Scooter locks for Bajaj, Stella, Vespa Ps

When you live in an urban area there isn't much you can do to fully prevent your scoot from being stolen. All you can do is make it such a pain in the butt for the thief that he passes it up and moves on to the next scoot.

I have seen people rely on their steering column locks. I have also see guys, at shops, that are 5'2 wheel barrow the scooter by lifting the front tire and rolling it into their garage when in neutral, because the owner forgot to leave his/her keys.

P-Series (Vespa, Stella, Bajaj) style scooters weigh approximately 250 lbs. With a pick-up truck and another guy in an alley you could quickly wheel barrow the scoot into the shadows and then the two of you could pick the bike up into the back of the pick-up. Will that ever happen? Probably not, but it could. And for under $150 you could probably avoid that.

A good lock for the P-Series scoot is made by On Guard called the "Beast" 5017LPT (costs $98).  It is pictured above.  You run the hammer arm between the front shock and fork.  As the bike rolls forward or backwards the chain will wrap around the wheel and lock it up -- unless of course you are lucky enough to lock it to something.  It fits the Bajaj like a glove when installed the way it is in the photos below (any other way it won't fit) and I am $1400 theft guarantee the Beast offered for scooters. I also tested the 5' Kyrptonite New York Fahgettaboudit (costs $150, but only offers $1000 for theft for scooters) in the hopes that it was long enough to wrap around the legshield and lock at the fork; unfortunately it wasn't.  In my opinion either lock is a heck of a deterant.

My research shows that On Guard is as good quality as Kryptonite and is a little less expensive.

Here's one closer. In order for it to fit, the lock must be facing upward towards the fender. From the looks of it it will be a major pain in the butt to bust up the lock without totally damaging the scooter, which I think thieves would want to avoid.

Below are pictures of how the lock looks installed on a Chetak. Remember a Vespa P or Stella would accept this lock as well.

Additionally -- as a second lock only -- it would be wise to get a long cable clock and run it tight around your legshield and lock that to the Beast lock as well so that the headset could not be turned freely without removing the cable.

Traveling with your scooter

My wife and I have traveled with our scooters a bit . . . to rallies and such. We often borrowed a trailer from a friend or rented a $25 U-Hual motorcycle trailer. I use to have to drive our scooters into Philly for tune-ups and learned quickly that it's not all that easy to tie down your scooter (NEVER USE YOUR KICK STAND -- compress the suspension & leave your kick stand up) with certain equipment. So I figured I'd tell you the equipment you need.There are two types of motorcycle tie down straps: (1) ratchet or (2) cambuckle. My preference is the cambuckle, but I must stress that you get what you pay for with either of these. I am not a fan of the Home Depot or Lowes straps as I have not had good luck with them. If I am looking for inexpensive ratchet straps I go to Costco. You want heavy duty quality.

Ratchet straps -- if you use a lower quality ratchet make sure that with the loose line you tie a knot at the base of the ratchet as it will build up a small amount of slack and then begin to slip and your scooter will start to lean in the trailer behind you over time as you cruise down the highway. Trust me on this one. The other pain in the butt is de-tangling them. It sucks. I probably have 3-4 hours invested over the years in getting the knots out.

Cambuckle straps -- my buddy Ted has a set that is about 3" wide and you give a nice pull on each side and the bike locks in place beautifully. It took us 5 minutes to have the scooter loaded and tied down in the back of his truck, whereas ratchets always took me so much longer. There was no excess in the strap. It was nice and clean and ever so sturdy. Similar to the cambuckle straps pictured above, but wider and shorter straps.

I also purchased Canyon Dancer "Handle Bar Harnesses" and feel that my scoots are so much safer and sturdier in a trailer or a truck because of the Canyon Dancer. This was a great investment. It makes traveling with your scoots easier too.

The last thing you will want is a wheel chock to lock the front tire in place, whether in a truck or a trailer. You have a ton of options. Economy ones look like these from Harbor Freight Tools:

The one above is my preference for when you are in a trailer.  Just screw it into the wood base.


These are fold-able and are small.  Great for in the back of your truck.  You can stash them under the seat when you aren't using them.
You could make something like this out of wood if you prefer.

With a Canyon Dancer, two straps, and wheel chock you will have easy installs of your scoot and super safe travels.

Of course, you can do all this stuff on a budget, for example, two small pieces of 2x4 will make a great wheel chock in the back of your truck.  You can buy cambuckles and straps separately and bring it to your local shoe repair shop and ask him to use his heavy industrial sewing machine to sew the straps -- usually $1 per stitched area.  This allows you to make heavy-duty straps at a fraction of the cost.

Best Buy Ramp for $50

Heads up Costco is currently selling a PAIR of awesome ramps for $99 plus tax. Find a friend to go in with you and split the set or sell the other on Craigslist. At $50 you can NOT go wrong here. A ramp is also a useful thing to have around, especially at this price.

Stapleton, Inc. aluminum bi-fold ramp.

Details:
(1) Arched design ideal for loading items with low clearance.
(2) 600 lbs weight capacity per ramp.
(3) Working length 85 & 1/2" x 11 & 1/8".
(4) Folded size 45 x 11 & 1/8" x 5 & 3/4"
(5) Heavy duty safety strap included.
(6) E-Z to handle at 15 lbs.
(7) Aluminum construction.

This is a NICE ramp. I have seen it at a local motorcycle shop in S.F. for $150. Online it costs $55 plus $25 plus for shipping for something similar.

Folded it fits in the cab of your truck.

Hot Rod Al Pipe

I paged the Bajaj Yahoo Group to see who has a Hot Rod Al pipe and how it compares to Phil's POC pipe. The Hot Rod Al pipe is a little less expensive, but both are basically in the $300 range.

I asked riders to write a review of the pipe and include photos as well as a movie showing the speedo with audio of shifting through the gears.

Chris P., of Calif., responded and told me he planned to buy a pipe. I recently checked back in with him via email and this is his response:

"hey Jeremy, I installed the pipe today and it is awsome. It is loud but not too loud and I could real feel a kick in the horse power. I was also toping out at 55mph before 60 today so I am very stoked. I didnt get any photos of the install but it is very easy. I also did the tricks mod today. Hot Rod Al will probably not be making any more of the pipes so you may want to pick on up ASAP. Al is also going to a custom made 26 carb on it in a few weeks. I will try to send you photos and a video of the pipe." -- Chris

I look forward to Chris's review, photos, and video to share with you.

The story behind Bajaj

Below you find high resolution scans from Vespa, style in motion, which documents how Bajaj, as a company came to be. It gives a good history for you to tell every time someone asks, "hey is that a Vespa?" It does not address the 1980s and 2000s attempt to sell Bajaj in the USA.

Click on the photos to enlarge to read or to print.

190cc Bajaj Mod

Roy wrote an article on how he designed and built his 190cc kit on "All things Bajaj." Comments are posted there as well.

Here's what Roy wrote:

a lot of research went into this and those so inclined may benefit from this. first i decide on the maximum size that the cyl could be sleeved to this is determined by the engine case as it can only be opened so far (70 to72mm) that sets the piston size at (63 to 67mm) working with Marvin at Kustom-Kraft.com tel 888-697-4343 (tell him roy rhodes set you) we decided on 65mm this allows for two over bores if needed and gives a displacement of 189.1cc if you went the max at 67mm you would have a full 200cc. but no room for boring. the piston i decided on is a Honda ATC200 81-86 std size 65mm this piston has a dished top and must be machined down in a lathe also the skirt must be shortened this is also done on the lathe the piston pin dia is 15mm the stock pin is 17mm i machined a sleeve on my lathe and locktited it into the rod small end. the cyl head must be mounted on the lathe and a recess cut to match the new cyl dia this is then blended into the combustion chamber and additional material removed from the chamber to bring the cr down in my case 10.75 to 1 at this cr the electric starter just will turn the engine over but if its up on compression i must jog the starter or kick it past top before it will spin the motor. Marvin supplied a custom cut copper head gasket and i used 2 stock base gaskets to seal the cyl you can only raise the cyl so much before the cam chain becomes tight. and that is how i did it doing all the lathe work and cyl head work myself, is there a better piston to be used?, or Marvin said that a custom piston could be ordered but cost is a factor. total cost for this work was $380.00 but as Marvin now has all the info on hand the next customer may do much better also if you supply your own piston they can be had for less im using a ProX2430 cast piston which Marvin supplied.

one thing i forgot is that the engine case must be opened up to accept the larger cyl liner this can be done by stripping the entire engine and having a machine shop do it but i stuffed the engine case with shop towels cotton balls more shop towels and then sealed it with modeling clay then i made a guide from 2in thick oak and used a 2 3/4in hole saw to open the engine case up a little clean up with the dremmel and then remove and clean the engine just for good measure i flushed the engine with a parts cleaner pump and cleaning fluid and then did the final assembly.

No replacement for displacement

For a long time now I have complained to my wife and other Bajaj owners that I want just a little more power and I once even, jokingly, said to my friend Christopher Markley, of Moto Rapido, that he should build a top-end kit for the Bajaj Chetak & Legend. We even laughed about "super chargin'" the engine.

I also spoke with friend and mechanic, Mike Lawless, of Philly Scooters, about "turbo chargin''" my engine -- just need to spool up some air. He didn't think it work. He also told me, "Jeremy if want to go faster buy a new bike like a TS1 or something. Remember, there is no replacement for displacement." He was referring to the top-end of the bike.

Unlike the two-strokes, which have had top-end performance upgrade kits available for years from many different manufacturers, the Bajaj has had nothing. As I restore my Lambretta TV175 I will either aid Dean S's "Deanspeed 190" or the all-new "Casa Lambretta 186". My goal has always been just to rally against a stock Vespa P200. Nothing fancy. No race machine. No rocket science.

The availability of a new top-end for a 4-stroke Bajaj made a major step forward on Thursday, January 10th, 2008 Roy posted the following on the Bajaj Yahoo Group:

"i have completed mods to my 06 chetak which include boring the engine out to 190cc,10.75 to 1 cr, fully ported and polished intake and head, custom free flow exhaust that sounds like a hot sports car not a harley, racing cdi unit, racing coil, iridium plug, free flow intake filter, 26mm carb, custom seat, cuppini full size windshield designed for a vespa LX this thing is slick (part # CUP2445), 120-90 rear and 100-90 front tires on wide rims. without running the piss out of it (3/4 throttle) i cruze at 60mph sitting straight up and feel that when the carb is dialed in and engine broken in a top end of 65 to 70mph should be no problem. i can get the racing cdi,coil,air filter,and iridium plugs if enough people are interested price will be given but first i need to know if enough people are interested to make an order."
-- roythebad

Note: I going to email Roy for permission to post his contact information here as well as photos, video of his bike running (dialed in on the speedo), and a review of his set-up for my readers. I'll keep you posted.

Follow-up: Roy emailed me that day and said . . .

Hello Jeremy i am glad to hear of your interest in my project. i will be posting on the All things Bajaj site about how i built the 190cc engine you are welcome to post this on your site. first i would like to say that i have a very well equipped shop with a metal lathe with milling attachment, drill press mill combo, plasma cutter, mig welder, and thousands of dollars worth of tools all left over from my business that due to health problems i had to close. working on my bikes gives me great satisfaction and helps to keep me out of trouble i enjoy the work as much as i do the riding and due to my health i cannot ride as much as i would like (2 disks removed from my neck and 2 more disks ruptured but not removed one in neck and one in lower back) I do not own a camera or video equipment i am more a hands on mechanical person that likes to tinker but due to the interest in my project i will be buying a camera so i can post some pics the best time to have documented the engine build would have been while i was building it i probably have well over 100 hrs in research and hands on trial and error to get to what i have now, i could photo items such as my custom exhaust and the racing ign parts, bike etc and write about my building and running experiences. people can contact me at l r h 517 30 91 at a o l (I wrote it like this to protect Roy's email address from SPAMMERS), but please be aware that due to my health sometimes i am un able to even use the computer for periods of weeks at a time. the only items that i may offer if there is enough interest would be the racing cdi, racing coil, air filter, iridium plug, and possibly the 26mm carb. i will give contact names and phone # and email for the place that did the cyl sleeve job as he has all the info for this and can supply a finished sleeved cyl, piston, and a nice copper head gasket to complete the kit.

again thank you for your interest and feel free to wright me any time. roy rhodes aka roythebad