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I bought my Nexus 500 in October 2007, It had hardly any 'kilometerage' on it at all BUT it wasnt brand new.

Although I am a classic scooter rider most of the time ( I have a 1957 Vespa GS 150 and a 1962 Lambretta TV 175 ) the Nexus gets a good ride most of the week with the classics for club runs at the weekend.

Since I have owned the Gilera I have had the main body panel ( sump area, front of the scoot and both footrest area) warp out of position by a lot after a long hot ride here in WA. It was replaced and took forever as the panel was sourced from Piaggio in Italy.

Now I have had a pool of oil form under the scoot after bumping it off it's mainstand...engine wasnt even running. My mechanic is baffled. He thinks it may have been from a leaking central rear shock absorber... He's still checking.

Has anyone experienced quality problems with their Nexus 500's ?

I just LOVE this scooter, and the last thing I want to do is is become disillusioned with it coz of dodgy build quality.

Flying along at close to 100mph, downhill sweeping long curves close to the Indian Ocean coast is one of my little bits of heaven, I'd hate to give this scoot up for adoption...it belongs with me, at home.  Tel me about your Gilera Nexus.... cheers.............fodes.

I think I know who your mechanic is & you're right. He's baffled although did have some thoughts on what it might be. Being Piaggio, I seriously doubt it's build quality. When it was bumped off the stand I assume it hit the ground?

There's a few Nexus riders in here, hopefully one of them may be able to help.

 Wouldn't be hard to see if it were the shock leaking. But, a leak seems obvious if you've had a collection of oil form.

I've had mine for a little over 10,000kms, since new (June 2006?); it lusts for twisty roads and smoothly eats up the fast country miles, I haven't baby'd mine through it's short life and there's been no issues.

But, I have found issues (on o/s forums) with Nexus after work has been performed: do your brakes work OK? I saw an issue where the rear hydraulic line wasn't re-secured after wheel removal and it got in the way of (whatever?) and got scuffed and eventually caused a hole/cut... That's what I did before I got mine: checked out all the forums and checked out what, if any, were typical issues and the main one i found was slack/sloppy mechanics who didn't re-secure things or check tightness on things...and this issue still persists I've found. You pay for care-factor in your labor fee, I wish some of them realised that; must say my recent service at MyScooter got top marks.

Removing the paneling is a pain, they don't lack nuts & bolts, they're everywhere!! Your mech should trace the leak once he gets inside the covers, could be a tension issue on the engine housing/busted gasket...  they don't have quality issues on the later versions but did have some on the earlier ones (series1?)

Getting parts from Italy  is easy, getting them through the importers here in Aus is the problem, they seem to take forever from what I've heard of; I wanted a red-trim panel for the steering head on mine, 'not available', so I got a friend in the Nexus Club to send me one... 4days. lovely.

Learn Italian and get onto the Italian Nexus Club site, they have many Nexus and heaps of info!! very helpful site!

Good luck with yours, keep us informed. Is yours a Red one...  you know the Red ones are faster!!!

Sorted.  Leaking shock absorber.  A bugger to find (problem only happened intermittently sometimes when getting off the stand - so it took a few days for the problem to actually reveal itself), but now happily replaced under warranty.  First one in Aus apparently, so no previous info to fall back on.