Frisco Vintage – Vespa Service & Repair

My husband let his 1977 Rally 200 sit too long, the gas turned into turpentine and it needed some help. We replied to Dan’s listing on craigslist and liked that he only worked on Vespas.
On our initial conversation we told him what the problem was and he told us EXACTLY, what he would do. This was down to the parts, cleaners, tools and procedures of the job. He said if we wanted to do it ourselves we should take notes. Wow! Who does that?
As the job went, he gave us texts of the updates and, when he found other items to fix, they were explained with detail as to why it would be a good idea to fix them. His prices are very reasonable and he knows what he is doing.
Since the repair, we have had some questions. His response is quick and he has backed it up with diagramed emails.
Now it’s time to take a ride!

I bought a 74 Rally a few years back and it sat for a few years with a known seized piston along with a few other issues. I recently brought it to Dan after being referred by a friend and I’m glad I did. I’ve got a few P200s and I’ve done the tradition shop fix along with other independent mechanics in the city with mixed results. Dan is the best of both worlds. Without the overhead of a traditional shop and he being a honest guy, your scoot gets repaired and at a reasonable price. He rebuilt my Rally engine and it runs like a top! He kept me updated on the progress the entire time and there we’re never any surprises at the end. It was the small details that he fixed for me and never charged me for that makes any mechanic regardless of what they work on, a keeper. Great guy, super fair prices and a true vespa die hard fan. I would trust him with my Vespas life!

Dan did a great job working on my 59 Vespa. Very patient, very thorough, very professional. Highly recommended!

I wouldn’t call myself a rookie to vespa’s, nor even close to an expert, I honestly love riding my scooter, and get intimidated working on it myself in the fear that I am going to screw (no pun intended) something up. Well I met Dan of Frisco Vintage when I honestly couldn’t figure out what was wrong with my bike. Now I live in the east bay and had a terrible experience at the «Vespa Shop» in Oakland and was familiar with a few other Vespa mechanics in East Bay and SF, one had closed his shop, the other wasn’t available for a month plus… so after looking through some postings, I reached out to Dan. I actually had started making a laundry list of mechanics and was going to email the majority of them in the next day or two; however Dan didn’t give me a chance.
I’ve worked with Dan a couple of times now, and he is not what I had expected in the least. 1^st, what was I expecting? I was expecting an overbearing, unreliable, militant, mechanic who does it his way or you can take your piece of shit bike with you. Well, Dan is far from that. Dan is easygoing, yet reliable and trustworthy, a very stand up individual and mechanic and prior to our last job together we’d communicated what I was thinking, and he gave his input and even provided me with links to exact parts and multiple price levels. (Or another way of saying it, he goes well above and beyond and is worth every penny which is a lot less then the «scooter shops» charge)
In closing I don’t waste a ton of time writing reviews; however this one is well deserved Dan, and Frisco Vintage and is overdue overdue. Thanks Dan for your continued support with my 79 Vespa P200e and hope we get to work together well into the future. If I was you, and you have an issue with your vintage Vespa and lived in the San Francisco Bay Area I wouldn’t hesitate to give Dan a call, I did, and couldn’t be happier.

I have a 1980 Vespa P125X that I bought in March or April of 2006. Primarily because it was cute and I loved my modern Vespa. I had never driven a manual anything and promptly parked it and ignored it for about 7 years. When I got a wild hair that I really was going to learn to ride it this April it needed work to even run again. A friend of mine got it running and off to the races I was. Only I was stalling at most every stop and popping wheelies at most every start. The brakes were atrocious. A stranger walked up to me in a parking lot and told me the idle sounded terrible. Then the whole thing started leaking oil from a broken sight-​glass. I asked around and was referred to Dan at Frisco Vintage.
Dan fixed the sight glass and suggested I come back for a basic tuneup. I did. Sadly when he started he found numerous problems. Not surprising for a 33 year old scooter that had been seriously neglected. Turned out the I had a bad crankshaft oil seal and basically needed an engine rebuild. Dan talked me through the process, options, price and the timing. He then talked me out of some expensive upgrades that really wouldn’t make sense for me. I got my bike back when he said I would and she runs like butter. II haven’t popped a wheelie since and have only stalled once. I’m happy with his work and his patience with newbie me.
I am always dubious of businesses with all 5 star reviews, but based on my experience with Frisco Vintage, I am not surprised that the ratings here are unanimously 5 stars.

Dan’s worked on my 1981 Vespa P200E a few times now for different things, and he’s fantastic! He takes the time to diagnose the problem and explain the options, works with you to minimize extraneous costs, and takes responsibility when something turns out less-​than-​perfect (which is inevitable when you’re talking about a 32 year old scooter!). He’s a pleasure to work with, and I highly recommend him!

I’m the original owner of a 1980 P200 Vespa. It needed new seals and various other repairs on the moto & electrical… So this was not going to be a low cost project. I ran the bike into one of the larger scooter shops and I was given this astronomical price for the repairs and I still did feel confident that I was going walk out in the end with all the repairs I needed for it to be completely repaired. I kept searching around for another source and found Dan at Frisco Vintage, on my first conversation with him, I immediately felt really comfortable with his experience and attitude and also his pricing was reasonable. I dropped the scooter off and he was done in 7 working days and my sweet P200 runs like it did the first day I bought it back in 1980. In addition, he got my electrical all straighten out so that everything is in working order. Dan is my man for any future tweaks and repairs on my scooter. He is really pleasant to work with and really honest!

So glad to find this on Unilocal and lucky enough for Dan to take on my crazy scooter project. My Vespa 1965 VBB needed a major overhaul. I knew that from the beginning but I didn’t realize how much work it needed. I had a list of problems with the bike but Dan thoroughly inspected and found more problems with it (tons!). I was just glad that he did not ditch the «project». He worked on it for quite awhile due to the major issues it had, but at the same time, kept the costs low (i was very impressed)…I’m sure it would have cost me 2x or 3x more if I took it somewhere else.
The scooter now has a new heart, lungs, veins, etc… but the same sexy ’65 body. The scooter runs great and very throttle responsive. Dan is a very honest and professional scoot mechanic. Will be taking it back to him for tune-​ups and upgrades. Looks like my scooter has found a new scooteriatician.

I have a 1966VB that needed a turnkey restoration after sitting inside a storage container for 20 years. After finding Dan on the internet, he came out to take a look at the bike and gave me a quote (I doubt anyone else would do that!) The bike was in such bad shape it was unsafe to drive. He spent a lot of time on the scooter and did such a professional job. It fires right up now, drives smooth and looks terrific. He is a great guy and honest business person. Had I take this to anyone else the work not have been as professional and probably more expensive. If you have a scooter that is in need of repair or restoration in the greater bay area, you would do well to bring it to him. Thank you Dan!

Dan is an obvious pro and was completely honest when he reviewed my bike. His candid approach was appreciated greatly. I absolutely recommend engaging his services and will be returning for all my scooter business. Thanks Dan!

I took my 1977 Super 150 to Dan and he was great. He was able to diagnose the rather obscure problem just by my description of what was going on (obscure to me but probably not to him given his level of experience with these machines). He was very up front and professional about cost and time to fix. In the process of the rather invasive fix many more problems became evident. This was not a surprise given the lack of care that was shown it by the previous owner. Dan gave me a very well balanced opinion on what i should and should not take care of given my limited budget. I have had mechanics try to upsell or encourage me to do unnecessary things with my vehicles and this was the antithesis of what Dan did. My scooter runs great, i felt Dan was very professional and most importantly honest.