Saddle thoughts

Took my "saddle" to a furniture restoration shop today to see if they could help repair the cover.  No dice.  they referred me to a car interior repair shop.  "Sorry we do not do that kind of work"

So I thought "Who would work on old leather that needs to be restitched?"  Answer:  A cobbler

Found a cobbler who is from Eastern Europe and has fixed a few leather soles in his day.  We marveled at the "Saddle" together and I learned a few things.  Earlier I had called the thick stiff board in the saddle a piece of plastic.  Well after getting it off the frame I soon noticed it was not plastic but a 3/8ths inch thick piece of leather.  The cobbler told me it is known as "saddle leather"  which now seems obvious right?

So "saddle" comes from saddle as in "saddle leather" as in saddles for riding horses etc.  Makes perfect sense.

This saddle is truly a saddle made form saddle leather hand stitched some 60 years ago with a cloth cover fitted over the top.  The cobbler indicated it would have been formed around a "last" just like in shoes allowed to take that shape and then finished with the cloth cover.  The comfort came over miles of riding as the saddle and rider grew together to create a personal shape.

The pieces of saddle leather in my saddle are very old and out of condition and showing some cracks.  The cobbler is not sure if it will hold a stitch when he tries to make the repair.  All of the stitching will need to be done by hand as the leather is too thick and too fragile for any machine work.  There is hope...

I will wait to hear from him after he tries a few ideas and then gives me a quote for the work.  I want to try and keep the original leather from this saddle.  If I have to scrap it I might as well buy a new seat with comfy padding. If it is not the original saddle than really what does it matter what I sit my butt on?

So sitting just above those springs where might normally be a thinner piece of leather or even plastic or just a sheet of plastic holding in some foam is a 3/8ths inch thick piece of 60 year old saddle leather.  I wonder if it has any life left?

Removing saddle and gas tank

Today I spent just a little time (after getting to a stopping point on my Allstate engine rebuild) taking a few more parts off the VL1T frame.  Saddle and gas tank came off today.  A few pictures of the work.

The seat cover is pretty bad.  I plan to take it to an antique furniture restoration place here in Denver and see if they have any ideas.  There is no padding in this seat.  It is a cover laid directly over that 1/2" hard piece of plastic found in almost every Vespa saddle.  The saddle frame is in crazy good condition.  The springs are like new.  Less rust than any of my other scoots which are 10 - 15 years younger.

A little web research and I have discovered this seat the "Prestigio" model was manufactured by Agrati which was making motorcycles and scooters during the same time frame.  I suspect Piaggio was purchasing saddles from Agrati in the early years.  I would also venture to say this is one of only a very few of these saddles left in any kind of salvageable condition.  I will learn more as time goes on.  

http://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agrati

I also took off the gas tank.  Clean inside with just very small rust spots.  The paint on the top and primer underneath are nearly unmolested.  This history of this scooter interests me.  How does something this old and unique get to Minnesota with so many intact pieces?  And where did the motor end up?  In a shop somewhere for a repair and never got reconnected to the scoot?

Here is the tank and the cavity from which it was extracted.  The picture does not show it well but the paper gasket around the tank is still in place and unbroken.  What you see on the top of the frame is not broken gasket but rather dirt which has collected in the grove of the metal.

Removing the front fork

Getting the frame ready for a cleaning started by taking off the front fork and hub.  I disconnected the headset, with handlebars and headlight and moved that on to a shelf for later work.  Unscrewed the top nuts and spacers on the fork and began to try and pull it down through the horncast.

The locking mechanism is maybe a bit tweaked as it was catching on the locking and stop tabs on the fork.  It took a good amount of jiggling and pulling but the fork finally let loose and came out clean.

Here is a picture of those top threads, nice and clean with the rings and spacers all in tact.  All of the wires and cable will stay in place for the moment to allow for easier threading when that time arrives in the future.

Took a few pictures of the front hub as well now that it is off the bike.  Check out the original hub nuts with the extensions that pass through the lock washer and into the hub itself.

And here is a view up in to the front fender where the original primer resides.  It is very clean in here.

I will leave getting the hub off for a later date when I am ready to work on the suspension and brakes etc.

One interesting note is that the front fork had no bearings.  Below is a picture of the dust guard which is still in very good shape but no bearings top or bottom?  So why would you take a front fork off and remove the bearings and then replace the front fork reattaching all the wiring and cabling to the headlight and handlebars but forget the bearings?  I can not figure that one out.

Edit on 08/10/2015:  So I have the answer to the bearings question.  It is obvious to anyone reading this blog with experience on these old scoots but it was not obvious to me right away because this is my first older scooter.  I was working under the assumption that the bearings were a fixed unit which had to be removed by sliding them up the fork.  This however is not the case for this scooter.  The bearings are loose balls placed individually in the races.  So what happened here is that someone started to take the fork off this bike and all the loose bearings fell out or were taken out.  Over time they were lost and the hope of rebuilding the bike may have been lost with them..  I have new loose bearings on order from SIP and once they arrive I will be able to return this fork to operating condition.

Some Photos of the 55VL1T before any work begins

There are some crazy original parts here considering this girl is 60 years old.

Original paint throughout.

Original label on the carb door cover

Original label on the inside of the carb door cover

Original cables as indicated by the old school design on the cable outers 

Original saddle normally you see Aquilla but this is Prestigio from Milan

Original headlight...can't wait to open that baby up and look inside

Original mickey mouse ears gas cap wingnut (are you kidding after 60 years!)

Original horn and fender crest (all original paint)

Undented cowls and here with the original clasp on the storage door side.

Vespa 55 VL1T rebuild day 1

April 21, 2015

Like many other Vintage Vespa owners I am going to try and capture a vintage rebuild via a series of blog posts.  Along the way I will post pictures and track total expenses which may help some in the future.

If you have any comments, questions or suggestions as you read these pages feel free to drop me a note. Who knows what we may learn along the way.

I own several Vintage Vespa models but this blog will follow my efforts with my first wideframe.  A 1955 Vespa VL1T.  I found the frame for sale on Craig's List Minneapolis.  Made arrangements and met the seller in Des Moines.  This is just a frame with no engine or rear hub.  The frame is solid and straight with some surface rust.  There are many original parts and original paint which hopefully will be worth saving. My goal is not to perform a full concourse restoration on this scoot.  I want to see if I can breathe some life back in to an old frame which may otherwise have been headed to the scrap yard.

Below is a picture of Derek on the left at our meeting in Des Moines.  The scoot is loaded in to the back of my Subaru wagon.

 Here she is in the garage.  Joined by my Allstate which is getting new cables, harness and a new 150 cc engine and my operational (for now) Sprint and VNB.

After a 750 mile drive home (1500 miles round trip) she was unloaded and in the garage.  Total cost $750 for the frame and $200 in travel/shipping expenses.  Grand total so far $950.