Spec me a Vespa 125
- Thread starter growse
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Soldato
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Anythings better than public transport you ask me, i probably spend about 200 quid a month running my car, not including improving/ modifying it.
I could have a bus pass for £31 a month, but i save about an hour each day travel and don't have to sit next to smelly people, or chavs, or listen to screaming kids or their chavvy parents playing music through their phone.
I can just stick a bit of music on and drive to my destination when i like in one trip.
I could have a bus pass for £31 a month, but i save about an hour each day travel and don't have to sit next to smelly people, or chavs, or listen to screaming kids or their chavvy parents playing music through their phone.
I can just stick a bit of music on and drive to my destination when i like in one trip.
Ok, so getting free services helps bring the cost down, and £100 is very reasonable. I was doing approx 4000 miles a year and hence it needed servicing more regularly according to the 2000km service interval on a GTS. A Zip may have had a larger interval.
To the OP, it seems best to ask around and find out where your local dealers are and how much they charge for labour. if you can get a service done for £100, then thta great and makes it a no brainer. I wasnt lucky enough to have that option.
You could argue that even at £100, the cost if a service versus the cost of the scooter is very high. Its up to the owner to decide whether to look after it sufficiently, or run it into the ground and treat it as a consumable, which at £1500 you could argue it is. ..
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Indeed, you are totally correct. My Vespa used to cost me about £75 at a local bike shop and I'd get it done once a year. That included new belt, oil change, brake topup if needed, adjustments and various checks.
Stuff that wears out is the belt, which need replacing about every 5000 miles, rollers can wear but mine were fine at 12K miles, brake pads and shoes wear but mine had loads of life left in them at 12K miles. A belt will cost about £35, brake pads are about £15, not sure on shoes, rollers are cheap I know that. You won't be able to do the oil change yourself though, even if you're mechanically minded. Piaggio don't put on a sump plug so it has to be sucked out the dipstick tube. I tipped my bike upside down to do it. Oil filter was £3 I think.
Don't bother with TPFT insurance on a bike like that. TPO and spend the £200 you save on the biggest lock and chain you can get for the money. It'll be much more peace of mind than an insurance company that will argue their way out of paying up on the slightest discrepancy. I know that because it happened to me. After buying a big ass lock with a big ass chain and chaining the bike to something sturdy each night I had about 5 attempts of theft and they never got it. A big lock is much safer, trust me.
I don't think the engines can go very far though and 25K miles is pushing it in my eyes. Maybe look for an older model with fewer miles. Piaggio use pretty much the same running gear on all their range and the Vespa is the smoother more comfy ride in the range.
Thanks for the advice everyone.
I'm a happy Almax customer, so I'll be getting another one of those chains / locks. I'll check out how much cheaper TPO insurance before deciding if it's worth it. I'm aiming for <5k miles, so nothing that's too high-milage.
I'm a happy Almax customer, so I'll be getting another one of those chains / locks. I'll check out how much cheaper TPO insurance before deciding if it's worth it. I'm aiming for <5k miles, so nothing that's too high-milage.
Lol at paying £900 a year to service a moped! My ZX12r, known as a real bitch to work on, costs between £130 and £300 a year and that's at the Kawasaki dealers, although I actually do the servicing myself anyway, apart from valve checks
Looks like a fair few people have been paying a little over the odds. Servicing, though not cheap isn't all that expensive (especially if you find an independant garage near you or are brave enough to do it yourself).
£150 to fix a puncture is ridiculously expensive. £150 would buy me a new rear Michelin Pilot Power 2CT 190/50/ZR17 (which is not a cheap tyre at all) and getting it plugged cost me £20.
As to servicing the best bet if you're even slighly mechanically minded would be to do it yourself.
EDIT: As you're in London I know a few decent independant garages, both in town and to the west
SBK - Near the city
LJ Motorcycles - Twickenham
£150 to fix a puncture is ridiculously expensive. £150 would buy me a new rear Michelin Pilot Power 2CT 190/50/ZR17 (which is not a cheap tyre at all) and getting it plugged cost me £20.
As to servicing the best bet if you're even slighly mechanically minded would be to do it yourself.
EDIT: As you're in London I know a few decent independant garages, both in town and to the west
SBK - Near the city
LJ Motorcycles - Twickenham
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- Joined
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I think mine was around £100 TPO compared to around £280 TPFT. If you've got a garage then TPFT will be around half that, but don't be tempted to lie to them about a garage if you haven't got one.
I don't have a garage, but I'm still nervous about it getting nicked. A decent chain is fine, but on the street I've got nothing to chain it to, and if they're really determined they'll just load it into a van.
I guess i'll have to weigh up the different costs. I'll certainly check TPO out though.
If you've got a front garden or drive you can get it into can you put a ground anchor in?
I rent a semi-basement flat, so can't put a ground anchor in anywhere on the front of the property.
It'll be out on the road realistically. It's not a bad postcode, but that'll bump the insurance up.
