Innehållsförteckning för August 2024 från Scootering

The Lambretta scooter, which began production in 1947, quickly became a symbol of style and innovation. Over the next 24 years, numerous models and variations emerged, each contributing to the rich tapestry of Lambretta lore. From elusive prototypes to experimental machines, many aspects of Lambretta’s history have remained shrouded in mystery, giving rise to countless myths and legends fervently discussed by enthusiasts worldwide. In Lambretta Myths and Legends, Stu meticulously addresses these enduring questions. Drawing on extensive research and a wealth of evidence, he illuminates the true stories behind the myths, bringing clarity to the speculation that has long surrounded the Lambretta brand. Readers will discover the real creators of these tales and the motivations behind them, from publicity stunts to advertising campaigns that pushed the boundaries of what Lambretta…

By the beginning of the 1960s, the British scooter market was dominated by the Lambretta and Vespa brands. Yet, despite their success, there was no doubt that sales were in decline. Motorcycle manufacturer Douglas of Bristol had arranged to produce Vespa models under licence from Piaggio in the late 1940s, luring the Italians with promises of direct access to the British Commonwealth nations. However, the truth was that Douglas’s motorcycle production was also in decline and although the company hid the fact well, it lacked the funds required to maximise the Vespa’s licensing arrangement. Production began at Bristol in 1951, and several models emerged from the production line, but there were constant problems due to the company’s precarious financial position. While some components were produced on site, many were outsourced,…

Keepin’ on in Clacton This year sees the Essex-based Clacton Scooter Collective celebrate its 20th anniversary. Born from an advert in Scootering magazine, it was decided over a couple of beers that this would be a scooter collective, rather than a scooter club, with no committee, club rules or subscriptions. Over the years, Clacton Scooter Collective has been lucky to see its associates fly the flag attending national rallies, weekenders and trips abroad including the Dutch Lions rally and a visit to the Museo Piaggio in Pontedera, Italy. Scootering in Clacton goes way back as far as the late 1950s, with the Clacton & District Lambretta Club later to be known as The Satellites until they disbanded in 1962. Their founder member, Mr Albert Scott, has some amazing stories of…

One evening, towards the end of last year, about 30 Vespa and Lambretta scooters gathered in Shibuya, Tokyo. As the city streets began to fill with tourists, office workers returning from work and young people setting out for the evening, the Tokyo Mods were (illegally) occupying a corner of Shibuya, where the streetlights reflected off the chrome bodies and lights of the numerous scooters parked there. A group of figures dressed in 60s Mod fashion were milling around; although a far cry from 1964 in England, the passion for Modernism is undiminished here. It was on that evening that Mark Wingett, who played the Mod, Dave, in the 1979 movie Quadrophenia, and Tokyo Mods met for the first time, 44 years after the film was first screened. The lucky charm…

TRADE FOCUS Having been founded in 1912 by Tom F Watson, Watsonian-Squire holds the distinction of being the world’s oldest sidecar manufacturer. It was back in 1984 that the company pulled up roots and moved from its historic home in Birmingham to set up shop in the picturesque surroundings of Gloucestershire. Having merged with fellow sidecar manufacturers Squire in 1987, today the company is in the steady hands of its sales director Ben Matthews, and Watsonian remains one of those bastions of British engineering that were once everywhere but are now so hard to find. Location, location, location… Before getting into the company’s activities, it’s worth exploring the trading estate just outside Moreton-in-Marsh that it calls home. Built in 1943 as an American field hospital in anticipation of D-Day, Northwick…

PRACTICAL SCOOTERING TECH TIPSPart 9 At this stage in a scooter build the usual next step would be to drop the engine out, split it, gut it and replace most (practically all) of the components with a laundry list of more suitable items. I never really mind what the budget is (from low-end ‘budget’ tourer through to high-end road-race ripsnorter), it’s all the same to me, so long as we bin the old, worn-out, weak components and replace them with quality upgrades. However, times are hard for many people these days, and in a ‘disposable society,’ we tend to forget how a little bit of work on an old item can bring relatively cheap rewards, instead of opting to just spend money to fix a problem. Point in case, buying…

How to use the guide We’ve divided the market first by capacity, and then alphabetically within each category. We can’t possibly give values for every classic scooter, there are far too many variables for that, but we have included data for three of the most common machines: a Vespa smallframe, Vespa PX and Lambretta GP200. These should allow comparisons between ‘then and now’ and help anyone switching from classics to modern scooters, or vice versa. We’ve started with models from the usual suspects but over time we’ll be adding more models to widen the range of information available to you. The data Most of the data is taken from manufacturer’s websites; this can vary between manufacturers depending on what methods are used to test their machines. For example, the type…

We collected scooters like mad in the 1980s, but it wasn’t a difficult challenge as there were so many to go around. Most were leftovers from owners who’d once relied on them as a form of transport but had cast them aside when they could afford a car. These scooters could be found abandoned in sheds or underneath a lean-to shelter, gathering moss or housing families of feral kittens. If there was an advert in the local paper, we immediately and repeatedly rang the number until there was an answer, ensuring we had first dibs on what was on offer. Most of these machines were under a hundred quid, and if they were advertised for more, we would do all we could to knock them below that figure. More often…

A few years ago, I read Mark Brough’s book Time Trouble & Money – The Life and Times of a Scooterboy. Like many, I knew the scooter well and took pictures of it on camera (film!) at numerous rallies in the mid-80s. At the time I didn’t know Mark, but I knew the scooter and it’s one of 20 or so that I still recall 40 years on. Reading Time Trouble & Money there were several parallels with my own scootering experience. The descriptions within the pages of scooter clubs that I recall seeing at rallies like Scarborough, Morecambe and Yarmouth; names like Doncaster Hunters, Road Rats, Barnsley Vikings and Leeds Central are among those I most easily recall. Custom scooters like Italian Stallion carried their own legendary status, having…

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. I was knocked off my scooter recently. The car driver who hit me is actually somebody I know. He does not want me to tell his insurers that it was him who was driving as it will affect his premiums. He wants me to say that I do not know who it…

Having hosted around 50,000 guests last year, the Italian Bike Week returns to Lignano Sabbiadoro (Udine, Italy) for the weekend of September 12-15, and promises to wrap up the 2024 season in style. Focusing on the world of Adventure & Off Road, the event will also feature a spectacular airshow by the Italian Air Force aerobatic team, Frecce Tricolori. The heart of the event can be found at Luna Park Strabilia, with its stands, food stalls, shows and live rock concerts on the Main Stage, an entire area will also be dedicated to Grandi MotoViaggiatori: globetrotters, who have made travelling on two wheels their life mission, sharing tales of their journeys to the ends of the world. Adding a fresh twist to the winning formula of Biker Fest, the Italian…

WIN a smart Scootering T-shirt with your photo For your chance to win a stylish Scootering magazine T-shirt, email us your HI-RES pics to: suys@scootering.com and the least crap snap wins! For full terms and conditions, visit: www.scootering.com/comptc 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. Please send your scooter pictures to: Show Us Your Scooters, PO Box 99, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6LZ (include an SAE if you want your print returned) or email a HIGH RESOLUTION image to suys@scootering.com Least crap snap THIS MONTH’S WINNER: Due to his regular ride being unserviceable, Guy Lionet took a recently purchased and used…

This is rather timely subject matter… a customer with a ‘homebrew’ tune to his Vespa engine. If you are reading the Lambretta Tech section this month, then you’ll see that I’ve also started an old-school ‘homebrew’ tune on the S2 Li150 engine. It was only 5.5hp in standard trim and we managed to get that up to 6.9hp with just a change of ignition, carb and exhaust… but we knew there was plenty more to come if we just tweaked that old cylinder a little bit. So, although those old cast iron 150cc cylinders are now more commonly used as doorstops as owners favour bolt-on performance kits with big ports and nicasil liners, we thought that a good old-fashioned porting job would be an interesting alternative. As I said, it’s…

PRACTICAL SCOOTERING TECH TIPSPart 9 If there’s one thing that has really stood out on this project, it’s the simplicity of working on a Royal Alloy. Thus far, I’ve had very little to complain about with this scooter, in terms of how easy it’s been to work on. Indeed, all the parts seem to actually fit and work; if only that were true of all scooters! From the early 125cc upgrades like suspension, variator, air filter, exhaust and ECU remap, everything went to plan. The parts were all very simple and straightforward to replace and even better than that, the performance results were all as promised too. Everything ‘did what it said on the tin’. Another pleasing outcome. Following on from the 125cc upgrades, the 180-cylinder kit was also straightforward…

Overall the AK felt quick, grunty, smooth and capable, with plenty of ground clearance in the bends. Taiwanese scooter firm Kymco is a pretty serious outfit. It started out as a primary parts supplier for Honda Japan and is a cut above many other Far Eastern brands in terms of prestige and engineering. Now a major manufacturer, Kymco is a massive part of the scooter market in most big European countries: Spain, Italy, Germany and France, and is now pushing hard to develop its presence in the UK. Part of that push is the addition of new machines to its range, like the AK550 maxi-scooter. It’s a high-performance, high-tech, twin-cylinder machine that can go toe-to-toe with the best from Japan in terms of spec and capability. It’s also recently been…

FINAL WORD Darrell and Alison, reunited with S72. There’s nothing quite like your first love and, as Stu Smith discovered, for Darrell Beck it was a much-loved T5. How and when did you get into scooters? “I first became interested in them when I was 13. My brother bought the first edition of Scootering magazine and I started reading it. My first scooter was a Vespa PK50 (with a 110cc kit) and was a 16th birthday gift from my aforementioned brother, which he’d decided to give me because he kept falling off it!” Tell me about this scooter? “It’s a Vespa T5 Classic which I originally purchased in 1999 from MSC for £1650. I was the second owner of it, we did the deal with Dave Webster and collected it…

The names Guppy and Vespa have been intertwined since the early 1960s and much has been documented about Peter and his scootering antics. He is one of life’s genuinely nice guys and always a pleasure to have in your company. I have known Pete for years, and often heard him mention Janet, his wife, but it wasn’t until fairly recently that I eventually met Mrs Guppy, and it turns out that she’s a very keen Vespa enthusiast, with her own story to tell. Janet In her teens and, as was popular back in the day, she and her friends would attend the local youth club which was based within her Church of England school. This was around 1962 and Janet was 15 at the time. She recalls that there was…

★ STAR LETTER ★ Stay positive! Hi Stan, I am compelled to say my bit following Stu Owen’s article about the ageing ‘scooter scene’ and its eventual demise. I acknowledge that the general age of classic scooterists in this country is getting progressively older. But that in no way signifies the potential death of the broader scooter scene. Here are my reasons for believing the scene is changing with the times. In reality it has a rosy future, in my view: 1. More scooters are being sold in many Far East countries than cars. For example, an extreme is Thailand where 1.86 million two-wheeled vehicles were sold last year compared with just 0.29 million cars and vans. In many countries, particularly within the EU, scooter sales are increasing year on…

PRACTICAL SCOOTERING TECH TIPSPart 18 Have you ever stood in the garage staring at your scooter just as it dawns on you that you’ve made a mistake on the build? Usually followed by a spanner being thrown across the garage in a petulant tantrum as you utter the words “You f**ing w***er” to yourself? If not, I envy you, I have these moments all the time. When working in the garage there is a tendency to see the same type of job over and over, thus, many details of working on scooters just become second nature. Some jobs, though, are less frequent than others, and it only takes a moment of distraction to forget a simple detail that later comes back to haunt you. And that’s exactly what happened this…