TheSamba.com :: View topic - Old school Triumph bobber/ Vespa, Lambretta

Sun May 17, 2020 12:58 pm

Like a lot of others here, I've been into old motorcycles as long as I've been into VW's. I took this Triumph in as a partial trade for some motorbike paint work last year. Seeing as I'm not going to have time in the near future to work on it, figured I'd try to swap it for an old scooter. I've always wanted a 50's-60's Lambretta, Piaggio Vespa, etc. I know next to nothing about them if anyone wants to help me out or wants to take me up on a trade! As far as the older Italian scooters, which models are best for reliability, parts availability, power, etc.? Also values, figure my bike is in the 2.5-3K range. https://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifieds/detail.php?id=2370786

Mon May 18, 2020 8:26 pm

Your best bet to get into vintage scooters is a P-series Vespa. For power and the ability to cruise around 55 mph somewhat comfortably I would go for a P200e. A great solid vintage two stroke with parts being super available, comparable to our VW's parts. Lambrettas take a lot more hunting for parts and are ultimately more expensive.

Check out and post your trade to Scoot.net, For parts look at scooterwest.com or my go to, scootermercato.com.

Tue May 19, 2020 3:08 am

Pez, that appears to be a good alternative for people to get into the scooter movement at an affordable price, Vespa P200e. It blows my mind between the vintage Vespa and the classic Mini Cooper prices going through the roof and they are not that special regarding mechanics. I guess when some hipsters declare something cool nobody can afford them. Both overpriced.

Pez wrote: Your best bet to get into vintage scooters is a P-series Vespa. For power and the ability to cruise around 55 mph somewhat comfortably I would go for a P200e. A great solid vintage two stroke with parts being super available, comparable to our VW's parts. Lambrettas take a lot more hunting for parts and are ultimately more expensive.

Check out and post your trade to Scoot.net, For parts look at scooterwest.com or my go to, scootermercato.com.

Tue May 19, 2020 12:35 pm

LAGrunthaner wrote: Pez, that appears to be a good alternative for people to get into the scooter movement at an affordable price, Vespa P200e. It blows my mind between the vintage Vespa and the classic Mini Cooper prices going through the roof and they are not that special regarding mechanics. I guess when some hipsters declare something cool nobody can afford them. Both overpriced.

Too true, once a object is placed in the public eye as cool or edgy the prices go through the roof. Eventually they come back down as the hipsters realize the amount of work it takes to keep one going. And that is what happened with vintage Vespas. 8 years ago prices where through the roof. Popularity had hit a high through media but also (just my opinion) gas prices had people looking for cheap transportation. Now they can be had as ridleable project for $1500 to $2500. A great example P series is around $3500.

Tue May 19, 2020 6:01 pm

Everything is overpriced. My last bus i bought for 4500, fixed up, enjoyed for years and sold for 15500. I seen it up for sale recently for 25k. All of my motorbikes are following the same trajectory, and I'd imagine scooters will be doing much the same. It is what it is. Thanks for the replies though, restoring old scooters always looked like fun, just never top priority. But the wife wants me to get rid of 3 bikes to get one new one. A 1 for 1 deal is more likely!