Discretion... the better part of valour?
When offered the ultimate test ride, sometimes it’s better to decline …
J oust when you think nothing new is on the horizon, someone only goes and pulls a 488cc ‘Twin Engine’ Custom Classic Vespa PX ut of the bag, and it all goes crackers again. This Vespa is like no other I’ve ever seen, and I love it. I don’t just like the fact that it has a BIG cc engine, or that it kicks out 56hp, or that it’s a frickin Vespa-twin, or that the whole conversion is largely reversible (though I really DO like that), it’s the whole level of engineering behind it. One man, a lot of knowledge, and clearly a serious amount of access to some stunning engineering trickery! From the hidden master cylinder, to the stand dampers and beyond, it just rocks. The engineering is on a whole different level. Yet to look at, the scooter is just sooooo subtle and outwardly unassuming. Don’t get me wrong, I totally get (and love) those ‘in yer effin face’ conversions and customs which are out there, no doubt. But for me, for my specific and personal tastes… it’s the street sleeper through and through, always has been, always will be. I think it’s something to do with that ‘underdog’ appearance, under-promising and over-delivering. I like that. Plus, when it comes to ‘getting excited’ about stuff these days, I think I’ve gone ‘scooter blind’… I don’t really see much these days which makes me immediately think ‘ I want one’… but this scooter does exactly that. When I heard that my deputy editor Stan had been offered a test ride on it, but turned it down… I strongly reconsidered his employment for a minute! But he did qualify the statement with the background fact that he had had a couple of beers when the offer came, and the owner (Christian Mühlbauer) tagged his offer with the perfectly reasonable caveat: “You crash it, you pay for it.” Could I have resisted the same temptation? Hard to say, but Stan held firm, so respect to him for that… and Captain Sensible lives to ride (and write) another day.
‘‘ When it comes to getting excited about stuff these days, I think I’ve gone scooter blind, but this scooter makes me think ‘I want one’...