Velocipede

Here's what I'm riding around on at the moment.

My GSX1400 has gone to a proud new owner. She did me well for 18 months and I'm glad I owned one but I found that I was suffering from the law of diminishing returns too much and such a big powerful and heavy bike wasn't that much fun any longer.

I'm currently trying to find myself a decent Triumph Bonneville T100 but I'm not having much luck apart from unearthing deep rooted psychosis in everyone who seems to be selling one!!

Meanwhile, I've never been without a bike since I started riding on the road at 16 and fate intervened to ensure that this wasn't the first time. A few days before the GSX was being picked up I went to do some work for some customers who were moving to Kent.

Anyway the work I had to do ended up more than they'd anticipated (they'd wrecked an entire two floors' lighting wiring moving stuff out of the loft), their (uninsured) cat had run up a huge vet's bill getting run over the previous week and the bloke who had bought the scooter they were selling hadn't turned up to pick it up and they couldn't fit it on the van.

So, I ended up with a 1998 Vespa ET4 in burnt orange and every panel scratched, dented and scraped, no service history, a busted seat lock, 6 months MOT and 10,000 miles on the clock!

It got christened "Velocipede" which I shall have emblazoned on the huge barn door of a screen. Yes I'm keeping the little wasp for now at least until a decent Bonnie without a mental case owner comes along.







After a much needed oil change the motor purrs nicely. Following some excellent advice from Simonn, DougL and Jim C on Modern Vespa plus the imimitable JT ex of Thompsons Scooters, I have decided to give the little wasp a belt and roller change but today was a nice day for once so I whizzed out for a brief ride around before ordering the bits and whipping the cover off so I'm not tempted to ride again till it's done.

The top of Bostal Hill overlooking Steyning from the South Downs:-



Widewater Lagoon on the Shoreham/Lancing border:-



Shoreham Airport helicopter area:-



and finally one of the Marinas in Shoreham Harbour:-



A thoroughly enjoyable ride and definitely a case of "less is more". I was almost tempted to scrap the plans to buy a Bonnie and to get a 250GTS instead

Good scoot Ged, I remember last years trip to Tenby with Alice on her one, The straight through exhaust on her one will remain with me in my head.
Using little bikes is the future of biking,
A good GT200 would be my ideal Vespa (less electronics no FI).
Enjoy
Dave

Cheers Dave.

By the looks of the treacle that came out when I drained the oil it hasn't had a service for 10 years + It definitely needs some TLC!

A very enjoyable ride, though and the sheer lack of physical size is one of the scoot's charms.

Bloody nice bike mate , I can recomend the gts 250/300 its a superb all rounder and tops in town , you can do a feet up u turn in very little space and all the Vespas are fairly quick

My second scooter, and first Vespa, was a burnt orange ET4 I bought new in 1999. It was stolen and vandalised, and I still choke up a little every time I see one

That 'overlooking Steyning' photo is beautiful - really shows off what a gorgeous colour that is.

Thanks guys!

Phil - Cheers for that. I did ride a GTS250 a while ago and was impressed. With the hassle of finding a decent Bonnie at the right price I have seriously considered buying one instead. I think I'd still want to have owned a Bonnie thoiugh so I'm sticking with that at the moment.

Alice - Thanks, the scooter looks better in the photos. It is a bit tatty in real life but the colour is marvellous, what's left of it!

Ged, nice scoot and yes, I think I can understand the fun factor of something like that.

Come to think of it, I know where you can get a truly lovely, shiny red Piaggio Super Hexagon GTX250 (the one with the Honda engine) - 2 owners and only 12k miles and fsh - for 'not-a-lot-really'.

Tempted?

'Come to think of it, I know where you can get a truly lovely, shiny red Piaggio Super Hexagon GTX250 (the one with the Honda engine) - 2 owners and only 12k miles and fsh - for 'not-a-lot-really'.

I have seen this machine, if I did not already have scoots, I would go for this spotless beast.

BrianG