Indholdsfortegnelse for October 2023 i Scootering

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. How long does it take to bring a claim for compensation and how much will I get? A. These are the two questions we always get asked at the start of a claim – and they are always the ones we can’t usually answer at that stage! I’ll deal with Part 1…

If the full history of British scootering ever comes to be written, the industrial town of Scunthorpe in North Lincolnshire deserves its own chapter. For decades, it’s been a fertile ground for high-quality scooters – and specifically, very clean Lambretta street racers. Although he makes no claim to be anything other than an enthusiastic amateur, Brad has been responsible for building a succession of these iconic machines. In addition to the scooter that gives the book its title, he’s also responsible for the iconic Dell’orto Twins, Cabaret Voltaire and the tongue-in-cheek ‘Arthur Scargill’s Extra S Type’... and that’s just off the top of my head. In Time Trouble and Money, Brad takes us through his introduction to this world and shines light onto the era between the 1960s and the…

★ STAR LETTER ★ SX memories Dear Stan I found your article in September’s magazine featuring the Lambretta SX150 Special to be an interesting read as the SX150 was launched in the mid-Sixties, in the middle of the time I was riding scooters competitively both in the UK and on the continent and it brought back many happy memories for me. If I remember correctly the Lambretta Li150 Special was introduced into the UK during 1964 as the Pacemaker, which had Li150 Special insignia on the front of the legshields and the word Pacemaker on the badge at the back of the seat. I always felt that the UK Pacemaker was the forerunner to the SX150 Special mainly due to the body styling, side panels, front mudguard and hexagon-shaped headlight.…

I knew I was in for another interesting month when the first job of the day involved cutting a nut off a layshaft. For whatever reason, the previous owner had welded the nut on to the layshaft, so we had no choice but to grind the weld down, which meant effectively destroying the nut and layshaft, and then to get an electric impact gun on to the nut to get the damn thing off. I won’t go into the endless list of horrors that I found on this machine, but suffice to say, it hadn’t had quite the ‘full restoration’ job that the owner had been led to believe, as is often the case! I will, though, make mention of the beautiful gallon of fuel that we syphoned off, as…

Throw a stone from the track and it will land in the sea – that’s how close the track is to the beach. Although that makes for an incredible view, there’s little to stop weather arriving at the circuit straight from the Irish Sea. Some years that’s rain, this year it was wind! This made for difficult riding at times as the scooters battled into headwinds but at least there wasn’t heavy rain with it! Stock Grid The Stock Grid was up first, and riders used their time to get used to the conditions in qualifying without major mishaps. Group 4E is increasingly competitive with at least four riders being perfectly capable of winning this year. Graham Tatton on the DSC prepared Lambretta put some upgrades to good use and…

As usual, we had great plans for our IoW coverage – but when both Plan A and Plan B fail, your options are limited. And that’s exactly what happened for Classic Scooterist this year, so we apologise for this hiccup; but look on the bright side, at least our sibling magazine, Scootering, was there to take up any slack – if you haven’t already read this article, then we recommend that you do so. However, the good news is that we do have coverage of the two other major bank holiday scooter events – Brighton and Mersea. Having several high-profile events all taking place in a short timespan does put a bit of pressure on our available page space, but we think that we’ve managed to squeeze in plenty of…

✎ Classic Scooterist, PO Box 99, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6LZ ✉ mauspencer@classicscooterist.com ☎ 01507 529408 RAC issues French clean air sticker warning Road users travelling in France now need to display a clean air sticker if they plan to enter Paris, Rouen, Strasbourg, Lyon and many other cities; failure to do so will incur a €180 fine (£154). If you ride a classic scooter, this will affect you as motorbikes and scooters registered before June 2000 cannot be driven at all where the restrictions apply. There are six categories in the Crit’Air vignette system, from green for the cleanest vehicles to dark grey for the dirtiest. The certificate you receive relates to the vehicle’s Euro emissions standards. They cost €4.61 including postage for each vehicle, but you should allow several…

GIRLS JUST WANNA HAVE FUN Julia (originally Last Militia SC and then A4 Outcasts SC) had come back to the scene after many years away raising family, etc. Having been widowed, she decided to put their original customised scooter Heartful of Soul back on the road in memory of her late husband, Phil Gratton (one of the three founder members of the Last Militia SC in the early 80s). Little did she realise at that time how involved she would actually become in the scooterist scene! Iona, who was new to the scooter lifestyle, had been put in touch with Julia after she bought her scooter and needed info on local rideouts, etc. Iona then became involved with The Unsuitable SC, riding many miles on her 125cc scooter each week…

From humble, and sometimes troubled, beginnings the Isle of Wight rally has grown into a ‘bucket list’ event for scooterists around the globe. Although the VFM site, now very comfortably settled at the Sandown Airport – with its custom show, live bands, trade fair and campsite – is the focal point for the rally’s activities, the truth is that this isn’t really a rally, it’s an island-wide festival. For years the town of Ryde has been a mecca for visiting scooterists and with its redevelopment of the green now completed, it looks set to retain that accolade. Here every shop, cafe, pub or restaurant themes itself for the weekend. Commercial? Certainly. Fun? Definitely. Even the off/on rainstorms couldn’t dampen the enthusiasm of those posing on The Green and it certainly…

Life with a 1950s Vespa GS I was recently at the Wakefield Veteran Vespa Club Rally, and as Stan, our intrepid editor and fellow member of the VVC, was having a well-earned weekend off to enjoy a bit of classic Vespa fun, I was tasked with finding out more of what it was like to own a 150GS from the 1950s. To be fair I was spoilt for choice as not one but four had been ridden to the event all the way from London and beyond. The machine I eventually chose for the feature was a 150GS VS4 from 1958, owned and well ridden by Colin Hart from Surrey. So, before we look at his machine let me give you a taste of Colin’s background and his long-time connection…

The Motorcycle Industry Association (MCIA) has recently published the market data for August, and full year-to-date, for new motorcycle, scooter and other L-Category registrations. The data shows that August closed 7.1% down, with the year-to-date market closing at -4%. Sales of smaller capacity machines continue to struggle but remain consistent compared to 2019. Smaller powered electric Powered Two Wheelers, having experienced excellent growth over the last five years continue to feel the effects of alternative, non-legislated products such as e-scooters and e-cycles, something MCIA is working closely with Government on to enable this segment to grow. Tony Campbell, CEO of MCIA, said: “Whilst MCIA and its members continue to lobby Government to ensure our sector is fully understood and creates a platform for all segments of our industry to flourish,…

This month we’ve teamed up with Scott Stevens, at SP Developments, to offer one lucky reader the chance to win SP’s anodised Lambretta kit. The winner can pick any single colour from the SP range and will soon be fitting the following to their pride and joy: SP Lambretta gear linkage set x1; SP Lambretta magnetic drain plug x1; SP Lambretta flange wiring kit x1; SP Lambretta forged clutch arm x 1; SP Lambretta brake adjustment nut; SP Lambretta engine mount and rear damper nut x4; SP Lambretta engine casing breather x1; SP Lambretta rear hub locking washer x1; and SP Lambretta oil level spyglass x1. ■ For full details on how to enter, scan the QR code or visit www.scootering.com. For more information on this and other products…

At various times I’ve coveted, used and abused various products bearing the Malossi name but until recently I’d never given much thought as to who produced them. If anything, I’d assumed that the brand was part of an engineering conglomerate, the type of faceless corporation that creates brand names, uses them, and then discards them when their useful life is over. With that in mind, it came as something of a shock when I mentioned to Norrie Kerr of VEUK that I was heading for Bologna and he cheerfully suggested: “Why don’t you call in to see Malossi while you’re there? I’ll call Alessandra and sort it out for you.” When I asked who Alessandra was, Norrie looked perplexed: “Alessandra Malossi of course.” Now I was the one that was…

PRACTI CAL SCOOT ERING TECH TIPS Part nine One of my mantras in life is KISS (Keep It Simple, Stupid), because I find that so many things are made far more complicated than they usually need to be, usually. Why I let go of that mindset for this month’s Vespa Tech section, I don’t know… stupid boy! It was the removal of the old engine mounts that caused me to ‘stray from the path’ (American Werewolf in London reference). To remove these, we usually just drill the rubbers to get the centre metal tube out and then pry the remaining rubber bush with a large screwdriver. But for some reason, my mind said that’s not going to look very pretty in the magazine, can’t we do something a bit…

One thing that made other club members jealous was when one of us was lucky enough to come across a ‘barn find’. That’s the modern-day description, of course; back in the late 1980s most of these semi-abandoned scooters were found locked in sheds or stored around the back of houses underneath a tarpaulin. Whatever we may call them, even by that date they were becoming harder to find because most of them had been discovered. When one did appear, everyone would want to see it, a relic frozen in time from the glory days of scootering. If I ever walked past someone’s house and the garage door was open, I couldn’t help but peer into the gloom in the hope of spotting something. Finding them that way was a chance…

✎ Classic Scooterist, PO Box 99, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6LZ ✉ mauspencer@classicscooterist.com ☎ 01507 529408 Back to scooters at 68 In 1971 my dad bought me a GT200; not long before it became a Rafferty Newman 225 with a 30mm Dell’Orto. I bought this SX200 in 1972 from a schoolmate for £15; soon resprayed it. Late 1972. Walking my girlfriend to school in Shepperton, Middx (she’s been my wife for 44 years). Now back to scooters at 68 – you can’t give it up Martin Reed Hinckley Mods at Llandudno Picture courtesy of Alison Millington from Dudley (she loves her scooters). It was taken during the summer of 1980. Chris Knight Original Scooterboys Pictured from left are Trevor, Steve (me), Mick and Paul at last year’s Weymouth Scooter Rally with…

‘ELLO, ‘ELLO, ‘ELLO, WHAT’S ALL THIS THEN? Like true detectives they throw themselves at a case with everything they’ve got and will not settle until they have researched the scene and uncovered the full facts. This one (although a Lambretta and a police-based machine) is somewhat out of character for the crime-fighting duo, as it is not a Spanish-produced machine, but instead a very British Lambretta! TURISMO VELOCE The TV200 Lambretta was a machine aimed purely and simply at the British market and was brought into being with the quest for ever-increasing speed and power commanded by the British scootering public. After continued requests from Peter Agg and Lambretta Concessionaires, the Innocenti company finally succumbed to pressure from its biggest customer to produce a 200cc version of its TV175 machine…

BUCKS TIN SOLDIERS SC Meet every Saturday from 9.30am at the Gifford Pub MK14 5QN; also new regular Wednesday evening meets at the Scots Club, Bletchley, MK3 5BX from 7.30pm. Info via Facebook page: ‘Tin Soldiers Scooter Club’. . CORNWALL SECTION 8 SC & FRIENDS Based in Cornwall. Rideout and meetings can be found on our Family and Friends page on Facebook. DORSET POOLE INNERCIRCLE SC We are a mixed club of Lambrettas and Vespas. We meet at the New Inn, Poole on the first Wednesday of the month with a rideout every month. More info via Poole Innercircle Scooter Club on Facebook. ESSEX CLACTON SCOOTER COLLECTIVE For information on rides and meets, locate us on Facebook and join us. ESSEX SCOOTERISTS Weekly weeknight meets throughout the summer. join us…

Although I didn’t know what its title was for a long time, I’ll never forget when I first heard ‘It’ll Never Be Over For Me’ by Timi Yuro. It was Morecambe 1984, and we were helping set up the room after a deaf and dumb disco (yes – that’s right – and a whole different story).The DJ was setting things up too, and when he played the track it just struck a chord. Northern Soul songs are such a large part of the scooter scene that it is impossible to imagine not hearing Northern Soul being played at a scooter event. Rallies are all about the scooters, for sure, but music – and especially soul music – is so much a part of the scene that it just can’t be…

WIN a smart Scootering T-shirt with your photo DATA: Protection of your personal data is important to Mortons. Your data will be stored securely and only be used for the purpose of processing the competition and notifying the winners. Data will then be destroyed. Least crap snap…

I’d guess that when most people talk about a Vespa GTS, it’s the 300cc version that’s at the front of their minds. If that’s you then it may come as a surprise when I point out that of the (approximately) 10k members of the GTS family currently registered for use on UK roads, just under a third are learner legal 125s. That’s a large proportion of Vespa UK’s market, and illustrates how important it was for Piaggio to get the latest RST variant just right. Headline summary For those of you who missed last month’s issue, or have been living in a cave, there’s a new GTS in town and here’s a quick recap of the story so far. Towards the back end of 2022, Piaggio surprised many in the…

PRACTI CAL SCOOT ERING TECH TIPS Part two While the traditional Lambretta disc brake was a remarkable feat of engineering, it required constant maintenance and monitoring to keep it at peak efficiency. While that was fine on a standard Lambretta, the brake’s inefficiencies were soon highlighted once owners began tuning their machines. This led to the hydraulic conversion being developed on race-prepared Lambrettas in the 1970s, a modification that became common on road-going machines in the 1980s. Though this improved the stopping power significantly by applying more pressure, it still used the traditional pad and disc set-up. Once the TS1 era arrived and tuned versions capable of 30bhp became available, even this conversion struggled. Realising it was a weak point, tuning shops and engineers in the trade…

MODEL AND THE MACHINE THE OWNER AND MACHINE: ROB BLACKWOOD’S 1957 LAMBRETTA LD150 MK2.5 “This model offered into the UK market is a Mk2.5. Basically, they used the Mk2 front end (open handlebars, visible cables, horn on horncast, butty box with speedo) then used the rear body and engine from the new Mk3. “It’s had a couple of engine rebuilds (likely due to the mileage we Exit 17 Shafters do on them!). I’m on my third shaft. “The scooter has some old original extras, like the much sought after original wind-up clock, fuel gauge and embellishers on the panels and forks. “The Lambretta’s colour is Verde Smeraldo (Emerald Green), an original Lambretta colour, but normally only used on the panels and horncast (I’ve never seen another in the same colour).…