Triggers Broom - Here we go again

[Richjak]

I have had this scooter now for about 10 years and during that time it has continued to gradually evolve from a standard 1984 PS 150 (the first Indonesian produced version of the PX) to a cut down (rebuilt twice in 3 years) to a chopper that has also been completely rebuilt twice now. I first chopped this scooter about 7 years ago and after rebuiding it a few years ago i felt i had took it as far as i was able to without it losing its old skool Vespa Chopper identity. We have all been there, i was bored with it and fancied a change. Now that i am 45 and feeling a bit old for a chopper (read bad back) i decided that i wanted to turn it back into an old skool 80s style cut down whilst retaining its basic identity to save money on buying loads of new parts.
I could have / should have just sold this and started again but that would have been too easy and after so long i have become kind of attached to this old girl and really just wanted to refine and mature the look i already had.

I live in Indonesia and have been quite active building scooters here over the last 20 years. I dont want to get into the all asian scooters are s**t discussion and hope that this thread will show just what is possible here and dispell a few myths at the same time.

[Richjak]

I could see in my minds eye how i wanted this project to look, and sat down with a pencil and pad and started scribbling. The Idea was to retain as much of the original chopper as possible and create an old skool 80s style scooterboy cutdown.

Here is the general concept drawing. Not a Picaso but you can see the idea i am aiming for.

[Richjak]

Having decided on the style i was after the necessary parts were tracked down. I decided on using a Sprint veloce headset as the standard PX headset here is square and that wouldnt have produced the old skool look i was after. The standard length forks are from an Excel which is basically the indonesian T5 albeit without the amazing vespa 5 port engine (here they are fitted with standard PX 150 lumps) The headset was machine out at the headstock to take the slightly larger fork stem.

The chopper forks and headset were taken out and the replacement parts were fitted to mock up the scooter. From the mock up alone it was clear just how much work the chopper frame would need, especially as i am planning on using a legshield mounted spare wheel type fuel tank which it turned out was 100mm wider than the choppers cut down legshields.

[Richjak]

The frame was stripped down in preparation for all the body modifications that were to come and a rotten donor frame was located for $20 this would be needed for the replacement body parts i needed. Whilst the frame was away at the local Bengkel (garage) I stripped and rebuilt the forks and the engine lump in preparation for being refitted to the reworked and repainted frame after it came back.

A lot of the chopper fork parts were cleaned up and moved over to the new freshly painted Excel forks, the shock absorber and the hub were painted to suit the new colour scheme, and the existing rims and tyres were also cleaned up and fitted with nice whitewall splats for the look i was after. On closer inspection it was obvious that one of the rims was bent (pot hole damage) and the chrome was a bit rusty in places so these will be replaced in the future before the bikes back on the road and will probably be powder coated.

The mildly tuned PX 150 engine cleaned up well and was rebuilt with basically all the original parts it had when it was in the chopper apart from a set of new seals and a new set of clutch plates (if it aint broke dont fix it) this too was painted up to match the proposed repainted frame and set aside ready to refit later on.

[Richjak]

Once at the local Bengkel the frame went under the grinder, the crossbar and foot pegs were immediately cut out as was the old seat base which had been seriously modified to sit level with the 9 inch extended chopper forks fitted into the frame. Once in bare cut away metal it was easy to see just what a "Frankenstein" this frame had become after years of modifications and upgrades.

But knowing what i know about Indonesia this wouldnt be too difficult to sort out.

[Richjak]

As i mentioned earlier there are a couple of factors that needed to be addressed, namely the severly modified seat base which has been cut away in order to return to level dual seating once the standard forks are refitted (the chopper was a single seater). The rear brake pedal had to be reinstated back to standard and due to the use of the inside legshield spare wheel type fuel tank (which was 100mm wider than the choppers cutdown legshields) the legshields would have to be widened to suit, this would in turn affect the floor deck panel. Due to the cross bar being cut out the frame tube would also have to be repaired as well as numerous over welding repairs.

So glad we had a donor frame to cut up. This is where the magic started.

[Richjak]

Once the seat base was welded up and the air breather hole lip for the rubber bellows was grafted on from the ever sorrier looking donor frame was completed, attention was then turned to the front end and the legshields were up next. Please bear in mind that the original factory lip for the legshield bead had been completely removed from the top of the frame to allow the choppers handlebars to sit a bit lower, this was completely remade from a piece of plain steel and matched to the the legshield strips cut from the donor frame.

[Richjak]

More shots of the legshield work showing the finished results. The finished legshields are still narrower than a standard PX but its hard to distinguish as they dont look cut at all due to the reinstated bead on the finished edge (or wont when the scooter is painted)

[Richjak]

Test fitting of the fuel tank (yeah we had to weld the mounting bolts in for that to as the PS originally had a toolbox) as you can see the general concept i had is really taking shape and the body is starting to get that agressive stance i wanted. Please note how the floor panel narrows down towards the back of the frame, again all the edging on that was hand finished to make the floor appear to be a factory edged panel.

[Richjak]

Seeing as i was using a sprint veloce headset i thought it would look better to use the sprint horncasing to give it the more balanced look (sprint headset with a PX horncasing ?!?!?!?) Again this was cut off of yet another donor frame that was in the workshop. Whilst this was being done i got the cardboard seat base template cut from steel, again the bum stop from the original chopper seat plate was cut off and reused on the new base. This has now been sent to a mate of mine in Jakarta for upholstery and should look good when finished.