Welcome to the world of vintage motor scooters.  What follows is a list of resources and suggestions.  Many individuals in the scootering community have compiled trouble shooting lists, detailed and illustrated & "How to" guides, and original factory documents that will help you get your scooter running and keep it running.  Before sending me an email asking for advice, please make an attempt to find the answer in these references.  You will learn a lot while doing your research and will probably get a better answer! If you cannot find an answer,  feel free to contact me.

 This page contains my recommended

• books to buy that will help you diagnose and fix your scooter
  
• reference websites with step by step how to guides,  electrical diagrams and more
  
• an online forum to ask specific questions about your scooter
  

After reading this page, go to my recommended first steps to re-animating your vintage scooter.

Vespas
The Haynes Manuals are a little difficult to read but they are still valuable.  I recommend reading the instrucions a few times before doing the procedure.
Make sure you buy the correct book for your scooter model.  The Blue Manual for 1960s and 1970s models.   The Red Manual for P/PX models 1978-2006

Lambrettas
If you own a Lambretta, you MUST own this book. The Complete Spanner's Manual by Sticky
I also recommend buying a parts book for the model you own.

While you are waiting for your books to arrive, spend hours soaking in great information from these sites

• Scooterhelp.com - You will spend weeks and weeks going through fantastic well documented information here.  Daniel also has a nice collection of spec sheets, electrical diagrams, owners manuals, parts catalogs etc.. Seriously think about donating to his website

• Vespa Maintenance- Another great resource with tons and tons of information.  I used this site to help with my first engine rebuild.

• Scoot.net Wiki - A collaborative website answering Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
  

• Small Frames.com - Go to the technical page to find mechanically sympathetic material regarding smallframe vespas

The International Scooterist BBS (BBS) is a an online forum where scooterist talk about all things related to scootering. It's a little like entering a fraternal lodge.   Most of the folks on the BBS are great.  There is occasionally a little drama and there are some folks that always rub some people the wrong way.  You will begin to recognize folks that consistently give good advice.   I spend a few minutes each day looking through the posts to see what I can learn. I prefer to jump in and give my advice on the BBS than to answer individual email.  Here is some advice on etiquette.

• When posting a question, make sure you identify the year and model of your scooter.
• Try using the BBS search engine to find previous discussion related to your problem. 
  
• When you fill out your BBS user profile, put what town you are in.  There may be a local scooterist that would be willing to stop by and help out.
• There is a section called the Spam board where people list things for sale or things they want to buy.
• PLEASE DO NOT TYPE IN ALL CAPS. It is universally considered impolite.
• You can preview your post before it is posted and you can edit it for up to one hour after you have posted it.
• Try not to start a number of different threads about your scooter in a short period of time.   You can add updates to your thread by replying to it.