We’re now a little over three months since I revived my 2005 Genuine Stella. This scooter, which is a license-built clone of a Vespa PX, sat for five years, then I bought it in 2019 before letting it sit for another six years. Riding my little scooter has been a blast, except for the hilarious ways it has broken down on me. Yesterday, the turn signals stopped working, and you’ll never guess the reason why.
Little Marmalade’s odometer recently clicked over 1,000 miles since the scooter’s revival. I’ve been using the orange bugger as my primary form of transportation and I tell you what, it’s a total riot. Yes, its realistic top speed is just 60 mph or so, or less in a stiff breeze. Yes, you have to ride it fully wide open at all times to get anywhere with gusto. Yes, its minuscule tires and little suspension travel make the scooter a hard ride. Yet, there are few vehicles as capable of generating so many smiles per horsepower as my scooter.
It seems like everyone loves Marmalade. Kids love its bright color and friendly look. Older adults love seeing a vintage design. Other motorcyclists cheer you on as you ride fully tucked, trying to exceed 60 mph. General gearheads melt at the sound of its smoky two-stroke engine. If anything, the Stella is sort of the anti-Harley-Davidson. Where a Harley gives off the image of a big, bad, and loud biker, the Stella is easy-going and fun.
Thus, I keep gravitating to my scoot. I have much faster motorcycles in my fleet. My 2005 Buell Lightning XB9SX City X runs circles around the Stella. Heck, my 2024 CFMoto Papio SS makes more power with a smaller engine. My 1976 Suzuki RE-5 is so loud it makes a Harley seem quiet. None of my other bikes has anywhere near the same character.
I’ve also not owned a motorcycle that has found such entertaining ways to fall apart on me. My Stella is a pile of crap, and that’s actually a good thing, I think?
A Scooting Star
In case you missed my previous entries on this cute ride, I’ll bring you up to speed.
Marmalade is a 2005 Genuine Stella. The scooter is a Vespa PX built under license in India by Lohia Machinery Limited (LML). Out there, this Vespa is called the LML Star, and it’s sort of characterized by how much it’s similar to a Vespa, but not quite the same. LML built the Star to different standards than Piaggio built the Vespa PX, which means that there are really stupid problems that are unique to the distinctive cheapness of an LML Star.
Chicago-based Genuine Scooter Company got into the business of making scooters by taking the LML Star, slapping its own branding on it, and renaming it Stella, which translates from Italian into English as Star. Since the Stella is just a renamed Star, it has the same silly problems as a Star, including a wiring loom that’s too short, rubber that converts into dust, and crank bearings not long for this world.
I bought my Stella in 2019 from a nice lady who lived near the now-former Mitsubishi plant that serves as the home of Rivian today. She told me that the scooter hadn’t run in five years and had an undiagnosed oil leak. But there was a time when she loved the scooter so much that she named it Marmalade. I loved that name, so I kept it. I gave her a whole five Benjamins for the scooter, brought it home, and then just never got around to fixing it.
I changed that in March, and all it took was bypassing bad main fuse wiring, draining out the old fuel, installing a new carburetor, and installing a new battery. That’s it. I got it running in only two hours!
I have done some research since getting the scooter started, and through it, I learned more about its history. The first owner bought the scooter new in 2005 from Genuine Scooters in Chicago. They then rode the scooter 3,500 miles. The lady I bought the scooter from purchased the scooter in 2013, then rode it only 200 miles before parking it. Based on her timeline, the last time she rode it had to have been in 2014, which tracks.
So, I’ve ridden this scooter longer and harder than anyone has in over a decade. Perhaps I shouldn’t be surprised by the amusing ways it has broken.
It Broke In Funny Ways
The first failures I’ve noted were a non-functional electric starter, a blown parking light, and a dead horn. All of these led me to believe that the scooter wasn’t working due to an electrical issue, which is part of the reason why I let the scoot sit for six years. As it turns out, the starter works, but its relay is shot. The horn sounds, but its button is broken, and the parking light just needs a new bulb. I almost never use my horn, and the mechanical kick starter is so fun to use, so I just never repaired those issues.
The biggest issue since getting it back on the road was the scooter puking out the contents of its two-stroke oil container. I feared that the container had cracked, which is a known issue with these scooters. Thankfully, I was wrong! What happened was that the oil tank’s sight glass cracked and then loosened itself. I was able to replace the sight glass (which is made out of a type of plastic) without even removing the tank. I also replaced the gasket around the sight glass while I was futzing around in there.
As for the undiagnosed oil leak that the scooter had when I picked it up in 2019? I figured that out to be a deteriorated gasket between the carburetor tub and the scooter’s autolube system. That was a super easy fix. I put maybe $100 total in reviving the scooter, plus another $140 on tires that I need to install. That’s just $740! I also added some Grip Puppies to the bars to filter out some of the vibrations that reach my hands.
A few more things have broken since our last update, and one of them is simply hilarious.
Parts May Fall Off
The next thing to break on the scooter was the fuel gauge. It was sort of inconsistent in the time after the revival, so I’m not at all surprised that it didn’t last all that long. Besides, I know that 100 miles is a pretty safe range on a tank. I’m currently getting about 77 mpg with the scoot, and that’s with riding wide open throttle everywhere. Fixing the fuel gauge should be pretty easy, so I’ll get around to that, maybe.
Then the high-beam switch started being intermittent. The wiring that goes into the twist grip shifter on a Stella is a known failure point, so I’m not surprised about that, either.
What I didn’t expect was what happened to my turn signals. I rode the Stella out to my parents’ house yesterday, and when I left, I did a pre-trip inspection as I always do. This time, I couldn’t get the turn signals to work. I thought the Stella’s shoddy wiring had struck again, and just hopped on and rode away, using hand signals for turn indication.
Making it home was important because I was racing a heavy thunderstorm. But I couldn’t, I had to figure out why the turn signals were broken. I pulled into a parking lot and started tearing down the scooter, starting with the rat’s nest of wiring under the left side cover. Everything looked normal until I noticed there was a single connector that didn’t go into anything.
I checked my wiring diagram and almost started laughing so hard that I cried. The connector went to the turn signal relay. That relay left the chat. Now, I highly doubt there are Stella turn signal thieves out there, so the only logical explanation is that the scooter’s paint-shaker-like vibrations somehow convinced the relay to delete itself.
You can see the relay in one of the previous photos I took:
Come to think of it, I do recall hearing a thump resounding from within the scooter during the ride out to my parents’ place. I figured a rock got kicked into the body. That was probably the sound of the turn signal relay punching the clock one last time.
In fairness to the scooter, I stuffed the relay into the spaghetti mess of wiring, hoping that was going to be enough to secure it. Still, had you told me a story like this, I probably wouldn’t have believed you.
Still Fun!
I’m going to convert the lighting to LED, anyway, so this just helps me expedite the process. I’ll get some nice LEDs, a new relay, and keep scooting. Only this time, I might zip tie the relay into place.
This might be officially the most nonsensical failure I’ve ever experienced in a vehicle that isn’t a Volkswagen, and it’s totally sending me. It’s just too darn funny. But I suppose that also only adds to Marmalade’s character. This scooter can’t even break without doing so in a silly way.
It also means that, for the past month, I’m zero for two on losing small parts on the side of a road. Let’s hope I don’t keep the record going.
“I’m going to convert the lighting to LED, anyway, so this just helps me expedite the process. I’ll get some nice LEDs, a new relay, and keep scooting.”
Will that work? I think the current draw of an LED will be too low for a regular flasher.
A lot of LEDs now have a resistor built in to mimic an incandescent bulb for this purpose.
Which defeats half the purpose of an LED.
Just get a flasher rated for use with LEDs.
As long as it was designed specifically for the low load of LEDs and isn’t just a regular flasher with an internal resistor tacked on.
The spare tire location looks like a funky AI image with too many fingers. I just knew you were going to tell us why she’s a lost cause. Glad I was wrong.
Mercedes has the coolest vehicles!
I started riding on my mom’s 100cc Vespa (not that she knew), which turned into my daily at some point in high school. Except the throttle cable had ripped and I was too cheap and ignorant to fix it. I attached a thin rope with a handle to the throttle under the seat, and spent a year yanking on the thing, riding at full throttle with my right hand at my hip, shifting with my left hand, braking with the foot pedal (and hand, after dropping the throttle). I LOVED that machine, but my god was it not safe to ride it like that, and I eventually upgraded to a bike (Honda CB550K – that one died in a terrible accident that coulda shoulda killed me.) I still miss the P and PX Vespas and am happier at smaller engine sizes with fewer HP. I was tempted to buy a Stella recently, but I’m already barely riding my Kymco 300cc scooter-shaped kinda-motorcycle, and couldn’t justify it. Ah well. Glad to know that the quirks continue.
To add context, my dad had a Vespa 125 in his 20s, when Europe was not in good shape after the war, and rode it aallll over. From Austria in college to visit his folks in Germany, 10 hours on country roads? Sure! Trips to Italy to go to the beach? Sure! The epic ride through then-Yugoslavia that included jail time, soldiers accosting them, and other wacky moments? Sure! A few days in the saddle to visit my mom when she was working England? Sure! So we have a kind of mythical relationship to these scooters, in my family. (My uncle did a similar trip to England a year later on his scooter, sibling envy, and one-upped my dad who had camped inside Stonehenge by sleeping ON TOP of the rocks. Let’s just say it wasn’t a tourist attraction at the time, like it is now.)
When the throttle cable broke on my Honda CB350, I improvised by attaching string from each of the two carbs throttles and looped the string in my lap. I could ride-em-cowboy by pulling up on the string to get throttle, and by rotating my hand I could balance the carbs. Yee ha!
I’m so F’n pissed my last two CARS came with donuts, yet Stella kept her groove on with a full size spare!
Or Stella only has donuts ^^
20-something years ago my brother bought a knock-off Honda 50. The thing was brand new and parts fell off like this all the time. I only rode it a few times and one of those times the fuse panel just dropped out of the frame while I took a turn (I assumed the screws backed out from the vibration). Another time the tail light fell off (this one just clipped in). He ended up applying Loctite to every accessible screw and bolt. As much hassle as the bike was, it sure was fun to ride and got grins from everyone.
Gitchi-gitchi, ya-ya, da-da-da
Gitchi-gitchi, ya-ya, here
Bright-orange two-stroka, ya-ya
Stella Lady Marmalade
Voulez-vous conduire avec moi ce soir?
Voulez-vous conduire avec moi?
Voulez-vous conduire avec moi ce soir?
Stella Lady Marmalade
As someone who owned a P200 back in the day all I can say is: electric starter, ooh posh!
At least this small.lpst part was a lot cheaper, and didn’t strand you! That’s an improvement!
That’s a one in a million for sure. Between the vibration and bouncing, you can totally see how it could happen, but certainly not predict. I would have thought corrosion would lock those connectors in place.
I can’t wait for the next folly event. Kidding!
the risk of failure is an essential element in adventure.
every day was an adventure during my Sheetbox-Decade.
every motorcycle ride i take on the street is an adventure…be seen and safe out there Mercedes!!
lol, if the relay left and doesn’t come back, it was not meant to be.
Well, Mercedes got Marmalade runnin’ in two hours flat
Went straight up to redline, just like that
Suddenly everyone loved to hear Stella sing her smokey song
Watching the world go by, surprising it goes so fast
Marmalade looked around and said, “Hey!
I made the big time, I made the big time at last”
Don’t you know that you are a scooting star?
All the world will love you just as long
Long as you are
A scooting star
Mercedes is a straight shooter
Old scooter tires at 60 could be Bad Company
Considering that LML had been building the same scooter for 20 years by the time Stella came along, I am pretty surprised they still have so many bugs to be worked out. How did these things survive back home in India?
Indians don’t use no stinkin’ turn signals. As long as the horn works, they are fine.
I also have a clone of a big name scooter. Mine is a Honda clone. 149cc Rocketta something or other. Bought for $300 and 200miles on the gauge. It started when bought..Sat for bit..didn’t start…tear down and diagnostics became it’s current life…even changing it from black to 1968 Chevy mint with 2010 Dodge Magnum vanilla white to give it a vintage Vespa two tone look. And I also had the seat custom reuhpolstered to brown.
I found that bad gas was the culprit all along after replacing all the electronics and even trying to replace the carb. I think adding 10% ethanol was the actual issue. I was later told that small engines built at that time don’t like ethanol and to go with mid grade if ethanol is in the mix.
This isnt my first carb vehicle but the only one that just wouldn’t start with out focusing on electronics.
Once back together and running, LED conversion is the next.
I miss my old P125. I’d love to pick another one up but I’m afraid the potholes around me would swallow it whole!
I would like to get a scooter and put in my kei van as an extra conveyance should I need it. Sccoters are cool. Now i have to start shopping for one.
I’ve never been tempted by a motorcycle in the slightest but that scooter just exudes fun. I would definitely consider something like that for a little runabout.
Awesome ride!
From experience, if/when you get that scooter, it will be an awesome experience that will open the flood gates to wanting other 2-wheeled conveyances!
Probably just gonna be a scooter guy, but I appreciate the thought. My wife is a nurse and the drivers here are incredibly bad, I’m not looking to donate organs anytime soon.
The scooter could certainly be fun just to bum around on every so often though.
There is really nothing like a short wheelbase on tiny wheels. It does things nothing else can, it’s a riot, it’s a total joy.
Modern scooters with their big underseat storage compartments are the best. You’d be surprised what you can fit in there, from take-out to impromptu grocery runs. My Buddy even has a hook upon which to hang plastic bags. I’m also not above putting the case of beer on the floorboard and riding feet out.
In short, twist and go scooters are a lot of fun and easy to ride and maintain, and perfect for errands in town.
Thanks for sharing, this piqued my interest!
An errand runner was definitely one of my thoughts. Something that doesn’t necessarily justify taking the car, especially when the weather is cooperating.
When I owned a Genuine Buddy 150 scooter, I was a frequent visitor to the forums. Every now and then I’d pop into the Stella sub-forum just for giggles. The failures and hack repairs were hilarious!
And here I thought you were going to tell us the blinker fluid pump had failed.
Thinking of my late Allstate and appreciating its lack of oil tank, electric start, turn signals and battery. I think it had like 5 wires and was reliable enough that I sold it out of (misplaced) boredom.
BMW owners read this article and became perplexed, then shrugged.
You have a Buell CityX? Cool! I always thought they were underappreciated – a great street oriented dual sport style, done in that unlike anything else Erik Buell manner. The dirt bike style paneling always made me smile.
Always wanted one, and ended up with a few boxfuls of XB9R instead which I hope to assemble this year.
Every time I see you write about how it’s broken again I think of Haruko talking to herself early in FLCL, asking how the new parts she put in hers already stopped working.
Not going to lie I hop on my wife’s Vespa for small grocery runs. Its always a lot of fun