Innholdsfortegnelse for June 2017 i Scootering

Iarrived in a heavy shower on Friday evening and the omens didn’t look good. With the sun hidden behind the clouds and a brisk sea breeze, it was easy to believe the weather forecaster who’d said this Easter could be colder than last Christmas Day. Despite this, it was obvious that Scarborough would be well attended as a quick internet check had shown only one bed available in town. A brisk walk revealed that pubs were doing a roaring trade and side streets were filled with scooters chained up outside B&Bs. Unlike some other rally towns Scarborough seems to understand how the Nationals work and although pubs were happy to take the ‘scooterist pound’ I only saw one event being held in competition to the VFM party in the Spa…

This year’s VMSC Extravaganza was held at the Connexion Centre, Ryton-on-Dunsmore and throughout the day we were treated to lengthy spells of beautiful early spring sunshine. The sweeping private road into the complex provided a great entry for all enthusiasts and ride-ins. Inside, the all-in-one hall comfortably accommodated a wide variety of traders, dealers and the impressive VMSC custom show. Ian Harrop of the VMSC committee explained that this year the VMSC had revisited their custom show categories and placings. Several of the categories now had first, second and third places rather than just a winner and runner up – no doubt an endorsement of the quality, strength and depth of the entries being put forward. After I’d talked with Ian my next priority was to look over the truly…

If my wife sneaks up and sees me snap the laptop closed, she knows exactly which website I’ve been browsing. No, not THAT sort of website – I meant Retrospective Scooters! With its endless procession of rare machinery the company’s fascinated me for years and before my association with Scootering it was Retrospective who supplied my ‘original paint’ GP. I’d bought that machine over the phone and taken advantage of their delivery service, so when the opportunity arose to pay them a visit I jumped at it. Niall McCart and Dave Maher are owners of Retrospective Scooters and The London Scooter Bodyshop respectively. Friends and scooterists for years, their business interests have always overlapped. Around three years ago the pair sat down to design their ideal base and the result…

Despite that particular decade being responsible for yuppies, Filofaxes, giant shoulder pads, and the British manufacturing industry being decimated piece by piece. In the UK, the scooter scene, via the National scooter rallies, provided a welcome distraction to tens of thousands After a week of hard graft there was little to beat jumping on your trusty scooter with the very bare essentials packed and heading for (usually) a seaside destination. Thereafter you’d spend a couple of days nonstop partying with like-minded people, a rainbow alliance of different youth subcultures united by one common interest; scooters. It wasn’t all quite so rosy though. Yes, greeting us after a long ride, there were invariably police roadblocks, ‘Scooters Not Welcome’ signs would be displayed outside many establishments, and some designated rally campsites early…

Over the last few years with the introduction of the Vespa GTS, and the Lambretta orientated Scomadi, there has been a certain amount of criticism aimed at both machines. From a purist’s point of view they are seen as the easy way out in terms of ready-made reliability, certainly when it comes to long distance travelling like rallies for instance. It should be the owner’s decision which scooter they wish to buy and if it is something more modern rather than vintage then that is entirely their choice. You must remember not everyone is mechanically minded so the temptation of proven reliability and easy maintenance will be appealing. There will always be divided opinion with the odd comment thrown in here and there that these are not true scooters but…

This scooter is deceased I was locked in my garage in Udine, northern Italy, looking at my 150cc VBB Vespa and there were tears in my eyes – I could hardly tell if the hunk of machinery sprawled across my workbench was lying on a hospital bed or a slab at the morgue. After eight years of sterling service, and a total of almost 125,053km with me sitting proudly on board, I’d decided it was time for my companion to undergo a major surgical procedure. It was going to be risky, and it made me feel like sobbing, but it had to happen if we were going to have any sort of future together. Remarkably, in spite of everything the engine was still 100% functional and even more astonishingly it…

What’s going on? With a recent batch of new additions to the market ripe for testing, along with some old favourites, the time was right and demand high from consumers to see some results. Could we see the Holy Grail of a clubman finally matching expansion chamber performance… or is it still just a pipe dream (groan)? The first dilemma: with so many kits on the market, in such a variety of cubic capacities (typically 175cc to 230cc) and with a host of cranks which implement the ability to move port specifications about, and many ported/tuned engines out there… what do we choose as a donor machine for testing on? Perhaps a standard SIL200 motor, or a Rapido 250, maybe a Casa 185 kit, something else? In an ideal world…

LUNA LINE PIPES BACK AT CHISELSPEED Chiselspeed has recently added to its line of performance exhausts with the CST Luna Sports Exhaust. “These are the only pipes of their kind available for the Luna range,” explained owner Martin Cook. “They’ve been out of stock for some time but we’ve now located a British supplier capable of delivering to the standards we require.” The pipes are currently available to fit the 75cc engine cases with 50cc compatibility to follow. Priced at £340 the pipes are already proving popular with buyers in the UK and Italy. Also exclusive to Chiselspeed are compact universal fitting Lambretta rear hub pullers. Priced at £19.95, their clever design enables them to fit all Series 1, 2, 3 and GP hubs. “Our pullers are manufactured in the…

SHOW RESULTS Best of Show: ‘Peaky Blinders’ – Shaun Williams Best Vintage Vespa: Silver Vespa GS Best Standard Lambretta: Red and White Li 150 Series 2 Best Chrome / Engraving: ‘Blue Summer’ – Lambretta Chop Best Custom Vespa: ‘Minder’ Best Custom Lambretta: ‘Abbie’s Hideaway’ Best Custom Paint: ‘Spirit of the Lake’ – Lambretta Best Street Racer: Casa 225 – Lambretta Best Auto: ‘Lammy ’73’ Best Mod Accessories: Black Lambretta Li Best Chop / Oddity: Dragsterchop Best Attended Club: South Birmingham S.C Steve ‘Scouse’ McKinnon Memorial Trophy: ‘Misspent Youth’ – Lambretta Les sets the scene Les Thorn formed the Leicester Phoenix Scooter Club in 1979. He said: “I thought I was the only scooterist in Leicester and I’d been having some problems with the scooter I was riding at the time.…

Street sleepers aren’t a new idea; the earliest ones are lost back in the drunken haze of the late Eighties, but I don’t think I’ve seen anyone take it to this extreme. Not content with the full bodied look of most of these beasts, a mixture of wine, beer and internet shopping helped Phil Davidson decide that he needed something that would surprise a few of the local bikers in a straight line, but would also be a good machine for throwing around the back roads of a weekend, something that his area, Dundee, has plenty of. While this is another of those ‘seemed like a good idea after a few pints’ stories, it’s one that has a fair amount of good fortune in the making. With the basic idea…

Collections are assembled for many reasons such as public display or investment but the most interesting are those brought together for personal enjoyment. Israel and Charo, the owners of Recambios Motos Clásicas, are supplying spares for classic scooters with an emphasis on machines produced in Spain. Their passion for both Vespa and Lambretta is boundless and has taken the couple across the country in search of rare survivors. The main part of their collection comprises 76 machines and is laid out in an orderly fashion at their company HQ, away from public view. Astounded as I was by that collection, it was the journey to a nearby industrial unit where the remainder of the collection is held that really caught my breath. When asked how many machines were stored there,…

Directed by Devlin Crowe, Being owes its existence to crowdfunding and most of that crowd came from the Mod community. The premiere, which was held at Dingwalls in Camden, on April 6 was much more than a film screening, it was a celebration and those attending were ready to party. “This is not a Quadrophenia sequel,” said Devlin. “I grew up in Brighton and the film was a great influence on my life but there’s a feeling of melancholia about Jimmy. He becomes disillusioned with being a Mod and something that should have been enjoyable destroys him. Being is the opposite, it takes a destructive disease and creates something positive.” Being tells the story of Buddy, a teenager caring for his mother who suffers from Multiple Sclerosis. The opening scenes…

SIP tubeless rims with Performer tyres and Pinasco tubeless rims with Dunlop ScootSmart tyres… having these two sets to choose from it was down to the toss of a coin to decide who was getting which. I ended up with the Pinasco and Dunlops on the PX125 and Wayne ended up with the SIP/Performer combination on the PX200. Each brand of rim has its own merits so let’s take a look at the pros and cons of each while we fit them… PINASCO Having built many standard scooter wheels up in the past, I can say that the problem of nipping up tubes between the rims can be very annoying, but of course, being tubeless, there are no such issues here. The Pinasco set comes with light alloy rims, and…

Diagnosis and repairs are all fine at home in the garage, but what if you are out on the road… especially a long journey. Well though there are many causes for an erratic tick over to suddenly manifest itself, some are easy to investigate and sort, avoiding an expensive engine rebuild. Here we look at some of the causes that are fixable at least to get you home with the scooter till a full repair can be made. Why is it important to investigate the cause? If all of a sudden your engines tick over either becomes erratic or you are unable to set it correctly then there is a reason for it. There are many possible causes which we will look at in due course but what it is…

Historically we’ve shied away from football-themed scooters, after all it’s easy enough to be accused of bias in the ‘Vespa v Lambretta’ stakes without introducing team rivalries into the mix! However, it’s now time to break that convention. Mitch is no stranger to the pages of Scootering and this Jet 200 was originally built as a tribute to his love of the beautiful game. Its Harry Barlow Stage 5 engine and GRP bodywork make it a lightweight, nimble ride and it’s seen regularly at rallies up and down the country. Adorning the panels are two of West Ham’s all-time greats, a young Trevor Brooking and the legendary Bobby Moore. Neither are the heroes that this machine’s become associated with, however. Having led England to World Cup victory in 1966, Moore…

SHOW RESULTS Best In Show: Rattler Best Lambretta: Lady Muck TV175 Best Vespa: Romper Stomper Best Street Racer: AF Rayspeed Super ‘S’ Type Best Cutdown/Chopper: Illusion 2 Best Mural: Start Me Up Best Restoration: Vespa Rally 200 Best Engineered: The Beast Piaggio X9 500 You’ll find this rally located on the coast of the Bristol Channel hosted by the South West Scooter Clubs (SWSC). Weston-super-Mare was described to me by a German friend as ‘the Blackpool of the south’ and he wasn’t far off. It had a fantastic sprawling seafront, a great atmosphere and the sun even made an appearance. On our journey down we only saw one scooter heading in the same direction and when we finally arrived at this large seaside town, we still didn’t spot any scooters.…

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“Sharing floor- I loved it.” space with me at The Jam’s last concert was 17-year-old Russell Hastings. Little was he to know that over twenty years later he’d find himself fronting a group with two of The Jam’s original members.” To be honest, the depth of loss following The Jam’s split has never truly left me (nor, I presume, anyone else who’d followed the group). While Paul Weller’s decision to call it quits when The Jam were at their peak appeared a noble, it did little to fill the enormous vacuum left by the band’s demise. While Weller would have considerable success with The Style Council and in his solo career, it’s fair to say that the energy and passion that The Jam embodied has never been replicated. Sharing floor-space…

I am not one of the ‘do-gooders’ for whom chops and autos amount to heresy. I have enjoyed riding both over the years and love to see any custom that has been thought out and gives something new and interesting – whether it be a controversial theme, one off parts, or just simply something that defies the status quo! Michael Street’s auto chop definitely does that, based on the grafting of a Lambretta front tube and Gilera Runner engine cradle. In all it has taken him, and his two mates Mark and Dids, nine months to create, starting with only a junked frame tube and written off Gilera (am I starting to win you over?). Fabrication First the frame was jigged up so it would be a comfortable ride for…

St George’s Day is a day of celebration and Cambridge Scooter Club organises a ride out for this annually. There were stalls present ranging from scooter parts and an airbrush spraying technician giving demonstrations, to local record dealers. There were even professional photographers attending so you could be snapped sitting on your pride and joy. The event is always well supported by local clubs within the eastern region and this year we had scooters coming from Norfolk, Bedfordshire, Suffolk, Essex, Hertfordshire and Peterborough to name a few. St Ives Equals Scooter Club won the trophy for best turned out club and brought close to 30 scooters to the event. It was great to see a wide range of scooters on show. The ride out, which consisted of 277 scooters, navigated…

Lambretta, Vespa, spares, accessories and a vast range of automatics. Looking for a scooter? Then look no further! Sell your scooter and spares on the internet today at: WWW.SCOOTERTRADER.COM Automatics HONDA PCXSPORT 64 reg, immaculate with extras, always garaged, only seen 17 miles of rain less than 3000 miles, serviced from new, stunning scooter, £1850. Tel. Pete 07789 061218. Yorkshire. PIAGGIO MP3 250cc, 2007, blue, 18,500km, (under 12000 miles), MoT January 2018, part S/H, both keys, V5, some new parts fitted, handbrake works, (a pair of crutches will fit through boot/ underseat space) vgc, £1800 ono Tel. 07913 032864. Yorkshire. SCOMADI TL200 red, 100 miles on the clock, brand new, bought from Wildcat, £3900 extras thrown in Tel. 07970 371665. Somerset. SUZUKI BURGMAN K9 2009, 16,000 miles, MoT June 2017,…