Broken emblem

The good news is my fender crest and "Vespa Super Sport" emblem are fully reusable. I just need to clean them up.

The bad news is my "Vespa SS" emblem, which goes on the legshield, has broken pegs on the back that attach to locking squares that hold them in place. It's a shame because the reproduction ones suck, I've heard. In an effort to save that emblem and reuse it I emailed Christopher M. and Tom G. Welding new pegs wouldn't work I don't think. I needed a creative idea.

Christopher offered a possible and great solution. I just need to confirm that it will not hurt the paint job at all, but seeing as it the goo goes on car paint I should be fine.

Here is what Christopher M. suggested:

"For the SS badge, what about just using the adhesive that's used to mount car emblems? You can get it at BAPS. Look out, though. It's nasty and stringy. A LITTLE goes a LONG way."

GS/SS Parts For Sale

Found this on www.scoot.net in the "parts for sale" section. I am only posting it because the photo may prove useful for you readers:

Description: Here is a lot of mostly GS 160 parts left over from my restoration a couple of years ago. The swingarm is highly polished and looks great. I had an aluminum spot weld done where the brake cam connects to the body of the arm and it is stronger than new and you would never know it was there. I have additional pics if needed. I rebuilt 3 shocks and this is one of them. The other is on my bike and has never had a problem for 2 years so hopefully this one will hold like new also. I want to sell this as a lot before I do single stuff on Ebay so ask questions and make me an offer for the whole thing. I also have a fork (Bead blasted) and other misc that I might add to the lot if I can locate it before shipping.
Location Ohio

Round headlight models

I have a round headlight on my SS and have been having problems with the scoot shops finding the lens that goes in the hole above the speedo.

Tom G. told me that an "eye" / "lens" is what goes there, but the shops didn't know what I meant and did not have the part number I provided them.

I emailed Palmog, who then email Collin (who Palmog labeled as the one with "the most knowledge about an SS in the USA" -- a hell of a nice compliment about Collin").

Here's what Collin told me:

Hi Jeremy,

Hiro in Japan forwarded an email you sent to him regarding US spec later SS headset parts. A round light 1967 SS180 headset is going to be identical parts-wise to a non-battery US style Rally 180 headset. The "eye" part you are looking for is a colored gem that the high beam supposedly shines through (though it hardly works anyways). Greg Clauss from Clauss studios remakes them, they are super cheap. www.claussstudios.com

Cheers,

-Collin

Ps...the gems come in Red and Orange. I've seen red on all Rally 180's and late Super Sports.

Floor rail kit -- salvagable?

If you have to replace your floor rail kit you have two choices:
1) Authentic will cost you $65 Euro ($130 USA) at http://www.mauropascoli.it/
2) Rally kit will cost you $39-49, but does not have the correct width and length to manufacturer's spec.

I was really hoping that I could reuse my floor rail kit and my legshield trim. My legshield trim is shot to hell. It looks like the bike had been laid down on one side. I will not be able to reshape the legshield trim and I am nervous that I can not reuse my stock floor rail kit.
The metal is very pliable and can be worked with somewhat. My rails do have nicks and scratches in them as you can see when you click on the photos to enlarge.
I suspect Eric planned on replacing the kit when he cut the rivets, but the bottom of the kit is in bad shape at a couple spots.
I suspect that if I cleaned them up and they were all shiny and pretty the eye would not focus on the imperfections, but then again we have a good chunk of change put into body work and paint and I wouldn't want my floor rail kit to give the hooptie effect to the finished scoot.
I really hate to replace parts because (1) new parts are not part of the scooter's soul and (2) it lowers the value of the bike when items are not original or intended for the specific model (yes, I do know the non-stock color of paint on our SS also lowered its value).
To put on a Rally floor rail kit would not bother my wife, the owner/rider of the SS180; therefore that is always an option.
The other consideration is the rubber for this floor rail kit is not sold any longer. I spoke with Claus Studios and for $128 I could have new floor rail rubber. I would need a NOS sample rubber for Claus Studios to replicate as well.

Here's the break down:
$80 for set-up (I would email all GS/SS owner to see if anyone would go in with me on this)
$8 per strip

This bike is intended to be a beautiful rider and not a museum piece; therefore spending $130 on the rubber or even the entire floor kit may not be logical for this restoration.

There are probably ten scooterists in the USA that would know the difference between the SS and Rally kits.

At this point, readers please comment below and let me know if what I have is reusable in your opinion and how you'd recommend cleaning it up.

Thank you.

From Christopher Markley:

"You'd be surprised at the evil that you can eliminate with judicious
application of several grades of sand paper followed by steel wool. A little
ting ting ting with some little jeweler's hammers, some cleaning and
polishing and you might be ok."

You can purchase the rubber from Scooter Works (Part#56779) or from Mauro Pascoli.

Ted's shop

The SS180 has had four homes since it was rescued from a an old farm. It's lived with Eric Hughes, me, at Christopher Markley's shop, and now Ted's shop.


Ted is a KTM-man or shall I say freak! He and wife ride and own a lot of bikes. Thanx Ted for taking in the VSC and helping with the reassembly.