Silence is Golden: De-tuning the Beverly 350

My adventures with the Irish Piaggio Beverly 350 that I picked up in April this year (2025) have been pretty well documented on this blog. It came with a whole host of "upgrades" that were unbeknownst to me at the time. The seller never mentioned them in the advert, odd as they added a lot of value. But regardless, the first I knew about it was when I actually turned up to see the thing.

For those who haven’t read the previous posts about this bike (and frankly, why haven’t you?), the machine came with a full Malossi performance kit package. We’re talking the exhaust, belt, variator, rollers, and air filter. The lot. The bike went like stink, I’ll give it that. But my god was it ever loud.

My love/hate relationship with the Malossi exhaust is covered in far too much detail elsewhere on this site. It’s loud. It does have a nice sound, I suppose, but it is just so loud. It’s been on and off the bike almost as much as me. I’d almost learnt to live with the volume, but the bike itself was screaming, too. Once you hit about 60mph the engine was howling at you.

I also have a much newer Beverly 400 in Spain (where I live part-time), and the 350 was significantly louder than that. But as the 350 has a smaller engine and is a fair bit older (2017 versus 2023), I just figured that’s the way it is. I bought some decent earplugs and sucked it up.

Until I couldn’t anymore.

After riding the 350 all over the summer, I headed back to Spain and back to my lovely new(er) 400. I knew the 400 was quieter, but the difference was night and day. It’s smoother, quieter, and just nicer to ride. Over the next couple of months riding around Spain, I came to the conclusion that I could no longer live with the 350 back in Ireland. I decided I’d have to sell it in the new year.

Initially, I planned to replace it with a new Beverly 400. But as this blog will attest, the 400 has not been without its problems. The engine and the mechanical bits are fine, but the electrics? Well, let’s just say it’s Italian. Nuff said!

There was also the small matter of having zero dealer support in Ireland. On the whole island, north and south, there isn’t a single Piaggio dealer. Buying a brand new bike with a warranty and having no local dealer network is absolute madness. So, I decided to replace the 350 with a Honda ADV350. I do like the Honda. The styling isn’t really to my taste as I prefer the traditional "Vespa" look, but there is no denying it’s a great bike, and unlike it's sibling the Forza, it fits me.

So that was that. Get back to Ireland for Christmas, pick up an ADV350 in the new year, then flog the Beverly 350. Plan sorted.

Then, during a conversation with a mate who is far more knowledgeable about these things, I mentioned my dilemma. I told him I loved the Beverly platform but had to sell it because of the noise. He knew about all the upgrades and quickly responded, "Well, what do you expect with all those boy racer go-faster parts bolted on?"

Long story short, it turns out the Malossi variator makes the bike sit higher in its rev range for a given speed. Why? So the engine is revving closer to its peak torque setting (or summit like that). The exhaust is obviously much louder than stock, and even the performance air filter lets more noise escape the engine because it is less dense than the factory one.

The solution was pretty simple (and obvious according to my knowledgeable friend). Just put the bike back to stock. He reckoned it would cost a few quid, but not nearly as much as replacing the whole bike.

Interesting, says I. But actually, it won’t cost me a penny, because the previous owner who added all the upgrades kept all the old parts and gave them to me in a box. Win!

After a lot of chats with Gemini AI (my current go-to font of all knowledge), a new plan was hatched. Get back to Ireland and return the whole bike completely to stock. It seemed I had all the tools needed for the job, except for the socket needed to remove one specific bolt. Namely, the massive (but silly thin) 46mm nut that holds the clutch and final drive spring in place (the Malossi variator uses it's own unique spring).

Gemini informed me that not just any 46mm socket would do. As the nut was really thin, I needed a socket with a minimal chamfered face. Most sockets have quite a large chamfer to make it easy to seat over a bolt head. But as this nut was so thin (why Piaggio... WHY?), a standard socket would slip right off. A bit of research eventually turned up a Laser 46mm socket on Amazon, specially made for a Triumph motorbike which evidently uses a similarly stupid thin nut in the gear assembly.

Part ordered and duly arrived, the day had come to dive in with both hands. The order of play was to remove the Malossi variator, rollers, and final drive spring (using the fancy 46mm socket), clean everything, and replace it with the original stock parts, including the original belt.

Job done. Well, not without a near-catastrophic error. I rebuilt the entire thing but missed out the long silver spacer that threads into the middle of the variator. It was only when I was checking my work area for any "leftovers" that I spotted it. I had to strip it all down again and start over. But hey, better that than start the bike with this part missing, as that would have resulted in near-instant destruction of the entire CVT system. Phew!

Once all that was done and back together again, I replaced the Malossi air filter with the stock one. Boom. Job done.

Now, I’m pretty mechanically minded. I worked as a bicycle mechanic for many years and I’m used to taking things apart. But I am new to scooters. Whenever I’ve done any work on my Beverlys, I’m always a bit nervous starting them for the first time. So with eyes closed and a grimaced face, I turned the key, pulled the brake lever, and hit the start button.

It all just worked. Only much less loudly.

Eager to really try it out, I took it for a quick spin. Yep, it is certainly quieter. So back home, full wet weather gear on (it is December in Ireland, of course it’s raining), and off to the local city I went. A 40-mile round trip with a long stretch of fast road where you can average 60-70mph no bother.

I’ve done this trip countless times on the 350. I’d never dream of doing it without earplugs, and even then my ears would be ringing at the end. Not today though. No earplugs, no ringing ears. My knowledgeable friend was 100% right. It wasn't the bike that was loud per se. It was all the boy racer parts the previous owner had "upgraded" that turned it from a mild-mannered cruiser into a wannabe racer with accompanying sound effects.

Sure, in its original "stock" setup it is no longer an eager 21-year-old boy racer, always wanting to be first off the line and up to full speed in a heartbeat. It’s now more of a 40-year-old father of two who values comfort over performance. But let’s not be too hard on the Piaggio engineers. It is still no slouch and remains one of the quicker 350cc maxi-scooters out there. It is just more refined without all the wallet-breaking performance parts bolted on.

Now, for sale: One used but well-loved Malossi performance upgrade pack for a 2017 Piaggio Beverly 350. Any takers?