Where are all the young riders?

 Where are all the young people in the scooter community of riders today?  Scooters are for the young and the young at heart.  They are relatively inexpensive to purchase and maintain.  While there are expensive scooters, there are many reliable affordable options.  Scooters were ideal transportation when we were young and they still are today.  So why don't we see more young people in our club or on the road?

 Speaking from personal experience, I had a 7 mile commute to my summer job waiting tables at the country club.  I didn't have a car when I started and depended on someone to pick me up and drop me off.  (I had bicycled the route several times, but arriving at work all red-faced and sweaty while donning a tuxedo shirt did not provide good tableside presentation.)  A scooter or even a moped would have been ideal transportation.  My mum was against it.  (She was denied her preferred VW Beetle in favor of the late model "Yellow Submarine" Buick that her brothers endorsed for her.)  I am the eldest among my siblings and had to set the bar for my younger siblings.  My family was not wealthy and my father worked hard.  I was led to believe he didn't have spare cash to buy another car, nor did I have an older sibling to lean on.  (The family financial situation miraculously changed when my sisters wanted a car :-/ ).  It was up to me to get myself mobile.  Having been summarily denied two-wheel transport, even though my father had been a Vespa rider in his youth.  I set about spending more money on resurrecting a car from the junkyard to be roadworthy than would have been spent on a new moped or small Japanese scooter.  I did learn to weld, wrench, and restore through this process.  Nobody made me do it.  I WANTED to be free to travel, to make money, save for the future, and to spend my earnings as I pleased.  When you live outside of town, transportation is a requirement for these goals.

 So I postulate that it is not the parents denying their kids the freedom of motorized transport.  Parents do perhaps implant a notion in their children that motorbikes are "unsafe".  That stereotype is hard to break.  Growing up my friend from next door and I built all kinds of motorized contraptions from parts we could beg, or pull from the trash.  So parental denial didn't really work for me in the end.  If you want to ride badly enough, a youngster will find a way.  None of these contraptions were road legal, but it got us the taste of what it would be like to ride a dirt bike.  My father just smiled at these attempts, but could not by marital oath, go against my mother's wishes.  (For goodness sake my old man is now doing the same thing we were doing.  He's now the crazy one flying airplanes and strapping engines onto bicycles at +80 years young trying to regain his lost youth.)

(My father, the Vespa rider from the 1960's, on my Stella.)

 My first day at my first professional job I was introduced around the office.  Stephen was my cubicle neighbor and once pleasantries were over he quickly asked me, "Do you ride?"  I wanted to ride, but hadn't been nurtured to do so.  Stephen said something to the affect of, "We'll soon fix that.  We have a lot of riders in the office."  We spent the rest of the winter finding a >500cc suitable motorcycle, and by April the engine was rebuilt and I was a happy young man.  It wasn't a scooter like I initially dreamed, but it had two wheels and it was MINE to ride with my friends.  Mum couldn't deter me any longer.  With my new mentor's coaching, I became an alert and competent rider.  The camaraderie of biking with those friends has lasted to this day.  Stephen doesn't ride as much as he should these days, but he is still the youngest at heart of anyone that I know and hold dear.

(The youngest punk kid at an Americade rally)

 Not a year after I bought my first motorcycle, I bought a bigger one!  Included is a photo of Stephen and I together at the Americade Touring Rally. You can see the stupid smile on my face.  I was living the dream!  There was nothing to stop me, a young professional man in his twenties with an engineer's salary could buy pretty much whatever he wanted.  So what keeps a young person from wanting to motorcycle or scooter?  Where are they?  They do not seem to emerge from high school drooling over two wheels these days.  As a young professional, they have the money to buy a car and an inexpensive scooter.  Why do they not?  Have they not been properly introduced to what a joy riding can be?

 Today's aspirations have changed.  As a young person if you want to interact with a friend, or the rest of the world for that matter, it can be done online.  Stuck in front of a mobile device or computer, kids don't have to leave their homes to escape and do things with other kids.  There's no desire to get out for an adventure and roam around.  Video games provide interaction with friends.  Video chat and texting provide lackluster interaction with other people.  Food is delivered, friends don't look one another in the eye when talking.  There's no hanging out at the community storefront or going down to the café for a snack anymore.  Seriously, I don't know how young people even manage to date anymore?

 The Disney movie Luca as brought the Vespa brand name and image to the youth of the world.  The classic outline of the Vespa is now instantly recognizable to children thanks to this movie.  The protagonists of the movie dream of escape and adventure on a Vespa, and spend most of the moving scheming to get the scooter of their dreams.  I won't tell you how it ends, but the impression left on young viewers is obvious.  I can ride my bright red Vespa past a group of kids, raise my helmet and shout "Silenzio Bruno", which causes the children to erupt in the same response with fists raised and cheering.  Likewise a more obvious attempt at gathering young riders is the anime series Super Cub.  How could Honda not have sponsored the production of the beautiful animation!  The series follows a lonely and awkward high school girl's life be transformed.  Koguma, the main character, makes friends and becomes a confident young woman because of her new found abilities.  The camaraderie she discovers is one that every scooterist finds once they start riding with friends.  This is the kind of media influence that the scooter industry needs to get young riders dreaming of two wheels.  Umpteen years from now, will we see a spike in sales as these young impressionable minds come to driving age?

(Years ago my son very seriously taking his cupcake for a power wheels ride.)

 There are a few gear-head youngsters around.  I applaud them.  Cheap powerful cars are available and scooters are laughable to them.  I'll show up at the coffee shop with a full parking lot, and still find a place to park my scoot.  The young boys probably scoff at me under their breath while driving their +200 hp rice burners.  As long as they are enjoying themselves, I don't mind what they are doing.  The point is that they didn't choose a scooter or a motorcycle.  At present we're more wealthy today in middle-class America and a comfortable all-weather car is in their financial grasp (or their parents).  Parents will actually go out and buy their kid a car.  I was appalled when I learned this was common practice.  These young kids didn't earn the car, they don't respect it.  I'll see them later on in the year, and learn that the car given to them was totaled.  It is a different world today, but I try to do my part.  My son helped restore a moped, that he can now ride around the yard.  He learned to ride on a Trail 90 with the help of his grandfather.

 I think we do very well as a group of middle-aged graying folks along with our retired friends choosing transport.  The kids look at us and how are they not inspired!  We're having the time of our lives and is it that they just don't understand why we're so happy?  Is it because they've been denied by their parents, they've been given a more comfortable alternative, and they don't view the freedom of the open road and adventure the same as we do?

 I'd like to see more young people in the scooter scene.  We've got children of well established scooterists involved, but not many others.  There are both older lifelong scooterists and new enthusiasts that have discovered the joy at middle-age.  People aren't getting married at a very young age these days from what I've seen.  I can't see that it is the care of young children that holds back the 20 to 30 year old crowd from scooting other than lack of desire.  They haven't been tempted.  They haven't been nurtured to desire the clean and fun transportation that a scooter provides.

 How are the young people reached?  The demand for good scooter manufacturing is driven by the market.  In a densely populated environment scooters are much more common.  We see new scooters as a joyful toy packed with technology today, but is that really bringing in new riders?  I'm not sure it does.  Will the promise of economical, environmentally friendly transport attract new riders?  I'm not sure that will do it either, in America at least.  We'll just have to keep doing what we normally do as a club.  Scooters are a parade wherever we go, no matter how many of us there are.  We wave, beep, and smile just to let everyone know that we are having the time of our lives!

Velocity Stack - Dell'orto SHB 19/19

 The original carburetor air box on the Vespa 100 Sport is a convoluted path for air to travel.  The thought was to increase efficiency of the airflow and increase engine performance slightly.  Air entering a standard straight-edged intake pipe or around corners creates chaotic swirling of the airflow.  These vortices effectively narrow the opening, making the air "fight itself" and slowing down the overall flow.

A velocity stack's curved, radius opening allows air from all angles to transition smoothly into the intake. This creates laminar flow, where air stays attached to the pipe walls, maximizing the volume of air reaching the combustion chamber.  As air moves from the wide, flared opening into the narrower intake runner, its pressure drops and its velocity increases. Faster-moving air has more inertia, which helps it continue rushing into the cylinder even as the intake valve begins to close, leading to better cylinder filling.

The design was simple enough that I could easily build it in TinkererCAD using its standard library of primitive shapes. The geometry didn't require too much intricate sculpting.

The updated design was 3D printed using PETG plastic, a material specifically chosen for its fuel-resistant properties and durability in automotive environments. PETG is naturally resistant to gasoline, oils, and greases, making it ideal for parts that come into contact with fuel.  To ensure a secure and stable installation, the velocity stack was designed to mount directly onto the carburetor’s existing threaded studs, eliminating the need for additional specialized hardware.

For the initial testing phase, a temporary protective mesh was fitted over the intake opening to serve as a primary debris shield. This screen was essential for preventing large contaminants or foreign objects from being vacuumed into the engine’s internal components, which could cause catastrophic failure during high-RPM operation.  While functional for safety, the current screen is a rudimentary fix. It provides the necessary protection for testing but a filter for fine-particle filtration will have to be employed.

The initial tests were very good.  The engine was running just a little rich prior to installing the velocity stack.  The first test ride provided a bit of a lean idle which is easily remedied.  The wide open throttle response was much improved.  There was no hesitation through the range of throttle opening.  The cylinder head temperature was slightly higher with the additional air being added.  After the suitable air filter was fitted the main jet had to increase 4 sizes for proper running.

Overall the project was a complete success.

Fuel Level Sender repair - Vespa PX and LML Stella scooters

I've been asked a few times on how I managed to make my Genuine Scooter Stella 2T fuel level sender reliable.  So when the opportunity to fix the sender unit on my friend's scooter came up, we decided to take photos this time.

The principle of the sender is very basic, but some of the materials chosen when it was manufactured were not ideal.  The sender works with a float on the end of a stiff wire arm.  When the float moves around the fulcrum pin, a wiper contact slides across a variable resistor.

The first step is to pry open the tabs which retain the cover over the mechanism.  It is wise not to over-bend these, because they are small and fragile.

Once the cover is removed, the mechanism is exposed.

The float goes up and down which moves a wiper contact along a nickel-chrome wire wound around an insulating material.  This forms a variable resistor.  The problem is that this insulating material is not very stiff and over time it bows away from the wiper in the middle.  When the nickel chrome wire is no longer in contact with the wiper it causes the gauge to read EMPTY.  Rather than risk snapping the small gauge nickel chrome wire and re-winding it on a different material, I have shaped pieces of non-copper-clad circuit board material into a fat "T shape" with the bottom of the "T shaped" piece 20mm wide.  The upper sides of the T are just to keep it from falling downward will be trimmed off to fit the cover back on, so I just eye them up before cutting them.  The final trim is done with a dremel cutoff tool.  If all you have is single-side copper clad board, just put the copper AWAY from the resistor.

It takes two of these to wedge the resistor back to a flat shape.  I use a file to remove some of the material of one of the T shaped pieces so they fit just right.  These aren't particularly critical, you can see I just cut them out roughly by hand using the dremel tool and didn't even bother with a straight edge.  The "T shapes" fit in from the top behind the resistor and should press down and straighten the resistor so its flat.

The resistor should be approximately 150 ohms at the empty position, and should decrease in resistance toward the full position.  If it doesn't read exactly 0 ohms when the float is all the way up, it doesn't really matter.  This one only went to 15 ohms, and worked fine when re-installed.  The video shows how we checked the operation with an analog multimeter.

Once the resistor is wedged to stay flat, the wiper stays in contact throughout the range of motion.  The cover can be replaced and the tabs gently bent back over to keep it in place.   This type of repair has lasted umpteen thousand miles.

In the body air cleaner for the Vespa Large Frame

Perhaps this problem only plagues a large frame Vespa with the LML reed block engine, but I've been fighting oil-fouling of the stock air cleaner since my engine was kitted.  The throat on the reed block is very short with little length to keep high velocity oil droplets from backing up, the stock reeds (Which don't break hundreds of miles from home like the carbon fiber ones can) have a bit of spit-back.  This spit-back oil is coalesced onto the air cleaner, which restricts air flow.  Umpteen miles down the road after cleaning the air filter, and the bike is running rich again.  My carburetor is tuned to exactly, that it can't tolerate any loss of air.  Even changing the grade of fuel is a noticeable change in performance. 

So the only solution I could think of is to move the air filter out of the stock position.  This gives two benefits.  It leaves space for a velocity stack on top of the carburetor, and also prevents any spit-back from fouling the air filter.

I've seen alternate air box covers which give more space. I've seen filter elements inside the rubber bellows.  I've seen the bellows eliminated, and a pod filter used to suck up hot engine air and dirt from the road.  None of those solutions sounded like a good idea.  I wanted an air filter in the body of the scooter.  The air entrance at the front of the seat isn't the only path for airflow, so using that area isn't guaranteed to be all filtered air.  Right where the bellows attaches to the body is the ideal place to put a filter.  The challenge is that this space is shared with the petcock rod, the oil tank, and the fuel tank.  A soft foam filter with some length and small girth could squeeze in there.

I made a 3D printed flange with a clip to attach to the opening in the body.  I selected a Honda CT90 foam air filter element and closed off one end.  There was so much foam there, that I elected to cut the Honda element in half, and still have more surface area than the stock P200 air filter that I was running.  The open end was glued to the 3D printed flange.

The inside of the body is coated in a foam material, presumably for sound deadening, so a perfect seal isn't really crucial.  It took a little bit to push the air filter foam into the hole, and get it positioned so it was open in the center.

The result is very promising.  The performance is fine for my 20/20 carb.

Vespa Smallframe SIP VAPE electronic ignition

The SIP VAPE Performance Ignition obtained from Scooter Mercato is an amazing upgrade.  No more cleaning dirty points, or points that float at high revs.  The engine starts with barely a half a kick instead of several.

The schematic looks like this now.

Sunbeam (Hillman) Imp Water Pump Rebuild

 I bought a kit to upgrade a leaking Imp water pump.  The bolts weren't the same as the original and the shaft nylok nuts weren't even the same thread.

These were the parts that were in the kit that did work.  The fan belt was reinstalled with 1" deflection on the longest run for proper tension.

Seal = 5303290 N8020 S113

Bearing = 6202RS

https://www.rockauto.com/en/partsearch/?partnum=6202rs

Project Avanti Super Sport moped

Here's the new project.  This 2001 Avanti moped from Monto Motors Limited (Rajasthan, India) was in a friend's collection, and it recently became available for adoption.  This is similar to the Cosmo Motors of Pennsylvania also used Monto Motors to produce the Avanti moped once again and distribute the Cosmo Stinger which was a copy of the Avanti Super Sport.  The moped uses a Garelli VIP engine, and has the two-speed automatic transmission.  Our friend said this was a very reliable machine, and it actually has over 4000 miles on it to prove it.  It has some modifications (a 70cc kit, right-side, inlet manifold, and non-stock carburetor).

This moped is a tubular frame construction, with a top-mounted fuel tank, just like a little motorcycle.  It holds 2.5 gallons of pre-mix fuel for a very long range machine!  It is a lightweight, attractive-looking modern moped.  Its been re-sprayed at least once and will need refreshed for appearance.  The body panels and seat are easily removed for cleaning and paint prep.  The tires are original and will need replacement.

A morning with a toothbrush and some cleaning solution have removed twenty years of grit and grime from the frame and chassis.  A certain future-rider got his hands dirty in the cleaning process.

The mechanical issues are few.  It is well made, and the electrical system is functioning.  One operational problem is the shift point from 1st to 2nd gear.  The engine has plenty of torque in first gear.  It would wind out much higher in RPM before it really needed to go to 2nd gear.  However, the transmission shifts into 2nd way too early and starts bogging.  We are eagerly awaiting new "Double Duck" clutches with a higher durometer material to go into production.  I suspect that the original rubber clutches have swollen and don't shift at the right points.

The handlebar clamp was a little concerning.  The wrong bolts were used at one point, and the casting was not looking great.  I fashioned a stainless steel cover to act as a washer and provide extra strength to the casting.

A leak in the fuel tank was discovered.  It was just a little weep.  A repair had been attempted using some polymer material, but that had already degraded.  Luckily everything was clean, and only required some roughing up and de-greasing.  I've used this trick before to seal up pinholes in gas tanks, and it works very well.  I got my biggest soldering iron, and some good flux and just soldered up around the whole mounting bracket.  (Yes, solder will stick to very clean steel)  No more leak.

The general condition of the bike was "barn fresh" when we picked it up.  Parts had been re-sprayed at some point, and just didn't look good.  A new color was decided upon, and we went into full paint of the blue body parts into a new color.  We think it is very 1950's retro.

PHBG 15

80 Main Jet

(Needle bottom notch, lowest needle setting)

262AU Atomizer

42 Idle Jet

60 Starter Jet

K&N Air Filter