Modern Buddy

(Enters room and gestures broadly to crowds cheering and throwing roses)

I can't believe it's taken me this long to look for this place. But I think it's where I belong.

I've been on the Modern Vespa forum for about nine years. I went there to ask about Chinese scooters and yes, I am still alive. The short story is I had bought a new Chinese bike back in 2013 to save gas (a ZNEN Amore 150, of which I have many long stories to be shared around the campfire) and wanted to know more about Vespas because I was in love with scootering. Great place, lots of info that led me to purchase a '79 P200e (now sold)

Since then I have been through a few bikes, but the ones we have wound up with are my 2012 Genuine Stella 4T and my wife's Buddy 170i. The Buddy is a great bike, but there aren't really any stories other than "great bike".

The Stella, on the other hand, I have a lot to talk about.

But that's more for other threads. All that just to say "Hi!" I suppose.

Welcome. The Stella is a real conversation piece and a great ride, and still my favorite scooter.

Is yours mechanically stock, or have you done any upgrades?

Glad you asked. The purchase was a story in itself. Here's the long of it.

The dealer that sold me the ZNEN called me up and said he had a bike to look at. Some kid came to him with a non-running Stella he had to get rid of because he was moving and he wondered if I wanted it for parts. He knew I had the P200E.

When I got there I explained that it was a totally different animal, I couldn't use any of the parts and I didn't need another project to wrench on. There was no way I could take it home. He offered it to me for $250. So, of course I took it home.

I pulled the carb and cleaned it, as one does, and it ran fine after getting all of the old gas out of it. My plan was to clean it up and sell it for a crapload more than I had paid for it. At the time we had my wife's Buddy, the ZNEN 150 and my Aprilia Sportcity 50 all in the garage with two cars and six bicycles.

I was out tuning it in shortly after, had come to a stop and when I went to take of the clutch lever was frozen. Just nothing. I got it into neutral and pushed it home. It wasn't a mile. Since it wasn't a daily rider and I had other things to do it sat for a week or so before I got back to it.

I read that you could shift without the clutch just by rolling gears, so I did that up and down the road a bit. Sitting in the driveway at idle all of a sudden the whole clutch basket broke loose and it sounded like a coffee can full of nickels.

The happy ending is eventually I got it sorted out. The whole story is here on Modern Vespa.

I've appropriately named her "Tinkerhell" and have questioned how much time I want to spend wrenching vs riding. I had actually put it up unofficially for sale about a month ago, but after some careful reflection I think I've decided to keep it. This week. Here's why.

1. It's a bird in hand. No matter how much I sell it for I would just turn around and buy another bike, which will cost me more.
2. It owes me nothing. It could catch fire on the side of the road and burn to the ground and I've still gotten my money's worth out of it.
3. As much as I complain, I would miss shifting.
4. Anything else I would be constantly comparing to it.
5. The ride is fantastic. It's like the P200E, but without all the rattles.

I still have just over 2K miles on it, so unless the aforementioned fire happens I should have many years of riding left. My biggest concern is availability of parts. But I'll cross that bridge when I come to it.

So, to answer your question, bone stock.