Piaggio BV 350

[Virginian]

Whelp... Here's my latest adventure in the world of scoots! I found a screaming deal on a used '13 Piaggio BV 350 with 5 miles on it. A couple of gals in DC bought it, parked it, the end...

So being the glutton for punishment that I am I purchased it and rode it home. Ran like a champ the whole way home. I took the gals a bottle of Lake Anna wine from the local winery and they were thrilled to have it. I try to greet everyone like I just might be meeting my new best friend.

Here's a link for you vino drinkers! http://www.lawinery.net/

Here she is in disrepair from neglect.  






You can see the ox blood pet carrier and dash are faded a bit. There's a lot of unhappy Piaggio customers about this.

[Sport-Touring]

[Virginian]

Sexy rear end on this Italian beauty!


OEM Topcase that is a rebranded Givi painted to match.


First thing I did was give her a good detailing. Knock off all the spider cocoons, and gross stuff that had made itself at home inside this scoot. She's looking good now!


I took her out and put 300 miles on her and here's a few thoughts for what it's worth.

- Storage under the seat coupled with the topbox are simply put amazing. Groceries and Home Depot runs are a treat! Standout features!
- 70 mpg, enough said. Stand out feature!
- Cruises at 80 on the freeway with more to spare. Great feature.
- The speedo has kph on the outer ring and mph on the inner. PITA feature.
- Instrumentation is bright, easily readable, gas gauge  accurate, temp gauge. Great features.
- Faded pet carrier (<---- scooter lingo) and dash board fading. Piaggio should be ashamed of this.
- Large rims mage handling freeway, potholes, etc an easy task. Standout feature!
- Power release to open the seat on the dash. Great feature!
- Push the key in to open the pet carrier, 12V cig adaptor there to charge phones, etc. Great feature!
- Stow anything in the pet carrier and it gets baked! Owner's call it the snack warmer. Terrible design.
- The seat is very comfortable "for me" to allow all day riding at 6'4" tall 185 lbs. Great feature but subjective.
- Headlight is better then my KTM or MG Grisos I've had. Awesome feature!
- Wind blast is a pain so I'm thinking a fly screen. Mediocre feature.
- Leg shield is amazing at protecting you while riding in the rain. Great feature!
- The key is massive! PITA feature. Put this in your pocket and bend over, forget ever having children!

Scooter boy! lol


I didn't comment on the suspension as I'm still adjusting it to see where the sweet spot is.


I used some plastic restorer on the dash and it helped out quite a bit.


You can see the original color here where I peeled the "you're gonna die" sticker of some sorts.

[Virginian]

So I took her out for a spin to my closest Piaggio dealer, Scoot Richmond! http://www.scootrichmond.com/ they are a Vespa, Piaggio, Triumph and Guzzi dealer. Very cool place to stop by and visit if you're in the area.


OMG I love the 300 Super Sport!




I had a nice chat with the service department. The previous owner's said they had the scoot serviced twice during their ownership. I'll still take it in for it's 600 mile service to be sure.

I took some country roads home, lots of canopy trees.

[Virginian]

I read over on modernvespa.com some of the adherent issues with this scooter. They tend to weep coolant right out of the box. So I checked the coolant level and sure enough it was way low. So I topped it off and ordered the parts that are the culprit, the radiator hose and some hose clamps.

Here's some pics with the new one installed. What a bear of a job to do. I really need smaller hands!



In this last pic you can see where it was weeping and staining a bit.


I ordered a Malossi fly screen and love it! Believe it or not my gas mileage went from  65 to just over 70 mpg with this screen installed.




I've powered through all the updates I wanted to share with folks today. I'll get back to this thread later on down the road. I'm realiying enjoying the scooter aspect of riding and find it super complimentary to riding my m/c. You should give one a whirl they are that much fun!

Thanks for reading,

Eric