Vespa Fully Hydraulic Brake Conversion

A hydraulic brake system provides a wonderful upgrade to vintage Vespa scooters.

Adding a hydraulic brake system to a vintage Vespa scooter helps upgrade the stopping capability of the scooter ten-fold. Making the change can improve the scooter's safety and reduce the need to hassle with asbestos-laden brake shoes.

Function

Vintage scooters use a drum brake system. The hydraulic brake package for a Vespa scooter provides enhanced stopping power for vintage scooters. Using hydraulic fluid contained in a hose connected either to the handle or foot pedal, the new brake system creates significantly stronger braking pressure on the front wheel of the scooter.

Features

A complete hydraulic package includes the wheel hub replacement, a matching rotor, a caliper system and brake fluid hose line, a fluid reservoir and an actuator (either a replacement handle or connector to a control cable already existing on the scooter). When converting the brake system, the entire front wheel brake system gets replaced by the new package.

Considerations

The stopping power of a hydraulic brake system may take some getting used to; practice driving with the new system.

References

• Modern Vespa: Converting P200 to Fully Hydraulic Front Disc Brake
• Scooter Help: Vespa Semi-Hydraulic Front Disk Installation
• NYC Scootering: Installing a Semi-Hydraulic Disc Brake on a P Vespa
• Scooter Help: Brake Bleeding
• Scooter Lab: Disc Brake Conversion

Resources

• ScootRS: Vespa Hydraulic Disc Brake Kit PX/T5 20mm