning that after installing the LED bulbs, the blinking started to get erratic (at least on mine, don't really know about others, meaning it would flash twice or three times, then it would stop), and while on other motorcycles you can fix this by replacing the flasher relay, the Vespa's is hardwired into the CDI, so it's a pain in the ass to fix. One way is adding resistors to the bulbs (in my opinion that just defeats the purpose, as installing leds is not only about the better light it's also about lessening the load on the electrical system, and going from a 1,3 or 5W led to a 21 W resistor isn't the way to do it), the other method is to simply wire a new flasher circuit including a LED compatible relay (more on that in part two, as for the moment I simply ended up just flashing twice when needing to switch directions or pushing the flasher button multiple times).
• Bossata indicator beeper
• USB charger with voltmeter inside the front pocket
• Stebel Nautilus Compact Mini compressor horn (the split variant which is much easier to install, as the horn is separated from the compressor). Being very loud really helps in a crowded traffic where car drivers usually pretend they didn't see you or they think they got prio only because they are larger.
• Copper Monkey light switch - tuned switch which adds the possibility of turning the main bulb off, leaving just the parking light, not to mention a headlight flashing option
• All the rest of the switches replaced with new original ones, as they working but the paint was worn out
Comfort/Accesories/Aesthetics:
• New Piaggio original chrome mirrors
• Moto Nostra, GTS-style, chrome rear rack with grab handle, replacing the original grab handle and the chinese luggage rack for top case it had installed
• SIP foldable passenger foot pegs
Installing the floor mat was a bit of an issue combined with the passenger foot pegs, as they can't go beneath the mat, you got to put them on top and make holes in the mat to put the screw in, but all things considered it's not such a bad thing. True, you can't remove the mat anymore to clean underneath, you got to just raise it from the front when you put the pressure washer, but comes also with an upside in a large town where you got to leave the scooter unatended, the mat becomes impossible to steal.
• Vespa engraved, rubber handles (new model)
• Ram mounts phone mount
• Vespa Italian Air Force stickers to cover the bad shape paint. Some scratches were still visible, but it wasn't that bad.
• New Vespa emblems, the old ones were either missing or in bad shape from time and weather damage.
• Aluminum tank cap
End result of stage one was far from perfect, but at least she looked and ran a lot better than in the begining.
More photos:
...to be continued...
* with many, many thanks to:
• George, Ionut, Nae and Florin from Evas Motor Cars that always got their hands dirty to get me out of any mechanical hiccup I got into, especially George who helped me put it back together on most of the mechanical parts.
• Fabio Todircan who managed to fix the carburettor back to an "almost as new" state
• the always so very nice people at Leditup, with special thanks to Catalin
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