CHEEKY VESPA’S THE PERFECT ITALIAN JOB
In 1979, I was playing semi-pro volleyball for a team in Los Angeles, and one Sunday after training I read a piece in the LA Times saying that Levi 501s were the coolest jeans on the planet.
Being young and on a mission to be cool, I bought a pair, and have worn Levi’s since. And just as jeans need to be Levi’s, scooters need to be Vespas, the only exception being two-stroke Lambrettas owned by Mods.
Of course, there are cheap plastic Chinese scooters for whizzing around town, and at the other end of the scale, superscoots such as the Suzuki Burgman which can tackle motorways with impunity.
But for Italian style and elegance, it’s got to be Vespa, I thought as I walked up to the cheeky-looking GTS 300.
The Touring version has got some lovely details, such as a screen and spring-hinged folding chrome front and rear luggage racks. These can also be used for pressing trousers or securing your ham and cheese panini, which is Italian for ham and cheese panini.
Twist the throttle, and thanks to 12% more power and 18% more torque than the previous incarnation, progress is splendidly brisk and seamless up to motorway speeds.
Handling, with the scooter weighing 165kg fully fuelled and most of that weight down low, is light and precise, the plush suspension laughs off bumps and ignores potholes with gay abandon, and with 220mm discs front and rear, the braking is as smooth and seamless as the acceleration. With fuel consumption up to 87mpg, the seven-litre tank will give you a range of 134 miles and a week’s commuting for a tenner a week even at today’s prices, and there’s just about enough room under the seat for a full-face helmet, although obviously the Italian Ministry of Style would much prefer you to use a classic openface one and shades, in which case you can get two in.
Vespa has also tweaked the engine to double the mileage between service intervals and make it quieter, and there is something blissful about soaring along without a care in the world, imagining you’re biking through sun-dappled hills and dales of Tuscany on your way to a date with a young Sophia Loren.
Bike supplied by McCrum’s Motorcycles, mccrums.co.uk