Indholdsfortegnelse for July 2020 i Scootering

Anyone who knows me will tell you that I have a habit of starting new projects, getting three-quarters of the way through them, but then I seem to get distracted by another ‘bright shiny object’ and move on to that. I then accumulate a catalogue of unfinished projects, some of which (lots of which) get sold off to fund the next adventure… it’s aperpetual cycle! I know I’m not alone in this matter, as most of my former garage customers were in the same boat, and brought their part-finished projects to the garage for us to complete! So when I took on the well-publicised Targa Twin project, I did have the mantra in my mind ‘don’t get distracted, don’t get distracted’. If you’ve ever seen the ‘aeroplane scene’ in the…

Somewhere over the rainbow… Thought you might like these pictures, depicting the support shown to frontline NHS, of which I am proud to say I’m part! My husband and I have been keen scooterists for many years and are obviously disappointed to feel the impact that coronavirus has had on so many scooter events! However there are many examples of people coming together to support essential services, a good proportion of the cost of this T-shirt goes to NHS charities... hoping to show this off later in the year on the other side of the rainbow, when we see the virus off! Message is ‘stay safe’, see you all soon. Tanya Murphy The writer of our Star Letter this month wins a Weise Michigan Jacket worth £169.99. This waterproof textile…

Name: Wayne Stanton. Job: Steel worker. Scooter club & town: 2+2 Yorkshire Division. First scooter: Vespa 50 special. First rally or event: Scarborough ’82. How did you get there: Vespa 50, about three days’ journey. Favourite and worst rally/event: Favourite: Wakey Wakey. Worst: Isle of Wight... too commercial, and full of plastic people. What do you like about rallies/ events: Watching my stepson (Dan Etherington) get hammered after one shandy. What do you dislike about rallies/events: Disagreements between clubs... Favourite custom scooter of all time: Sign of the Snake. If you had to recommend one scooter part what would it be: AF Clo5e ratio gearbox What’s the most useless part you’ve ever bought for one of your scooters: Pillion seat, it made the scooter go much slower. Solo seat makes…

We’ve all been on the way to a rally or just on a ride-out when a breakdown occurs. It can be so frustrating, being stuck because you don’t have the spares to fix the problem. Maybe you have breakdown cover but even then, it can take hours for recovery, especially on a bank holiday. Over time I’ve had plenty of these occurrences and I’m not afraid to admit it. Some happened to others when we were travelling in groups. Though some of the repairs or solutions were rather unorthodox, at the time they did work. Many could be described as bodges and perhaps in a way they were. If the end result meant getting home, then it was worth the effort. It must be remembered these were solutions carried out…

It really is a strange old world we live in. If we go back in time only a few months I certainly couldn’t have predicted what has happened since then – and because I’m writing these words in advance, the situation may well have changed completely again. The words I’m writing here were produced at the height of the Covid-19 lockdown restrictions, and depending on events it could well mean that some of what has been said in the articles contained in these pages might have been totally superseded by now – for all I know we could all be out and about riding ‘as normal’ again by the time this edition gets into print and into your hands. There’s another problem every one of us has had to face…

Stu Smith Vespa and Lambretta owner, scooter obsessive, amateur home mechanic, rally-goer, Mod sympathiser, music lover and general all round good egg. He writes your rally reports, be nice to him. Nik Skeat Vespa P-range obsessive, well-travelled rally rider since the ’80s, founder of the notorious Scooterboy World forum. He’s also a brilliant beer-brewing bearded Scootering feature writer. Paul Green Vespa and Lambretta scooter enthusiast, BSSO professional and general good egg. Our Paul has a long history of scootering both on the road and on the track, with the breakdown bills and crash scars to prove it. Stuart Owen LCGB ‘life member’, 100mph Lambretta Club owner and scooter restoration expert to boot. Scooter rider, rally-goer, restorer and author. Reaches the parts other scooter journalists just can’t reach. Rik Bardsley More…

You’ve likely been sending or receiving emails starting: “I hope you are staying safe and keeping well in these unprecedented times…” It is difficult sometimes to even understand how we got to this point as a country and indeed as a world. So the monthly arrival of Scootering magazine is a welcome monthly escape from all this madness and uncertainty, achance to kick back and escape into a different world. One that brings happier memories. One that is at least starting to feel a little better now that we are actually able to go out on a scooter and meet friends for a socially distanced, six-person mini rally in a park! Second wave permitting (!) let’s hope that we can at least find some sort of useful new normal before…

The scooter rally season is probably the one thing that we all start looking forward to as soon as the last one ends; so the news that our beloved rallies were being cancelled due to this horrible and vicious virus was, to say the least, a deep disappointment to many. About six weeks before the Skegness Scooter Rally was due to take place it was clear that the lockdown restrictions were not going to be lifted. So like other rally organisers, Dean and Tracey Robinson had too make the tough decision to cancel the Skegness rally. However, they were not going to beaten and started to make plans for an alternative virtual scooter rally. Collaboration A Facebook page was opened and plans for the event were made in collaboration with…

If a list were to be drawn up of Britain’s scooterist hot spots, Scunthorpe would be a strong contender for pole position. Over the years this small industrial town in Lincolnshire has produced more quality scooters than it’s possible to accurately recall. While other areas of the country turned their backs on the scootering lifestyle, Scunthorpe’s enthusiasts continued to tune, customise and, more importantly, ride their ageing charges. In turn these eye-catching machines served as inspiration to younger riders, each keen to equal or better what had gone before. One of those who fell under the influence was the owner of this stunning GP, Richard Dixon. “I grew up seeing scooters all the time,” he explained. “I’d see the older lads parked outside Scunthorpe Soul Scene on a Friday night,…

Name of scooter & reason: Technics. I’ve owned the same pair of Technics SL1210 MK2 turntables for 30 years and have been DJ’ing with them on and off since 1991. When looking for inspiration for this project, the answer had literally been right in front of me for years; it took me along while to realise it, though. Scooter model: Lambretta (Innocenti) GP125. Date purchased & cost: September 2007 £1650. Present from my wife Charlotte. Time to build & by who: Stripped in 2010 and then stayed in various boxes or on the garage floor for the next seven years, finally made a start in 2017 but it’s fair to say itwas more off than on. All engine work completed by Taylor Tuning. I did most of the build during…

Scooter model: Vespa 152L2. Date purchased & cost: May 2018, bought for £120. Inspiration for project: To better my other 152L2. Time to build & by who: One and a half years by myself. Engine spec Kit: Quattrini 252. Crank: Kingwelle. Carb: Mikuni TMX35. Exhaust: Pipe Design Bullet M260HS modified. Clutch: BGM super strong with CR plates. Gearbox: Lusso 125 gearbox with 24/64 primary. Porting work by: Myself. What brand of oil do you run: Putoline MX5. Chassis Spec: Tyres: Heidenau K80SR 100/80-10+130/70-10. Rims: SIP tubeless 2.5 front, 3.0 rear. Suspension: BGM Pro SC. Speedo: SIP. Grips: Old Vespa. Levers: Standard. Cable brand: BGM. Seat: Nisa/PLC Corse. Fuel tank & tap: BGM fast flow tap. Hubs: PLC Corse front, standard rear drum. Brakes: BGM radial four-pot caliper front, rear Newfren…

Name of scooter: Inde Pullus. Scooter model: Lambretta GP 1969. Inspiration for project: Stepson’s street racer, and being fed up of OTT customs. Time to build & by who: One year built by myself, Dan-Eth and Anth’ Latch (aka The Doctor). Any specialised parts or frame mods? What & by whom: Air scoop from Paul Hindle at Eyecandy, thumb choke and temp gauge from Darrell Taylor and SIP speedo. Engine spec Kit: RB20 – Taylor Tuned. Crank: Darrell Taylor built. Carb: 30mm Delly. Exhaust: NK rally. Clutch: AF six-plate cassette. Gearbox: AF Clo5e Ratio five-speed. Porting work by: Darrell Taylor. Describe engine performance, power delivery and scooter handling: Faster than my mate Latch and that’s all I need! Are there any other unique details we have missed: Filtrate logo is…

If your scooter club is holding a Do or Event, just drop us a line for some FREE advertising. Unfortunately we can ONLY accept details by post: Scootering events, PO Box 99, Horncastle, Lincolnshire, LN9 6LZ, email: diary@scootering.co.uk or online: www.scootering.comPlease keep wording to a minimum and be warned that listings may be edited due to space restrictions. Due to the Government’s advice regarding Covid-19, please check with event organisers that these events are going ahead before setting out. JUNE 26-27 Prescott Bike Festival gordon@bikefestival. co.uk CANCELLED 26-28 National BRSA 4, Big 7, Kent. 26-28 Isle of Man Rally, See FB group for details. 26-28 Pogue Mahone Weekender 2020, BAE Canberra Club, Samlesbury, Balderstone, nr Blackburn, Lancashire, BB2 7LF. See FB for more details: Pogues Mahone Weekender 2020. Email pogues2020away@ outlook.com.…

There’s no doubt that the P range was a huge success for Piaggio. Factor in the licence produced machines and there are, quite literally, hundreds of thousands of them still on roads around the world. Although it’s still possible to find low mileage machines that have been loved and cherished, there are also plenty of rough examples out there. Unsurprisingly it’s usually the latter that seem to end up in our workshops! When trying to resolve any wiring issues it’s important to take things back to basics at the first opportunity. Unfortunately, even when any excess insulation tape’s been stripped away, the loom doesn’t always make sense. This isn’t helped by some poor-quality wiring diagrams. We recently created our own, much clearer, diagrams and they can be accessed via our…

Southend and more There’re a few memories here. Tony Hyde 1960s on trial Just came across some lovely old photos from the mid-1960ssss at a trial and gyymkhana event on my Vespa 180SS (I was far slimmer those days). And yes, that is Sue in the photos as well! I still have my Belstaff Trialmaster, too. David Sheppard Billy Idol impersonator This picture was taken in my late teens/early 20s at a guess. It was taken outside my mate’s house in Alton, near the train station. Kev Brooks Processing the past Picture from 1984-ish. Getting my photos developed by Ant Tyler – don’t know where he is now. Steven Pickett Seventies Scarborough Some of the 515s and the Bolton Spartans clubs. Picture taken in the late 1970s at Scarborough –…

After many, many years of deliberating whether or not he wanted a scooter, Johnny finally decided that yes, he really, really did want a scooter – a brand new Vespa PX125 to be precise, as he would look after it and keep it that way as it would be his forever. TAP IT & UNWRAP IT Due to his previous career toiling deep within the earth, Johnny knew how hard it can be to earn a bob or two and does like a bargain. So when some friends in the know said they were going on a special festive holiday, touring some of the Christmas markets in Europe, calling in at the various scooter shops along the way, and that they could bring him one back at a better price…

The easy way to replace these hard rubber panel buffers is to slide them on to the outrigger leg back-to-front – facing the opposite way to how you would like them to appear. This means that the thin back section of the buffer is forced around the tight bend on the outrigger, rather than the fat front section. Once pushed past the tight bend, the buffer can be pushed up to the round section of the outrigger tube, rotated to face the correct way and slipped down to butt against the foot of the outrigger in the desired place. Washing-up liquid can be used as a lubricant to ease the buffer on its way. A brief spell in boiling water also can help. ● Many thanks to Howard Chambers for…

BUCKS SPARTANS MK SC Based in Milton Keynes, Spartans MK SC is a well supported club. Info: Ray Reader mobile 07969 263840 or 01908 395961/Lyn Tofts 07831 383377 (for clothing and general info) Facebook: SPARTANS MKSC TIN SOLDIERS SC Meet every Saturday from 9.45am at Captain Ridley’s Shooting Party (Wetherspoons), MK2 2ED. Monthly meet held at the same venue, but on the 1st Thursday of each month from 7.30pm. For up-to-date information visit their Facebook page: ‘Tin Soldiers Scooter Club’ DORSET LOWRIDERS SC Based in Weymouth, our members ride weird and wonderful machines in all weathers. Facebook: Lowriders Scooter Club Dorset POOLE INNERCIRCLE SC Based in Poole, Dorset, we are mostly a Lambretta club with a few Vespas. We meet at the New Inn in Poole on the first Wednesday…

I’M ALRIGHT JACK There’s no doubt that the classic Vespa is a triumph of industrial design. Unfortunately the technique for changing a rear wheel is not one of its strengths. Members of Kirika Vespa Club in Vitoria, Spain have grown tired of damaging panels and spilling fuel by laying their Vespas on one side. Setting their collective minds together, they’ve developed the Vespa Survival Kit (VSK) and they believe it’s the perfect solution to roadside puncture problems. Made in Spain from high strength plated steel, the VSK is a lever jack which raises the Vespa’s rear end by means of a bar which fits through the two rear panel locating holes. The unit is designed to break down into a toolbox-sized bag which is around the size of a two-stroke…

Classic Scooterist ahead So it’s farewell to Classic Scooterist? A magazine for the gentler folks of the small wheel fraternity. With advice from solid old chaps with comb-overs called Tom, Reg, Ron or Len – men with broken glasses and crooked teeth, nylon brown shirts and grey deep crotch ankle grazers. Men who always had a pencil and owned those now-coveted rusterations, with more badges than a cub’s jumper. Practical, national service men who kept their nuts in tobacco tins in sheds full of ‘that will be useful one day’. Pre-internet men who knew every quick fix for parts unobtainable before Google. Men with real tools in ancient canvas tool rolls. Men who knew how to use them because they’d have to catch the bus to work otherwise.…

Best Vespa – John Birch: 1966 90SS. Best Custom Vespa – Karen Bee: World’s End. Best Lambretta – Frankie Clarkson: SX 200 five-speed. Best Custom Lambretta – Rick Sheppard: Pure Acid. Best Street Racer – Heath Long: Fox Hat. Best Auto – Neil Barrett: Twisted Orange. Best Oddity/Chopper – Kev Jones. Best Restoration – Shane Hensleigh: 1959 Series 1. Best Mod – Lee Chadwick: Call the Cops PX200. Best Paintwork – Gary Wickham: Breaking Rocks in the Hot Sun. Scooter Least Likely to Make it to Skeg – David Lester: Lambretta. Punter’s Choice – Russ Watkin: S-Type Lambretta Brassy Bitch. Best in Show – Gary Wickham: Breaking Rocks in the Hot Sun.…

British registered from new, Richard’s GP has a rich history and it’s one that he’s keen to discover more about. “It was first registered in Gloucester during September 1971 and has had a total of 13 previous owners. Considering that I’ve owned it for 13 years that means it passed through a lot of hands very quickly.” Of those previous keepers, Richard’s tracked only one of them down; that being Grant Williams, who bought it in the late ’80s for his girlfriend. After being sprayed in a fetching shade of pink and with the simple addition of a 150cc top end, it was used by Grant for a 1991 tour of France. The scooter left his girlfriend’s care in the mid-’90s, but outside that period of ownership the scooter’s life…

THE DEALER’S STORY I’ve visited many scooter dealerships over the years but nothing had prepared me for Watchara Marine and its affable owner Taned (aka ‘Mr Oui’). Describing Watchara Marine as one of Pattaya’s largest motorcycle dealers is missing the point entirely. This is a unique dealership and one that reflects Thailand’s unique approach to two-wheeled fun. There’s no doubt that Taned has a clear philosophy and it’s one that will resonate with many British scooterists. “I believe that social media has been misused,” he began. “It should have been a force for good, uniting people and enabling them to organise their lives. Instead it’s driven them apart and become a substitute for real life experiences. I want to bring people back into the real world, to have real experiences…

Name: Stuart Murray Job: Caravan/motorhome technician. Scooter club & town: Independent rider, Darlington. First interest inscooters: 1983, aged 12. First scooter: Vespa GS150 (I still own it and it’s in its original condition). Favourite scooter model: Early large frames with curves. Favourite style of custom scooter: Street-racer/sleeper. First ever rally: Scarborough 1987. How did you get there: On my Vespa 50 Special with mate on his PK50. Favourite rally: Local ride-outs, especially club meets and d pre-season ride-outs. Furthest you’ve ever ridden on a scooter: Great Yarmouth. What do you like about rallies: Custom shows and seeing other scooters. What do you dislike about rallies: Snobbery. Favourite Scootering magazine feature: Tech articles. Favourite custom scooter of all time: Spiritwalker. Your most recommended scooter part or related item: A decent grinder…

Unknown Era – A State Of Affairs (Self Released) It takes a lot of self-confidence to release a double album as your debut. Eighteen tracks are a lot to commit to an album for an established band, but to hit the floor running with this size release shows that you have astrong faith in your own product. Renowned for not being a party band, but more a party happening on a stage, they live up to their reputation on this initial full-length release. It would be easy to quickly write this off as yet another ska release, but it’s more than that. Much more. In the 70 minutes or so that the album plays, they touch more bases than The New York Yankees, with out-and-out 2-Tone songs bumping up…

When I last reported on Project Targa it was on the eve of a trip to France. There were several niggles to be resolved and with departure time rapidly approaching I’d entered panic repair mode. Obviously coronavirus intervened and the trip was cancelled. Although lockdown caused plenty of other problems it was a blessing in one respect as it gave me time to do things properly. Before anyone starts rolling their eyes at my stupidity, Iwant to raise my defence. At Scootering, we’re inundated with new products to test and I can forgive any reader who thinks that they’ve been specially prepared. The truth is that 99% of the time we get exactly what the customer buys, straight off the warehouse shelf. However our Targa engine is an exception –…

Wok’s going on? Watsonian sidecars was founded by TF Watson in Birmingham in 1912 and have built sidecars for many special projects in their 108-year history (including one for Harry Potter), but this is a first – a sidecar to bring Asian street food to the UK public. Cornish chef Adrian Jones travelled extensively in Asia over the past six years and was inspired to bring the flavours of freshly-cooked street food to the British public. Rather than use a van to transport his cooking equipment and ingredients, he asked Watsonian to build him a specially designed sidecar outfit for his new ‘Dandelion Noodles’ venture. “Why a motorbike and sidecar? As you travel Asia, you see motorcycles everywhere," comments Adrian. "They are workhorses, carrying whole families of five or six,…

Roger Grimstead commenced working for cousin Eddy at his bicycle and moped shop in Burdett Road, Limehouse, London E17 in 1958. Eddy had previously opened this shop with the help of his father, using money saved from his time in National Service. Sharing the same grandfather, Roger and Eddy were following in the footsteps of their joint grandfather and Eddy’s own father in running a bicycle shop. Eddy worked on the bikes and Roger focused on the mopeds (Note: at the expense of causing confusion and for the sake of clarity, both Eddy’s father and his grandfather had the same Christian name). Here’s Roger’s abbreviated story: THE FIRST GRIMSTEAD SCOOTER “One day a bloke came in the shop and asked Eddy if he wanted to buy his 125 Vespa scooter?…