PhilipMSPT

iTrader: (5)

Can it go that fast? I thought the 200cc top speed was 70 mph at best (downhill at full tuck with tailwind)?

CK6Speed

iTrader: (1)

I don't like the traditional style scooters like the Vespa, but I do use a 50CC rated CPI moped/scooter to go to work. All are mechnically or electronically restricted to 30MPH by law. Most will still be able to go about 35-40MPH in stock restricted form though. My fully restricted CPI tops out at 40MPH. My old unrestricted Kymco brand 50 CC stooter used to top out at 50MPH. For a cheap $200-$300 you can add a 70CC cylinder kit and larger carb, plut retun the CVT tranny weights and you can reach 60-70MPH easy. One of my coworker engineers use had a 70CC kit and tuned moped that would do 70+ MPH. Anyway, I wouldn't rock a Vespa since I just don't like that traditional style, but I'd ride and do ride a 50CC moped almost daily to work. I get free parking, saves gas on both the moped and my cars. No registration or license fees. I wear a full helmet so I don't care about the image, and on surface streets 40MPH is fast enough, but I still plan on adding the 70CC kit and probably tune it to do about 55-60MPH.

Lil4X

It's been a few years, but I remember the streets of Rome and Naples being filled with these little Vespas back in the '60's and '70's. Most had a guy in a white long-sleeved shirt, no tie, and sometimes a sport coat on the front, often with a spectacular-looking young lady in an expensive tight skirt and a headscarf, balanced sidesaddle on the back. The ladies usually looked bored - were often seen applying lipstick and examining the result in a compact mirror - all while whizzing in and out of traffic at 40 mph. It was a scene you never tired of - a lovely lady performing an incredible circus act - usually three or four to every block of the Via di Fori Imperiale. Once they defined la dolce vita.

Of course Vespa's are no longer just cheap transportation, they're pretty sophisticated little scooters. And they're not so little anymore. Still, I think I'd rather have a bike - or if stuck with a scooter, maybe one of the more recent Hondas or Yamahas . . . newer technology, better brakes, lower cg, etc.