Vespa Cross Country: Cross Country Day 16: Brigham City, Utah – Salt Lake City, Utah

Woke up early and headed toward Vespa Salt Lake City (Vespa Utah) so we could be at the store when they opened at 10 AM. When we arrived, we met Ron and explained the situation and I told him my suspicion that there was something wrong with the exhaust gasket – either it broke or was not replaced correctly when it was reinstalled during the tire replacement. Unfortunately Vespa Salt Lake City does not do any service (although the store is very nice!), so he sent me down to Vespa Orem, which was about another 50 miles south.

Before heading down to Vespa Orem, we took I80 West 15 miles to take a look at the Great Salt Lake. The temperature was about 90+ so we did a quick stop and click at the lake. The lake was surprisingly calm – very few waves and zero boats on the water. I guess nothing lives in the lake (fish, etc) besides microbes, which produce a very interesting smell…

We arrived at Vespa Orem about 3 PM and met with Rick, the service manager. After taking care of a couple bikes that had arrived before me, he took a look at the exhaust and brake line and determined that the failure was indeed due to the exhaust gasket. First off, the bolt for the exhaust gasket was MISSING. Second, the graphite ring that seals the connection with the exhaust and the exhaust pipe was almost completely burned away. Third, my scooter did NOT have the recall kit gasket installed. The result was the exhaust gasket fumes escaped and burned the rear brake line – just as the recall was supposed to fix!

Per the guys at Vespa Orem, I learned the following things:

1. Going back to the beginning of my adventure, I brought my GTS into Eddie’s Motorcycle Shop in Keene, NH to get serviced and brought in the Piaggio recall notice and specifically asked them to install the recall gasket, which they confirmed when I picked it up. However, it appears they NEVER actually installed the recall gasket as requested – Vespa Orem looked up my warranty information and it showed my bike never had the recall applied.

2. When the exhaust is removed for tire replacement (or any other reason), the exhaust should NEVER be taken apart at the first joint where the exhaust gasket is located. This even applies to new Vespa GTS or GTS Supers – the exhaust should always be taken off higher up where the exhaust meets the engine. The reason for pre-recall GTS – the graphite ring can not be re-used and thus, when the exhaust is removed once, a new graphite ring must be used and carefully installed to ensure a proper seal. Thus, my exhaust was fine from Vermont to Idaho/Utah because the exhaust had never been removed, thus the seal was ok.

When the guy at Spinners (Vespa Idaho Falls) replaced my rear tire, he removed the gasket (pre-recall) and took off the exhaust at the gasket joint and reused the same graphite ring when he put everything back together, and did not correctly tighten down the bolt for the old gasket – which resulted in the gasket falling apart 100 miles down the road.

First off, he should have known to NEVER take off the exhaust at this joint. More importantly, he should of realized I didn’t have the recall gasket and either installed it or told me to get it installed ASAP (he could do this by looking at the gasket or looking up my warranty history on the computer), while replacing my tire by taking off the exhaust higher up by the engine, thus preserving the original graphite seal.

So I’m not sure who to exactly “blame”. First and foremost, I blame myself – not that I’m a mechanic, but shouldn’t I be able to notice when things like this are or aren’t addressed correctly? Second, the guys at Vespa Keene should of told me they didn’t install the recall gasket – I would be fine with that and could have had it done at Vespa Hartford or Boston easily. Third, the Vespa Idaho Falls guy should of known better.

People wonder why this situation could be so dangerous? Besides obviously needing brakes when barreling at 60+ mph down the highway, the exhaust fumes are so hot they could of set the scooter on fire! Wow!

So continuing, Rick had two issues to fix – the exhaust (the cause of the problem) and finding another brake line. Unfortunately, Rick didn’t have any more recall exhaust gasket kits, so we were out of luck – which was discouraging because it was the cause of the problem. Also, they didn’t have an extra brake line lying around and could only get one in on Tuesday - it was Friday and their parts store in Atlanta was closed for the weekend. At that point, I truly thought I would be in Orem for at least 3 or 4 days.

However, Rick and the Vespa Orem owner Charlie bent over backwards to get us back on the road. First, they dismantled a new 2010 GTS and took off the entire muffler, which included the new “joint” which replaced the old gasket arrangement. They also ripped out the rear brake line from the new GTS – which is a complete pain in the ass because you have to take off the glove box, headset, etc to get to the brake line. Second, they called Vespa Tech Center and explained the situation (apparently Vespa Orem is one of the top 5 dealers in the USA so they have pretty good relationship with Vespa USA). Vespa tech center agreed to pickup all costs for the repair and I end up paying nothing to get the situation resolved. Side note – Vespa Tech center was not impressed that Vespa Idaho Falls took off the exhaust at the gasket joint – I guess this is a big no-no and something that all Vespa dealers should know. They left the impression they will be making a call to Vespa Idaho Falls in the not too distant future to relay this message.

The bad news – we would have to stay the night as it was already 6 pm. The GTS would be ready for us tomorrow late morning sometime. However Charlie graciously let us borrow a Dragon Red LX150 and suggested we go check out Sundance, home of the Sundance Film Festival. Tired and exhausted, we happily accepted his offer and found a hotel for the night.

Total Miles Day 16: 150 Miles

Great Salt Lake