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Vespa Racing Sixties 125 scooter: Ownership experience

8th September 2021, 17:27 by Rahul Nagaraj

I had no idea Vespa had this colour scheme and one look at the gold rims, we both knew we this was it!

BHPian deepfreak15 recently shared this with other enthusiasts.

With nothing new to report on the Multistrada, thought I'd take this opportunity to introduce you to an addition of its Italian Cousin in the family stable.

Background

My Dad belongs to that group of people who grew up thinking Royal Enfield was the ONLY REAL bike manufacturer. So while he did start his motorcycling days with a Lambretta he ended up buying an RE 350 Bullet way back in 1986. He used that for many years and around 5 years ago somehow he thought buying an Activa would make his life easier. He sold his bike for a premium and ended up with an Activa. 6 months later and a couple of falls from the scooter he promptly sold it and bought a Classic 500.

Now 5 years later he has come to the realization the Classic 500 while easy to ride is a pig to manoeuvre around and for a man in his 70s thats a hassle he would like to do without. I firmly believe that at this age he shouldnt be riding around on a two wheeler but instead a small city run-around hatch is the need of the hour. However in his eyes cars (no matter how small) are a luxury and inconvenience.

Since he had a bad experience with the Activa (I attribute it to the tiny wheels and almost no rake) I decided to take him scooter shopping and a larger wheel size was my biggest criteria. With that in mind took him to the local TVS dealer to check out the Jupiter. Surprisingly he hated the Jupiter (looks) and headed straight for the Ntorq. This was a promising turn of events, if he liked the Ntorq then there was hope me might be ok with the Aprilia SR160, with proper suspension and 14" rims it might be the best thing to transition into from a motorcycle. Sadly he felt it was too sporty but agreed to test ride the SXR160. I guess he felt it was too bulky and the fact that the handle bar moves independent of the front head unit must have put him off. We were stepping out of the showroom when we both saw this standing.

I had no idea Vespa had this colour scheme and one look at the gold rims, we both knew we this was it! So without much ado promptly bought the scooter

Buying Experience

Initially it was a bit strange, while they were obliging and happy to give him a test ride when it came to asking for the price they seemed clueless and said the new price list for the month of August hadn't come and they would let me know. I waited for a day but no news, so I called the Vespa India helpline and told them I really wanted to buy the scooter but the dealer wasn't billing it. They promptly conferenced the call with the dealer and I had the quotation in 5 minutes. Things ran smoothly from there on. Promptly paid up (~ 1.48 Lakhs) and the vehicle was delivered the next day. I had no idea scooters are so expensive these days, I almost choked when I was told the Ntorq was 1.10 Lakhs on road.

Young chap with a great attitude. He followed up on all the paper work and even though it only took a day kept in touch with progress updates and overall made the experience very premium.

Vespa Racing Sixties (125)

Powered by a 125cc 9.92PS engine this variant should do the job. The only reason we didn't consider the 150cc was because it came with a 30 day waiting period

Truth be told the rims was what triggered the purchase. There is something exotic about an Italian with Golden rims.

The Italians know how to pull of beauty in symmetry.

This scooter is based on the SXL variant (rectangle headlight)

What started with a hunt for a scooter with large dia rims we ended up with a weird combination (10'' rear and 11" front). Luckily we know someone who deals in tyres.

The suspension looks beefy but these are early days so no real feedback. By law vehicles below 150cc need to have combi braking system and I hate that system but if we needed ABS had to wait for 30days.

The Centre hump won't allow you to carry much there, but I'm happy. At least that will ensure the vehicle is not treated like a goods vehicle.

For reference a size 9 shoe, looks like there is decent room.

Though the pillion foot position always fouls with the rider's legs when manoeuvring with legs down. There has to be some logic behind this but beats me.

The rear-view mirror design isn't great and has very limited adjustability.

The left hand side controls include High/low beam switch (engagement is via some quirky Italian design you have to pull it with your thumb, not press), Indicators and horn.

And the right hand side includes a Mode button (for the tripmeter, no engine modes), DRL/Headlight toggle and the start button. There is no brake lever lock. I think this is a miss from Vespa.