Anyone ever seen this guy?

[gumshoe4]

That's awesome...

[Wolfgang55]

I lived in Europe in the early 60s.
A long distance rider, on an NSU 50cc moped looking scooter, road us to the main gate of the USNaval Base Rota Spain.
He came from Germany & wanted to see where he had been during the Spanish Civil War. That was quite a ride for that old guy & on that old 50cc smoker.
Always think of that guy, whenever I wonder if I can make a challenging ride.

This rider, on his Vespa, is of the same spirit.

[ruckuschick]

Followed a guy riding a Ruckus 50 across the US (Wan) and met up with him here in AZ for lunch. Gotta really respect someone who can ride a 50cc scooter across the US. Makes me feel ashamed a week can go by without me even taking my rides outta the garage.

[Domromer]

Another inmate blogged about this fellow http://californiascooterco.com/blog/

[kiznile]

The thought of an epic ride on a scooter intrigues me. However I'm far to fond of my wife and 15 mo old son to leave...lol

[Old_Lion]

http://www.vespanda.com/viaggipassati.html

Lots of pics at google images. Type in vespanda

Many decades ago my girlfriend (now my wife of 55 years) and I traveled
all over in the Netherlands and Germany on a 50cc moped which looked
like a motorcycle.

Something like this (ours was a Batavus)



Batavus


George

[delftvanp]

Yes , I did have one of those when I was in the moped thing.
In holland you had to be 16 to ride a moped, and top speed was a little bit more then 25 mph.
My Dad rode a Berini and a Batavus, I had a Itom, Magneet , and a Jamathi.
Lots of fun!!
Paul

[Nihon Newbie]

This guy is my hero. I spent 16 months touring the US on my bicycle, which is a very different endeavor in most ways, but the similarities I could discuss with this guy...Wow! I would absolutely love to do something like this one day. Maybe not all the Americas, but Western Europe, the AlCan...Something, and with no pedaling to do, ha!

[conchscooter]

My best trip in decades of riding all over the place was around the US on a P200 in 1981. I have always considered the Vespa to be the best adventure ride since then. A solid simple engine, forced air cooled, direct drive, a spare wheel and lots of rational luggage loading possibilities plus the fact the whole shebang only weighs 230 pounds and you don't have to cock a leg to get on board...make it a great tourer as long as a top speed of 65 on the level with no headwinds is enough.

I just bought a 1979 P200 which promptly burned a piston. I had it rebuilt at Green Tree Scooters in Iowa and it is currently on its way home to me, ignominiously in a truck. I am looking forward to seeing if a rebuilt 33 year old Vespa is as good a machine as I remember. I may be disappointed, but in that case I still have my new Bonneville to fall back on and that has proved to be a great all rounder.

There's just something about the P series Vespa I can't get over.

[bmwloco]

I lived in Asheville well before it was cool. Had an illegal loft in an old Studabaker dealership. Met a kid hat brought 5 Vespa scooters down from Minnesota in a Safari Classic Buick Stationwagon. He headed off to Film School and I bought all of it for $400.

P200 was my favorite. Old dealership had ramps through the building to the roof. Buddy and I used to race to the roof. Miss a corner, blow through the window into the street two stories below. It made for epic scooter races.

I rode that P200 for a couple years and sold it on eBay (in the early days of eBay) to a guy in SFO who wanted a "Beater" P200 so no one would steal it. $3500.

The P90 had all of 200 miles on it. I had a local paint shop do it up... fly yellow with very cool tribal paint along the trim. Never even started it. I sold it for $5000 on eBay to a a couple Yacht folks.

Dang I love me some Vespas. And like old airheads, years ago, great return on investment. $400 turned into $8500, and I had maybe $500 more in both. Roughly $7000 profit, it allowed me to buy a Ducati 750SS and a R80G/S.

Ah, those were good days...