Piaggio Fly problems, Fly vs. Liberty questions (and vs. Bud

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jasong222
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Joined: Sun Sep 04, 2016 5:37 pm
Location: Brooklyn, NY

Piaggio Fly problems, Fly vs. Liberty questions (and vs. Bud

Post by jasong222 »

Hey guys-

Apologies for the off-Buddy question, but ModernVespa's captcha isn't working so I can't register there.

And there's a 'vs Buddy' element to my questions as well.

So- I'm thinking of upgrading to larger bike, and I'm eyeing Piaggio. I had the following questions-

1. I read a while back, and my mech. told me that the Flys can be problematic. Specifically something with a filter on/around the gas thing, and it gets wet, or air gets in there and the Fly stalls a lot. The workaround was to jimmy-rig some kind of solution to make it work right. Then recently, someone ELSE said that this problem only affects 2015 Flys (and earlier, maybe?). Or that at any rate, any fuel injected Fly would NOT have these problems. I've tried searching to look this stuff up again, but for the life of me I can' find the results that I found before. So- is this correct? Specifically the FI Flys don't have this problem, or they generally don't have this problem any more.

2. I'm starting to look at the Piaggio Liberty 150 i GET e i ABS. Does anyone have any opinions about it?

3. Any opinions on the Liberty 150 vs. a Fly of comparable displacement?

4. Any opinions on either of those vs. a Buddy 170i (and maybe a 125)?


I have a Buddy 50 now. And it's awesome and I love it, and it does everything I want it to do except one thing- I can't get out of the city. Because highways. I want something that I can take out of the city once a month or so. So light highway usage.

I also think I want a larger wheel base, because 1. potholes at >35 mph. and 2.
bridge grates scare the shit out of me when I'm on them. I've asked around if a larger wheel base makes an improvement on those two things, but I haven't really gotten an answer.

Also up for discussion because I spent the last 30 minutes clicking through my local dealers....

The Kymco Like 150
Honda PCX 150

Ok, any thoughts?
NYC/Brooklyn ITH
2015 Buddy 50
And so on.....
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jrsjr
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Post by jrsjr »

Model Year,Vehicle OEM Manufacturer,Vehicle OEM Country,Sales Area,Combustion Cycle,No. of Cylinders,Valve per Cylinder,Fuel Type,Engine Displacment(s),Fuel System Type,Air/Fuel Feedback Sensor?,No of Carburetors,EGR - Y/N,Catalytic Converter - Y/N,Catalyst Type,Models Certified,Exhaust Test Procedure Emission Measurement Unit,ABT Engine Family,EDV Type,EDV Model,EDV VIN,EDV Engine Code,EDV Engine Displacement - cc,EDV Rated Power,Power Units,EDV EIM,EDV Rated RPM

Piaggio Fly 2018 - 2014
2018,PIAGGIO VIETNAM Ltd.,Vietnam,50S,4,1,3,GAS,155,TBI,ECM,N,Y,Three Way Catalyst (TWC), single-bed, closed-loop warm up,FLY USA ,ZAPM798G2E7000999,155,9.0,kW,210,7000
2017,PIAGGIO VIETNAM Ltd.,Vietnam,50S,4,1,3,GAS,155,TBI,ECM,N,Y,Three Way Catalyst (TWC), single-bed, closed-loop warm up,FLY USA ,ZAPM798G2E7000999,155,9.0,kW,210,7000
2016,Piaggio Vietnam Ltd.,Vietnam,50S,4,1,3,GAS,155,TBI,ECM,N,Y,Three Way Catalyst (TWC), single-bed, closed-loop warm up,FLY USA ,ZAPM798G2E7000999,155,9.0,kW,210,7000
2015,Piaggio Vietnam Ltd.,Vietnam,50S,4,1,3,GAS,155,TBI,ECM,N,Y,Three Way Catalyst (TWC), single-bed, closed-loop warm up,FLY USA ,ZAPM798G2E7000999,155,9.0,kW,210,7000
2014,Piaggio Vietnam Ltd.,Vietnam,50S,4,1,3,GAS,155,TBI,ECM,N,Y,Three Way Catalyst (TWC), single-bed, closed-loop warm up,FLY USA ,ZAPM798G2E7000999,155,9.0,kW,210,7000

Piaggio Liberty 2018 - 2017
2018,PIAGGIO VIETNAM Ltd.,Vietnam,50S,4,1,3,GAS,155,TBI,ECM,N,Y,Three Way Catalyst (TWC), single-bed, closed-loop warm up,LIBERTY USA (150 ),ZAPM898G4G7000003,155,9.6,kW,210,7750
2017,PIAGGIO VIETNAM Ltd.,Vietnam,50S,4,1,3,GAS,155,TBI,ECM,N,Y,Three Way Catalyst (TWC), single-bed, closed-loop warm up,LIBERTY 150 ,ZAPM898G0G7000001,155,9.6,kW,200,7750


I tried to whip up a little summary of the EPA database info for the scooters you are talking about for the purpose of a quick comparison. I'm sorry I botched the headers. :oops: Despite that, it's still possible to gleen some useful info. First, if you count over 10 columns to where it says "TBI," you can see for yourself that every USA model of both these scooters had Throttle Body Injection. Somebody somewhere probably has one with a carb, but the EPA doesn't know about it. They would put it in a crusher and hit the BIG RED BUTTON if they did. Not Kidding.

As for the problem with the thing around the gas that gets wet, I'm guessing that's a filter that's supposed to keep gasoline fumes (EVAP) from getting into the air. Folks figure out ways to defeat those with varying degrees of success.

My big thing between those two bikes is that I like big wheels because bigger wheels tend to fare better over the normal road stuff that I encounter pretty much every day. Same deal with push scooters. I got tired of my Razor scooter throwing me over the handlebar every time I encountered a cigarette butt. Now I ride a XOOTR with big wheels so I can run over a twig without requiring transport to the local ER. Same deal with powered scooters. Lots of folks will bitterly disagree with me on this, and they're right because small nimble wheels are part of what makes a scooter fun and cool. You'll have to follow your bliss on this matter.

Hope I helped without leading you astray.

Captcha isn't working at Modern Vespa? WTH is up with that?
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jasong222
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Post by jasong222 »

Hey,

Thanks for the detailed reply! Very appreciated. Gonna take me a little time to parse it all, lol...

So you're saying, essentially, that:

Anything listed as TBI is fuel injected, and that anything fuel injected won't/shouldn't have the problems I described. That right? That matches what I've heard elsewhere. But it's nice to see 'chapter and verse' with all the different bikes and models.

Yeah, I get the whole 'flickability' thing. But I don't know that it's added that much to my particular rides. I'm not zipping in and out of traffic very often.

And I do aim to get out of the city. And there are definitely potholes, and this will be along roads I'm less familiar with, since I'm not driving them daily. I think I'd just be a little more comfortable with slightly bigger wheels.

The captcha looks like it's expiring and moving up to a different version. I've included a pic.

Thanks again! (Until my next questions....)
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NYC/Brooklyn ITH
2015 Buddy 50
And so on.....
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jrsjr
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Post by jrsjr »

Glad I could help. Good Luck with your choice!
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