Yeah it's amazing where a little chat can lead... That's happened quite a few times to me too.
Well, the vinyl covering looks great on the guard. I'm guessing you'll be able to speed up the process as you continue. I get what you mean about doing it once and doing it properly. I spent most of my life working with aircraft and that mentality was drummed into me since day one. There's a fine line between OCD and being pedantic they say. To be honest, all the best aircraft engineers I ever worked with could all be diagnosed with some type of OCD (myself included at times).. I don't really care what others say any more. If I'm enjoying something and getting good results, I'm happy as Larry!

In regards to where do I ride and are there any clubs around?? I mostly use the scoot now as a run-about (when the weather's good) to get places I'd otherwise normally drive. It's still nice to jump on and hit the country roads around where I live, but I find I'm not doing that so much since I've run in the engine. I did it by the books and covered about 2,000kms without too much hard work or full throttle - so that was a lot of 1 or 2 hour trips over the summer!
She's (LML) off the road atm.. I accidentally pulled out the speedo cable at the hub end when making some slack in the cable to lift up the headset when changing gear cables. I discovered the bracket/plate which presses down on the rubber grommet (in the hub) is totally at the wrong angle and wasn't holding the cable correctly and in fact pushing the cable off centre - the plate has completely the wrong angle on it!!! So I ordered a new vespa grommet and plate (which looks quite different) hoping that'll do the job properly. As you've probably seen already, tons of people have problems with breaking speedo cables at the hub end. I'm thinking the wrong angle of the plate which squashes down on the grommet might be the culprit - plus of course the alignment of the plate when tightening it all up- that's critical. Sort of hard to explain without photos... I'll see how I go and maybe make a new topic about it if I feel on the right track...
I searched for a club and the only one I came with was the Melbourne Vespa Scooter Club, so I shot them an email asking if I could join. The answer was a big NO! They don't allow LML's in the club.. SNOBS!! I really wish there was another club around but I just can't find any. I rode a Vespa then a Bajaj in the 80's and it was so cool to ride with my mates who also had Vespas. We were punks on scooters and were quite well known in the Melb Mod/scooter scene - for some reason they tolerated us and didn't feel the need to bash us!! lol. So we took a few rides with them as well which was fun.
If you find any clubs that cater for LML riders let me know. I'd love to go for a group ride - it's a nice feeling being around like minded people and disappearing in a cloud of 2 stroke!
It might be worth ringing GPS before you head off. I'm not sure if they're open on weekends? Just down the road from GPS Imports is Vespa House. That's the original vespa shop/mechanics workshop in Melb. Good bunch of guys - but they're not really into LML's - strictly Vespas, being Italian and all. Though I found if you sweet talk them enough they'll help you out if need be..

So far I've done any mechanical work needed myself, so I've been able to avoid paying the price for their expertise, though I have had to ask a few questions. If you need any parts they'll just send you up the road to GPS anyway... Vespa House is a great place to stop in and look at though. It's ancient and has some great old bikes in there!
There's another scooter mechanics workshop around the corner from Johnson street Collingwood. I haven't been there but probably worth checking out if you need mechanical work done.. here's a link. There's some good info on their website -suppliers, projects etc. They've got a fb page as well..
http://scooterlabs.netCheers
Phil