Some of you know that I like quirky things, that's one of the many reasons I married Linda...
But I digress.
I've see the Piaggio MP3 scooters before and while browsing through Marketplace, found one about 80 miles from me at a fair price. After negotiating a LOT more, I got it for half his asking price. About 1/3 what others are listed for.
This is a 2007 Piaggio MP3 250ie 250cc automatic CVT drive. Piaggio owns Vespa, Moto Guzzi and Aprilla, all Italian products. They had it listed at 14.5k miles and I noticed on the ad pictures that it said km behind the mileage. I looked online and knew that it could be tripped back to miles by a reset etc. Got it home and it only had 9,100 miles on it.
Did lots of cleanup and changed all the fluids etc. Had rear brake issues, the split rear caliper was missing one of the O-rings in the cavity hole. Found a couple new ones that fit fine and that did the trick. The park brake cable was also setup and after a bit of tweaking, got it working again too.
The muffler when off, had a large rattle inside. Couldn't get whatever out, so cut a hole in the side of the muffler under the plastic shield and it ended up being a 3/4" hex nut. Someone put it in the exhaust pipe and then it was trapped for good. Welded it back up and all is good now!
Do a search on YouTube about these things. The front suspension is an engineering marvel. It can sit there steady like the picture, but as soon as you hit 2,500 rpms, it unlocks and it's literally just like any other two-wheeler in handling etc. It DOES however give you twice the front tire contact for better wet traction and braking. No ABS on the 2007, but from '10 on, they all have ABS.
This is probably a bit quicker and slightly higher top speed than my '98 Honda Helix CN250. The Honda is a bit more comfortable for Linda on the back though. I have a new 8" taller windscreen due in this Friday. Right now I look about 6" over the top and am in direct air flow and very noisy. If I duck down a bit, it's very quite. Hoping for a bit more comfort with the new taller GIVI windscreen.
One a side note, a week ago I came down with Bell's palsy on the left side of my face. Weird that I have feeling on my left side, but just now nerve muscle control, similar to what Novocain might do from the dentist. My left eye does not shut all the way, not muscle control, and it get dry and burns. So an makeshift eye patch does just fine to keep the eyelid closed a bit better.
Here now in MI, going UP north is a BIG thing for holidays etc and going south afterwards is a nightmare on the interstates, I-75 to be exact. I found a newer iPad Pro 12.9" that was downstate near Detroit, about 130 miles south of us here in Clare MI. Got on the '09 SERG and hightailed it south. Traffic was rolling along around 85 mph and you know, without a left eye functioning, that fast lane is somewhat dangerous to get in and out of. But in true colors, I kept up with the flow and stayed mainly in the fast lane to save in/out etc. Got my iPad Pro and took all secondary roads back home for a nice relaxing ride. It was near 90 degrees yesterday and even warmer riding today!
Sorry for bending your ears. Haven't posted much lately.
By the way, my new Soundstream head unit is the bomb. In the terribly bright sun yesterday, my GPS Apple play showed up way better than expected on the screen. Sometimes I could not see my speedo/tach, but the radio screen was always in full bright view. VERY NICE UPGRADE. Yes, I had an issue with the amp I had installed and it was NOT working well at road speeds with the head unit. I used the RCA connections from the head unit directly to the amp and all is good again. So don't be afraid to to give the new Soundstream head unit a try.
Again, sorry for rambling!
Dan
Author
Topic: My New To Me Scoot... (Read 2335 times)