HQ suspension components Made in Germany by BGM PRO for Vespa Wideframe / Largeframe

Many people 'only' know Piaggio as the world's largest scooter manufacturer. The Vespa, Piaggio's most outstanding brand, has had a lasting impact on the image of the Pontedera-based company. Originally, however, Piaggio also produced railroad carriages, ships and very successful aircraft engines (around 1940, twin-star 18-cylinder P.XV with multi-stage turbocharging, 1500 hp take-off power) as well as very innovative aircraft (1938, P.111 with pressurized cabin for a service ceiling of 12,000 m!). The Piaggio Aerospace Group continues to build innovative aircraft such as the P180 Avanti on the beautiful Italian Riviera. The fastest twin turbo prop aircraft in the world with a cruising speed of 600km/h.

SIMPLE BUT INGENIOUS

What does all this have to do with chassis parts for old Vespa scooters? Piaggio was and has always been highly technical. You often hear disrespectful things like 'the Italians just took what was left in the corner'. However, Piaggio's greatest achievement is the one that you hardly notice: The highest possible technical simplification with maximum efficiency, stability and the best economy. This is one of Piaggio's secrets as to why the company is still so successful today. Many things about Vespa scooters are brilliant technical solutions, precisely because they are so simple. However, the design performance behind them is usually significantly higher than that of a more complex solution. The one-sided front wheel suspension, which was also used in a simple form on the Piaggio P148/149 training aircraft, is a good example of this.

AHEAD TO THE PAST

The one-sided wheel suspension allows for quick wheel removal, has fewer parts than a two-sided wheel guide and is also designed to be so stable that even generations later can continue to use the material and also often put significantly greater loads on it than intended at the time. Who would have thought during the design of the front swing arm in the engineering office at Piaggio that 60 years later(!) people would still be riding around with this material twice as fast and sometimes with 5-6 times the engine power? It's hard to imagine that someone with a Vespa GTS300 today will be riding around with 100 hp and 240 km/h in 60 years' time, isn't it? The fact that all this works wonderfully is thanks to the technical foresight of the Piaggio designers, who still worked with the product quality standards of the time and multiple safety measures with regard to component dimensions. This means that the old original Piaggio parts are still a 'bank' today in terms of dimensional accuracy and resilience (a fact that is unfortunately no longer one hundred percent applicable to today's original parts).

ORIGIN & QUALITY

But what do you do if the original part is damaged, worn or even missing? Clearly, a new part is needed. However, many parts for early Vespa models are no longer available from Piaggio. Fortunately, Vespa fever is a worldwide phenomenon and therefore the sources for spare parts are literally limitless. A fact that also poses problems... True to the motto 'many cooks spoil the broth', the qualitative selection of a product is also blessed with many pitfalls. Regardless of whether a repro component comes from Italy, the Far East or Germany, the quality has to be right. However, some parts are often only available from a single source and then it's 'eat or die'? Should you not offer a product at all because it doesn't quite match the quality of the original? Or do you sell it and point it out, at the risk of it not being noticed and resulting in a bad product review? A situation that is unsatisfactory for all sides. This also applies to the highly stressed components on the old Vespa steering tubes and the swing arm.

THE SOLUTION FROM BGM PRO

Our solution: We analyze, measure and draw new components exactly according to the original Piaggio pattern and have them precisely manufactured in Germany by a specialized company. We go one step further than Piaggio did back then. Not only do we use high-quality material, we also have it heat-treated...

SWING ARM BEARING AXLE (BGM4310 for Vespa Wideframe/Largeframe 1953-1962)

Suitable for Vespa Wideframe VM, VN, VL, VB, GS 150 (VS1-5T), Largeframe VNA, VNB1-4, VNB5T (-026920), VBA, VBB1T, VBB2T (-212455), Vespa GL (VLA1T, -067468)

A difficult word to read and yet so important. This component connects the steel steering tube (also known as the head tube or fork) with the aluminum swingarm. The latter guides the wheel and also connects the damping/suspension to the steering tube. Every wheel force, every steering movement, every up and down movement of the wheel is transmitted via this axle. In order to not only do justice to all this but also to meet today's requirements, we have the BGM PRO swing arm bearing axles manufactured from a high-strength premium steel (1.4112 alternative ref. X90CrMoV18). We place the highest value on precise adherence to dimensional accuracy. The axles are fine-turned to a surface quality of 0.2-0.4RA:

The material quality, surface finish and corrosion resistance would already set the axle apart from any mass-produced product and even from an original Piaggio part. However, we also have the axles plasma-nitrided. This gives the axles a harder surface and the bearing points will certainly not shrink in a scooter's lifetime. The nitriding also gives them their characteristic matt finish (although this can also be polished off). In summary, the BGM PRO swingarm bearing axles are without exaggeration certainly the best on the market and with their high quality offer a high level of safety, especially for performance-enhanced vehicles. The dynamic loads on a vehicle often do not increase linearly with speed, but frequently even in square. Driving a vehicle twice as fast as originally intended by the manufacturer can generate loads four times as high. Another reason to be on the safe side with the BGM PRO swing arm bearing axle.

BRAKE PADS(BGM4311 for Vespa Wideframe/Largeframe 1949-1962)

Suitable for Vespa Wideframe V1, V11-15, V30-33, VM, VN, VL, VB, GS 150 (VS1-5T), Largeframe VNA, VNB1-4, VNB5T (-026920), VBA, VBB1T, VBB2T (-212455), Vespa GL (VLA1T, -067468)

What sounds relatively harmless here is also a component that deserves closer attention. The brake pad bolt is much more than its name would suggest. It forms the support for the suspension spring on the swing arm. Where relatively soft springs were used at the factory, today's bikes are fitted with taut sports springs and greatly increased speeds, as well as the odd stunt, such as riding on the rear wheel. The often rough landing of the front wheel after such a wheelie is hard on the brake pad bolt. It is not particularly large ex works, but has a grease nipple. This can be used to regularly lubricate the highly stressed area between the spring mount and the brake pad bolt. This should be done whenever possible, but how many people with such vehicles do you know who have a grease gun that is necessary for such purposes? That is why the same effort was made here as with the swing arm bearing axle; extremely high-quality material whose surface was further refined to be even more durable than the original component. In the case of the bolts for the later models with clamping plates (from around 1969), we have also eliminated another annoyance of many reproduction bolts; the lack of dimensional accuracy with regard to the length of the bolts and the unsuitable shaping for the recess of the clamping plate. Many bolts are often a few tenths of a millimeter too long or too short. This has been solved once and for all with the BGM PRO brake pad bolt:


This always has the correct length*. This is actually all a matter of course, but for reasons of cost, it falls by the wayside in inexpensive reproductions. Like the swingarm bearing axle, the brake pad bolt is also finely turned from high-strength premium steel (1.4112 alternative ref. X90CrMoV18) and then plasma-nitrided. With these products, we want to give the sometimes overused phrase 'Made in Germany' a new face. It is certainly understandable that this is not possible at prices like those from the Far East. In return, we can offer a product that is unique and of extremely high quality and that we are sure every customer will enjoy as much as we do. *NOTE: Spanish (Motovespa) and French (ACMA) vehicles have a slightly different length dimension on the brake pad bolt. Here, the fastening nut can be shimmed with an M8x1mm washer to guarantee a perfect frictional connection.

The swingarm bearing axle and brake pad bolt for the later models (Largeframe 1963-1979) will follow in the coming weeks!

BGM4310- Swingarm bearing axle Vespa 1953-1962


BGM4311- Brake pad bolt Vespa 1949-1962