Vespa Geek

Vespa-related News & The Trials & Tribulations of Owning a 1964 Vespa

Conversion to 8″ wheels/tires complete

I decided to convert the Vespa back to the original 8″ wheels in preparation for the rest of the conversion back to original specs. I plan on painting it in one of the original factory colors and I’m now running 8″ wheels with blackwalls - much closer to the original equipment. One thing I do need to do is to cut down the centerstand because it’s far too tall now as it was sized for the 10″ wheel conversion.

2 Comments »

  1. auro said :
    October 29, 2009 at 8:48 am

    hey - does it mean it has a px engine inside?
    why go back to 8″? I understand getting it back to original conditions, but it mostly depends on what kind of usage you’re gonna do of it - specifically, if you’d have to use it for long trips, 8″ is not great, is it?

    enjoy, a.

  2. vespageek said :
    October 29, 2009 at 9:15 am

    Well, the “conversion” was really just swapping out the wheels. Turns out, although there were 10″ wheels on there, that was the extent of the conversion. The gears and brakes are/were still set up for 8″. I like the look of the 8″ wheels on there better than the 10″, and I don’t ride it all that far in one go - although I’d like to. I’ve had reliability issues with it in past months, so I’ve been hesitant to ride is anywhere near as far as the 10-12 mi to my work.

    Stock 150cc motor in it, although I’m thinking of picking up a 150 Bajaj motor with 177 kit on it. Not sure if that will make a whole lot of diff or not.

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