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Scomadi SSS A statement of intent
SSC
Mike Hayman
EBretta
The man who ventured into the unknown
A clean classic
A RIPSNORTING WOLF IN SHEEP’S CLOTHING…
THE ULTIMATE MOD SCOOTER? SOMETIMES, LESS IS MORE
SECRET AFFAIR
A ‘BEHIND CLOSED DOORS’ EXCLUSIVE
30hp Vespa engine build ■ Feature scooter: Liquid chop ■ Reader’s Ride: Darkside of Oz ■ Adidas Scomadi ■ Weymouth ’83 Nostalgia ■ Show Us Your Scooters ■ Mailbox ■ Music Reviews ■ Events Guide and more…
No.407 MAY 2020
£4.40
Editor: Dan Clare Email: dan@scootering.com Publisher: Tim Hartley Publishing Director: Dan Savage Designer: Chris Abrams Picture desk: Paul Fincham, Jonathan Schofield Production: Pauline Hawkins General queries and back issues: Tel: 01507 529529 24hr answerphone Lines open Mon-Fri 8.30am-5pm help@classicmagazines.co.uk www.classicmagazines.co.uk Archivist: Jane Skayman 01507 529423 Email: jskayman@mortons.co.uk Subscription: Full subscription rates (but see page 32 for offer): (12 months 12 issues, inc post and packing) – UK £49.20. Export rates are also available – see page 32 for more details. UK subscriptions are zero-rated for the purposes of Value Added Tax. Subscription Manager: Paul Deacon Circulation Manager: Steven O’Hara Marketing Manager: Charlotte Park Commercial Director: Nigel Hole TRADE ADVERTISING Emma Buxton-Rockley – ebuxton-rockley@mortons. co.uk Tel (01507) 529410 Divisional Advertising Manager: Tom Lee – tlee@mortons.co.uk Tel (01507) 529412 Group Advertising Manager: Sue Keily ADVERTISING DEADLINES The advertising deadline for the next issue of Scootering (June 2020) is May 7, 2020 On sale in newsagents May 28, 2020 SCOOTERING (USPS:020-245) is published monthly by Mortons Media Group Ltd, PO Box 99, Horncastle, Lincolnshire LN9 6LZ USA subscriptions are $60 per year from Motorsport Publications LLC, 7164 Cty Rd N #441, Bancroft WI 54921. Periodical Postage is paid at Bancroft, WI and additional entries. Postmaster: Send address changes to SCOOTERING, c/o Motorsport Publications LLC, 7164 Cty Rd N #441, Bancroft WI 54921. 715-572-4595. chris@ classicbikebooks.com SCOOTERING is published by: Mortons Scooter Media, a division of Mortons Media Group Ltd © 2020 All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any way without the written permission of the publisher. ISSN 0268 7194. Distribution: Marketforce UK Ltd, 5 Churchill Place, Canary Wharf, London, E14 5HU. Tel: 0203 787 9001. Printed by: William Gibbons & Sons, Wolverhampton. The Professional Publishers Association Member
Welcome to the May edition of Scootering!
W
ell… what an epic clusterf*ck this year has turned out to be. Bring back the Brexit debate, all is forgiven! I’m not even going to get into the politics of the situation; this is a scooter magazine, not Private Eye. Nor shall I dwell on the heart-breaking losses many are suffering right now. Instead, I shall focus on what’s going on in our world of scooters… and in most areas that is, unfortunately, very little! The rally season has been decimated and as of now (and I won’t hear the Government’s three-week review strategy until after this mag goes to press) it looks like we have got a tough few months ahead of us, with lots more ‘social distancing’ yet to come. Given that our community thrives off social gatherings, that’s a bitter pill to swallow… but no doubt a price worth paying in the long run, given the alternative. Aside from the devastating consequences for the rally season, there is a mixed response from the trade. Some, who rely largely on footfall to their premises, have been forced to shut up shop for the duration, hoping to still be able to surface after the storm. But others, thankfully, have managed to put their mail-order departments to full (and gratefully received) use! It goes without saying; those scooterists who can get on with project scooters are doing so. Those one-man-band garages, who can self-isolate and continue doing work, are also doing so. Take a look at the advertising pages in this very edition of
Scootering if you want to know who to contact for anything you need, whether it be parts, services or advice. They will be delighted to keep as many scooterists plugging away on those project scooters as possible! For them, it’s business as usual. That out the way, let’s move forward and focus on this month’s mag. Once again, we’ve crammed an abundance of ‘top notch’ articles into these colourful pages. Stan reports the latest news on the SSS Scomadi, Stu Smith brings us the inside story on the stunning Liquid Chop, Christian G finds shed-tune tales in deepest Italy, and Stu Owen warms our hearts with nostalgic stories. Sarge and Nik get our feet tapping with their usual music news and reviews, while Paul Green reflects on the ‘positive’ side of lockdown, and last but not least… tuning demon Darrell Taylor enlightens us once more with his in-depth knowledge, research and reports. Special thanks go to Gary Chapman, our pro-photographer, for the stunning shoot he has done on feature scooter Euphoria, as well as our in-house team of designers, ad-sales agents and production staff who are working from home, and mostly on skeleton staff levels. Scootering is a team effort, and we have both a great team and a loyal bunch of readers… thank you one and all. We will get through this. Anyway that’s enough of my ramblings, it’s another belter this month… enjoy the issue. Dan
S C O O T E R I N G WA S B R O U G H T T O Y O U W I T H T H E H E L P O F. . .
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.
Christian Giarrizzo
From Italy to Australia, this man gets the miles in and has ridden some serious roads in his time. A dedicated journalist who meets the most interesting characters along the way.
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.
Darrell Taylor
Two-stroke tuning guru, scooter engine building maestro, technical aficionado, and dyno tuning specialist. When it comes to a true understanding of scooter engine top-ends, he is THE man.
Big Stan
’80s scooterboy turned long-distance rider. Be it local, national or international, he’ll ride anywhere in his quest to bring you the tastiest scooters, best roads, trade interviews and hidden gems.
Sarge
With over four decades of riding, rally-going and competing on both Lambretta and Vespa scooters under his belt, this former Freddie Mercury lookalike is still going strong. He’s a top DJ too, don’tcha know.
CONTENTS A warm welcome to the May edition of Scootering.
06Kickstart
The upfront section with all the latest news, views and product reviews!
Scooter: 16Feature Euphoria
A wolf in sheep’s clothing is probably the best way to describe Aubrey’s Aprilia SXV550 Lambretta Ld150 hybrid and the name, Euphoria, adds to the disguise…
The best of our readers’ rides as sent in by you.
Scooter: Liquid 38Feature chop The imagination of the human mind never ceases to amaze. The desire to create something different in the world of custom scooters will always exist. Liquid personifies that desire.
43
Mike Hayman: The man who ventured into the unknown
Some products fitted to our scooters are taken for granted nowadays but who thought of them in the first place and for what reason?
48
Reader’s Ride: Darkside of Oz
The story of the Alan Thubron’s Mk1 Italjet Dragster has its roots firmly embedded in his love of Vespas, so what caused him to make the change?
4 | SCOOTERING | MAY 2020
Dealer Profile: 61 Lambretta Upgrades – not so grim Up North
He brought the R1 shock into the mass market and now Chiggy’s moved into new premises. Stan met the man behind Lambretta Upgrades.
65Shed Tune: Vespa 30hp Italian stallion Christian Giarrizzo finds a good old-fashioned ‘home brew’ shed-tune on his travels, and describes it to us with his unmistakable Italian twang…
Tech: The Hare 78Targa and the Tortoise Last month Stan hinted that the Targa Twin was heading to the continent; coronavirus had other plans.
Tech Torque: Dell’Orto PHBH carburettor strip 81 down The Dell’Orto PHBH series of carburettors is widely used on Lambretta engines. Maintenance of them is fairly simple thanks to their design.
85Scooter Trader
The readers buy, sell, swaps and wanted section
Tuning Part 3: Proven 89 results, or a waste of time? Darrell continues his testing of well-known and time-honoured traditions when it comes to tuning two-stroke engines.
Secret Affair: ‘Behind 94 Closed Doors’ exclusive
The official 40th anniversary tour starts on October 23, and Stu Smith was given exclusive access to the band during one of their pre-official tour taster gigs…
Forever in Debt
35 years maintaining an ’80s classic
Lord of the Rings
Vespa HPE300 tuning transformation
Hellraiser scooter This was born to raise hell
SSR265cc ‘Double Dip’ Lambretta A new standard in custom scooters?
2020 SCOOTERWORLD OF THE www.scootering.com
34
Show us your scoots!
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Ste Turner’s Scomadi respray, based on a classic trainer design and the original Scomadi base coat.
Performance & Paint…
32
Subscriptions
Ride: 58Reader’s Scomadi Spezial
Scootering 2020: Power,
With its new factory, new management team and fresh vision, Scomadi is determined to separate itself from the herd and the SSS is its statement of intent.
58
2020
27
A Very Special Scomadi
Readers’ letters, laughs, feedback and fury – get it off your chest man!
Stu Owen introduces the story of Colin Fribbens’ account of that legendary weekend in Weymouth back in ’83.
Scootering | #405 March
25
Mailbox
Weymouth Scooter 52 Rally 1983: ‘Never Again’
THE FIRST SHOW BEST OF SEASON AND THE BRITISH SCOOTERING
PLUS
letter from 03Welcome the editor
DO ALL ‘TUNING’ METHODS WORK?
TUNING GURU DARRELL TAYLOR PUTS WELL-KNOWN METHODS TO THE TEST!
■ K2 Classics C Hanoi Road Trip SIP Pordoi Racer ■ SS Rides Boy Tales ■ Readers’ Dealer Profile ■ Scooter ■ Music ■ Readers’ Letters ■ Show Us Your Scoots de and more… Review ■ Events Gui
No.405 MARCH 2020
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A wolf in sheep’s clothing is probably the best way to describe Aubrey’s Aprilia SXV550 Lambretta Ld150 hybrid, and the name Euphoria adds to the disguise… 16 | SCOOTERING | MAY 2020
20 | SCOOTERING | MAY 2020
The imagination of the human mind never ceases to amaze. The desire to create something different in the world of custom scooters will always exist...
38 | SCOOTERING | MAY 2020
t was the summer of 2011 and lying on the workshop floor was a full TS1 engine just extracted from a Lambretta frame. Now surplus to requirements it lay idle, looking for a new home. By pure chance or maybe fate, paying a visit that day was one Rob Johnson. Upon closer inspection of the engine, he enquired what was happening with it. Informed it was now for sale, his reply was straight to the point. “I will have it, I’m building a new custom scooter and that’s ideal for what I need.” The story then moves forward to 2017 and various pictures of the said TS1 engine, some huge bike wheels and bits of tube resembling a chassis. “There you go, it’s started, Liquid is finally being built.” Just what exactly this meant was anyone’s guess and, for now, the whole concept sat in his mind only.
Welcome to the void
No stranger to producing amazing custom Lambrettas in the past – with the likes of Menace and 300 – this was, according to Rob, the last one he would ever build. In his eyes, it needed to be something so radical it would be talked about for years. Finding new ideas isn’t as easy, as most types of extreme engineering when it comes to the scooter have already been done before. This is where Rob’s thinking went into overdrive – to come up with something that would shock everyone. The idea of placing a motorbike engine in a Lambretta has been done countless times and perfected. What if it was the other way around this time? Fitting a Lambretta engine into something else has been done
WW WWW WW.SCOOTERING.COM W | 39
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OTERIN CO
70 | SCOOTERING | MAY 2020
To paraphrase the old adage, ‘the best-laid plans of Mods and men often go awry’…
N
o matter how meticulous, careful and thorough a project is planned, something may, and often does, go wrong with it. Gary Drury, owner and rider of this now pristine, pretty custom Primmy, is of the Mod persuasion, hence the change of word in the above paraphrase. He had a particular plan mapped out for this Vespa smallframe after he first obtained it. A chance conversation at a rare soul all-nighter proved to be the catalyst for a complete rethink.
Next in line
Gary rides with the Awfully Pleasant Scooter Association, a collective with broadly similar interests when it comes to scooters. Probably the main prerequisite to join is the ownership of a pre-1966 model classic scooter. Another part of the Awfully Pleasant requirements is, as well as owning a pre ’66 classic scooter, to take part in any of their occasional forays said scooter also has to be road
SCOOTER SPEC Name of scooter & reason: Princess. Scooter model: 1978 125cc Vespa Primavera. Inspiration for project: I paid £300 originally. The scooter was a barn find my friend put me on to. It was just going to be a quick tart-up so that, unlike my others, if it did get damaged or stolen I wouldn’t be as bothered but as usual I got carried away. Time to build: Just over 12 months. Engine spec: Kit: Standard top end. Carb: Dell’Orto standard but re-jetted. Exhaust: SIP. Clutch: Malossi. Porting work by: Dylan at work. What brand of oil do you run: Castrol @ 2%. Chassis Spec:
Tyres: SIP Performer. Rims: SIP Tubeless. Suspension: Pinasco front and rear. Cable brand: BGM. Fuel Tap: BHG fast flow. Brakes: Malossi. Overall cost of work and components: Around 4k. Hardest part of the project: The paintwork – the metal flake kept reacting and had to be stripped three times. Thanks to: Julian Nipper at the Scrot Shop, Willenhall for the engine rebuild and build. Thanks for his perseverance and his expertise and skill – he’s the man. Dylan at work for the spray paint job. Dave Porter, a mate at work, for advice and encouragement.
WWW.SCOOTERING.COM | 71
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