SCOOTISSIMO ~ For the Love of Scooters!

You can't always get what you want

The GS Super Sport

Known as the SS180 Super Sport

Piaggio came out with this robust model in 1964, read more about it here at pistonported.com

http://216.32.198.134/history180SS.htm

I've never been what you'd call a purist when it comes to the Vespa, but I did always have my poster model that I wanted. The elusive GS seemed to be the much sought after model by Vespa people everywhere dreaming of their favourite or most desired scooter. It was on my list (still is I guess) for many years but having recently purchased a '67 SS180 I think I can safely say, this is it. I love her and from what I have read over the years she will treat me to some great power and reliable performance when I finally get her up and running and tuned properly, including replacing all dodgey bits for NOS if I can find it. Luckily I have established a big network of scooter parts suppliers worldwide for my parts business so I am hoping that finding crucial bits and bobs won't be too hard. I am very lucky to have found an SS in this condition, albeit under some shitty cheapo chrome and 2 tone paintjob, but the bits I need to be working well are all fine and the work is mostly fiddling with electrics and updating things I need to be A1 for safety, like brakes, cables, lights, tyres and that's all pretty easy for this scooterchick to handle :)

more to come

A new scooter, It was meant to be.

This scooter thing is a real disease. You get the bug badly and if you are lucky enough to be able to stop yourself at one, all power to you! Hasn't worked for me. I'm hooked.

Let me introduce Sophia, a '67 SS180 in fairly good nic for an import. I'm doing a bit of a rebirth with her so expect it to take some time but was very happily surprised with the overall condition and fundamental running gear all fantastic. (note here, if the fundamentals are buggered I'd recommend that you didn't attempt a resto-too hard!)

So the price was right, the colour is my favourite in the world (that lovely cobalt blue) and its a 1967 SS just like me!! (born in 67 and my initials are SS) It was meant to be!! :)

So another project has started, great for winter and in lead up to my dream trip to Italy- planned for September or October when the weather is great and scooting through Tuscany will be a dream. I've found the Vespa Hire place, but at $66 euro a day I've been haggling! :) I have friends over there (Hi Zayney) who say they can find me an older vespa to 'borrow' for a few weeks but will see what they come up with first i think!

Stay tuned for the trip plan- will add it all here as I make decisions about where I'm staying etc

I'll be centering around this lovely quaint area of Italy, staying near here-Montalcino- as I have has dreams of riding through those avenues of pines since I was about 18! :)

Staying in agriturismo as it's cheap and gorgeous!

The SS

First step, getting rid of the inappropriate chrome!

As you can never trust what fuel mix the previous owner has used or how much they have cared for the fuel system, my first job with a new scooter (before I even try to kick it over for the first time) is to empty the fuel tank and check it out.

You may not like what you find!

This is what was left after the fuel came out! Ick!

So it's pointless cleaning the tank and renewing the fuelcock filters etc if you don't go through the entire sytem from woe to go so I renewed the old fuel line, filters and float as it was flooding the carb due to a small hole allowing fuel in making it too heavy to engage float needle, hence too much fuel and then moved on to the engine....

Systematically checking all the other crucial bits and pieces for wear and tear

Get ready for the big clean

I love a good winter project, I have to order some parts & will be spending lots of cold hours in the workshop over the next month or so but it will be a dream when I can roll her out of the shed when it's done.

Parts needed (that I know of so far)

gear sleeve washer

oil seals as is running very rich for no real reason

front wheel bearings

carb gasket set and maybe new needle?

Air filter (might put a foam pod in there yet?)

Points set

front and rear badges just to make her look right

Scooters go into Hibernation

Brrrr, Winter is here and the scooters don't come out of the shed much until about September :(

We've had lots of scootin' weather but also some days where it just was way too hot to do anything but those days have great cool evenings which makes scooting very enjoyable.

I have 3 scooters to keep me busy over winter, lots of jobs to do so stay tuned for the headaches I will no doubt endure! :)

New Scooter!

Friday 29th Feb 2008

Well I am so excited about my new scooter, just one drawback really, I am here in Portland and Francesca is still in Coffs Harbour- but as Granny always told me, good things come to those who wait.

I have to credit a scooter mate of mine in Cairns for christening her Francesca, I had chosen Arabella as it meant 'answered prayer' but the new name suits better for a couple of reasons.

I emailed Marco to show off a pic and was telling him she is a bit of a 'Frankenscoot' in that she is customised and has many different parts on board and his suggestion of Francesca for a name kind of fits. Franki for short, which was the nicname of my beloved old 70's caravan that I recently sold.

So it's Francesca and Lola.....so far!

BIG things in Portland Bay

Thursday 21st Feb 2008

For the last month or so Portland Bay has been the home to this massive oil rig called "The Ocean Patriot"

They moored outside the bay when they first arrived and to see it out there it was awesome..

But then they moved it closer.. This thing is HUGE!

It's apparently bought something like $40 million to the district with repairs, crew and family accomodation, supplies, contractor employment etc.

If you are anywhere nearby and want to see something massive, make it quick- it's taking off soon I think.

The Scootache begins again

February 2008

I am in desperate need of pulling my scooter off the road and changing the rear hub seal and both sets of brakes. She's not about to kill me or anything but I have the parts now and just can't seem to put her on blocks while the sun is shining. I am yet to take delivery of my new scooter so unlike some very lucky people I know in the scootering world, I don't have a spare! :( but I hope to change all that in about a month, I wonder if the new brakes can hold off til then? Hmmm? No-probably not. Bugger! I hate that feeling when the sun is out but the scooter is in!

Oh well, been scooting everywhere to make sure I get lots of exposure before the need arises.

Sunday I was up with the birds and set off on a lovely dawn scoot around the bay.

Took some great pictures before deciding to go and have a coffee on the foreshore and watch the sunrise but just as I pulled around the corner to pull up the throttle cable snapped and I was all of a sudden stranded. I suddenly felt a huge relief when I realised I had some spare cables and all the tools I'd need in the glovey so I set about finding the problem. The cable had come away from it's barrel ended seal in the headset, easy enough to fix I thought- done it before.

I pulled all the gear out of the glovey that was needed for the job and soon discovered I had every cable other than a throttle or clutch- which would have also worked in a pinch! Grrrr.

It's 7.02am on a sunday, what to do? I luckily remembered my purse this time so caught a taxi home and grabbed the right cables and drove my van down the street to either fix it there or bring it home. The drama was over within about 8 minutes and I decided to leave my van there and just keep on scooting!

So all in all it was a great day when I finally got going, picked my van up later in the day to pack it up for work and that was the end of another weekend.

A New Years Resolution that I finally kept!

I had a dream.

This year I wanted to buy another scooter so I could always have one in running order when one is off the road. I had been watching a restored and customised vespa pop up for sale on and off online over the last 12 months or so and made an offer recently that was somewhat surprisingly accepted.

So.......I am officially a scooter collector!

"My Stable"

LOLA- 1974 150 Super

& Introducing

Francesca (thanks Marco)

(formally and very briefly known as Arabella)

She was listed as a 1966 Super but according to her numbers she's a '78 150 Super under all the customisation-but she's wider, longer, curvier and has all the wrong bling but nothing that can't be fixed as I have all the parts already in stock.

Lucky I'm not a purist I suppose...

She was a BARGAIN with a capital B and I am still grinning- thanks Dave :)

Now.....where to find an old GS?

41 degrees, does that mean summer is here?

Well, summer is finally here. It's been very very hot down here with days in excess of 40 degrees. Yuk. Real bushfire weather and even unpleasant for scooting.

She does love the warm weather though, she's been riding like a dream, starts easily and idles evenly all the time and the ride on the open road is effortless, powerful and seriously more emjoyable than ever before.

I have a goofy smile on my face by the time I reach 3rd gear every morning when leaving home. I love that feeling.

Although Lola has been running well there are a few things that still need doing and since the rebuild I have been too busy scooting to worry about pulling her apart again but it has to be done so will attempt it this week if not too hot in the shed.

Rear hub seals, brakes, fix horn and brake lights, realign front tyre (got a little wobble, think the rubber is on crooked) as well as a few little CDI jobs, add battery to rectifier and rewire rear brake to work in with system in reverse.

So it's time to head out for a scoot, theres a massive oil rig in our port at the moment which is about 20 storeys tall, an awesome sight indeed.