DROP ’EM!
This issue is sponsored by
How to remove a Vespa engine the right way
Scootering | August 2013 “This leaves the rider in a slightly schizophrenic state with one half of the body crazily controlling everything except the clutch.” p38
VESPA PX 125 - 180
Mega Exhaust Shoot-Out
14
PX125
PART TWO
From £100 to £285
exhaus
to win
inside!
What price speed?
ts
Sidecars:
Ultimate accessory? U DECIDE O Y good Lambretta? SCOOTER RALLIES EuroLambretta or a waste of a
ww.scootering.com
Cleethorpes Camber Sands
Vespa World Days (amongst others)
Plus
Daisy
Duke
Rides again!
Where Are They Now? More 80s custom scooters. BSA scrambler, music reviews, scooter news & more!
No.326 August 2013
£3.99
CONTENTS
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| AUGUST 2013 | ISSUE 326
03 Editorial
So who else breaks down going to a rally?
06 News
All the latest scooter news, new products, news from the trade, competitions and other stuff!
14 Workshop Essentials
A boring day at Readspeed that was interesting
16 Scootering Sounds This is Soul. No, honestly, it is!
18 When Angels Fall...
34
…Wayne Edwards is there to catch them on his beautifully customised Lambretta.
22 Feedback
Your letters, emails, personals, questions and other stuff you’ve sent us.
44 The Great Sidecar Debate
Top transport or motoring monstrosity? Read what our combatants have to say... then cast your vote.
48 Daisy Duke
Our cover star Vespa chopper, built for those good ol’ moonshine runs!
54 The Book of Scootering Rules – part 5: Camping
Where – and where not – to pitch your tent... and how to find it again later!
56 Club do’s & events
A calendar of scooter related events
18
94
26 Blast from the Past
55 years ago this month… Andre Baldet tackles the IOM TT circuit.
28 Dave’s Nostalgic Custom Corner
Where are they now? Dave searches out more old custom scooters you’d forgotten about.
30 Gathering Dust
A couple of old Vespas still looking good.
34 Home-spun BSA Bitsa Trials Special
25 4 | SCOOTERING | AUGUST 2013
More off road scootering with a British classic, but when was it created?
38 A Pair of Rare Chairs
Lambretta Model A and LC outfits with rare Italian accessories bolted on to one side!
150
102 Tech Torque
The technical letters page where no question goes unanswered.
58 My First Euro – Le Grande Finale
106 Vespa Px 125-180 Mega Exhaust Shoot-out Part 2
60
See how far Mr Panic did, or didn’t get on his Lambretta.
60 EuroLambretta 2013
The international jamboree, this year in Avignon, France.
66 Vespa World Days 2013
Belgium’s turn to host the big one.
73 Scooter Nation
The Darkside’s little gathering.
76 Strictly Scooters
A ‘scooters only’ rally in Gloucestershire.
80 Camber Sands
10 more pipes to test.
116 Back to Basics How to drop a Vespa engine.
118 NEW – Staff Bikes
Sharing tips, knowledge and experience from our sheds – and asking for yours in return.
101 93 Introducing Jeramiah Ferrari
Whatever you want, you’ll find them all here.
139 Show Us Your Scoots!
An enthusiastic mix of reggae, rock and calypso.
Sharing your pride and joy with the scootering world and also take a trip down Memory Lane.
94 Ceremony
142 Various Club Events
Fun and frolics at the Sussex holiday camp.
A cutdown Lambretta from Down Under with a familiar theme.
84 Cleethorpes
113 COMPETITION!
150 Dark Side
Customised Italjet Dragster that shows the other side of ‘The Force’.
BSRA National Scooter Rally on the sunny north Lincs coast.
14 Vespa PX125 exhausts to win!
90 Recommended Listening
Classified and business advertising, for all your scootering needs.
The latest albums and books reviewed.
120 Specialist Services
154 Into the Sunset
123 Scooter Trader
More of your scootering tales.
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
www.scootering.com www.scootertrader.com editor: Andy Gillard Email: editorial@scootering.com Publisher: Steve Rose Contributors: Sticky, Richie Lunt, Barrie Braithwaite, Iggy, Nik Skeat, John Churchill, Steve Dawson, Dave Oakley, Mark Sargeant, Ben Ford, Robin Quartermain, Duncan Patey, Paul Hooper-Keeley and Lee Daniels. Many thanks to all other scooterists and clubs that have also contributed to this issue in some way. Cover: Photography by Richie Lunt designer: Charlotte Turnbull reprographics: Simon Duncan group production editor: Tim Hartley general queries and back issues: Tel: 01507 529529 24 hr answerphone Email: help@classicmagazines.co.uk www.classicmagazines.co.uk archivist: Jane Skayman Tel: 01507 529423 Email: jskayman@mortons.co.uk subscription: Full subscription rates (but see page 12 for offer): (12 months 12 issues, inc post and packing) – UK £47.88. Export rates are also available – see page 12 for more details. UK subscriptions are zero-rated for the purposes of Value Added Tax. distribution: Comag, Tavistock Road, West Drayton, Middx UB7 7QE Tel: 01895 433600 Printed by: William Gibbons & Sons, Wolverhampton
trade advertising Gary Thomas – gthomas@mortons.co.uk Colin Smith – csmith@mortons.co.uk Tel (01507) 524004 Fax (01507) 529499 divisional advertising manager: Sandra Fisher Email: sfisher@mortons.co.uk
advertising deadlines
the advertising deadline for the next issue of scootering (sept 2013: 327) is thursday, august 1 On sale in newsagents august 22
Free ads, personals, club do’s & events These are all to be booked via the website at www.scootering.com or via post to: Scootering Magazine, PO Box 99, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6LZ The next free ads deadline is Wednesday, July 31, 2013
Member of the Professional Publishers Association
p12
subscription manager: Paul Deacon pdeacon@mortons.co.uk Circulation manager: Steven O’Hara sohara@mortons.co.uk Marketing manager: Charlotte Park Email: cpark@mortons.co.uk Production manager: Craig Lamb Publishing director: Dan Savage Commercial director: Nigel Hole associate director: Malcolm Wheeler Managing director: Brian Hill 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 © 2013 All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any way without the written permission of the publisher. ISSN 0268 7194
Having trouble finding a copy of this magazine? Why not Just Ask your local newsagent to reserve you a copy each month?
Scootering
sounds
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| While the scene surrounding the humble motor-scooters we know and love grew out of the need for affordable transport during the 1950s, there’s no denying that where we are today has in some way at least been formed by popular music. That road has been long and varied, but it does contain a number of albums that many would consider essential listening for scooterists. And this series is dedicated to those pieces of 12-inch vinyl many of us have in our record collections...
TITLE:THIS IS SOUL ARTISTS:VARIOUS LABEL: ATLANTIC YEAR: 1968
W
hen released back in 1968 in the UK, this simply – yet accurately – titled collection of a dozen tracks proved to be a true gateway album, in every sense of the term. It has opened the door to the wide world of soul music for countless Mods, scooterists and soulies alike in the years since. Considering just how many times This Is Soul has been reissued and re-pressed, on both vinyl and then CD format, is testimony to the all time classic status rightly bestowed, although it’s the original album that the spotlight is shining on here. I purchased my own vinyl copy in the early 1970s, after which, along with Tighten Up Volume 2 and Motown Chartbusters Volume 3, it became an integral part of the triple pronged passport to house parties during my teenage years. With the grittier, rawer and arguably more impassioned overall feel to the varied content of the entire album, especially when heard in contrast to the pop-soul sound of Tamla Motown, the Stax/Atlantic output, even back then to my young ears, possessed an authenticity that towered above the many competitors’ offerings from the period of release. From there, as time passed that particular introduction led me to track down other records by the featured singers, as well as their label mates, finding out for myself first-hand that there were many, many more of similar standard out there. Even today the occasional Stax or Atlantic gem new to my ears, pops up and catches me by surprise... and long may it continue.
So aside from getting me laid and leading to me becoming a vinyl junkie, what else has this album got going for it? When first compiled in 1967 (its release date in America) the 12 tracks themselves had already been well established as 60s club sounds, by the time I took ownership of my copy in 1972 pretty much the entire track listing, individually, were enjoying a new lease of life in youth clubs across the UK as frequented by young skinheads and suedeheads mixed side by side with Trojan reggae, and every single artist who contributed to This Is Soul is a proper legends of the soul world. Wilson ‘Wicked’ Pickett opens side one with the eternal club classic Mustang Sally, as well as closing side two with his frantic clarion call to the dance floor Land Of A Thousand Dances. Providing tasty and mouthwatering substance in between the slices of those two all-time favourite soul standards are Knock On Wood, which packs dance floors everywhere, from Eddie Floyd, whose original version outstrips countless covers. Sweet Soul Music the signature tune, so to speak, of Arthur Conley is both an example and reason as to why This Is Soul is such a treasured, well loved, album for so many across several generations. Add to that a brace of spine tingling gems from Percy Sledge, alongside the queen of soul herself Aretha Franklin, Otis Redding, Sam and Dave, Solomon Burke, Carla Thomas with a track apiece, and of course Ben E King who supplied the title song. At a recent soul all-nighter I was involved in a discussion, the subject being the timeless This Is Soul album. The consensus arrived at between those involved, who spanned a very wide age range, was it still stood out in its own right today. This did cause me to smile as it was
practically a cloned replica of a similar debate I was on the periphery of, at a gig over the Christmas period, involving a whole load of people from the Mod fraternity – both groups shared the same viewpoint regarding the quality and appeal of This Is Soul, the hallmark of a truly classic album. It may now be more than 45 years old but it remains an essential for almost every collection. Sarge
Track Listing Side 1 1. Wilson Pickett – Mustang Sally 2. Carla Thomas – B-A-B-Y 3. Arthur Conley – Sweet Soul Music 4. Percy Sledge – When A Man Loves A Woman 5. Sam And Dave – I Got Everything I Need 6. Ben E King – What Is Soul? Side 2 1. Otis Redding – Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa-Fa (Sad Song) 2. Eddie Floyd – Knock On Wood 3. Solomon Burke – Keep Looking 4. Aretha Franklin – I Never Loved A Man (The Way I Love You) 5. Percy Sledge – Warm And Tender Love 6 .Wilson Pickett – Land Of A Thousand Dances
Rare chairs:
Lambretta Model A and LC outfits
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| While later in this very issue you’ll find me arguing most vociferously my views of sidecars in general, here are two Lambretta outfits that both have interesting stories to tell…
Model A and Tittarelli sidecar
It’s 1947, only two years after the war, and a new vehicle is being advertised over the Italian radio before the public has even seen one. The jingle is so regular and so insistent that it makes today’s Go Compare opera singer look like a minor irritation. It might be ‘Lambretta time’, but what the hell is Lambretta? Of course the 125cc Lambretta M (for Motorscooter, or model A as it later became known) turned out to be another two-stroke scooter to rival Piaggio’s recently launched 98cc Vespa. Shortly after the launch a member of the affluent Lauro family – fabulously wealthy shipping magnates and owners of the Linee Lauro Ferry Company – thought it might be fun to acquire one of these new devices. The
38 | SCOOTerING | AUGUST 2013
The Tittarellis were far more generous with suspension than Innocenti in the 1940s.
scooter would not be for road use, merely for the Lauro family to transport themselves and their children around the grounds of their large stately home near Naples. As such it was ordered – probably direct from Innocenti – to be supplied from the factory with a sidecar already fitted and painted to match. Little is known about the history of this outfit except that it covered very few miles around the estate and wasn’t used outside because it was never issued with a number plate. Once the novelty had worn off, the low mileage scooter was stored and left unused for many years. However, by the time it finally came up for sale, age had taken its toll on the bodywork which required restoration. Incredibly the new owner decided to restore it in green rather than the original red hue.
When Angels Fall
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| After bands and films the next most popular custom scooter theme must be pretty ladies, and this build certainly has a few of them!
O
wner Wayne Edwards from Caerphilly first had an interest in scooters in the late 1970s when he was a 12-year-old Mod. He always wanted a scooter, and as soon as he was legal got a nifty-fifty and started to do the rallies. To many of us, the custom scooters that were around at that time left a lasting impression, and Wayne decided that one day when funds allowed he would give the world his offering. Fast forward nearly three decades and Wayne found himself ready to spend some serious cash and make his dream a reality! He already had a base Indian GP200 that he had purchased several years back for £750, so after mapping out his ideas he put together the team required to fulfil his dream.
Earlier on I mentioned that the basis for this custom was a celebration of the ‘fairer sex’ and that was Wayne ’s original idea. However, after talking through his plan with the mural artist they decided to take the glamour concept further. This meant not only incorporating beauty but also the idea of corruption and taboos within the sex industry – prostitution, alcoholism, drug addiction, and pornography would also all be depicted. If you look closely, the paint follows a story from perfection to despair; the front giving lighter tones signifying innocence and purity, the rear becoming progressively darker as the vices evolve. To carry out this stunning work Wayne used a couple of custom names that are new to me – Devils Ride and resident artist Adam Haden of AaScrawlArt in St Austell.
ScootER DEtAILS Owner: Wayne Edwards. Home town: Caerphilly. First interest in scooters: I was a Mod in the late Seventies/early Eighties. First scooter: 1966 Li 150 Lambretta First rally: Weston-super-Mare 1983. Favourite and worst rally: Worst rally was Exeter; the camp site was on a slope and there were no toilets available to use. Best rally was IoW 1987; our whole club turned out and some went on 50cc scoots so it took more than 12 hours to get there and somewhat more to get home! What do you like about events today? It’s nice to meet old faces and make new friends. What do you dislike about events today? Too many people use the scene for nothing more than a drinking session and are really not into scootering or likely to ever have a scooter. Favourite Scootering magazine features: I like the workshop essentials section. Favourite custom scooter of all time: The Italian Stallion. It was a work of art and in my opinion it has never been surpassed. If you had to recommend one item of riding kit what would it be? A damn good set of waterproof gloves and waterproofs! What part would you most like to see developed for scooters? An electric start option for vintage scooters so that you don’t have to spend all day trying to start it.
www.scootering.com | 19
24th Euro LambrettaJamboree,
Avignon,
France June 6-9,2013 I was last in the historic Provencale city of Avignon about 30 years ago and of course noticed the famous old bridge that went only part way over the mighty river Rhone. I recently returned for this year’s Euro Lambretta Jamboree only to find the bridge still hadn’t been finished. Predictable joking aside, the French Lambretta Club had certainly chosen a visually spectacular setting for the annual ’Bretta beanfeast.
W
e had made our way in leisurely fashion from Spain, crisscrossing southern France to the sun-kissed shores of the Med. On the last leg, 60 miles or so from Avignon, through the amazing marshlands of the Camargue, we met up by chance with our Cumbrian chums and ‘horseplay’ and banter ensued concerning the famous white horses of the region. Soon after that brief but comedic encounter, we arrived early Thursday afternoon at the rally venue, Camping Pont D’ Avignon, in sweltering conditions and felt that a slightly less clunky rally registering process would have been welcome for hot riders and machines alike, especially with our offical LCGB lanyards and ticket numbers helpfully at the ready, but, hey-ho, minor detail. Apparently numerous shameless blag artists trying to weedle their way in lay behind this keenness to prevent new arrivals driving their scoots through the actual entrance gates, so I suppose this is understandable. Having gone through checklist two, five yards from checklist one, to get wristbands, the third list for goody bags could wait till we’d got out of steaming Belstaffs and boots and into shorts and sandals; a blessed relief in the Dante’s infernolike conditions of the Papal City. The sweeping riverside section was earmarked
for the large British contingent but our usual travelling companion, Yarmouth Wasp Wizard Mr Brooks, said he’d magicked up an even shadier spot. Our mechanical Merlin with sorcerer’s apprentice on his first Euro, Monsieur Jared le Jeune (aged 21), was right about their plot, with day-long dappled shade; it’s horrendous waking up stewing in a canvas sauna on a hot morning after a late night’s partying. Add conveniently placed conveniences, a short hop to the main stalls areas and reasonable proximity to the bar and shop, we couldn’t want for more, so the mobile version of Marshland Towers was up in a jiffy. Reasonably priced six packs of beer from the well-stocked site shop were purchased and plunged into our collapsible bucket to cool. Then bulging goody bags were fetched and duly disembowelled to find top items such as a large plastic croaking cicada! This is the locustlike local mini-beast which provides the main sound track, chirrupping away in the grass on sultry afternoons, whether you spend a weekend or even ‘A Year in Provence’. After a quick ‘pique nique’ we wandered over to the stalls and chatted to Lambretta legend Tino Sacchi with, among other things, a highly desirable, belt-driven 250 twin motor on display, as well as a new Misano engine block with removable bearing and oil seal component. Tasty! I much perfer hellos to goodbyes; who
The evening started off with a formation Vespa display by Robyn Davy and his young charges from Munich, much to everyone’s amusement. Quite a few VCB members met up in the usual place at the Vespa Village and continued to dodge the rain until about 11 when we left in search of alternative entertainment in the form of ModKlub at the local alternative club in a nearby industrial estate! Great little club, fantastic sounds and sound system and the special guest was Paul (brother of Liam and Noel) Gallagher whose set was, how shall we put it…? Well he played a set that wouldn’t be out of place at a wedding! At about 1am the munchies started again and off to the kebab shop. Saturday morning was overcast but dry and with an early start of 10am for the main parade rideout of the weekend, it was a good job we got to bed the right side of
3am. The muster point was a very large car park at the local cinema and by 10 it was full of Vespas of every age and condition, all ready for the ‘parade around town’ as is traditional. We did do a parade of Hasselt, but around the outside of the city rather than the centre. It got a bit hairy in places, cobbled streets, thin roads etc., but it was fantastically organised by the club stewards and the local police (just goes to show if a place wants the business it will go out of its way to help make the event a success) and about two hours later we were back at the Vespa Village before it started raining again. Plans were in progress, due to the gala dinner being in Genk, a 10 mile ride away. The plan was originally to go by scooter but mid afternoon A5 Nigel rung to say he had got the timetable for local buses and a bus went at 5pm and stopped close to the dinner venue. We arrived at the bus station
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||| Expand your performance with this month’s expansion chamber results
Twenty exhausts tested on two different engine formats means 40 exhaust changes, a couple of burnt fingers and copious use of colourful Anglo-Saxon language.
rEFrESHEr Last month we gave you the results of our PX exhaust tests of the standard type box exhausts and also the Italian pressed-steel exhausts. Pick of the bunch was the SIP Road 2 exhaust which offered the best power spread, decent peak power improvement and simple fitting all for £120. This month we shift focus to the expansion chambers produced laboriously from cones that are rolled and welded together by hand. As such you should expect the price to be higher than a machineformed exhaust, but usually with improved performance. Once again we tested the exhausts on both a stock 2013 PX125, and also another PX engine fitted with a Malossi 166 kit and reedvalve conversion by Taffspeed. The latter is far from the absolute maximum obtainable by tuning the PX engine, but it is representative of a common ‘road tune’ for rally use. On the standard engine we are looking not only for power gains over the original catalysed exhaust, but also increased over-rev since this allows the scooter to attain and hold higher top speeds on the road. The exhausts tested this month break down broadly into two groups: ■ RIGHT-HAND PIPES: As with the Italian right-hand systems these restrict clutch and rear brake adjuster access. They also tend to have longer mufflers sticking further out of the back of the scooter. ■ LEFT-HAND PIPES: These must be removed to change a wheel and some prevent the carrying of a spare wheel depending on the position and size of the muffler. Clutch adjuster access is unimpeded.
106 | scootering | August 2013
Part 2
Sip Performance LH PRICE: £274.88 from SIP MATERIAL: Stainless steel FINISH: Unpolished BUILD QUALITY: Appears good apart from an ovalised cylinder joint MUFFLER: Integral riveted carbon muffler FEATURES INCLUDED: Slim muffler to maximise spare wheel clearance CLUTCH ADJUSTER ACCESS: No problem SPARE WHEEL USE: Minimal spacing required SOUND/NOISE: Purposeful FIT: Only spring fitting to stub, no clamping option This version of SIP’s JL-built, stainless steel, left-hand Performance exhaust is especially designed to maximise clearance to the spare wheel. This exhaust performs well on the PX125 engine with a wide spread of power and comparatively good performance at 4000rpm for a left-hand pipe, where many of the rival systems are weak. As such this has a gentler ‘kick’ than the right-hand systems, but still with a good spread of power. SIP also produces variations of this design including one with a removable muffler which is designed to allow clearance for wide wheel kits, but as a consequence cannot be used in conjunction with a spare wheel.
Taffspeed Mk.4 COST: Not currently available MATERIAL: Steel FINISH: Painted BUILD QUALITY: IK Brunel standard MUFFLER: Bolt-on alloy FEATURES INCLUDED: BSAU stamped muffler CLUTCH ADJUSTER ACCESS: Fine SPARE WHEEL USE: Spacing required SOUND/NOISE: Deep, bassy and pleasant FIT: Very good I remember conducting one of Scootering’s first ever dyno tests at All Gear Tools in Coventry in the early 1990s with Terry Frankland not long after Taffspeed had developed this chamber. The plan was to build one exhaust to suit every Vespa engine. All you needed to do was swap the downpipe and this pipe would work well on a PX200 or a T5. It is a testament to the design that it still ranks near the top of all the power tables in this test. Unfortunately the Taffspeed exhaust has been out of production for many years now; apart from a small batch of replicas produced in Vietnam. If you’ve got one, keep hold of it...
SIP JL L/H vs Stock Cat
Taffspeed Mk.4 vs Stock Cat
SIP JL L/H vs Stock 180
Taffspeed vs Stock 180
WWW.SCOOTERING.COM | 111