Design of a r/h Mirror Mount for a PX200E (1998 onwards)

Description of the Problem

Traditionally, if you wanted mirror mounts on or near the headset of a P-series Vespa you attached a pair of matching (l/h & r/h) mounts to the underside of the headset by means of two M8 bolts. Manufacturers of these mounts produced different designs. Below are two examples of such designs:

In 1998 Piaggio changed the design of the headset cover once again on the P-series Vespas, owing largely to the introduction of an hydraulic disk brake system for the front wheel of the PX200 (and of the PX125 &150 in 1999). The new headset cover provided an opening and a partial shroud for the hydraulic fluid reservoir. It also incorporated mirror holes on the top of the headset cover, as seen in the picture below:

Each mirror stem was inserted into one of the two mirror holes and secured by means of a nut which fastened on to a champagne-flute shaped mirror mount which itself screwed into one of the old M8 mirror holes on the underside of the headset. Below is a picture of the new champagne-flute shaped PX mirror mount:

To the left of the picture is the nut which secures the stem into the mount; at the top of the picture is a rubber grommet which sits around the mirror stem and over the mirror hole on the headset to prevent rain and other foreign matter from entering into the headset.

Many Vespa enthusiasts criticised this new design of the PX headset cover for various reasons.

1. Probably the most serious objection to the new design of the headset cover was that it was now an unnecessarily laborious task to remove the headset cover, as the rider had to remove the mirror stems and mirrors before the cover could come off! Farewell to speedy gear cable changes!

2. The second objection, which itself was not at all inconsiderable, was that according to some users, the new mounts after a given period of time were given to snapping because of vibration and metal fatigue. Worse still, they snapped of course where the metal was thinnest, namely at the 'champagne-flute' stem (shaped thus to provide clearance for the throttle and gear tubes inside the headset). Once the mount snaps at this point, removal of the remainder of the mount fixed into the M8 hole becomes a fiendishly difficult operation as there is little left to grip on to!

Little wonder that many users cursed the new design and tried to return to the old brackets attached under the headset. The problem is that while the two M8 holes are still there, the shroud of the new hydraulic reservoir renders the old r/h under-the-headset mirror mounts useless! It gets in the way of the hole where the mirror stem is supposed to be attached.

For Vespa riders on the European Continent, this is of course not such a huge problem. You simply get rid of the new set up, plug up the holes and put a mirror on a mirror mount on the left hand side of the headset -- in other words, you simply do without the right hand mirror. In Anglophone countries, on the other hand, the need is for a right hand mirror. That the problem is felt to be serious can easily be proven. If you look on the internet you will find, I think, only one or two sellers selling rubber plugs to fill in the mirror holes on the Vespa headset cover (1998 onwards). These sellers sell these rubber plug sets in the hundreds. Why? There can be only one reason -- very many PX riders have been and are getting rid of their new champagne-flute shaped mirror mounts and are going back to the under-the-headset mirror mounts of old days.

TO BE CONTINUED. Stay tuned.