Step 2:Next step is to remove the light and cell phone charger jack. Remove the screws securing the battery cover and carburettor cover.  Remove the 4 bolts securing the “met-in” box and lift it out to the scooter.

Step 3: View the seat/ “met-in” box removed

Step 4: Remove the screws and small plastic panels on both sides

Step 5: Remove 2 bolts holding black plastic to the frame. Remove 2 screws near gas cap. Remove screw in colored plastic at the body seam and the  screw attaching colored plastic to black plastic in engine compartment.

Step 6: Remove black plastic piece (with lid to gas cap) and replace gas cap.

Step 7: Note the flexibility of the colored plastic body. This will allow for removal of the valve cover in a bit.

Step 8: The part circled in red is the valve cover. This is what must be removed before you can inspect valves.

Removal of the valve cover requires the removal of 4 bolts, 2 nuts and 2 hoses.

The top 2 bolts and top hose can be seen in this picture. (circled in green)

Step 9: Now to the bottom right half of the valve cover. Remove the bolt and hose. The bolts and nuts can be removed with standard wrenches.

Step 10: Remove the 4th bolt and two nuts on the bottom left of the valve cover.

You will probably observe the valve cover separate from the cylinder head a bit. A little oil may drip from the now separated parts.

Now on to the trickiest part of the job, removing the valve cover from the bike. To do this, push down on the back half of the bike to change the orientation of the engine relative to the frame. Whilst you are doing this with you right hand, try to wiggle valve cover free with your left. Flex the colored body plastic (not too much) to make a gap a gap for the cover to slip through. This may take several tries, but you will get it eventually. Just think of the time saved by not taking all the body plastic off.

Step 11: Next get the engine to stop dead center. To do this you will have to turn the engine by hand while you look at the two visual indicators.

Begin by removing the three bolts holding the chrome piece onto the crank case. (note that oil filer is dangerously close to one of the bolts. Make sure the oil filer is blocked when removing the bolts to prevent bolts from dropping into your engine.)  Remove the circular hatch (upper left) part with a screw driver.

Step 12: Sandwiched between the fly wheel and the chrome plate you just removed is small easy to loose part. (see spring next to it.)

Step 13: With a 19mm sprocket, begin rotating the engine clockwise.

Step 14: The engine will be at “TDC” when the “T” mark on the flywheel aligns with the index mark on the case and the circle timing chain sprocket is visible.

Step 15: Select the blade on a feeler guage with a thickness of 0.1mm and slide into the gap as shown. If the blade will not fit the gap, the gap is too tight and must be let out 0.1mm.

If the blade is not be contacted on both sides, the gap is too big and must be closed 0.1mm

If its clear that the blade is being contacted both sides and passed through the gap with a small amount of friction, you are in good shape.

Step 16: If the valves need adjustment loosen the nut (see image below) and either unscrew or screw by hand until the proper gap is reached. Hold the adjusting screw in place with an adjustable wrench while you tighten down the nut.

Inspect the gap with feeler gauge to ensure the gap did not change while you where tightening the nut down.

Step 17: You may want to get an extra gasket on hand before you do your adjustment. Although the seal is rubber and reusable, it does wear out over time and can be damaged in the process. You never know exactly what you are going to find out when the cover is off so its better to be prepared.

Thats it! You just saved $100+ and now you know even more about the scooter you love. Now if you kept everything organized assembly should be quick and painless.

As some of my regular readers know I have a larger number of different motorcycles and scooters. So every year I have the problem of finding cheap and quality insurance.

To help my loyal readers and maybe some new ones, I have decided to put together a 4 step process on how to get the cheapest scooter/motorcycle insurance.

Step 1 - What cover do you need?
Step 2: Get your Quote
Step 3: Play with the quote
Step 4 - Renewal!

Now you might think that this guide will be only helpful to those looking to renew their insurance but you would be wrong! In nearly every insurance policy that I have had, you are able to cancel the insurance without incurring a penalty.

So even if you have just bought your insurance just follow these steps to check you have the cheapest insurance.

Step 1 - What cover do you need?

Age!- Are you under 21? then this will mean that you should only go for third party insurance as the excess will be massive. I knew of one young man who had an excess of £500 on a scooter worth £600!

Mileage: Don’t overestimate.. and remember its just for that bike/scooter not total mileage including driving. Generally my mileage is around 5000 miles for all my bikes.

Security: If you want cheap insurance then make sure you look at getting your bike/scooter off the road. Most insurance also require a gold standard lock so make sure you get one.

No claims bonus: On average a no claims bonus of one year can reduce cost by around 40% so make sure you keep your no claims if you can.

One of the main problems that i came across in the UK was the lack of scooter insurers, so you need to do a little research to find out what insurers work with scooters.

Step 2: Get your Quote

Get a quote via the main scooter insurance company. I like to use Ebike but you are free to use any that you find during your research.

Step 3: Play with the quote

Excess - Try different excess’s to find the right combination that works for you. Many insurance policy’s differ greatly depending on the amount of excess is chosen.

Haggle - Give the guys a ring and explain that you have found it for cheaper but would prefer to go with them. This can work… but i always feel a little cheeky.

Car insurance / House Insurance - If you already have insurance with the company you choose then try and get the price down even more.

Consider Pay as you go - Ebike actually allow you to get pay as you go insurance. This can work well if like me you don’t use all your bikes every day of the year. You can find out more at the Ebike website

Step 4 - Renewal!

Remember!! That most insurers will automatically renew your insurance.. so make sure that you have checked for cheaper insurance before this happens.

I got stung by this once, but never again!

For my money it’s the best as it is the biggest available with the soft backrest attached by wife finds it much more comfortable to ride with me than without a backrest.

I bought the black one that comes with the lights installed because you get the lights with it already installed for less than the coloured boxes without lights.

However, I discovered that you can’t depend on the lights. Apparently they are incandescent mini bulbs instead of the LEDs I was expecting and don’t last. One of them was burned out or broken within weeks of me getting the box. The connection to the wiring system - so you can easily remove the box from the bike - isn’t the best either as people would often tell me my brake lights on the box weren’t working, so when I transferred the box to my Exec I didn’t bother with connecting the lights.

The issue was due to the belt stretching. The belt width was still fine. Someone else reported the same problem at about the same time. You could check by removing the belt cover - the silver painted cover below the black air cleaner case. If you can pinch the top & bottom of the belt together in the middle (or come close), it has stretched.

If the issue you are having is due to the belt  it is fairly easy to check.

Otherwise just getting at the wiring is somewhat of a nightmare. Among other things the largest single piece of plastic on the bike has to be removed. To do that you have to take off the following: the handlebar covers; the part of the dash under the handle bar covers;  the surround around the rad; the centre piece on the front of the nose of the bike; peel back the floor board covers on both sides. Do not try this without the proper shop manual.

All of that takes two people about two hours. Then all you have to do is fix the wiring problem and then put all the bits back on.

Recommendation: if you’re going to do all of that anyway to fix the horn, buy a Stebel Air horn and install it while you have all that stuff off. The 650 horn is pretty poor for normal use.

After you remove the nose plastic, it is pretty simple to splice into the wires for power. You always want to make sure that your leads on the LEDs never touch and short out your system. I used really bright yellow LED bulbs that I got from a guy in Taiwan.

Since there isn’t really a bulb housing, I used a round file to make the hole big enough to push the bulb in and used silicon to hold it in place. Also think about using using rubber as well as a possible mount along with the silicone.

Remember you also have to include enough extra wire so when someone has to take off the nose to do something, there is no strain on the wiring.

“Hi, It started out as a Huffy Beach Cruiser that I bought at a Thrift Store for $15 and it kind of got out of control from there. The fuel tanks are old pump style fire extinguishers from the early 1900’s and has kersone lanterns from the late 1800’s which have been bulbed and wired for light along with sirens from the 50’s that run off a 6 volt battery and Power Wheels motors. The sidecar started life at another Thrift Store as a pull behind cart that a small child would ride in behind a parents bike and it went from there. The sidecar frame is wooden covered with canvas and sealed. I don’t know why I built it except just to see if I could and with a lot of trial and error I got what you see. My Very First motorcycle show I went to I won “First Place” in the antique class and won “Best Fabrication” of the entire show! I’m pretty pleased with the way it turned out, what do you think? Coming soon are pictures of my son’s OCC Stingray bike which is where all this really got started. By the way thats him riding in the sidecar in the Avatar while it was in the cardboard mockup stage”

After having a Vespa scooter for two years and over that time experienced several spills and slides, one of which resulted in a few days in hospital my father decided that I should have a change of machine. It was also partly because I had experienced problems with the cable gear change and clutch, and this was a machine he had purchased from me from new.

The replacement machine was a NSU bought from a place very near where my father had served his apprenticeship many years earlier. I thought this new machine in its red and cream livery was very flash. After the Vespa it seemed very stable and, with the foot gear change, much easier to ride. Provided I used the right fuel mix, it was very reliable and this increase d my confidence on two wheels. I used the N.S.U. for travelling around the UK as at the time I was working all over. I also rode it the 600 miles round trip to Torquay with a pillion passenger; all this with no problems at all.

Quite different to my experiences with the Vespa.

I used the N.S.U. for four years and then passed it on to my younger brother who rode it for four years and then passed it on to my younger brother who rode it for five years before he in turn passed it on to my sister who used it for several years before she abandoned it to go to live in Barbados. The scooter had by now given many years of good reliable service and was left discarded in my father’s garage where he kept his car. This was a converted hen cabin and was not completely weather proof. It was here the scooter lay for sixteen years until the land was to be redeveloped and the garage demolished.

I kept the scooter in my garage for a few years before starting the restoration which, as the scooter had been in regular use, I thought would be straightforward but of course it wasn’t. My first move was to make sure that I could still use the original registration number which happily was possible and it was duly re-registered. I still had the original Log Book with me being the first owner and also the original Instruction Book.

When I started working on the engine the piston was quite solidly seized but with patience and a long soak in WD 40 I was able to get it free. This done I was then able to work on getting the motor to run which was not too difficult but it sounded rather rough!

My next task was stripping the scooter completely sanding and re-painting the frame which was relatively easy. I had new control cables made and then I set about the panels. There was no serious rust and little damage apart from the front mudguard. My son-in-law did and excellent repair on the mudguard which saved fitting a new one. I went to a local supplier to get a colour match of the original cellulose. On a visit to the Kit Car Show at Stafford I had bought an Apollo spray gun which was ideal for the restoration. Using family expertise again, my other son-in-law sorted out the electric’s. The ignition/lights switch was past repair so an ignition switch was fitted next to the speedometer and the light switch was one from a Vauxhall car and to make it look like the original I made a plasticine mould of the original switch key and used Plastic Padding as the casting material and this has worked well. With everything assembled the scooter began to look quite smart apart from the seats which were definitely shabby. I removed one saddle and took it to the upholsterer in Morecambe a very reasonable charge made two good covers so now all was looking very tidy.

It now seemed that the end in was in sight but I was wrong. There was still a long way to go! The gears were not changing well and a hole appeared in the gear box casting where the cotter on the kick start had worn a hole. I bought two old engines through adverts in the Vintage Motor Scooter Club Mag and took these and my own engine to a motorcycle mechanic in Kendal who used all the best parts to make a good gear box, so now I had a sound gear box I could rely on.

At this stage I was thinking that I was ready to get it taxed and on the road though the engine did not sound well at all and it was difficult to get running smoothly. Help came from Derek a neighbour of my son who was also a motor bike mechanic and now a boat mechanic, who said he would look at the machine for me. Derek found that one of the jets on the carb, was wrong and he tried another carb which had improve the running but he also told me that the piston was in a very bad state and offered to look to the bearings as well. I had a rebore and replacement bearings fitted so now everything had been checked and replaced where necessary so it was now possible to take it on the road with confidence or so I thought!

My next discovery was a serious set back for I discovered that the brake hub on the replacement unit had worn on the shaft and whilst my original hub was a good fit on this shaft it was stuck fast, very fast! No amount of persuasion with a combination of heat, hub drawers and brute force would have any effect, and I was usable to get a hub without work splines. The only solution was rather drastic and expensive!

I took the hub and a spare crown wheel to an engineering company which had laser and hot wire cutting equipment. They were able to cut out the centre of the hub and replace it with the centre cut from the gear wheel. Because there was also wear on the shaft itself this had also to be changed for one without wear! Getting a shaft without wear was to prove very difficult. I had a good shaft from a Prima V which did seem a possible solution if used with the Prima V crown wheel. When the gear boxes were dismantled it was found that this would not work. Requests for a shaft through the V.M.S.C. drew a blank so I had to look again at my original gear box. The brake hub was fast stuck and attempts to free if had resulted in damage to the hub. With a drill and an angle grinder I cut away the gear box casing and all the centre of the hub so I could remove the shaft and hub centre. With great care I ground a slot in the hub section taking it as close to the shaft as I could without cutting into the shaft and then heated it in the fire. When it cooled I left it soaking in paraffin for a month.

After all this time and effort the shaft was able to be released and thankfully it was in good condition. At last the gear box could be reassembled by G.S. Motorcycles of Kendal and then tested and taxed. Now after years of pottering, a very patient wife and great help and advice from members of the V.M.S.C. it is again road worthy. I hope to spend summer 2007 riding around on a smart reliable

These scooters were often tuned with their own unique paint work and their own identity and then put out on the track to race!

One of the special characteristics of these powersports Vespa’s is that they all use the classic scooters small frame. After riding one of these Vespa small frames I have to say that for me personally they are one of the most fun to ride. The position of your legs and arms when mounted on the scoot gives a totally unique feeling of complete control over the scooter. This all helps you take corners a lot sharper which is the aim of any racing motorcycle/scooter.

Out of all the classic Vespas the small frames are the easiest and most suitable for engine tuning. The fact that all the small frame engines are of the same 45 degree angle design means that many of the tuning kits available for one model can easily be adapted for others.

The most popular tuning kits available are:

• Pinasco 75cc : Pinasco cylinders are recognized as being of some of the highest quality builds in the world
• Malossi 135cc : Most powerful tuning kit
• Polini 133cc : This kit offers good Speed and a whole lot of fun, not quite as fast as the Malossi but recommended as offers probably the best balance between speed, reliability and cost.

If a fun fast ride is what you want then I would recommend you look at restoring a classic small frame Vespa.