Electrics - Going to try it out
Well, after looking through the wiring diagram and help from a couple of people, the Bajaj is still fundamentally a Vespa and am going to convert the CDI/Coil to the Vespa blue unit this week.
As none of the relevant wires revert back to the regulator and the blue unit is a non adaptive CDI unlike the LML express which dynamically retards the timing electronically, it should be a matter of connecting the wires and kicking her over to see if she goes.
According to my research the following is how it is done....
Bajaj Vespa
Violet - Kill Sw G2
Grey - Hall Sens R
Red/black - coil trigger to be ignored as the coil unit has its internal circuitry
Black - Earth W
Violet/Black - Charging circuit G1
I will give this a try and see how it goes, if that fails I do have the LML express setup and try that instead.
If this works then it means that Vespa regulator conversion is only a simple matter, I do have a spare six wire regulator but they are very hard to source and I think that is a project further down the line.
Well, after looking through the wiring diagram and help from a couple of people, the Bajaj is still fundamentally a Vespa and am going to convert the CDI/Coil to the Vespa blue unit this week.
As none of the relevant wires revert back to the regulator and the blue unit is a non adaptive CDI unlike the LML express which dynamically retards the timing electronically, it should be a matter of connecting the wires and kicking her over to see if she goes.
According to my research the following is how it is done....
Bajaj Vespa
Violet - Kill Sw G2
Grey - Hall Sens R
Red/black - coil trigger to be ignored as the coil unit has its internal circuitry
Black - Earth W
Violet/Black - Charging circuit G1
I will give this a try and see how it goes, if that fails I do have the LML express setup and try that instead.
If this works then it means that Vespa regulator conversion is only a simple matter, I do have a spare six wire regulator but they are very hard to source and I think that is a project further down the line.
OK - A choice to be made...
The ol' Vindaloo Burner is sitting outside and still no joy as to why no spark, am thinking kids been at it but that's a by the by. What is important that I now have the opportunity to do one of two things.
Fit the PX150 engine I have crated in the kitchen. I done it well enough on the T5 so no biggie really but... can I marry electrics up to Bajaj ones?
Convert the existing electrics to P range ones and removing the starter motor, circuits and interlocks. Remembering that it has the six wire regulator which needs to become a 5 or 3 wire regulator...
It is likely I would have to do the latter for the first anyway and it really all comes down to ONE wire, the extra blue lighting circuit one, can I cap it and ignore it or does it have to have somewhere to go, those are the questions needed answering.
The ol' Vindaloo Burner is sitting outside and still no joy as to why no spark, am thinking kids been at it but that's a by the by. What is important that I now have the opportunity to do one of two things.
Fit the PX150 engine I have crated in the kitchen. I done it well enough on the T5 so no biggie really but... can I marry electrics up to Bajaj ones?
Convert the existing electrics to P range ones and removing the starter motor, circuits and interlocks. Remembering that it has the six wire regulator which needs to become a 5 or 3 wire regulator...
It is likely I would have to do the latter for the first anyway and it really all comes down to ONE wire, the extra blue lighting circuit one, can I cap it and ignore it or does it have to have somewhere to go, those are the questions needed answering.
Bajaj passed her MOT with no advisories...
Yes, she flew through her MOT and Nick at Southwest Scooters remarked on how she handled a heck of a lot better than most P ranges or T5's which made me happy :)
But she has stopped firing for some reason, I suspect kids tampering as she always started third kick at most but I have a spare coil and CDI and rectifier so will go through the motions, if it looks like a terminal failure then will stick the P150 engine in which I will make into a further set of pages for my readers out there as it will mean partial rear end rewiring and Vespá coil/cdi and regulator.
But she has stopped firing for some reason, I suspect kids tampering as she always started third kick at most but I have a spare coil and CDI and rectifier so will go through the motions, if it looks like a terminal failure then will stick the P150 engine in which I will make into a further set of pages for my readers out there as it will mean partial rear end rewiring and Vespá coil/cdi and regulator.
Sadness but biting the bullet...
I have bought myself a 1985 MK1 T5 and sadly it is time for the Bajaj to find a new home and hopefully an owner to finish her off and look after her the way she needs to be, it is sad as she has carried me for four years safely and without fault and it is only because the T5 has a brand new engine in it and is positively rust free and almost brand new that it was a hard choice.
If you are interested, I want £750 cash on collection, use the contact details to get in touch, she is taxed till next May and MOT'd til end September, she runs and drives without fault or problem and the only thing letting her down really is needing a good blow over with some paint and a little tidying and a new speedo cable/metal drive.
If you are interested, I want £750 cash on collection, use the contact details to get in touch, she is taxed till next May and MOT'd til end September, she runs and drives without fault or problem and the only thing letting her down really is needing a good blow over with some paint and a little tidying and a new speedo cable/metal drive.
Apologies
I am most remiss in not keeping this site up and running as I should have done but have been suffering quite a lot of illness and I do hope you all understand that I will finish this website but being seriously ill has kind of made it difficult to concentrate on.
Introduction to the Bajaj Chetak Classic SL
Welcome to my website dedicated to this quite rarely seen here in the UK Vespa clone the Chetak Classic SL.
As you can see, my little bike looks a lot different to the main picture above where I had cut off the hideous Bajaj horncast wings to make a more Vespa look.
I bought this little beastie on eBay for £550 three years ago and it has given me sterling service in those three years, the only bugbear has been finding original parts and the final decision to in stages, section by section replace the Indian parts with authentic Vespa ones.
Two areas that have been wholly frustrating are speedo cables and front fork components, Indian threaded speedo cables that are LONG enough for the Chetak's forks are like hen's teeth here in the UK and it is my first recommendation to grab a cheap clamshell speedo and ITALIAN threaded cable to end that dilemma as the Indian ones are none too reliable. Luckily there are plentiful amounts of cheap cables and Vespa reproduction parts on places like eBay and SIP.
The other area of frustration is the front suspension, this particular Chetak is a crossover year between the last of the Sprint looking Chetaks and the Chetak 4 stroke and Legend which mainly sold in the US before Bajaj decided to throw in the towel and contract to Piaggio and LML to build components for their scooters.
The previous Chetak is the usual "three bar" Sprint type suspension, however this crossover year has the very good anti-dive suspension which is far superior than any Vespa fork arrangement which comes about from a cantilever action through an extra control arm between hub and suspension arm, it means you can really hang on to that front brake knowing you are not going to pitch over the bars or lose control and some racers have been known to covet their anti-dive forks for the superior corner braking that these forks supply.
Yet on the later Chetaks, you can see that they simplified things by basically using rear shock units on a yoke fitted to the forks, this particular range however uses an eye type lower shock mount as we would see on small frame Vespa and the only known company that STILL makes these shock units is Gabriel in India.
What is interesting is the hub itself apart from the extra control arm and speedo drive is 16mm P range Vespa, so if you have a Chetak Classic SL and need a new hub, a Vespa 16mm hub and bearings will be fine. What was an eye opener was the hub retention nut, the Vespa used the stakenut or split pin method of hub retention whereas the Baja just uses a massive Nyloc nut yet as was pointed out to me the other day, we haven't seen major stories of Indian's getting killed en mass through their front hubs falling off and my hub has been on there a year and not developed any play at all so it must work.
Going further into the differences between the Vespa and Bajaj is the headset and switching is unique to this model, previous models used either the small form chrome switching or moved to P range standard switching but this model uses rotary switches which aren't hard to find but you have to check you get the right switches as the ones I bought from A.S. Spares in Delhi (who trade massively under many names on eBay UK) looked the same, had the same plugs BUT the linking wires under the loom were NOT the same and it carbonised the upper loom with a puff of acrid smoke and burning insulation.
Another interesting difference is the rectifier which has six, yes six wires instead of the usual 3, 4 or 5 wires, I will be covering this as a project in the future to convert my electrics to 5 pole and to also convert the CDI and coil units to Vespa standard, luckily the CDI and coil units are made in copious supply as Bajaj own one of the largest companies who have a partial monopoly on motorbike and scooter electronic components.
Finally the last major difference is the exhaust mountings, they are "Indian Pattern" which Bajaj and LML both used for many years and is very much like the Vespa T5 method of mounting an exhaust, the exhausts here in the UK are hard to source new although you can from ScootRS buy an adaptor to convert to Vespa standard stub, I will cover that aspect as well given time yet it is far simpler to just change the cylinder and not have to worry about it, Bajaj's have standard three port arrangements, a P range 125 and 150 will fit straight in as will a DR180 if you so wished, you will have to change the head and spark plug to the Vespa standard but it does make life easier and there are some lovely exhausts out there that will give you some extra power and acceleration.
The Chetak Classic SL has the same power output as the Vespa T5, if you choose to replace the cylinder, it would be better to do so with a P150 arrangement as you will lose power with a P125 cylinder, the Vespa T5 and Bajaj Chetak Classic SL are the only two scooters of this type that you can take your 125 licence on, the T5 and Chetak are banded as A2 whereas the P/PX125 are classed by DVLA as A1.
Hopefully this will help some of you out there who ask in the forums for help and find little because these are quite rare in the UK, the Chetak, like the LML uses nearly a third thicker metal for its bodies and the Chetak is certainly designed for hard roads and hard riding giving better reliability than the comparable Vespa's. My Chetak is a 1999 built model and a comparable P range would by now be showing considerable wear in the floor and seams and perhaps even rust rotting out around the stand mount, my Chetak has no rust whatsoever on those dreaded areas so again a double thumbs up for the Indian.
As you can see, my little bike looks a lot different to the main picture above where I had cut off the hideous Bajaj horncast wings to make a more Vespa look.
I bought this little beastie on eBay for £550 three years ago and it has given me sterling service in those three years, the only bugbear has been finding original parts and the final decision to in stages, section by section replace the Indian parts with authentic Vespa ones.
Two areas that have been wholly frustrating are speedo cables and front fork components, Indian threaded speedo cables that are LONG enough for the Chetak's forks are like hen's teeth here in the UK and it is my first recommendation to grab a cheap clamshell speedo and ITALIAN threaded cable to end that dilemma as the Indian ones are none too reliable. Luckily there are plentiful amounts of cheap cables and Vespa reproduction parts on places like eBay and SIP.
The other area of frustration is the front suspension, this particular Chetak is a crossover year between the last of the Sprint looking Chetaks and the Chetak 4 stroke and Legend which mainly sold in the US before Bajaj decided to throw in the towel and contract to Piaggio and LML to build components for their scooters.
The previous Chetak is the usual "three bar" Sprint type suspension, however this crossover year has the very good anti-dive suspension which is far superior than any Vespa fork arrangement which comes about from a cantilever action through an extra control arm between hub and suspension arm, it means you can really hang on to that front brake knowing you are not going to pitch over the bars or lose control and some racers have been known to covet their anti-dive forks for the superior corner braking that these forks supply.
Yet on the later Chetaks, you can see that they simplified things by basically using rear shock units on a yoke fitted to the forks, this particular range however uses an eye type lower shock mount as we would see on small frame Vespa and the only known company that STILL makes these shock units is Gabriel in India.
What is interesting is the hub itself apart from the extra control arm and speedo drive is 16mm P range Vespa, so if you have a Chetak Classic SL and need a new hub, a Vespa 16mm hub and bearings will be fine. What was an eye opener was the hub retention nut, the Vespa used the stakenut or split pin method of hub retention whereas the Baja just uses a massive Nyloc nut yet as was pointed out to me the other day, we haven't seen major stories of Indian's getting killed en mass through their front hubs falling off and my hub has been on there a year and not developed any play at all so it must work.
Going further into the differences between the Vespa and Bajaj is the headset and switching is unique to this model, previous models used either the small form chrome switching or moved to P range standard switching but this model uses rotary switches which aren't hard to find but you have to check you get the right switches as the ones I bought from A.S. Spares in Delhi (who trade massively under many names on eBay UK) looked the same, had the same plugs BUT the linking wires under the loom were NOT the same and it carbonised the upper loom with a puff of acrid smoke and burning insulation.
Another interesting difference is the rectifier which has six, yes six wires instead of the usual 3, 4 or 5 wires, I will be covering this as a project in the future to convert my electrics to 5 pole and to also convert the CDI and coil units to Vespa standard, luckily the CDI and coil units are made in copious supply as Bajaj own one of the largest companies who have a partial monopoly on motorbike and scooter electronic components.
Finally the last major difference is the exhaust mountings, they are "Indian Pattern" which Bajaj and LML both used for many years and is very much like the Vespa T5 method of mounting an exhaust, the exhausts here in the UK are hard to source new although you can from ScootRS buy an adaptor to convert to Vespa standard stub, I will cover that aspect as well given time yet it is far simpler to just change the cylinder and not have to worry about it, Bajaj's have standard three port arrangements, a P range 125 and 150 will fit straight in as will a DR180 if you so wished, you will have to change the head and spark plug to the Vespa standard but it does make life easier and there are some lovely exhausts out there that will give you some extra power and acceleration.
The Chetak Classic SL has the same power output as the Vespa T5, if you choose to replace the cylinder, it would be better to do so with a P150 arrangement as you will lose power with a P125 cylinder, the Vespa T5 and Bajaj Chetak Classic SL are the only two scooters of this type that you can take your 125 licence on, the T5 and Chetak are banded as A2 whereas the P/PX125 are classed by DVLA as A1.
Hopefully this will help some of you out there who ask in the forums for help and find little because these are quite rare in the UK, the Chetak, like the LML uses nearly a third thicker metal for its bodies and the Chetak is certainly designed for hard roads and hard riding giving better reliability than the comparable Vespa's. My Chetak is a 1999 built model and a comparable P range would by now be showing considerable wear in the floor and seams and perhaps even rust rotting out around the stand mount, my Chetak has no rust whatsoever on those dreaded areas so again a double thumbs up for the Indian.