How fast do you want your Lambretta & Vespa scooter to go? How much power do you need to go fast? 

Yep 60 - 80mph is where i am happy at.. ride mostly country roads with some motorway. The scenery and enjoying the run is what is most enjoyable.

50 cruising, 55-60 top end. Original 1963 TV175, un-messed with, 2nd oversize piston (only because it needed it) 20mm Dellorto as nature intended it... 😀👍 If I want to go fast, I'll ride my 1150cc BMW... 😉👍

Usually tootle around at 45/50, happy at 60, but would like 70 top speed if needed, really just for overtaking purposes on faster roads. Reliability is much more important than top speed for me.

Totally agree with you Dan seventy is more than enough on our classic pride and joys any thing over you start to wonder if it’s going to blow once again great vid mate

If it sits at 60 all day, then I’m happy. I’m more about reliability than all out speed. I think you’ve hit it on the head with 60 and an SD of 10.

45-50 cruising 60 - 65 top end is all I need

I ride smallframes so anything over 60mph feels like warp speed especially on such small wheels. The way I see it is of you wanna go 100mph plus, buy a bike that was designed for it, not an Italian shopping cart 😄

As an old codger 50 mph is more than enough for me, that’s of course if I can get to 50.

Absolutely spot on Dan. I had a Broadhurst Stage 2 Road/Race and I once or twice hit a recorded 80 miles and hour. It was not a pleasant experience! The guy who bought it off me was a Mod and it terrified him. I now have an RTR Stage 4 Scomadi TL200. It's perfect for my needs. Great video. Cheers 👍

I am pretty much with you. I live in Florida so pretty flat and get 58 gps with a stock li150, but that is ragging it, cruise at 52. Most of my riding is max 55 speed limit so a bit extra is nice, I spend the rest through towns with mates and dont need anything wild. Just finished,(today actually) building a Quattrini with a 60x115 with exbox ST and all through the build obsessing about squeezing the last ounce out of it but kept with the tv gearbox and 4.82 . Truth is, if I can cruise at 60 and get up to 70 I will be happy as a clam, the rest is gravy. I did keep my gearing lower so I can beat the Harleys off the mark at the lights which is my number one priority :-)

Cruise 50 to 65 top 75. But plenty of torque with the right gearbox and exhaust for pulling power. Spent a fortune over the last 40 years chasing speed and holding the clutch lever. It’s when your out in a group and someone is faster than you.

Cruising at 60mph is comfortable and enough, 70mph probably max on 10 inch wheels with Lambretta brakes. Most 125cc learner bikes back in the day would just about touch 70mph and were restricted to 12hp. So that's always been the power to speed benchmark for me. Range and fuel consumption is a factor as well. I'd rather go at 60mph and get 60-70miles to a tank than go at 75 and get 40 miles to the tank.

cruising 65-70 90 flat out , tuned quattrini 210 , 46/19 gearing AF close five gearbox

happy with 70mph cruising and top of around 80 - 90 mph big torque figures

I ride for fun and “sport” I know that when you chase the “numbers” it’s a very addictive game😃 I have a Vespa PX with 37hp with its current pipe although I have had it at just less than 40(on a very conservative dyno).What I do know is it’s quite anti social to ride with a group! I dare say 60mph with plenty left feels good but it’s also the way it gets there😉 Perhaps I’m happiest when I’m hunting TS1s on local twistys😁 I do also use it for sprinting,hillclimbing,flattrack and sand racing-it’s fairly well used. I know there’s a lot of commitment needed to own and ride such a powered scooter. Quattrini 261👍🏼

Great Topic I ride a Gp150 with a mugello 186 kit that I put together myself. to start with I was disappointed when riding with my mates locally one on a super monza the other on an RB20 but when we go long distance my low comparatively powered engine is more than enough with better fuel consumption better reliability and I built it myself so lower build cost. then when we get back to our local area I am disappointed again as they rag it round the local villages. so horses for courses really on a long run mine cruising between 60 & 65 is more than enough but when we are locally thrashing to the pub i am left lacking a little. So possibly if money didn't get in the way the answer would be to have more than one. That doesn't include the race scoot I would like to build for the BSEC events. But hey ho we can all dream.

I've just stopped for a tea break before finding this, a tea break from putting my 130cc DR race kit into my Vespa 50 special as we speak. To be honest I haven't got a clue what sort of HP or speed I'm going to get out of it, I'm doing it for fun.

Cruise comfortably around 60 - 65 and 75 - 80 for overtaking on motorway

You are absolutely right. I have new vespa gts 300 hpe (24 hp) which brings smile on my face whether I ride in the city or on the motorway. Also I have to emphasis that weight of motorcycle is very important for the accelerating and for the braking. Vespa is unbeatable in its class with 160 kg.

Ride a tuned 1964 Lambretta 210. Within a group, riding to rallies on curvy backroads & straight roads, I’d agree with 55-65mph as the sweet spot. Solo riding enjoying the same roads, warmed up tires on black top beneath sunny skies, I’ll push closer to 75mph in areas.

My old Vespa ‘79 P200E could hit 70mph with a slight decline and it almost felt like it started to float. Very wonderful feeling. I enjoyed riding it at it’s peak and almost always did. Highway speeds limits in my area are 70-80mph and State Routes are 40-60mph. Coming from riding Dual Sport Motorcycles with big front wheels made my Vespa feel rather twitchy to me, until it got over 45mph. I’d say 55 to 65mph was it’s sweet spot.

Good topic. I ride a bog standard, engine wise, Vespa GTS 300. It my second, I started off on scooters decades ago and rode big bikes in the 90's, I never really took to them and after doing 130 mph once became bored. Scooters fit my lifestyle and needs. I find it cruises at 70 mph with pillion. It will go on to just over 80 mph has Piaggio states. To get to the point the acceleration and power/speed of the 300 GTS for me is ideal, its usable and fits in well with the mainly A and B roads I inhabit. Should I require a rebuild I would probably go for the Mallosi kit as is does give a bit more power for similar money and its a reputable company. So 21 BHP seems to suite me fine. I upgraded the suspension on my last GTS and if I was to do anything at all I would do this again. I do go touring and cover hundreds of miles when away. Good LED lights are a must for me. If you upgrade to LED my tip is get ones that give off really good light and don't buy just because they look like they may have come from a starship.

For me, it's acceleration over top speed. Getting away from lights or island is of more importance than a top speed. Having a power reserve for overtaking or going uphill is a plus, so 25-30 BHP should suffice. Anyone who wants to ride at 75+ MPH on 10 inch tyres, has bigger balls than me.

Depends on your journey, I commute, so cruse at 70 mph motor way, with a top of 85 mph to over take.

70 mph top speed absolutely fine, low speed usable power most important to me

My goal is 100mph. I have a proven 93mph on a Vespa smallframe on the Bonneville Saltflats. I'm now hooked on landspeed racing. Its a purpose built bike that is very streetable. Its not a cutdown. Its not mine. But, now I need to build one. I've always like taking things that aren't meant to be fast...way too fast. Around town, stock+ is fine.

Around 55mph for me, this is why I am happy to take a CBT every 2 years and keep to a 125 engine. My Vespa GTS 125 is perfect for my daily commute to work.

Real talk, Dan. Real talk.

50 - 70 is ideal for me. Nice to have the extra on the rare occasions it's needed.

65-70 cruising without overheating, 75-85 top speed. Equally important is torque and wide power band pull range of each gear at high speeds for the +4% grade hills!

My bike tops out just below 70mph, if I has more I'd use it but I'm quite happy in the 50-60mph range.

I’m happy to travel with my mates at 50 to 60 max im on a 30 mm bhph delorto sr 190 top end 46 16 drive with a tv 200 gearbox smooth as butter .

First time here, really enjoyed your approach. Ironically l was looking for a video on the difference between the standard gts300 and the hpe as I was thinking of tuning mine up or buying a newer version. I come from bikes and have had 170 hp sports and big v twins etc, but bought my first scooter two years ago and fell in love with the character of scooters and the difference in approach to what makes something any good to ride. Frankly I’m amazed how little difference having a huge motor makes and l can cover distance pretty rapidly and at a super frugal cost . I did a tour of the highlands last year and after rattling along at 70+ for the first two hours and getting off all stiff and tired with wind blast and dodging bmw and Audi loons, l dropped it to 60 to stay ahead of the lorries and relaxed into the journey. Much less stress and strain! Thanks for saving me lots of money and heartache - I’ll just remember the joys of lower power and lower speed 😊

60 - 65 cruising, 75-80 top end suits me. TS225. A bit more torque never hurts though, I’d like it to be more effortless though, achieving those speeds with lower RPM.

In a group usually cruising about 60/65 when out on own or with similar scooters 70/75 top 90ish although will do more

Agree with your observations 50 -70 mph top end

Most of the time we go 50 to 55 but would like the 70 mph to be able to overtake if needed

The issue for me was always the exponential increase in fragility when increasing power to find just an extra 20mph without aero getting a look in. But to answer the question; needs to do 80 and be well mannered getting there!

Excellent Dan, really enjoyed this. Keep up the great work and I hope you are keeping well, however I might add for me there's always been a balance between speed and retaining reliability and safety of the scoot...

One of my riding mate’s scooters easily can do 100 mph - it’s a SSR 265. My tuned TS1 can pretty much sit at 80 mph for hours and acceleration is very good but to really keep up I need more power. My TS1 is probably about 28 hp, maybe 30. With shorter gearing it’s kind of a monster at acceleration but tours well on taller gearing.

On my Vespa's I'm happy if it cruises at 60, with a bit more in the tank for catching up and overtaking. Top speed wise, I always want 1mph faster than the fastest scooter!! ha!!

Great video 👍

I like to do up to 60 on A roads, 70/5 on motorways with the ability to go to 85 so that at 70 it’s not being stressed. I’ve got a sst265 and over 65 on a a road it scary tbh

In my area of California, if you want to get anywhere in a timely manner, you have to take the freeways. The freeway speed limit is 65 MPH but most drivers do 70 to 75. So, two considerations, getting on to the freeway at the speed of traffic (acceleration) and cruising at a speed that won’t cause drivers to tailgate or constantly pass you. So, quick acceleration and cruising speed of 70 to 75 is what I prefer. I don’t need to pass at those speeds. My RB22 does both just fine with a little extra to get out of tight spots.

I'd add that I've got a 30bhp+ Vespa which I've sunk a lot of money into, but tend to ride the scoots which sit in the 20's. Very true that, after 75, I start to enjoy it less in case something goes awry.

Dan could you do an article on what we should expect from any given kit ? Would help people building/buying kids cheers great vids 👍

Cruise 65mph top speed 75mph ideally

Right, I'd like to do 50/55 - 80/85

Cruising i want a comfortable 50 which i have...and another 12mph top speed would be nice which i also have...down hill!. These figures are exclusive of the 6mph wrong that the speedometer shows. Scoots top speed with longia 3j4 engine in stock form a real 58mph.

An all round solid usable 70.

I want a scoot that is happy at 30, cruises at 60 and has a little more in reserve for when absolutely necessary.

70 mph cruising all day long. 85 on tap for emergencies. Vespa GTS 300 is almost there stock, just needs needs that little bit more for my liking.

60 mph Cruising speed 75 top speed be quite happy in the real world 🌎 20hp be happy 😊 scooter owner

Cruising at 60mph is fine, I’d be lucky to hit anywhere near 70mph… more interested in more torque around town…

130kph/80mph for overtaking and able to sit at 110kph/70mph for long stretches.

Cruise at 60, top end 75.

Cruise at 65 and not overheat, 75mph tops is fine. Wouldn’t mind a max of 80 but honestly if you can still climb a long 2 or 3 mile incline and maintain 60-65mph in top gear without overheating, you’ve just accomplished something far more significant than hitting a max speed of 80mph.

my smallframe is happy cruising at 50mph and tops out at around 57-58.its geared to get there quickly as well,which in urban settings is more useful in my opinion. would maybe like to get in the 60s for faster roads, but not if it ruins reliability.

I couldn’t tell you how many times I’ve been on a run and bits have fallen off scooters including tyres wile travelling on an A road . I wouldn’t fancy that at 70 plus miles an hour. Am at that age when it hurt if I bang my knee on the kitchen table never mind falling of a scooter .

60-65 cruise, 75 top is plenty for me. Happy with 18-24 bhp on my light cutdown

The fastest I ever need to go would be between 60 and 80. But for most of the time my averege would be around 40-50.

Recently bought the Mrs a px150 to replace her vbb with pinasco 225. The pinasco is no racer but was happy at up to 70 with plenty of torque. 14bhp maybe. The px with 8bhp feels dangerous and is flat out at 53 mph 😳 so will get a bgm 177 set up to get her back to around 14bhp for a 9 stone rider. At 16 stone I need 15 plus bhp to feel safe. I've had 25bhp on a ts1 and don't find its used. 60mph is our comfort zone on a roads.

50 cruising for me,a blip upto 70 is ok that’s it…. But don’t forget these are old Indian shopping trolleys 🤔 and normally go it walking speed

Cruise at 60-65mph and top out at 80mph is fine with me.

I think that 80km/h cruising, is great for where I live, if I can sustain 80 at 3/4 throttle it would be lovely, my C70 can do 80km/h... On a downhill, with the wind behind me and full throttle.

The first figure that popped in my head was 55-60mph. Not that focused on HP, I prefer decent low down torque.

50 to 55 is nice and carm for me .

Got a ts1 madspeed daryl taylor tuned and a mhr 221 both with all the trimmings 30bhp plus I'm happy to sit 55 60 but also nice to accelerate hard to 80 for a bit and go back to 55 60 standard scooters are painfully slow and just nice to have extra power can sit at 60 all day with no stress on engine. Both have sip speedo so real speeds most people who say there malossi 210 does genuine 90 are just dreaming both mine will do 85 but unless you got casa or bma no chance

Cruise 70 Top speed 85 would be nice.. on a tuned Lammy...My Gilera old 800 was about right speed and power but it did it without feeling like death was going to happen any second

top end for me would be 65 -70 cruising 50 - 60

It does not matter what am riding - vespa - lambretta - automatic scooter or a car - I like 49 - 53 ish . For top speed I like on a scooter yes 65-70ish but it is not written on stone.

60-65 cruising 75-80 top speed. Plenty really on scoot. That's just my opinion of course.

55-60mph touring with 70-75mph if needed

Ok very interesting… I have 2 motors both quattrini. One is a 181 m1x makes about 23hp and the other a 35hp 260 m244 both have long strike conversations as I like the torque makes the riding enjoyable with out searching for a different gear all the time. 181 good for cruising 55-60 to about 70mph the 260 runs 24/64 gearing and is good for 90mph but like Dan I always get concerned about a disaster about to happen 😜 tuning kits at the moment have never been so plentiful buy what suits you not just what your club mates have.

I think 100 mph would do, and comfy cruising at 85 mph. I settle for 80 mph without very much more without holding the throttle wide open. Car traffic here routinely surpasses 100 mph.

Cruise 65 top 80 would do me just fine

Cruising speed I enjoy is around 40-50. I would love mine to go 100mph but good acceleration up to around 80mph top speed I would prefer.

55 to 60 cruising 80 top for overtaking when needed. If I go over 60 for an extended period my hand is hovering over the clutch and I’m thinking when is it and what is going to go wrong. 🤣

We are only allowed to do 100kph in NZ so that is the speed i would like to be able to do on my scooter

Vespa GTS 250 ie. 2009. 70-80km/h velocidad crucero en carretera. muy cómodo. Guatemala, C.A.

Would love to be able to hit 70 and cruise at 60 on my poor old PX.

60 cruise 80 tops Rb230

Fantastic video Dan . I ride both a lambretta muggello 186 with tsr pipe an 30 Mil dellorto . Lovely sound lovely to look at horrible to Ride . Like you say once over a high speed I’m scared the engine might go wrong or hit a pot hole . Absolutely terrified in it at high speed . 55 to 65 top for me . And yes I have good tyres good suspension all upgrades built by a well known guy in the scene . Also I ride a Vespa px 125 with mallossi 177 kit and sito pluss . Now this is a pleasure to ride so comfy and engine always sounds happy . Will happily do 60 and I’m happy with that . Great topic . But over 65 on a old lammy iron horse is bloody scary for me anyhow 🛵🛵😂

Well, I guess it's all about gearing. Because comfortable is not doing 60 in 4th @ 8800rpm. So you need longer gearing to keep that at 5k-ish, but then you need more torque to connect to 4th. But then you need a better clutch... And what's with the tourer and racer difference. Touring is sitting up straight? Well that's no fun @70mph so you dive and then you have a racer because your flat on it? I understand that a racer has a more peaky-curve and a tourer has more under the curve. But with only 4 (or some have 5) gears it will always be a compromise. I guess being happy is wanting less...

Ideal would be cruising speed 65-70mph for motorway, top speed around 80mph only for a bit of leeway Everywhere else 50-60mph is enough

Group riding: 95 km/h cruising, 110 km/h top speed are enough. Single riding on motorways: 115 - 120 km/h cruising,140 km/h top would be wishful figures.

It's so funny hearing you say that above a certain speed your 'worry' level increases... I have a Terry Frankland tuned Malossi P210 with all the gubbins... 30mm Del Orto, light fly wheel, Cosa clutch and Taffys pipe. It made 22 bhp on their dyno for 85 mph... BUT above 95-110 kilometres per hour (it's a French bike) I too got nervous that it would blow up, seize..(I actually seized a Polini kit at 90 km/h while overtaking a lorry.. trouser filling as they say....) .. I was happy riding upto 90 km/h but even if I did push to 120 to overtake I quickly came back down and always kept a hand over the clutch in case it seized..(which it never did).. I guess Ian & Terry know their stuff..

70 cruising 80 top end

75 cruise on motorway and 90 flat out on the lammy.... don’t know if I’d like to see 100 plus but I’d give it a go if I had an engine capable of it lol

60ish top speed, cruise around 40

Vespa GTS, my comfort zone is between 50 and 70 mph (ca. 80 -110 km/h)

I've got a few fairly quick scooters, but realistically I'm looking to cruise at 70, with a little more to overtake. I've got a couple that will go faster but I rarely use it.

Just doing jetting runs at the mo as all Dynos booked up. T5 251 hits 75 easily and that is about as fast as I'd ever want to go on it. (Googles "My Tracks" to record runs which is fairly accurate). I'm happy at 60 with a bit more for overtaking Lorries.

I have a 150cc 1P57QMJ - The P in the GY6 I've read means stock it has more performance than a stock non P engine. It's only a 10.5 hp. It's rated speed is 55 plus depending on rider and road conditions so I'd like to go cruise at 50 (MPH) and get up to 60 or 65 if possible for highway speeds and passing. (not interstate) It's a China scooter, Dong Fang brand. I haven't gotten up to top speed yet. It weighs 194 lbs and I the rider weighs 110 lbs.

I'd like my smallframe to cruise completely comfortably at a genuine 60mph with enough left over to keep at 60mph with a head wind, up a slight hill etc. Moreover, I'd want it to be useable and very torquey up to 60. It'd be even better if it could reach 80mph top speed for the occasional shits (probably literally) and giggles. One day when money permits the plan is to fit a Quattrini M200.

i know this video is from a while ago but i was wondering if it was at all possible to make a vespa p200e have a cruising speed of 50 -60 mph and top of 70-80

Tuned scooters are waaaay more fun, also useful to have extra power to get out of trouble if necessary.

Cruising at 60-65 plenty

70mph. Max 85. Cruising at 70 on motorway plus enough to overtake.