It’s been a couple of months since our last look at our 2019 Vespa GTS SuperTech long-termer, so here’s what we’ve been up to recently…
Kübler Speedring
We’ve had a Kübler Speedring from Scooter Center for a while. I was going to fit it myself but tried unsuccessfully, that’s because the bolts holding the standard rear ABS ring are made of the finest Italian Mozarella. They’re also thread locked in place to make things twice as tricky. Earlier HPE models weren’t Loctited so maybe Piaggio has realised people are starting to fiddle with the rear sensor and made it more difficult? I ended up leaving it to the experts, so on a recent visit to Ron Daley’s they fitted it in their workshop. It still wasn’t straightforward though and needed some heat applying, plus a slot grinding across the heads to get the chewed up bolts out. If you are doing this job at home make sure you have a set of replacement M6 x 20 hex head bolts on hand (and more patients – or should that be patience? than Harold Shipman). You also need to recalibrate the ABS after fitting but the instructions for that can be found on Scooter Center’s website here.
What is a Speedring exactly?
The Speedring replaces the standard rear ABS/ASR sensor ring. On the latest GTS HPE top speed is limited electronically and linked to the speedo reading but the actual speedo over reads by 10%. At an indicated 80mph the electronics kick in to spoil the fun. This means the rev limiter cuts in earlier than you’d like. If you’re a rally going scooter rider sat on a motorway it can be very annoying. The Speedring simply recalibrates things to produce a true top speed. If you look at the image above with the standard sensor ring below the Kübler version you can see the windows don’t line up. That’s how much difference there is between the two.
7 mph extra and no limiter
I’d ridden the GTS (standard other than Remus RS exhaust) up to Barnsley. On the GPS the scooter would do a maximum of 77.7mph. All the GTS’ I’ve owned or ridden in the past would do a true 82mph. 5mph less on a scooter used to cover distance makes overtaking at motorway speeds trickier and generally slows things down. Aside from the top speed being down the scooter constantly hits the rev limiter on the motorway. Annoying.
After fitting the Speedring I rode the scooter back home and didn’t hit the limiter once. It also achieved a GPS reading of 84.3mph. Just over 7mph difference, meanwhile, the speedo is reading much closer to the truth (which actually makes it feel slower on the road) and will go through local speed reminder signs at an indicated 30mph with 30mph showing on the clock. For me this improvement and getting rid of the premature rev limiter is well worth any trade-offs. A £55 Speedring is very cheap tuning
Downsides
The Speedring is said to reduce the effectiveness of your ABS by 10%. I’m an optimist, so to me that means I’ve still got 90% more ABS than I had on my 2015 non-ABS GTS. It’s also likely that fitting a Speedring could affect your warranty.
We’ve also designed and made some new SLUK Plastics recently – here’s 3 of them…
The longer Ultra version of the SLUK Guard is made specifically for the new shape mudguard on the HPE model.. It stops most of the muck/water/salt/gravel being thrown up at your delicate paintwork.
We’ve recently launched the Shorty screen for the GTS, it looks good, isn’t too high and is cheap compared to most aftermarket screens. It fits using your existing screen brackets
This is a product we were asked to develop by a reader, it sits behind the real light on the inside of the frame and protects that rust prone area from stuff bein g thrown off the short rear mudguard, directly on to the inner frame.
Long termer statistics so far
Mileage when it arrived: 104
Current mileage: 1307
MPG: 62.7
Thoughts so far
I was already loving the SuperTech but losing the rev limiter has transformed it. I tend to use a GTS for longer motorway journeys, so constantly bouncing off a limiter was frustrating. That’s a thing of the past now, a simple bolt-on £55 part has made all the difference.
Looks
The scooter gets positive comments everywhere I go on it. The colour really works well – as we all know, grey is the colour to have at the minute. The mild styling tweaks on the HPE/SuperTech have given the GTS a much-needed facelift without going over the top. I love the dash and the convenience of on-board navigation. I’ll certainly miss that when it goes back at the end of January.
Looking for an insurance quote for your new (or used) Vespa GTS?
Lexham Insurance offers competitive quotes and can insure on multi-bike policies, cover modifications, agreed value, give breakdown cover and they employ real people in the UK to answer your calls. Plus you’ll find them at every National Scooter Rally so you can talk to them face to face.
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SLUK Guards help to protect your pride and joy
Many thanks for the update on this. Looks like EU anti-tamper legislation and environmental (fuel economy) legislation hampering in tandem here. As usual, the tinkerer and fettler prevails. Huzzah! In your face EU meddlers.
However, this modification would surely invalidate your Piaggio warranty and more permanently invalidate your insurance, would it not?
Did you declare this to your insurer and what was the premium increase if any? Maybe you two wheeled journo types who are in the know may get a free pass but the average Joe trying to make a warranty claim with Piaggio for an engine problem or reporting the modification to the insurers would get short shrift eh? Surely the PADs would show over baseline factory programmed performance when you get a dealer service and they would suss it out.
The speedring is involved in the braking system and I could imagine a thorough engineer’s report after a serious accident identifying the modification (possible but how likely?) and this would drop you in it, as it is the insurer’s first instinct to wriggle out of a claim by finding anything amiss.
Funnily enough, I have seen quite a few used HPEs advertised at dealers with very low miles on and not being demo’s have thought that people may have got pissed off with the restriction and handed them back disappointed, especially when a 125 scooter like a Forza or XMax can get damn close to the HPE 300’s top speed. What’s the point of doubling the cc and cost for a commuter when a 125 is on a par in performance?
I was in the market to upgrade as I like the styling changes over my ’13 GTS but not now. I will wait for the 325 Lambretta or Scomadi Series 1 lookalikey and see how they fare. You lost a customer of 40 years Piaggio. Bravissimo!
If the EU control freaks had their way we would all ride at 28 MPH with stabilisers and full dayglo airbag suits on. A pox on them all.
Its bolted on with M5’s not M6’s as stated in this.