Vespa 125 - My First Scooter

Scooters, Bikes & Trikes

My First Scooter

In 1963 I was living in Cheadle near Stockport and engaged to be married when I got a job at Rolls-Royce in Derby. I stayed in digs in Derby through the week and travelled back to Cheadle at the weekends for several months, including a winter. I was offered an old but working 125cc Vespa scooter at a bargain price and I bought it. It was dated some time in the last half of the 1950’s and had had a hard life. As any route between Derby and Cheadle climbs to around 1000 feet above sea level it had to work hard with me and my washing on board.

After a while the ignition timing started slipping and the problem was traced to the flywheel coming loose on the crankshaft. For a while all that was needed was re-aligning and tightening and re-locking the flywheel. That kept it going for another few weeks. It got progressively worse and one night it failed high on the Ashbourne to Buxton road.

I coasted into a lay-by and removed the flywheel. Before I relocated the woodruff key I lightly oiled the taper and dusted it with grit from the lay-by surface before refitting the flywheel over the grit and locked it in position. It never slipped again.!!

The other major problem was the throttle cable seizing where it passed through the frame and snapping. The cable outer was rotted to the frame so was virtually sealed in place. My ‘fix’ was to fit a bicycle brake lever to the scooter handlebar and connect the other end of the cable to the carburettor. Very unconventional but effective once I got the hang of it.

I finally got rid of the scooter for about £5.00 to a girl who reckoned her boyfriend would do it up for her. I never knew how successful he was.