The anti dive front suspension
Brief overview
As has been said elsewhere, the front fork setup is unique to Bajaj's and it makes parts and servicing for these unusual items somewhat difficult.
Looking at the inset picture you can see it looks a lot more complicated than a Vespa PX.
The essential differences are:
Its interesting that the rake on these is seen on the new 12 inch conversion forks SIP are selling on their website, it could be a coincidence but the rake is very much the same.
Anti-Dive Braking
If it weren't for the poor performance of drum brakes generally, the Bajaj would win hands down for effective drum brakes on the front because of the anti dive braking.
Older "three post" Vespa's were chronic for diving even at the slightest touch of the front brake and it did make people feel unsafe as the front end pitches forward before starting to slow, the other issue too was when the brakes got warm from hard braking, that they became skittish and I have from my 1961 152L2 Vespa a not so fond memory of a brake suddenly biting and you sail literally over the top of the handlebars, hit the floor and end up with quite a heavy scooter in the back as well.
Bajaj did away with this and also improved cornering and braking at the same time, your braking system isn't much cop if you suddenly need to stop very quickly, the dive does its thing on a corner and next minute your scooter has decided to slide from underneath you.
Brake wear indicator
A very simple and useful tool built into the hub that measures the brake shoe resistance versus your hard braking effort, there is a little gauge with a pointer attached indicating your available shoe usefulness, when it fails to register on the dial, you are down to bare metal, change shoes often as Bajaj drums do eat brake shoes quicker than most.
Eye mounted shock
Bajaj decided on the lower mount to be an eye instead of a pair of bolts like the Vespa or the cross bracket the later Bajaj's got which allowed them to fit shocks the same as rear shocks to the fork.
Gabriel of India DO still make these, Continental used to make these but unsure about if they have any more, Gabriel aren't a bad brand and are fitted to Italian Vespa's so if you need a new front shock Gabriel is your first point of call.
The link
The link itself is very busy, it is longer than a Vespa one, totally incompatible with a Vespa one, the axle is the same as any 16mm axle but pretty much the axle carrier is unique to this bike.
As has been said elsewhere, the front fork setup is unique to Bajaj's and it makes parts and servicing for these unusual items somewhat difficult.
Looking at the inset picture you can see it looks a lot more complicated than a Vespa PX.
The essential differences are:
- Anti dive brake control arm (Its tucked behind the shock and fork leg at the upper part of the wheel)
- Eye mounted shock at the link end
- Brake wear indicator
Its interesting that the rake on these is seen on the new 12 inch conversion forks SIP are selling on their website, it could be a coincidence but the rake is very much the same.
Anti-Dive Braking
If it weren't for the poor performance of drum brakes generally, the Bajaj would win hands down for effective drum brakes on the front because of the anti dive braking.
Older "three post" Vespa's were chronic for diving even at the slightest touch of the front brake and it did make people feel unsafe as the front end pitches forward before starting to slow, the other issue too was when the brakes got warm from hard braking, that they became skittish and I have from my 1961 152L2 Vespa a not so fond memory of a brake suddenly biting and you sail literally over the top of the handlebars, hit the floor and end up with quite a heavy scooter in the back as well.
Bajaj did away with this and also improved cornering and braking at the same time, your braking system isn't much cop if you suddenly need to stop very quickly, the dive does its thing on a corner and next minute your scooter has decided to slide from underneath you.
Brake wear indicator
A very simple and useful tool built into the hub that measures the brake shoe resistance versus your hard braking effort, there is a little gauge with a pointer attached indicating your available shoe usefulness, when it fails to register on the dial, you are down to bare metal, change shoes often as Bajaj drums do eat brake shoes quicker than most.
Eye mounted shock
Bajaj decided on the lower mount to be an eye instead of a pair of bolts like the Vespa or the cross bracket the later Bajaj's got which allowed them to fit shocks the same as rear shocks to the fork.
Gabriel of India DO still make these, Continental used to make these but unsure about if they have any more, Gabriel aren't a bad brand and are fitted to Italian Vespa's so if you need a new front shock Gabriel is your first point of call.
The link
The link itself is very busy, it is longer than a Vespa one, totally incompatible with a Vespa one, the axle is the same as any 16mm axle but pretty much the axle carrier is unique to this bike.