MOPED ARMY

I’m slowly working on one too, but I chopped it in half. I thought that since it has the mono shock it might look cool with the seat floating out over the back wheel.

I plan on making custom forks from the original forks since they are hydros. I’d rather they be triple trees instead of the stem quill thing so that’s next on the list. The Black Pipes donated some dirt bike forks for me to tinker with, I just gotta find the time.

make sure the tank is sound, i had a crusty one like that and the tank leaked all over the place!!

My plan with the forks is to use the upper and lower yokes from the random dirt bike forks I got from WillD and Derek (thanks guys!!). I was going to make the fork tubes myself so I could use all the lower pieces from the original Si forks. I think the tubes would have to taper from a 28mm diameter down to 26mm if I remember correctly. By using the lower parts I also won't have to worry about the rim and brake plate lining up with aftermarket forks.

The head tube on this frame has a larger than normal diameter and it is short in length. I was going to make a sleeve to slip inside the stock head tube and weld it at the top and bottom. The size of the sleeve will depend on the yoke I use, I guess.

BTW when I cut this open I noticed that the seat post must have just filled with water and the top of the gas tank, inside the frame was rusting like crazy. I wouldn't be surprised if a lot of these had phantom fuel leaks inside the seat tube where you normally wouldn't be able to find it.

Alright, I’m making progress on it! After a gallon of PB, I got the handlebars and forks off. I planned on having to chop the whole thing, so I feel like I got lucky having it finally give up. Seized is an understatement.. Getting the frame all built, then moving onto the motor once she’s a roller. Chunk by chunk folks. Shoutout to those that have sold me parts so far, much appreciated 🙏🏻

No hate at all dude, I’m all at the vespa vibes, there’s too few of us!! That thing is probably an absolute BLAST to ride. That pipe has to make that thing absolutely blast.. You weld that up?

Also, what the hell was Piaggio thinking not doing a triple tree on a Si? For their sport model they missed the mark on that detail. I’m building mine with a Grande triple, I just prefer the look. Plus the plastic headlight is trash IMO, if I wanted cheap looking parts I’d buy a Chinese knockoff. Trying to make mine look like a cafe racer

That’s what I’m taking about, I’m looking for that 50+ mark myself! With a nice kit I should be able to achieve that. With regards to the mono, I’m going to do some welding to the sub to make sure that box is rigid. Feels like they skimped on the welds where it seems most crucial. Water tested the frame today and she didn’t leak, so that’s already a big win!

Terrible investment overall, but I love saving things, and it turns out mopeds are my ultimate vice 😂 Can’t take money with you, you’ve gotta enjoy life while you have it! Tell your friend he needs a Sachs since he likes to go slow haha

Haha if we’re being honest, mopeds are inherently sketchy. Motorcycles are way more safe! With my Grande, I’m not throttling out of any danger, and if anything, I’d be throttling into danger!

On your kitted Vespa builds, what gear ratios are you using? I’m looking to go 70+cc with a 9.5:1 and obviously upgrading my rear variator with an appropriate contra and cheeks. So many ways to go with Vespa gearing it’s mind boggling!

I’ll do some thinking on it then! I was also looking at the CIF set, which I’m assuming are decent. Half the cost has me certainly questioning though. I have a blank slate, as the gearbox I bought had some wrecked gears in it. Not sure how they did it, but the teeth were toasted. My Grande has a 10.7 so a 9.49 isn’t a huge jump if I’m adding 20cc+

I've been goofing with this bike for awhile. Definitely like the tall transmission gears.

Thanks! That was the previous build with the 65cc Malossi 13/13sha & circuit pipe. I currently have a Malossi DEPS motor for that bike, but the cylinder is roached & I need to bite the bullet $$.

Alright Vespa rippers, I need some advise on my build. I already know I am going to be dumping some serious dough into the engine, so at this point I am just looking for suggestions. I don't want to go through this build, and then be disappointed in the results. I've already ordered the Malossi MP One case for CDI, which based on the decision of utilizing a 46.5mm OR 47mm DEPS. Would the DEPS kit be worth the extra few CC I'd gain? Also, if I'm running a 13.13 SHA, what kind of jet size should I expect? Clearly this is all planning stage, I'm just trying to get a feel for it, as reeds and all the other details are foreign to me at this point! Appreciate any insight

I would love to do the PHBG kit for the MP-One cases, but it looks like that is pretty hard to come around these days. I'm looking at utilizing the 13.13 in the meantime. So you're saying since I splurged, I should "go big or go home"? If I can't get the PHBG anytime soon, is there a better option?

Great setup! I ran that on my old kinetic for years with the stock gearing and it was a tank.

Which gearset are you running? I'm looking forward to running a similar setup on a bravo, but I've also got one of the polini "racing" 65cc kits floating around somewhere... (edited)

I saw that, which has me questioning which route I want to go.. Think the 19mm would be holding me back? This started as a “I want to keep up” bike and I’m slowly working my way to highway speeds 😂

You’re not kidding! Haha I must be a glutton for punishment, because I’m having trouble keeping one on the road as it is. Speaking of breaking, I’m sure my subframe will shit out sooner than later. What’s the plug on the cnc’d sub frames? Looks like treats has been out for a long time now