you can't handle the truth

The handling issues became more and more apparent. I added the 'engine mount stabilisers' from 'hot rod scooters' that I had lying around. I thought the engine mount area was the problem. This didn't help, so I put in new rubber engine mounts, removing the uprated urethane ones. This didn't help either but it did reduce vibrations by a lot. This is a rlief and was something I intended sooner or later anyway.
I went to see Klaus (scooter expert and collector) and he went around the block, instantly blaming the steering bearings for the wierd handling..... so below is the final post on th ebbs forum explaining how I dealt with it.


Another problem solved... and here's what happened (for future searches).
I bought all new post 63 bearings and races.(apparently they are all the same from then on ... but I find it hard to believe).

I pulled out the fork and had a look at the upper and lower bearing races. Both seemed to be deeper than the new ones. Seeing as I was committed to the PK lower lower cone, I decided to try and remove the lower frame race from the GL frame. Fortunately it was a later style without the sleeve going up the tube.
I made a tool (handy owning a metal shop , albeit wrought iron) to extract the race and it worked fine. Before I could measure the old race to see if the new one would go in, I dropped it into the frame channel (forever).
Two hours of fiddling, sanding, making tools and hammering saw the new bottom frame race go in. Everything else was a doddle.
Before reassembling I had to clean up and rush out to a wedding (congrat's Dave and Kerrie), so I didn't have that magic feeling of a well handling old vespa until this morning.
Cruising at 60 kmh, I took my hands off the bars no probs, then applied the rear brake. It tracked straight and true. Now the project is complete, and thanks to this bearing issue, I changed back to rubber engine mounts, killing the vibrations and proving the old mazz crank to be useable in the future (I blamed it for the vibrations and ordered a new balanced LS crank).