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 Post subject: harley davidson scooter?
PostPosted: Tue Jan 12, 2010 6:10 pm 
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Redeemed Hooligan
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Location: north adams, mass
so driving in town i saw what looked like a scooter in a backyard. i stopped to see what the deal was with it and it turned out to be a harley davidson topper. i am interested in maybe trying to restore this scoot but i am unsure of availability of parts and the such. anybody know anything about these scooters?

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 Post subject: Re: harley davidson scooter?
PostPosted: Tue Jan 12, 2010 9:16 pm 
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Syracuse Ska
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Location: Syracuse, NY
baldie gets old wrote:
so driving in town i saw what looked like a scooter in a backyard. i stopped to see what the deal was with it and it turned out to be a harley davidson topper. i am interested in maybe trying to restore this scoot but i am unsure of availability of parts and the such. anybody know anything about these scooters?

There seems to be a good following for them in the Midwest. I've always had the impression that Harley-Davidson and their legion of fans largely would like to forget that H-D ever built scooters. :wink:

Image
1963 Harley-Davidson Topper motorscooter

I did a quick search and found several Topper parts suppliers:
NOS Parts in Wellington OH
Richard Duda in Morrisville VT
Jim's Harley-Davidson in Mendon OH

I'm sure there are plenty more than those. I've found found most of the people into Toppers tend to be part of the same crowd into Cushman scooters, which are VERY common and easy to find (Cushman sold a ton of them over many, many years).

Image
fairly typical Cushman scooter

And I'm sure you're noticing the basic styling is the same as well. What the Italians -- Vespa made by Piaggio and Lambretta made by Innocenti -- really contributed to motorscooters was STYLING more than anything else. Americans were mass producing scooters long before the Italians ever got around to it after WWII and of course, the Italians only did it then because the country was too poor to buy cars right after the war. In fact, before and during WWII, Piaggio was building aircraft and the original front suspension on Vespa scooters right up into the early 80s was aircraft suspension (which is why it majorly sucks -- planes don't need much, because they don't drive around on the landing wheels for very long).

Image
Piaggio P180 bomber from WWII -- before the company started making scooters

If you want a fun (and somewhat expensive) project, then go ahead and get a Topper. They also seem popular at antique car shows, because there tends to be a corner with antique motorcycles and they're a curiosity in that regard. But as a daily runner? No way. I've never heard of anyone using them that way, but there are tons of people using old Vespas (and to a lesser extent old Lammies) that way. Just something to consider.

Image
2009 Piaggio P180 Avanti -- these are planes they're making currently

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