Innholdsfortegnelse for October 2022 i Scootering

As I type this introduction to the October edition, I’ve still to unpack from our trip to the Scooterist Weekender in Cologne. For me this was the first post-Covid trip overseas and I don’t mind admitting that, combined with the fact that we were travelling as ‘trade’, filled me with apprehension. Much to my delight the only delay we encountered was at British customs on the way out and that was only because the Border Agency chap wanted to take a photo of our scooters for his son to look at. Any anxiety that I’d felt was more than offset by the welcome we received in Cologne. There’s something very special about a German rally but Scooter Centre’s birthday party took things up to a whole new level. So much,…

This information is provided by Stephen Hattersley, of WildWood Legal, a firm of solicitors specialising in claims for injured scooterists. Stephen, a qualified solicitor for 25 years, has been riding scooters for more than 30 years and has acted for injured riders across the UK. He knows the tricks and pitfalls that insurers use and pulls no punches in his dealings with them. He rides to work every day and understands the challenges you face out there. Q. What are the new Highway Code changes about, and how do they affect pedestrians? A. The Highway Code changed a few things earlier this year, including the rules on the rights of way for pedestrians crossing a road into which a vehicle is turning. Prior to these changes, you had to give…

No one wants to be reminded of the pandemic, I think everyone has had enough of it. From the appalling loss of life to the restrictions on our daily living, it’s something the whole world never wants to go through again. It was a scenario that was unprecedented, taking over all our lives and at such a lightning pace, but perhaps there are good things that have come out of it, certainly for the scooter scene. For decades its makeup has been based around events and gatherings and at times we’ve moaned how sometimes it gets a bit stale. The problem is you can’t really change it; a rally is a rally, wherever the venue is. A custom show doesn’t become different because it is in another location and scooter…

Whether you’re on the road or race circuit there are plenty of things that determine how fast we can travel. Obviously, there’s the speed limit and the performance of your scooter. Your capabilities as a rider are critical, but while both weather and road surface also play their parts, they’re all trumped by something called the ‘limit point’ of your vision. Some riders know this as the ‘convergence point’ and old-school advanced motorists will know it as ‘the arrowhead’; whatever phrase you choose, it boils down to one thing – you shouldn’t be riding faster than you can plan ahead. Who should use the technique? Although this is classed as an advanced riding technique it can be used by everyone, regardless of their riding experience. When and where should it…

Back in 1986, British scooterists looking to buy a brand new geared scooter were faced with a rather unpleasant choice. This was the beginning of an era marked by corporations shedding their history, rebranding at astronomic cost. Over in Pontedera, not only did the P Range look doomed, so did the Vespa brand. Although it was still a couple of years away, the replacement was to be called Cosa and most scooterists sneered. Over in Spain, Serveta was trying to wring a third decade out of its Series 3 tooling by adding some plastic mouldings and calling it Lince. Again, the majority of scooterists were unimpressed. If the choice from Europe didn’t appeal, it was always possible to enter the build quality lottery of Indian manufactured machines. Best known of…

‘In the Wet’ Stone Scooter Club North Wales 300 Challenge Stone SC (SSC) is located in Staffordshire and was established in September 2013 with four members. Since then it has gone from strength to strength, and currently we have 21 members on our books. The Stone SC North Wales 300 Challenge is an annual event where members and guests raise money for a chosen charity, this year’s being the British Red Cross which is raising funds for the Ukraine Distress Appeal. On Sunday, July 24, in company with some members of the Nomads SC from Llandudno, we rode the NW 300 Challenge to complete our series of fundraising events. We set off from Stone at 6am, rode into Shropshire and bypassed Shrewsbury, picking up the A49. The rain was relentless…

Oil – it’s not a subject I often cover. It’s too damn contentious, and I absolutely detest the usual ‘which brand do you use’ or the ‘what percentage do you run’ arguments that so frequently erupt on social media. But this month in the garage, we saw a couple of alternative angles to the oil-related discussion, both of which I thought were definitely worth sharing. Let me ask you two questions: 1) If your engine gets no oil for a brief period, how long before this becomes a problem? 2) What type of oil does a high-performance engine need? The answers are of course, zero, you have zero time, and you need a quality oil with good lubricity qualities, decent viscosity and a high flash point. You can stop reading…

✎ Classic Scooterist, PO Box 99, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6LZ ✉ mauspencer@classicscooterist.com ☎ 01507 529408 AF S Type tribute stand at 2023 Scooter World After the last Scooter World event had to be aborted because of Covid, we can confirm that the AF S Type area originally planned for 2022 will now be part of the 2023 event over the weekend of January 7-8 at Newark Showground (NG24 2NY). Bookings are now open for both club stands and private entries; entry numbers are limited, so it’s best to book your space now. For club bookings, visit https://www.newarkclassicbikeshow.com/club-booking/ For private entries, visit https://www.newarkclassicbikeshow.com/private-booking/ Classic Racks luggage solutions Devon-based company Classic Racks offers the perfect balance between style and function on a wide range of aftermarket racks, designed and tested to survive…

He rarely gives interviews but next month we’re featuring an exclusive chat with the legendary Bruce Foxton together with From The Jam’s Russell Hastings. We profile Vespa’s SS180, look at a very unusual Lambretta and bring you all the best reports from the end-of-season rallies. There’s never been a better time to subscribe. Not only can you save money, but the Foxton interview video will be loaded on to our Scootering Extra page for the exclusive delight of subscribers only.…

On Friday, August 12, 2022 after sustaining serious injuries in a road traffic accident, Anthony Lewis, aka ‘Tones Bones’, passed away in Leeds General Infirmary; tragically he’d been doing what he loved the most in life, riding a scooter. Tony’s funeral took place on Wednesday, August 31, and prior to the service around 60-70 scooters gathered outside his home to follow the funeral procession to Pontefract Crematorium. At the crematorium the song Wish You Were Here by Pink Floyd played while Tony’s coffin was carried into the service. On top of it were flowers from his family and scooter clubs along with his Looney Tunes SC legshield banner. Tony was connected with several scooter clubs including Pontefract SC and Featherstone Spartans and was known as one of the ‘Magnificent Seven’…

This German ‘Tourist’ is so very different. There can be little doubt that the Heinkel Tourist is ‘different’. The only scooter in the 175cc engine capacity size with a four-stroke motor could not be otherwise and the first question which comes to mind is: “Well, what are the advantages of a motor which is slightly more complicated than the familiar two-stroke?” The answer is many sided; for example; oil-less petrol is used; high speeds can be held for extended periods; engine overhauls are likely to be fewer in number and there is a deep throb about the exhaust note which many riders find less tiring. For such items, one pays extra money and becomes the owner of an engine which has more parts than is usual in a scooter. The…

★ STAR LETTER ★ Rizla remedy Hello Stan, Your custom show results for Weymouth printed in the September issue are wrong. Best street racer was Rizla +33. I am the owner and I have the trophy. Please can you print the correct result. Thank you. Dave Barrett Dave, My sincere apologies, I can blame no one else but myself. When I typed out the results I listed Little Boy Soldier (Best Vespa) twice. I’m very happy to set the record straight and that our prize letter award will help to keep Rizla +33 safe. Kind regards, Stan The writer of our Star Letter this month wins a Kovix brake lever lock with an RRP of £94.99. New from Kovix, this brake lever lock combines a robust metal body with an…

An endearing blend of scooter love was behind the inspiration for the development of Wayne ‘Shy’ Marshall’s pit ride series, which is in support of cancer patient Donna Press of the Featherstone Spartans SC. Shy explained that his grandfather and father, Alfred – who’s in his 80s –were both miners. “I came up with the idea for the pit ride series because I’ve always been interested in the mining industry and its history. I was brought up in the pit village of Kinsley in Yorkshire and as a kid I used to love listening to the tales that my dad used to tell about his times as a miner. In fact I’ve now got a custom scooter called A Miner’s Life.” (For more information on Shy’s scooter turn to this…

PRACTI CAL SCOOT ERING TECH TIPS The Racing Sixties 300 is something of a strange beast. It looks great but the lack of accessories gives something of a blank canvas to those who don’t want to go down the ‘factory custom’ route of the Touring or 75th Anniversary models. As it seems to fall between all camps while simultaneously touching them all, I initially decided to treat the scooter as my everyday transport and use it for what it was intended; light shopping duties and commuting to work. So how did it stack up? Unhappy shopper Let’s be honest. Despite the 278cc engine that pushes out the thick end of 24bhp, all Vespas pay homage to the ‘ride to work, work to ride’ heritage of its predecessors. As a…

I normally try to be positive with my comments, but this year’s IoW Scooter Rally had little for me to enthuse about. It started with tragedy on Thursday night after German scooterist, Mattias Klabis, was killed in a road traffic accident near to the official VFM/BSRA campsite. So I’m dedicating this issue to his memory. On behalf of myself and all Classic Scooterist readers I send our condolences to his family and friends. At the time of going to press, more than £10,000 had been raised in his memory (visit tinyurl. com/e693bs5d if you wish to donate). I can only speak for myself, but the whole weekend was overshadowed by darkness; I was also told by a reliable source that someone else had also died in an unrelated incident (although…

Currently based in Bedfordshire (originally from Northamptonshire), I’ve always been interested in scooters/the 60s and the music (probably because my mum had a Vespa in the 60s). I really loved looking at the pictures and decided very early on I’d have one too. By coincidence she also had what I decided was a very cool camera, which still sits on my shelf to this day! She has a lot to answer for! Move forward a few years and my older sister was hanging around with local Mods/ Scooterboys (early 80s), so our house usually had one or two scooters outside. Over time I fell in love with Lambrettas; for me, the shape was perfect and I went on to own various models. As I did my school homework, my sister…

It doesn’t read like much of an address, and it isn’t much of a building when you get there either. But in the mid 1980s if you were of a certain age and into tuning scooters you probably knew 13 Station Road, Long Eaton, Nottingham, NG10 2DF off by heart. In the same way as you probably knew another address in Newport. There aren’t too many addresses that, on their own, will make scooterists smile but this is one of them. At the Long Eaton address you’d find a poky little terraced house that had been converted into a shop. I say shop – there was a counter. Behind that counter you’d find Messrs Webster and Kerr, Dave and Norrie, who together were Midland Scooter Centre, better known as MSC.…

SCOOTERING BOOK CLUB As a rule, coffee table books have no place on my bookshelf. They’re high on gloss, low on content and seldom worth buying at full price as a lingering death in the local discounted bookstore is embedded in their DNA. When this volume arrived in the office I wasn’t too thrilled and it was a couple of weeks before I summoned up the courage to flick through its contents. Having done so, I was surprised to find an hour had passed before I looked up from its pages. Finding new material to write about the Italian, indeed European, scooter scene gets harder with every passing year. ‘The demise of Innocenti’, yawn, and if I read one more article that reveals how Enrico Piaggio said that his designers…

From his second scooter onwards, Dom Nolan has preferred the non-standard machine. Cutdowns, chops, in fact anything with well-engineered alterations are his thing. He’s built a few modified scooters in the past, and when he isn’t messing around with Italy’s finest products Dom’s not averse to taking a grinder to big boys’ bikes and producing streetfighter-style motorcycles. For a while Dom fancied building himself a Lammy cutdown, something similar to one he built during the 80s, but fitted with a four-stroke automatic motor. Two years ago he made a serous start on what would emerge from his workshop as Lammerstein, creating the machine you see before you in its satin black with orange trim at home over a period of 16 months. What’s that coming over the hill …. Dom’s…

Raised in Bradford, a short hop from the legendary Lens of Shipley scooter shop, Riki was fascinated by scooters from an early age. “I’d watch the lads riding over to Lens, wearing RAF coats and open face helmets with road sweeper mudflaps and smart scooters,” he began. “Everything about the look appealed to me.” By the late 1970s, Riki was a confirmed Mod. “My family didn’t know what to make of it. In their minds scooters and Ska music weren’t things that Asian kids got into.” Following a few brushes with the law, nothing more serious than the consequences of riding when too young to hold a licence, Riki’s family had enough. “My sister had moved to Glasgow, and it was decided that I’d follow her. The idea was that…

WIN a smart Scootering T-shirt with your photo Least crap snap…

I like to start a rally report with a short description of the ride down; for me that’s at least half the fun of any scooter-related event. Unfortunately I’ve yet to discover a way of carrying the Scootering marquee, stock and sales materials by scooter. Even a sidecar won’t handle the amount of goodies required for an event such as the IoW. Van wankers we may have been but, in the best scooterist tradition, we failed to depart on schedule. Having destroyed one van on Wednesday, we finally located a replacement and eventually managed to set off on Thursday. It was a trip of mixed emotions, with Stu’s Li and my PX in the back we were simultaneously relieved at not getting soaked by the band of rain which seemed…

PRACTI CAL SCOOT ERING TECH TIPS Ask any Lambretta owner if they’ve ever had a side panel pop off and the answer will most likely be ‘yes’. If it does happen, sometimes it’s possible to pin it in place with your leg until coming to an untidy stop, but more often than not it’ll fly off down the road. The result of this tarmac surfing is ruined paintwork and a hefty repair bill. While it’s the locking mechanism that usually gets the blame, there are plenty of other culprits. Whether it’s a well-used rally hack or a pristine restoration, if you want to give your panels the best chance of survival everything needs to be checked thoroughly. All Lambretta models that were fitted with side panels had a similar…

✎ Classic Scooterist, PO Box 99, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6LZ ✉ mauspencer@classicscooterist.com ☎ 01507 529408 My TV and SX In 1969 for my 16th birthday, I bought a Lambretta TV for £120. It was my pride and joy – why didn’t I keep it? Because I sold it for £80 to pay for my Anglia 105E. So for my 69th birthday, I’ve treated myself to a Lambretta SX200 and I keep it wrapped in cotton wool. Malcolm Phillips IoW, 1989 Remember those days well. As soon as we were out of Manchester, we never saw a single cop till reaching the rally site. It was bonkers back then, some of the stuff we did. Probably had less than a tenner on me on this run. Check out the tape recorder…

Something the Tucano Urbano brand always seems to do well is producing clothing that’s not only fit for the job in hand, but is also stylish; the company also seems to have an understanding of what the rider requires. And the two products mentioned here – although not promoted by TU as a matching combo – complement each other beautifully and make the perfect combination. PEL JACKET The Pel 2G is a well-constructed lightweight riding jacket that doesn’t look out of place, whether you are riding or just casually posing with friends. The premium goatskin leather outer layer is claimed to be more abrasion resistant than cowhide, while the inner sports mesh lining allows moisture to be wicked away with ease; I first wore the jacket on one of the…