Black & Polished Chrome

This little beauty was parked out one Friday night, so cue my usual response of 'Oooh, isn't she gorgeous!' and stop to take a few quick photos (while dodging the traffic so I could get all angles), leaving a couple of friends waiting patiently and rolling their eyes until I was done.

This one's a restored 150 Sprint, finished in black and polished chrome. It's a nice little mod, and looks fairly well looked after. There were a couple of tiny spots of rust visible in the corners, so I'm not sure if she was a properly done restoration showing a few little marks of age, or if she's an import that still bears the fingerprints of that particular history. Either way, a very beautiful little mod.

You can see the influence of that squarish headlight on the current LX S range - still not a fan of it as I reckon the round headlights suit the Vespa's shape better, but that's just my 2c. That chrome really brings out the curve of those hips.

Italians on Lygon

Turn the Vespa into a red GTS300 Super, and you've got my current and future bikes right there. That Ducati 1098 is divine - from that hawk-nosed styling and way the angles of the body wrap closely around the engine, to the slender hips suspended over a meaty rear tyre mounted on single-sided suspension... yes there have been close up paparazzi photos taken - I have addictions, it's terrible.

And besides, nobody, and I do mean nobody, does that red quite like the Italians. Ferrari has it down, Vespa, Fiat, Alfa (mostly), and Ducati. Red is another little weakness I have.

Pretty pair, aren't they?