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Posted by cf100clunk 3 days ago

The Vespa at 80(www.cbc.ca)
114 points | 98 commentspage 2
arnejenssen 6 hours ago|
This is a nice movie https://www.imdb.com/title/tt8885658/ (Enrico Piaggio - Un sogno italiano)
amarcheschi 6 hours ago||
I will now go off topic a bit. I guess that Americans might not know about it, but Pavarotti enjoyed driving his scooter. There are photos of him in his villa driving his scooter that nowadays might make you think they're Ai generated but they're real and very Italian

https://www.inmoto.it/news/curiosita/2025/08/14-8327674/pava...

xnx 7 hours ago||
Iconic design, but way too noisy and dirty. Article doesn't mention "electric" once.
tiew9Vii 6 hours ago||
Are you talking about a 1950’s Vespa or a 2026 Vespa?

A modern 300cc four stroke Vespa will use 3.3 litres of fuel per 100km and Euro 5 means noise is quiet.

As far as things go, modern scooters are great, practical, economical vehicles.

TheChaplain 5 hours ago|||
Euro5 also means >90% less exhaust fumes compared to Euro1 which was introduced 1999 iirc. The difference between a 1950 and 2026 Vespa must be huge.
xnx 4 hours ago||||
Great to know. It seems like most of the ones in notice in the are an older vintage and/or poorly maintained.
wiether 5 hours ago||||
Even the new ones are awfully loud.

But, yeah, they don't smell like the old ones thankfully

guenthert 5 hours ago|||
> A modern 300cc four stroke Vespa will use 3.3 litres of fuel per 100km

Uh, I know motorcycle engines aren't particularly fuel-efficient (it's not a priority), but there seems to be, er, room for improvement.

PunchyHamster 5 hours ago||
you can get some 125cc motorcycle/scooter and run on half that
cindyllm 4 hours ago||
[dead]
nxpnsv 7 hours ago|||
The electric range of Vespas are using the same iconic design.
shrubble 7 hours ago|||
Taylor Swift just used how many tons to get married?
gambiting 7 hours ago|||
And that's relevant how? If you live in a city where everyone owns a petrol scooter it's absurd. Can't wait for all of these to be electric, it's just common sense.
nickthegreek 5 hours ago|||
my 2022 vespa gets over 65mpg and I don’t need to move 2,000 lbs of metal to get around. I assure you it is better for the world than driving an car.
gambiting 5 hours ago||
...have I suggested otherwise?
mdp2021 6 hours ago|||
When electric will be equally practical (recharge time, mileage) and accessible (we do not have electronic money).

And the noise pollition I hear coming from the electric to me is a million times worse than ICEs.

esrauch 6 hours ago|||
What noise pollution do you hear from electric? You mean the noise cars make when they are backing up or what?
mikestew 5 hours ago||||
Whether stinky bait, or just bad sarcasm, you’ll need to up your game, this is weak.
wffurr 6 hours ago||||
> the noise pollition I hear coming from the electric to me is a million times worse than ICEs.

What are you talking about? The electric ones are significantly quieter.

aetch 4 hours ago||||
Electronic money? Electric vehicles are cheaper to operate long term.
gambiting 6 hours ago|||
>>And the noise pollition I hear coming from the electric to me is a million times worse than ICEs.

Is this some kind of trolling?

>>accessible (we do not have electronic money).

And is this some kind of joke? An electric scooter can be plugged into a solar panel and recharged within a day. For free. Even if every oil refinery on earth explodes you will be able to charge your electric scooter by the wonderful power of the sun.

Unless you mean the cost to purchase - have you seen the cost of a new Vespa? You can have two electric scooters for the price of a new Vespa.

And electric scooters have long ago matched needs of city users in terms of range. Recharge time isn't as fast as petrol, sure, but people tend not to drive scooters for 500 miles in a day. You drive it to work, drive it back, plug it in. Or charge during the day using solar.

Or you know, for really crazy sci-fi ideas just look at china, where electric scooters with swappable batteries are extremely common. Even if you work as a food delivery driver you can have a fresh fully charged battery in less time than it would take you to fill up with petrol.

pjmlp 7 hours ago||
Maybe because not everyone cares, while the planet gets destroyed with wars, private jets and AI centers?
otabdeveloper4 7 hours ago||
Noise pollution is a different issue than "saving the planet".
pjmlp 7 hours ago||
That is only an issue when driving 50cc and applies to all of them, regardless of which kind of motorbike.

Or those that love "tuning" taking the noise filters out of the escapes.

stefan_ 6 hours ago||
Yes, all of them are terrible and should have ceased to exist 10 years ago? Now is just the next best time. It won’t save the industry addicted to them of course, China has long gotten rid of them.
pjmlp 6 hours ago||
Well, everything is doable when following the same kind of government based "education".

Also lets ignore drilling the planet for rare minerals in the process, that China owns.

lormayna 5 hours ago||
I have a Vespa PX 125 from 1984. It's a very robust motorbike, very less maintenance and really funny to drive with the gearshifter. The only problem is about brakes: there are basically useless and you should be really careful on using them, especially if you are driving on wet road. Bad brakes and small wheels is a terrible combination.

Probably the main regret to WFH is not using my Vespa anymore as I did when I was going everyday in the office.

mulmen 2 hours ago||
I love Vespas. I have a bunch of old Hondas that are amazing for different reasons but they’re all motorcycles so people will randomly try to kill me to prove a point. But on a Vespa you can do anything and people will just smile and wave. Literally everyone loves them. I went on a day ride with some friends and while they were refilling their motorcycles I just rode circles around them in the gas station because I could. Then I passed everyone on the highway because I could do that too. They’re hilarious.
amelius 6 hours ago||
The coolest thing if you're not behind them inhaling their exhaust fumes.
akmiller 6 hours ago||
…and here I am a dumb American tourist who knew nothing about Vespa’s and was just upset because I couldn’t get my uber and missed my train.

Now I want one!

jgalt212 6 hours ago||
Cheryl Tunt: "Mopeds are fun, but you don't want your buddies to see you riding one."
pjmlp 6 hours ago|
Unless you're in UK.

https://lambrettauk.co.uk/post/rockers-vs-mods-a-short-histo...

goethes_kind 4 hours ago||
Meh. I guess people like the style. The Honda Cub had far more impact worldwide and is a superior machine in every aspect.
TacticalCoder 6 hours ago|
Ah ah my youth! I had a Vespa with a 200cc engine, three speeds, from the 80s: this thing would do a wheelie in 1st gear. And very hard to control wheelie for the weight is uneven on a Vespa. My brother had a rare Vespa 125 cc from 1961 or something: when he left the country he sold it to a friend who still owns it.

Another friend of mine --the reason we all had Vespa back then-- could disassemble and reassemble them with his eyes closed, including the engine.

We'd go to flea markets and garage sales around the country looking for Vespa, Lambrettas and even french Solex for sale. Best find was not a Vespa though but a real Honda Monkey Z50.

One day I forgot to put oil in a Vespa and the engine just froze: cylinder expanded in the piston and rear-wheel locked in place. Somehow I didn't crash. I put oil (you typically had oil with you, in a tiny trunk), waited for the thing to cool down: it just started back up (!).

These were the days, thanks for posting that on HN.

P.S: it's really sad we cannot have nice things posted without having the majority of comments being from environmental-jihadists : (

herbst 5 hours ago||
I had a 50cc and also could do wheelies. I loved my Vespa, it was always ready for whatever I wanted to do. Sometimes 45kmh, in a warm day even 55.
perching_aix 6 hours ago||
> without having the majority of comments being from environmental-jihadists

Not to break your wishful thinking filled bubble, but those are very clearly not "will somebody please think about the environment" type comments. Plenty of people simply fucking despise the ever living shit out of this class of vehicle, just in general.

You really don't need to give two hot shits about the environment to find scooters obnoxiously loud smoke factories, to have a problem with that, and to be absolutely fucking over them as a result. Delivery drivers made sure of that in the past years. I'm sure it's much more convenient for you to just file it under your favorite political grift, but I assure you with confidence, the hate on these is entirely self-interested and genuine.

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