Indholdsfortegnelse for November 2023 i Scootering

Artificial intelligence: well, it’s very ‘now’ and despite there being more to it than ChatGPT, I thought I’d put that tool to the test to see what it knows about riding scooters and specifically riding a Lambretta. The results were, well, I’ll let you be the judge… Riding a Lambretta is a symphony of sensations that transcends mere transportation. As you settle onto the saddle and grasp the handlebars, there's an immediate connection to the spirit of adventure and freedom. The Lambretta's throaty engine springs to life with a distinctive growl, vibrating beneath you, a harmonious blend of nostalgia and modernity. As you twist the throttle and glide into motion, there's an electric thrill that courses through your veins. The wind kisses your face, and the rhythmic hum of the…

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 dealt with Part 1…

SCOOTERING BOOK CLUB Most of the books we have reviewed here have been those concerning a journey. It could easily be argued that this one does too, but instead of following a route from A to B, it follows one from 1977 (despite the title!) to 1985. At less than 200 pages thick, I didn’t expect a great deal from this paperback book. That the first 35 pages dealt with the author’s background, work history and early days as a young punk in the couple of years before the Mod revival led me to believe that it was going to be tangential at best. I’m pleased to say that it wasn’t. That depth of insight into the author’s past before Quadrophenia and the new wave of Modernism gave explanation to…

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…

The Flatlanders’ rally is now developing into a well-established club rally on the season’s calendar, and takes place at The 1940s Camp just outside the historic fenland town of Ramsey. This year, with the same weekend also hosting BBC Radio 2’s In the Park weekend in Leicester and the opening night of Strictly Come Dancing on Saturday, Terry Vine and the Flatlanders team had their work cut out for them to attract the punters. Guess who won! Conkers I arrived early on Friday morning. After double checking the area where I intended to pitch my tent for spiky conkers which were to be found everywhere I was soon set up and ready for the weekend ahead. The comprehensive rally programme gave a detailed itinerary of the attractions, events, DJs and…

PRACTICAL SCOOTERING TECH TIPS Amid the usual dyno and spanner work the garage entertains each month, it was a pleasing sight to see a couple of cutdowns come through the doors, one being a particularly old-school DTC machine that had been rotting away in someone’s garage for an eternity. I love it when these old-school survivors are revived and put back on the road again. Neither scooter was a hot performer on the dyno, but high bhp wasn’t their beauty, it was their old-school charm. The orange and black Li150 had an unusual rear light and seat unit fabricated into the frame, along with a good old VW Clubman pipe, which I found wasn’t quite as loud as I had remembered them to be, especially compared with some of today’s…

Somehow this BSSO championship has just flown by, and the BSSO scooter racing circus returned to Cadwell Park for its final round of the 2023 championship. Several riders were in strong positions but there was still plenty to fight for. It’s not necessary to spend too much time around racing to confirm that much can change very quickly and a strong position can be undone by accidents or breakdowns, and indeed riders experienced both over the weekend. Saturday was reasonably warm for the time of year, but overnight wind and rain gave much different conditions on Sunday morning and a mixture of wet and dry tyres were brought out before things dried up. But the weekend produced the close and sometimes spectacular racing the BSSO is famed for, with the…

As the lyrics sung by Frank Sinatra continue: “And so I face the final curtain...” Not a song I’d normally listen to, but the words are poignant for this occasion, because if you haven’t already heard through the grapevine, the time has come for me to put down my pen and retire gracefully (well, wobble off into the distance is probably more accurate). There comes a time in everyone’s life when they have to bring closure to a matter, and as I’m approaching my mid-70s that moment has arrived for me, as far as Classic Scooterist is concerned anyway. At the tail end of this issue, I say goodbye in my own words, thanking all the contributors and individuals who’ve helped along the way (even including the whinging Yorkshire ex-miner…

My lifetime Rumi romance Hi Mau When I was 17, I rode a newly acquired 70cc Capri scooter from Nottingham to St Ives in Cornwall. I had just joined the Nottingham Scooter Club, met a 19-year-old Barbara, who had a Lambretta Li, and we became friends. I suggested going on holiday to Cornwall; we ended up going for a week and stayed two. Both of us were riding on L plates at that time – and yes, we rode around in shorts and flip flops! On returning to Nottingham, we both passed our tests. I had planned to swap the Capri for a Lambretta until a guy turned up at the club with a Moto Rumi Bol d’Or (he’d just returned from racing it at the Isle of Man). It…

I’ve been reporting at the W.o.T rally for a few years. This year I believe I saw more visitors than I’ve ever seen before and with temperatures soaring into the high twenties, the clear unbroken sunshine helped turn the heat up even more. The Ukrainian Youth Camp Tarasivka is the W.o.T rally’s well-established rally site venue. It’s easy to get to, it’s got excellent facilities and it’s spread over a large area, which gives plenty of room for the weekend’s entertainment, activities and attractions. Sun and sounds On Friday morning after the main gates opened it wasn’t long before the campsite started to fill up. The food vendors were on hand to meet the needs of the hungry arrivals, the picnic tables near to the open-air bar next to the…

Why would anyone buy a Royal Alloy when they could have the real thing? Horses for courses, I suppose! Since 1982 I’ve spent a lot of time and money restoring, tuning, repairing and upgrading Lambretta scooters. Like many riders, the journey has been about more power and reliability, so I was always very interested in the projects that were coming out of Lambretta Innovation in Preston. I was on the list for one of the limited batch of Scomadi 300s in 2011, when a back injury meant I had to wait another 12 months to get back in the saddle. Fast forward nine years and the Royal Alloy TG300 was launched with great reviews, and I took the plunge without even seeing one in the flesh. After a few weeks…

★ STAR LETTER ★ Not such a Calamity Dear Stan, Following on from your Isle of Wight report in last month’s issue I thought that Scootering readers may be interested in a reunion that took place at the custom show. I’m sure rallygoers will be familiar with Cheryl Ward’s gorgeous custom Lambretta, Calamity Jane. Although it’s this scheme that the scooter will forever be associated with, it wasn’t always a pink tribute to Doris Day; in fact it was a rather plain Li Special and I know that because I was the person who bought it brand new in June 1971 from A1 Motorcycles in Doncaster. In 1972 I moved from Doncaster to Northampton, where I attended art college. The scooter was my daily ride and although we had lots…

BUDGET SCOOTERING "Although John never mentioned who was the boss in that part of the build, it’s safe to say it was the wife, not the husband." While there are those who can build a custom scooter seemingly unaided, more often than not, the help of others is required to complete the job. It’s one of the reasons that some builds take so long, with the wait for parts and particularly paint seeming to drag on forever. However, John Williams realised that if he carried out most of the work himself, and got his wife Anita to do the rest, things would move much more quickly. That last word hints at what lies beneath the skin of the smallframe but we’ll come to that in a moment. Once bitten For…

PRACTICAL SCOOTERING TECH TIPS Part 10 Bringing the engine build stage to a close last month was a very rewarding milestone in the ‘sow’s ear to silk purse’ Vespa tech project. The lion’s share of my garage time is spent on engine building and dyno work; it’s what I love the most, so it’s nice to see a pristine engine unit finished, with a great specification to boot, as we set the motor aside to now embark upon the chassis strip, clean, inspect, paint and rebuild stages… which, if I’m honest, I’m not looking forward to. Pulling the frame apart is the easy bit, sending it off for someone else to prepare and paint is even easier, it’s the rebuild part I’m dreading; but I’ll cross that bridge…

The old Lambretta club members could be a fickle lot at times, and anyone new on the scene would be subject to huge scrutiny before being accepted. Not that there was anything wrong in that, but if anyone thought they could just waltz in and tell the established members how it was done, then they were sorely mistaken. There was a long apprenticeship to be undertaken, and it all rested on how dedicated someone was to the cause, what Lambretta they owned and where they came from. Most of the members were from the north of the country, and the further south someone came from, the more difficult it was to gain acceptance. I was one of the lucky ones, living just above what was regarded as the north/south border,…

AN ITEM OF BEAUTY! The Series 1 Lambretta Li is a thing of beauty; it set a new direction for the design of the Lambretta that was a winning formula for the Innocenti company. But that was back in the late Fifties, when the pace and quantity of traffic was considerably less than it is by contemporary standards. So, when Shane fell in love with the sexy curves of an old unloved example that he wanted to ride on a regular basis and do some big miles with, he knew he’d have to get serious about the build, and make it a machine for the modern world. IN BRIEF The Lambretta Li came into being in April 1958 with the 150cc version, looking much like the TV175 that had been…

I’d also like to thank him for me finding myself once again ‘redundant.’ Something as an ex-collier I should be used to by now I suppose, and I will demonstrate great restraint without going off on a rant of how the workers are once again being downtrodden, thrown on the scrapheap of life and the deep divisions caused by the owning class and politicians tearing apart communities and creating hatred that will fester for generations. Instead, I will get on and present the product I am showcasing on my last ever What’s New? page. THE BGM BRAND This was launched with the production of quality shock absorbers after the clever folk at the Scooter-Center were disillusioned by what was on the market at that time and knew they could do…

ALTERNATIVE SCOOTER SPORT September 16-17, 2023 In true ‘heads-up’ drag racing, it’s the first one over the line that wins, but as with most forms of motorsport, the quickest often means the vehicle with the biggest monetary backing. While this isn’t always the case (rider/driver skill and long-term development also play a part), for those who want to dip their toe into the sport, it can be a daunting prospect. With this in mind, Adie has used a tried and tested handicap system to put everyone on a level playing field (more on this later). Melbourne Raceway, near York, was the venue for the second Green Light Scooter Shootout, an ideal location for scooter sprinting as it’s only a one-eighth-mile track rather than the normal quarter-mile distance normally associated with…

Most of us will have a can of old petrol floating around the workshop that we use to clean components. Setting aside the health and safety implications of that for a moment, the results aren’t always perfect. We gave the technical team at Sealey a neglected Dell’Orto M/19 and asked them to show us what kind of finish the right tools can deliver. 1 The first stage is to remove the decades of oil, grease and grime using a parts cleaning tank. This is filled with a solvent cleaning fluid to dissolve the part’s oily coating. After a short soak in the tank, Steve just needed to lightly scrub it with a nylon brush and the carb was clean. Sharp-eyed readers will have spotted this is a different Dell’Orto…

I’d say that of all the scooters I’ve owned this GP is high among my all-time favourites, in fact it vies for top slot with my current PX depending on what mood I’m in. As it’s been a while since it featured in Scootering, it’s probably best to give a recap of the story so far. My GP is actually a DL and left the Innocenti factory sometime in early 1969 destined for South Africa. There it was sold to the South African government and at some point allocated the registration ‘R205’, which it still carries on its mudguard. The ‘R’ prefix indicates a military registration, but as Lambrettas were also used extensively by railway maintenance crews this could also be a railway fleet number. Eventually R205 found itself in…

One of MAG’s long-running campaigns is to ensure consistency in access to bus lanes for motorcycles and scooters. The current situation is confusing, and leading to inadvertent fines, because access is determined solely by local authorities. The latest Department for Transport policy paper ‘The plan for drivers’ was published on Monday, October 2. One of the actions listed in the plan is to “refresh the technical advice, making it clear local authorities should use their powers to ensure bus lanes are open to motorcycles, and will launch a consultation on motorcycles using bus lanes as a default”. MAG has campaigned loudly for a consistent default access to bus lanes for many years. With 48% of all bus lanes allowing motorcycle access already, the time is overdue for a consistent national…

A weekend of scooter festivities Rat Run 11 – August 11-12, 2023 The Yorkshire Templars and Featherstone Spartans SCs pride themselves on delivering their Rat Run rallies with charitable causes in mind. A few months prior to this year’s rally there had been a change in the Featherstone Lions’ committee; their ground is where the event is hosted, and this meant that the new staff weren’t familiar with delivering a scooter rally. However, with a willingness to learn, the new committee did a fantastic job; and a team of players (boys and girls) from the youth teams camped all weekend, collected glasses, emptied bins and helped keep everything running smoothly. Throughout Friday and Saturday there was a healthy stream of visitors arriving to take part in the fun. Friday afternoon…

PRACTICAL SCOOTERING TECH TIPS It doesn’t matter what cylinder kit, ignition system, clutch or gearbox are to be fitted into a Lambretta engine; the starting point of any build is a sound engine casing. This is the cornerstone of everything, but it’s often overlooked in terms of wear and tear. While much time will be spent establishing the amount of wear on the bore, piston, crank or bearings, the truth is that these parts are frequently overhauled. In contrast, the engine casing has most likely never had any attention paid to it since leaving the factory. However, it’s a component that’s under constant stress and over time, that takes its toll. Makeup There are three main components in a Lambretta engine case: the main casing itself, the mag flange and…

✎ Classic Scooterist, PO Box 99, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6LZ Airoh Connor helmet Price guide: £105www.airoh.com/connor The Connor helmet has three shells ranging from XS-XXL sizes, to adapt to different cranial conformities. This entry-level helmet with ECE 2206 approval meets the needs of those who are approaching the world of two wheels. The visor is extraordinarily wide; it’s also equipped with ATVR (Airoh Tool-less Visor Removal) which can also be used in the anti-fog position. It’s designed for the insertion of the Pinlock 70 lens, ensuring perfect visibility while minimising the risk of fogging. Name that Nottingham scooter dealer? In 1971, Colin Sharp bought a GP150 from a Lambretta dealer located in London Road, Nottingham (very near to Trent Bridge); he has forgotten who it was and is trying to…

BACK TO THE SEVENTIES I was introduced to this album when I was aged 13 by my old, late northern friend, Stuart Jenkinson. I was mesmerised by the music and the pictures on and within the album cover, depicting a time long gone. Little was I to know that this album would lead to me being obsessed with scooters and the Mod culture. I managed to get an interview with Terry Kennet, alias Chad, the lad featured on the cover of the black and white Quadrophenia album cover, as well as the album booklet. This was shortly before he sadly and prematurely passed away. He shared some great tales regarding the album photoshoot, mentioning not only the featured GS160 scooter but also, hilariously, having to climb over a barbed wire…