F ROM T H E A RC H I V E S
It wasn’t unusual to see a Vespa scooter cause people to do a double take at the motorcycle shows of the 1950s and 60s, and not just because of its curvaceous lines. In 1962 Douglas of Bristol created this apparently impossible display at the London Show in Earls Court. The secret was in the ‘girl’ however, who boasted a steel frame beneath her pretty exterior, solidly fastened to a special steel tyre on the back of the Vespa GS 160.
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WELCOME
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his month we’ve even impressed ourselves with how much we’ve manage to cram into the poly bag this issue of Scootering comes in. Yes we’re easily pleased, but that’s another story... First there’s your FREE 32-page guide to some Great British scooter rallies, from Whitby at Easter to Bridlington in October. Have a flick through, plan your year ahead and keep it stowed close to hand for further reference closer to the date. Aside from the usual, there’s often much more to a rally and we’ve tried to offer a little bit of that too. So why not try a different ride in to town, check out some scenic routes instead of the motorways, and if you come across something that flicks your switch then drop us a line here at Scootering and share it with everyone else. We also have a six-page guide on scooter touring, a further tale of riding into Europe (taking the train and the scenic route to France), and to complement all that we have around £650 worth of Tucano Urbano riding gear to give away on page 23. In fact you’ll also find a SIP Performance exhaust for a Vespa to win thereabouts, as well as some BSRA rally T-shirts and patches in the supplement.
And all this is on top of a very tasty custom Lambretta you’ve seen adorning the cover, with a theme anyone growing up during the 1980s will find familiar. We’ve also got a lovely old Vespa GS with a bit of history to it, a rare (in Europe at least!) Brazilian Mini Skirt Lambretta, while in the garage Barrie changes Vespa clutch plates and shows you how to remove rust using electrolysis. And you thought he just used that for removing hair from his legs…
NEXT MONTH
We’ll be focusing on scooter security next month with plenty of tips and suggestions about keeping your scooter safe and secure. We’ll also be looking at a few products, some of which you may not have considered before, as well as talking to some experts to pass on their advice. It’s a must-read for anyone unfortunately, even if it’s only to realise that something obvious can often be the simplest deterrent. Oh, and we’ll also have a competition to win some free insurance courtesy of Lexham too! Andy
www.scootering.com www.scootertrader.com Editor: Andy Gillard Email: editorial@scootering.com Publisher: Steve Rose Contributors: Sticky, Richie Lunt, Barrie Braithwaite, Iggy, Sargie, Jordan Lewis, Dave Oakley, Ben Ford, Nik Skeat, Paul Hart and Lee Daniels. Many thanks to all other scooterists and clubs that have also contributed to this issue in some way. Cover: Photography by Paul Hart and Richie Lunt Designer: Charlotte Turnbull Reprographics: Simon Duncan Group production editor: Tim Hartley General queries and back issues: Tel: 01507 529529 24 hour 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 34 for offer): (12 months 12 issues, inc post and packing) – UK £47.88. Export rates are also available – see page 34 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
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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, March 6, 2014
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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 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 © 2014 All rights reserved. No part of this magazine may be reproduced in any way without the written permission of the publishers. ISSN 0268 7194
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CONTENTS Us 114Show Your Scoots!
03Hello & welcome…
…to the March edition of Scootering. We hope you enjoy your read!
Pictures of you, on your scoots – simples, eh?
06Kickstart
Any excuse 116for a tour
The new (ish) section of the magazine packed full of information from news and reviews of both products and music, to archive material, opinions, rumours and whispers, Gathering Dust (old custom scooters from the 1980s and 90s), music, handy hints, readers’ letters, oddballs, personals, app of the month and other information from the scooter scene.
Luigi (he, not she) is a very tidy, original condition Vespa that also adorns our cover this month.
22Competitions
130Into the Sunset
Win a SIP Performance Vespa exhaust worth £250 and Tucano Urbano ladies’ and gents’ clothing worth up to £650!
36
To Think This Is England
Our cover star custom Lambretta GP, portraying the grittiness of the 1980s.
The Marco ‘Bomber’ 44Romiti Collection
An Italian ex-footballer who went from Vespa rider to collector of some of the rarest models.
50Club do’s & events MS150 60Lambretta ‘Mini Skirt’
A calendar of scooter related events.
Brazil’s real slimstyle scooter, a unique creation for the local South American market.
Scootering 68Practical Rust removal
Tech Tips – a DIY electrolysis kit to clean up your scooter.
Back to Basics – 74Vespa clutch plates
How to do it, in a large frame Vespa engine.
80Specialist Services 83Scooter Trader
Whatever you want, find them all here.
Classified and business advertising, for all your scootering needs.
96Scooter Touring Guide
Advice and tips on travelling farther afield on your scooter. After all, why restrict yourself to just local rallies?
Scooter Club 110Listings
An A-Z of scooter clubs around the UK, Europe and the rest of the world.
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Travelling to the south of France via a train to Italy. A truly scenic route to EuroLambretta.
1958 Vespa GS 124150 VS4
Another of your tales of trials and tribulation. Keep ’em coming folks!
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KICKSTART
By Andy & Sticky
ARE FRIENDS ELECTRIC?
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lectric scooters are coming, like it or not. While previous Scootering tests of early electric machines were rarely positive, the technology remains in its infancy and moving ahead rapidly. Hub-contained motors make it relatively easy to convert any scooter to electric power, and the shape of classics tends to lend itself to conversion. It should be of limited surprise therefore that a few firms are working along the same lines. We previously mentioned Saigon Scooter Centre’s EBretta project in Scootering which has now progressed to a significantly more refined Mk.2 version powered by Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries and a real world range of over 25 miles per charge. Pat currently estimates retail prices starting at around £4000 for an EBretta or slightly less for the Vespa-style version – the VTronic. Hopefully we’ll get one to road test in the not too distant future. See www.saigonscootercentre.com for more details. Czech firm Cezeta Motors s.r.o has begun converting the outrageous Type 501 Cezeta scooter to electric power using a 5kW brushless hub motor which offers roughly the same power and top
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SSC’s Mk.2 EBretta and VTronic electric scooters. speed (53mph) as the 1950s original, but double the acceleration. For the moment the machines are all hand-built around fully restored original 501s, but if the business takes off the company has already established a source of alternative carbon-fibre bodywork to manufacture from scratch. The electrical specification of the machine is a claimed range of 100km per charge with a four hour recharge time using the inbuilt 1.1kW charger. Currently the price is on the hefty side at €15,000 but this includes a full restoration on a vintage scooter as well as the electric motor conversion. If there is a demand for a full production run then the price is expected to fall significantly. For more details see www.cezeta.com Finally, if you think that anyone who believes in a future for electric scooters must be on drugs, how about the Van.Eko Be.e scooter which is a composite machine made using hemp fibres. While the performance is modest (60km range and 34mph top speed), so is the initial outlay because Van.Eko intends to lease these rather than sell them. A contract of €170 per month gets you up to 1000km of use. And yes, this is a crazy Cloggie concept in case there was any doubt in your mind. www.vaneko.com
Electric version of the 1950s Cezeta. Yours for €15,000!
Van.Eko Be.e: built using Cheech and Chong construction techniques.
Tested OXFORD ‘WARM DRY’ BASE LAYERS PRICE: RRP £29.99 each for top or bottom Layering is not a new way of keeping warm on a scooter, it has always worked even if it was a copy of The Times stuffed down the front of your coat to keep the wind out. Back in my day we had no fancy ‘base layer’ malarkey, just good old fashioned ‘thermals’ from t’ market, or stolen from Marks and Sparks if you were posh. The difference with old school and new school is how they work when you get warm. With old school thermals as soon as you got off a scooter, had to fix one or worse still bump-start it then you’d sweat. Not only would you quickly start to smell (even more) unpleasant but you also get a chill effect once you start riding again. The Warm Dry base layers from Oxford (www.oxford.com) are designed to fit close to the skin and keep you warm, but also to wick away any
moisture. They have an antibacterial coating designed to combat the unpleasant aftereffects of sweating too. I used a two-piece long sleeve set of these for a 500 mile ride to Scooterist Meltdown in cold, wet and massively windy conditions. They made a big difference to my normally lizard-like core temperature, keeping me warm when others around me were freezing. What is amazing is that they weren’t too hot when walking around a trade show at the normally roasting NEC exhibition centre.
VERDICT: The two-piece is highly effective and comfortable enough for all day wearing. Word from the wise: don’t go for the one-piece version unless you want to strip-off every top layer when it’s time for a poo! Sticky
First Aid for Flywheels for charity The Stingray Owners Club will be creating another stand at this year’s VMSC show in Coventry on March 30, its theme this year being sporting scooters. As part of their stand, members will also be raising funds for Help for Heroes and providing a service for Lambretta owners. Dick Sedgely will be checking the magnetism of all 6v traditional flywheels and will remagnetise flywheels from Series 1 to GP for a minimum donation of £5 to Help for Heroes. Dick was trained by Lambretta Concessionaires and was employed by the works as an engineer, before taking up the post of workshop manager for Roys of Hornchurch. Dick will also be offering advice on stator plates (care and condition), contact points (how to clean and set), condensers and flywheels (how to refit and replace flywheel fins). Take your clean and dry flywheels to the VMSC Show on March 30 at The Sports Connection, Ryton on Dunsmore, and search out the Stingray stand among the displays inside.
Lambretta GP Buyer’s Guide credit where it’s due Accidentally lost in the editing of last month’s article was the fact that we purchased our ‘little scoot of horrors’ from Veekay Imports in India, and dealt with a Mr Jain and Mr Nema. We feel that selling such an abortion of a scooter is not something that should fall below the radar and that the company and gentlemen responsible are acknowledged for their achievements. If you missed last month’s guide, grab yourself a copy to fully appreciate why they’re now on our ‘wouldn’t touch them with your barge pole’ list.
HANDY HINT
Seized mastercylinder screws
One common problem on scooters fitted with hydraulic front brakes is that the screws holding the cap onto the fluid reservoir are stuck fast and impossible to remove with conventional tools. This can be down to the fact that the screws are made of something more usually suited to a Frenchman’s packed lunch, or that someone previously used the wrong sort of cross-head screwdriver and
now the head is all mashed up. Or possibly a combination of the two. One surprisingly effective solution is to use a hammer and a fine, high-quality centre punch (e.g. Starrett) to first dot the edge of the screw and then tap the dot around to undo it. Even when the screw heads are thoroughly monster-mashed it still works for me! Sticky
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Bomber on any Vespa collector’s dream scooter: a Piaggio-built ‘Sei Giorni’ racer.
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The Marco ‘Bomber’ Romiti Collection
Professional footballers, eh? It seems that everyone has an opinion on the overpaid prima donnas who seem to rule the modern game. Strikers who fall over at the first sign of a defender and then spend their inflated wages on gaudy displays of overpriced tasteless tat and plastic surgery for their vain bimboWAGS. Meet an exception...
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arco Romiti is an Italian footballer from the old school, before any of the current nonsense. His professional career spanned 16 years and the same number of teams across the 1980s and 90s. He never made the top division but played for Campobasso, San Benedetto and Taranto in Italy’s ‘second division’ – Serie B – scoring many goals and earning his ‘Bomber’ nickname in the process. The unusual part of Bomber’s career was not so much what he did on the pitch as what he did off it. As a Vespa enthusiast since the age of 16 – when he rode a Vespa GT125 – Marco used every opportunity, whenever his team played away matches, to scour that town for Vespas and
related memorabilia. This was back in the 1980s when the original Vespa Club of Italia was defunct and very few people cared about the ancient history of the brand. Old regional Vespa clubs that once operated during the 1950s with quite astonishing levels of pomp and ceremony were forgotten in the greedy decade of the 1980s, when only new was cool. Marco was one of very few youngsters who not only appreciated the older Vespas, but also the importance of preserving the brand’s cultural heritage. So he began collecting, and in 30 years, he has yet to stop. His collection may have begun with scooters, but now it includes many of the trophies and archives from the golden era of the Vespa through the 1950s and 60s.
The Vespa GS section.
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TOURING TIPS
It should go without saying that your scooter needs to be reliable, comfortable and freshly serviced.Touring is supposed to be enjoyable, not a feat of human endurance.
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ou’ve passed your bike test, mastered the intricacies of delivering chocolate eggs to hospitalised kids by scooter, and perfected the art of riding home from a rally after a weekend of self-abuse. Where next? How about a drop of touring: riding at your own pace to your chosen destination with your best mates? Does that sound so bad? You can reach anywhere in Britain, or immediate neighbouring countries in a couple of days by scooter. All it takes is some cash, a plan and determination. Sticky
Lights: the brightest bulbs available for your scooter will come in handy for any night riding you plan to do, and you can add additional spotlights. It is probably wise to avoid the football stadium floodlight front-rack look, though, if only for reasons of weight.
Suspension: if you are going to load your scooter with heavy bags then half of your suspension travel will be used up as soon as you sit on the bike, leaving less to deal with bumps. If you have adjustable shocks then you will probably need to increase the spring preload using a C-spanner. If you adjust the pre-load and it doesn’t make any real difference then stronger aftermarket springs may be required. Should the scooter not dip at all when you sit on the seat, then you’ve gone too far and the pre-load setting or spring strength is too great. If the shocks have no adjustment then I guess that’s one less thing to worry about.
Tyres: there are a few things to consider here – pressures, punctures, pattern and longevity. Tyre pressure information is usually best sourced from the tyre manufacturer rather than the scooter handbook, but more than that you need to adapt the figures to suit the circumstances. Whenever you add more load you need to add more pressure. If you are two-up with luggage and the rear tyre looks soft to other riders, then it simply needs more air.
It will certainly do no harm to use an anti-puncture compound such as Punctureseal in tubed or tubeless tyres but none of the compounds guarantee to seal all types of tyre damage, so a spare wheel or spare tube and pump are still advisable. In terms of tyre pattern you need a compromise to suit all the conditions you expect to encounter, and a suitable load/speed rating. If you expect to
encounter dusty conditions then block tread tyres can perform better than semislick types. If you are riding in potential snowy conditions (e.g. Germany in winter) then you may be legally obliged to fit specific mud and snow pattern tyres or face fines/penalties. Finally, you should ideally set off with new tyres at the start of the trip because some soft compound tyres will be bald in less than 1500 miles on the rear of a heavily-loaded scooter.
Seat: think comfort over style. It’s your choice whether to present your scooter with a sleek racing seat in the vain hope of compliments and consequently suffer many hours of spinecrunching, haemorrhoid-bursting agony. Or you could fit a nondescript standard loaf-of-bread type saddle which ruins the styling but saves you from arse agony. If you must use a thin race-type seat then Airhawk inflatable saddle covers come highly recommended by those who’ve tried them.
Racks: whatever you fit, make sure it is secure. Heavily loaded front racks can really unsettle the handling, so use these only for bulky but light items such as sleeping bags but take care not to obscure the headlight. Rear racks can accommodate more weight but make sure luggage is strapped and supported so that it can’t melt or catch fire on your exhaust (eh Iggy and Tony!). For optimum handling the best place to carry heavy luggage is on the floor between you feet, but make sure that you can still access your rear brake (eh Gary!).
Spare wheel: this is where classic scooters have an advantage over motorcycles or modern scooters. They have the facility to carry a universal spare wheel. Keep it inflated to the rear tyre pressure setting because it is easier to let air out than to add it.
Exhaust: you want something with good structural integrity, excellent power at low revs, decent silencing and good ground clearance. What does that describe? Yep, the standard exhaust. For this reason anything that offers improved performance but follows the standard layout is a good compromise. Brakes: with extra weight comes an even greater need for excellent stopping power. Hydraulic disc brakes are best, but on the other hand a well-maintained drum brake is simpler to service or repair if required.
Panniers: as an alternative to racks, panniers move the load further forward for improved handling. Panniers make the scooter wider, limiting filtering potential, reducing top speed and harming fuel economy. They can damage the sidepanels but a top tip is to use car dashboard anti-slip matting to protect the paintwork.
INTO THE SUNSET It was a beautiful, sunny evening when we left High Wycombe, bound for theWeston-superMare Rally.
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efore we set off my partner Kev, fellow scooterist Graham and I agreed that we’d stop for something to eat and find a B&B after riding for a couple of hours, so when 9pm came we pulled in to a layby with a kebab van in it. Not exactly what I had in mind, but had I known at the time how long it would be before the next meal, no doubt even I would have chanced a kebab. We rang a local B&B. They said they had rooms and gave us directions to their place nearby. However, despite following their directions we quickly became lost. My suggestion of asking again for directions wasn’t well received by the boys (what is it with boys and directions?) who said that it would be good to go a little further so we’d have a shorter distance to travel in the morning. Outvoted, I agreed, so we carried on and resolved to find somewhere to stay later, reasoning that there was “bound to be a Travelodge or something”. After a couple of minor breakdowns, we stopped at a pub at about 10.30pm. Sadly they had no rooms, so we were soon back on our scoots, only to find that Kev had no back light and I had neither back nor front lights. So Kev led, with me in the middle riding with my foot on the back brake and trying to use the light from Kev’s headlamp to see, and Graham bringing up the rear, with both lights intact. Predictably, this soon proved unworkable as it was pretty rural and there were very few streetlights, so we came to our senses and stopped at the next pub. Kev went to look at my front light, and managed to give himself an electric shock, dropping my (Innocenti!) headlamp cover and smashing it to smithereens on the ground as he cursed. Tempers fraying a little by now, we set off again to try and find somewhere to stay. The pub we’d stopped at did say we could pitch
our tents in their garden, which seemed like a plan, but Graham strongly suspected they were swingers so we declined! But Kev’s Lammy refused to start. Another half hour later and Kev and Graham got it going, only for it to break down again an hour later. This time it took so long to get it going again that I had a sleep on the grass verge, and woke up to the sound of it starting at least an hour and a half later (as did many disgruntled local residents too). So our epic journey went on, punctuated by no fewer than 16 stops at various budget hotels, none of which had any rooms available. We rode on through the night, becoming more and more despondent with each full hotel we were turned away from. We were still riding when the sun began to rise, and although there was something beautifully serene about riding along deserted roads in the dead of the night and into sunrise, it wasn’t an experience any of us would recommend or want to repeat. We arrived at Weston at 5am, dog tired and scouring the seafront desperate for some refreshment… which we eventually got three hours later when the local Tesco opened. The rally was at the Rugby Club, and they wouldn’t allow anyone in to pitch their tents until 10am. However, the club physio, who happened to be a fellow scooterist, turned up, and he kindly opened his hut and let me have a little nap on his treatment couch. Bliss! I don’t remember much about this rally, except the wonderful feeling of crawling into my sleeping bag and finally sleeping properly. It was fun to catch up with scooter buddies and we had a great laugh during the short bouts of consciousness. Graham managed to get straight on the beer and go out, but Kev and I slept through Friday, Friday night, most of Saturday and Saturday night.
I do remember waking up to torrential rain on Sunday, and Graham shouting at us to get up. He seemed to be in a big hurry but we didn’t argue, thinking it wasn’t that comfortable in the soggy tent anyway, and it would be good to get home. I went to what was supposed to be the ladies’ to wash and brush my teeth before the journey home, and while I was at the basin a big hairy bloke burst in, rushed into one of the cubicles and gave me a background symphony of bowel evacuation that would have made the strongest constitution gag. Don’t you just love camping? Our tent was so waterlogged it wasn’t worth saving so we left it there and hurried to join Graham for what we hoped would be a more straightforward trip home. We only realised why he was in such a rush when he suggested stopping for lunch – his watch said midday, but it was only actually 10am! The wet journey back was plagued by bits falling off my scooter, and sadly it died completely in Chinnor, a few miles from our trusty club mechanic, Pogle. Every cloud has a silver lining. Kev suggested that he would tow me to Pogle’s... He told me with great authority in his voice that all I had to do was keep the rope taut, otherwise it would rip the back rack off his most beloved scooter. No pressure then. Now I’m no expert, but I was pretty sure it wasn’t normal to be towed on a scooter. Too tired and fed up to argue, I agreed, and I was towed, meticulously keeping the rope taut as we went round the windy country lanes, noticing other motorists doing a double take and looking on in utter bewilderment. Only afterwards, when all the lads confessed they wouldn’t have done it, and Pogle announced that I ‘had balls’ did I realise how ridiculous it was! So, all in all, a truly memorable rally. Sara Raymond
We’ve all got a scooter story to tell down at the pub, and many of you have even said: “I’ve got a great story for Into the Sunset.” Well, now is the time to share it with the rest of us, write it down (between 1000 and 1200 words long please), and send it to: Scootering Magazine, Into the Sunset, PO Box 99, Horncastle, Lincs LN9 6LZ. Alternatively, send via email to editorial@scootering.com
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