Scootering Magazine August 2014

Scootering | #338 August 2014

FREE page 32 supplement

Lambretta tribute

to Barry Sheene

Bagpuss

Because Emily loved him!

BIKE ENGINE’D SCOOTER

“We will stickle it, every little bit of it. We will fix it like new, new, new.”

SHOOT-OUT More power from

the hybrids?

Vespa

World Days in Mantova

www.scootering.com

EuroLambretta

Jamboree

Davos, Switzerland

Also

The Tre M ari, Cleethorp es, Newark, Camber S ands and loads more besides!

No.338 August 2014

£3.99

CONTENTS 03Hello & welcome…

It’s almost August and our scooters’ odometers are going into overdrive!

06Kickstart

104Specialist Services

Whatever you want, from platers to tuners, engineers to painters, you’ll find them all here. Hopefully.

107Scooter Trader

The ever expanding front section, as always packed full of information from news and reviews of products and events, opinions, rumours and whispers, great roads to ride, old custom scooters from yesteryear, handy hints, readers’ letters, personals and plenty more.

Various scooter 120 club events, from all over the UK.

34Senorita

Sands 126Camber Scooter Rally

A lovely and subtle Spanish Winter model Lambretta Li from Eibar.

Very tidy indeed.

Classified and business advertising, for all your scootering needs.

“Good morning campers! I’m your Uncle Ernie, and I welcome you to Tommy’s Holiday Camp!” (Well, sort of…)

Bike Engine’d Scooter Racing 40Shootout 130Scooter Round 7

So you want to go faster but are in search of more power than a barrel kit on scooter engine can offer. How easy is an engine transplant, and what are the benefits and pitfalls?

48 50The Tre Mari

Club do’s & events

A calendar of scooter related events.

Hats off to the Vespa Club of Bari who organise this wonderful little event in the deep south of Italy.

58

Newark Scooter Rally

Thirty years after scooterists burnt it down, we’re back (without firelighters!).

Vespa World Days, 64Mantova, Italy

What better excuse do you need to ride your Vespa halfway across Europe? If you need more convincing, read on…

The 2014 Euro 72 Lambretta Jamboree, Davos, Switzerland

As above, but on a Lambretta. Beautiful roads, good company and plenty of Toblerone!

Cleethorpes Scooter 82Rally

Fun and frolics with the Monsters and Olympic scooter clubs.

86Bagpuss

Because Emily loved him. And so do we. We’re also quite fond of a Vespa 50 Special too, which is lucky as this is a rather tasty example.

94Back to Basics

Barrie shows us all how to overhaul your Lambretta Series 1, 2 and 3 forks.

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The 2014 BSSO circus moves to Kent and receives some wildcard Italian visitors.

132Barry Sheene Racer A Lambretta tribute to the great British motorcycle racer.

138Into the Sunset

More of your tales of trials and tribulation. Keep sending them in please folks!

Show Us Your 000Scoot!

Sorry folks, we ran out room for it this month.

It’ll be back soon, we promise!

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MP3 Sport accessories Piaggio has introduced a range of practical accessories for the new MP3 500ie Sport, which includes two sizes of colourcoded top box, in 37 and 50 litre capacity at £299.99 and £399.99 respectively (including VAT), a large windscreen at £229.99, and for technology lovers, Piaggio’s Multimedia Platform (£156.99) is also now available.

Taking information direct from the machine’s ECU, the

Platform allows the rider to monitor average speed, fuel consumption, temperature and more besides. A Multimedia Bracket Kit (£49.99) that enables the fitment of a sat nav system and the Smartphone Holder (£43.99) are also available.

To view the complete range of genuine Piaggio MP3 500ie Sport accessories call 0117 972 5552 or visit www.uk.piaggio.com

IoW Rally Buses

As well as buses running on a daily basis until 3am between Ryde town and the Scooter Rally Hub at Smallbrook Speedway Stadium, there will also be 7.20pm pick-ups at The Tap in Sandown on Friday and Saturday evenings, going to Smallbrook Stadium, with a return to Sandown at 2:30am. The Sandown tickets cost (single) £3 and (return £5) and you can guarantee a place by phoning Rick on 07885 499556. www.vfmscoot.co.uk

Book Review/Launch Quadrophenia, A Way Of Life by Simon Wells (Countdown Books: ISBN 9780992830441) Thirty-five years on from the launch of the film Quadrophenia, Simon Wells’ book provides the definitive overview to the making of the film. Interviews with key figures, cast and crew members provide the ultimate insight to the greatest British youth cult movie of all time.

With reproduced film posters, stills plus on set continuity polaroid images, along with photographs of a multitude of locations and plenty more, the book is a must have for fans of the film. There’s selected pages from the film script, information on deleted scenes as well as a few rumours and myths laid to rest once and for all. Bill Curbishley’s introduction adds a stamp of approval to a book on the subject that is both accurate and can never be bettered.

The launch took place in Soho, with some of the cast and crew there in person to mark the occasion. By mid evening the road outside Weekend Offender, the launch venue, was impassable to traffic. A plethora of musicians and personalities from London’s contemporary Mod scene, as punters, added to the excitement of the gathering.

Film producer Franc Roddam commented as a group of scooters arrived: “Ah, the sound and smell of two-stroke engines, that’s made a good day great.” With ska, soul and classic Mod sounds providing the sound-scape, by mid evening many of the massive crowd the event attracted were, literally, dancing in the street.

All credit to Paul Hallam and all involved, the launch was befitting what is set to be Countdown Books’ biggest seller ever.

Sarge

Tested TESTED: Shoei NXR Helmet RRP: From £390 In my opinion the NXR marks another step forward for Shoei, both in weight reduction and practicality. Compared to my previous Shoei – the XR1100 which weighed only 1450g – the 1260g NXR feels positively anorexic. Weight has been trimmed by using a slightly smaller shell (actually four shells) for the seven different sizes.

Fit is snug and there is a new, stiffer visor which fits more tightly to the shell making the NXR quieter, but still not silent enough to ride without earplugs at motorway speeds. The wide-view CWR-1 visor system comes equipped with Pinlock’s excellent anti-fog insert which is the best thing to ever happen to helmets, particularly in cold or wet conditions. The six-way vent system seems slightly less effective than my XR1100, but still cool enough for British summer.

What a helmet is really for is protection, and once more I’ve been crash-test dummy,

having head-butted a brick wall after slipping off in the wet on the Tre Mari. The helmet is visibly scarred, but I’m fine; which I feel is the right way around. Should the accident have been any more violent then Shoei has added a novel additional safety feature called EQRS (Emergency Quick Release System). Both of the long cheek pads feature a finger hoop allowing the pads to be extracted, thus making helmet removal simpler in the event of a serious spill. It’s a great idea, and one I hope never to need.

Sticky

Summary:

A fantastic, comfortable life-saving device.

While Shoei lids continue to get better with each new generation I see no advantage to switching brands.

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KICKSTART

Dave’s Nostalgic Custom Corner

John originally bought his scooter,The Upsetter,as a bogstandard black Serveta with no side panels 30 years ago.

For a few years he rode it like that,but by the end of the 80s it was‘GP’d’ with a customised tribute toTrojan Records.

N

ow although the tango and white base has remained the same, the artwork has been improved and added to over the years. These days I’m sure he wouldn’t mind me telling you both himself and his pride and joy have a few extra candles on their birthday cakes, but they still get a good workout to various events around both the UK and Europe when time and funds allow.

Owner: John Lindgren.

Hometown: Lowton at present.

Scooter club: Dirty Dozen SC, St Albans.

Scooter name: The Upsetter.

Model: 1975 Serveta, fitted with GP headset, panels and mudguard. The original SX legshields have been trimmed down at the top to give a more rounded look.

Year built: 1989.

Paint: Ian King of JGS Customising did the original work. Extra airbrushing was added by Keith Pollit in the 90s, this included extending and rounding the bottom of the floorboards to give a cleaner finish.

Engine: At the moment a Stage 4 GP 200. A TS1 is on the cards though!

Fabrication: Fairly standard full frame however it does have an adapted SS90 ‘Dummy’ Tank, adapted legshields and a few laser cut items – wheel disc, sprint rack, etc.

Chrome/engraving: Mainly Quality Chrome and Pete Robinson.

Do you still do rallies? Yes – I still enjoy getting about, anything from larger events such as the IoW and Bridlington to smaller gatherings put on by the LCGB. I especially enjoy the Euro Lambretta jollies!

Funny Story: I’ve got a few that are probably too ‘blue’ to print, especially to do with the Dirty Dozen! But with regards to the scooter I originally had the forks chromed by London Chroming via R Agius in 1984.

When I went to pick them up Claude wanted to charge me more than the original quoted price. Maybe London had put their prices up, I don’t know. Anyway, this resulted in quite a heated argument but eventually we agreed on £65 which at the end of the day proved to be the best £65 I’ve ever spent on a Lambretta – they are still on my scooter today and look as good as new!

Favourite event: Lambretta Club Euros.

Favourite custom scooter: England Expects and Sign of the Snake for Lambrettas, Vespa-wise I’d go for Eddie Wainwright’s Destination Unknown.

Favourite dealers: AF Rayspeed and Mike Phoenix.

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VespaWorld Days 2014 Mantova,Italy

With the planning for this trip going back a good 12 months, it rushed upon us far too quickly and all the trials and tribulations of getting the 100 tickets forVCB members was quickly forgotten.

T

he meeting place again was the Dolphin pub in Canterbury, run by a fellow Vespa owner who had reserved an area for us all to meet and have one last proper meal before heading for foreign shores. Up early on Monday to catch the 8am sailing from Dover to Dunkirk with our merry crew, the ferry time was taken up having a full English and checking and rechecking our planned route through six different countries.

Off the ferry we were greeted with bright sunshine that would follow us all the way to Italy (nearly). Our first night’s stop was a Belgian town called Arlon close to the Luxembourg border which featured a US tank in the town square, a great little bar, a top kebab shop two doors up and free wi-fi for the Facebook addicts!

As we travelled on from Arlon on Tuesday towards Stuttgart it was now getting up towards 35 degrees which in full riding gear was uncomfortable to be honest, but travelling on motorways there

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was no choice. We had been warned about an impending storm as we approached Stuttgart and as we arrived the heavens opened and God moved his furniture about with a great light show as the roads turned into rivers.

It was about now that my dislike of sat navs was confirmed too – they have their limitations, as we found out, when rather than taking us to our hotel we got wetter and wetter as it took us to the cement works behind the hotel instead!

At the hotel we were glad to see Fred who we had lost just outside the city and were a bit worried about as he had no lights due to a problem with his electrics. After a quick shower it was off to discover the delights of the city, but we couldn’t find any apart from a dodgy kebab shop so it was back to the hotel for a few beers and to agree a time to depart in the morning. En route Fred decided to order a new stator plate from SIP as he thought that was his lighting problem. More on that later…

The night’s rain didn’t cool the temperature any but what a drive it was into Austria and the mountains that surround Innsbruck where we stopped for the next night. We arrived nice and early at the hotel, a great choice at the base of the winter ski slopes. After a couple of cheeky beers it was off into town to meet up with other VCB members from Scotland, England and Ulster for some food, beer and a chat.

Thursday morning and it was across the mountains to Italy, again in bright sunshine. Now what can I say about the mountain roads? Try to keep your eyes on the road as the views were breathtaking but what an experience! I only heard of one person who didn’t make it across them successfully after cooking his brakes on his GTS, but it was only his pride that was bruised and some missing paintwork.

At our last comfort break, Michael from the A5 decided to buy a map of Mantova to find his hotel. After 10 minutes of searching

in vain, I offered my map reading skills to help. A quick scan of his hotel booking form revealed he was looking for the right hotel, but in the wrong town – he had booked one in Siena, 130 miles away from Mantova. We didn’t laugh that much!

Once in Mantova we headed straight for the Vespa Village, which with the one-way system and restricted roads took a while to find, only to be greeted with a two hour wait to pick up the goody bag and weekend pass. Luckily Titch was already in the queue and took everyone’s forms and dished ’em out an hour later.

Next it was off to find the hotel and after a quick three S’s it was a 10 minute walk back through this stunning town to meet up with the other VCB arrivals. Various bars were checked out and beer sampled until we plumped for one right next door to the village. Safe in the knowledge we had all arrived safely, shorts and T-shirts would now be the order of the weekend.

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Barry

Sheene racer Transferring the paint scheme from a motorbike to a scooter is not something that has been done very often.After all, why would you want to when the bodywork of a scooter lends itself to far more in the way of paint designs than the much smaller surfaces, in comparison, on a motorbike? However when it’s done in tribute to one of the greatest, and certainly the most charismatic, bike racers these shores have produced then it makes a bit more sense.

E RE F E G A P 32 T N E M E L P P U S S I H T H T WI S ’ H T N MO G N I R E T O O SC

50 Celebrating

(£1.99 where sold)

years of Mod…

I was there!

…in the media

Interviews, scooters, Mods, DJs, music, myths & more!

MYTHBUSTERS

G

iven all the fuss certain elements of the media have already made, you would think something serious took place on the beaches of south coast resorts back in 1964...

The incidents that apparently warranted screaming, indignant, shockhorror headlines that ran on tabloid front pages, were in reality grossly exaggerated.

Easter weekend 1964 was the wettest on record, but for some reason national newspaper reporters descended en masse on Clacton. Several days after the red-top frenzy, the assistant

editor of The Daily Mirror admitted that what had really taken place was “a little over reported”. Not that it curtailed similar stories after every bank holiday for the rest of that year, albeit events did escalate somewhat, presumably fuelled by said tabloid headlines which did little more than encourage ‘Disgusted from Tunbridge Wells’ to write a stern letter or two and give troublemakers of all persuasions a destination to head for.

In contrast to the headlines emblazoned on the front pages of the dailies, The MotorCycle,

10 | SCOOTERING | AUGUST 2014

on its On Four Winds news pages, had a more realistic approach. One comment pointed out that it was those NOT arriving at the seaside resorts on two wheels who were most responsible for being involved in any clashes.

Meanwhile, quashing further any bike/scooter animosity, the issue covering the Clacton bank holiday weekend also carried a two page spread on the then new Lambretta Pacemaker, generating much more in the way of column inches than deckchairs at dusk.

Sarge

(This page) Top: The motorcycle press of 1964 reported a more honest view of the bank holiday ‘troubles’, preferring to focus instead on road testing new scooters.

Below: Teenagers on Hastings promenade, August 3, 1964 (PA Images).

(Opposite page) Top: Rockers on Hastings seafront, August 2, 1964 (PA Images).

Below: The tabloids fabricated sensational headlines out of very little news, which only encouraged troublemakers to the seaside for the following bank holidays.

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Mod by numbers 5 significant 1960s bands The Action

The Creation The Kinks Small Faces The Who

5 significant 1970s bands The Chords

The Jam Purple Hearts Secret Affair Squire

5 significant 1980s bands Dexys Midnight Runners

James Taylor Quartet Makin’ Time The Prisoners Ride

5 significant 1990s bands Blur Five Thirty The Kynd Oasis Ocean Colour Scene

August 8, 1981, police searching scooters, riders and passengers on the A23 into Brighton after reports that Mods were to hold a ‘Lambretta rally’ there. (PA Images)

5 factual Mod books worth reading

Central 1179: The Story of Manchester’s Twisted Wheel Club (by Keith Rylatt and Phil Scott) The Influential Factor (by Graham Lentz) Mods! (by Richard Barnes) Mod: A Very British Phenomenon (by Terry Rawlings) Mods: The New Religion (by Paul ‘Smiler’ Anderson)

5 1960s clubs outside London The Dungeon, Nottingham

The Golden Torch, Stoke-onTrent King Mojo, Sheffield Tin Hat, Kettering, Northants The Twisted Wheel, Manchester

10 significant UK record labels Acid Jazz Action Creation Countdown Immediate Pye R& B series Sue Tamla Motown Two Tone Trojan

5 Scootering back issues you may want to re-read

August 2, 1964, extra police were required at Hastings, after outbreaks of trouble between Mods and rockers, who descended on the Sussex resort.

(PA Images)

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August 2004 – The 16 page Mod supplement with this issue contains a rare and exclusive interview with Quadrophenia director Franc Roddam.

December 2005 – Richard Barnes Interview – a chat with the author of ‘Mods!’

June 2008 – Interview with photographer Terence Spencer (Mods! book) along with some great unpublished period photos.

January 2012 – The story behind the album cover and booklet of the original Quadrophenia album and an evening with Pete Townshend as he talks about the album.

March 2013 – 16 page supplement featuring exclusive interviews with Peter Agg of Lambretta Concessionaires and legendary Vespa dealer Andre Baldet.

The way it was...

PORTSMOUTH Biggles with his wife Jenny today (above) and as his then girlfriend in the 70s (right).

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etting into scooters as a young apprentice in the early 60s, Dave ‘Biggles’ Bignell spent the rest of the decade having fun. Like many of his era, he upgraded to cars and got married in the following decade, but Biggles has been back on the scooter scene for some time now, and as a member of Right Track SC he’s enjoying it more than ever.

Did the 1964 bank holiday tabloid headlines have any bearing on your involvement with the scene back then?

No, not at all. I must have seen them and at the time been vaguely aware of them, but I’ve no recollection of those tabloid reports having any impact on me or any of my mates at the time.

Though as young apprentices with little money, me and my close group of mates were probably oblivious to quite a lot that went on away from Pompey.

When did you first get involved in the Mod scene?

I was working at the dockyards doing my apprenticeship, one of my mates would call for me on the way to work, he offered me a lift on his scooter, a twin seat Li Lambretta. After going on the back of his scooter a couple of times, the feel of being on a scooter and the smell of a two stroke kind of got to me, it really appealed. I wanted one of my own. As an apprentice, we all were notoriously badly paid so it

A motley crew on Hayling Island in the 1960s. would have been 1965 when I eventually got my first scooter.

I’d ride the scooter to work, maybe at the weekend ride around locally and stop at a coffee bar or cafe where other scooters were parked up.

What was your first scooter?

It was an old LD Lambretta which cost me £5. It didn’t work! I took it home on a train to Havant, my dad fixed it, and got it running for me, I’m fairly certain the only reason it didn’t work was because of the points – not that I knew anything about the mechanical side of scooters back then! I rode my LD about for around a year, then due to a pay rise – dockyard apprentices were notoriously badly paid, so much so that the union secured us a pay rise of five or six shillings a week, along with back pay that for me amounted to £40 – I upgraded to a Li Series 1 skelly, which was painted British racing green.

Was there any animosity or confrontation between Mods and rockers in and around Portsmouth?

There were six of us who hung out together, loosely led by Barry who had a GT 200. We’d ride over to Hayling Island park up in the middle of the seafront. Close to where we’d park up was an island with kiosks nearby. The rockers would park up and hang out there. Nothing ever happened apart from a bit of

abuse being traded on occasion, nothing more.

What was it like locally for clothes and clubs in the 60s?

A favourite hang-out, which is still there, was Verretha coffee bar. Another place that was a favourite of mine, although no one else seems to remember it, was Cox’s Hotel. I saw The ’Stones at the Bird Cage, though going to things like that were few and far between as apprentice wages didn’t really stretch very far. Likewise, there wasn’t a lot of money to splash out on clothes.

I was given a pair of Chelsea boots by a mate, I literally wore them out. I’d put newspaper in the inside to sort of repair the holes in the soles. I had a pair of jeans that I’d wear until they wore out beyond salvaging. I did graduate to getting a pair of white jeans as well as a pair of blue jeans, eventually.

When I got my LD I got an army jacket, which lasted me until I eventually upgraded to a parka, though that was quite a few years later. Shirt King was a popular place to go with our crowd in Pompey. I did quite like the pin-collar shirts, though I couldn’t afford to buy many. It was more roll neck jumpers or in the summer striped T-shirts.

None of my mates or any of our crowd could afford the real Mod stuff from London. The nearest anyone got was a leather suit jacket with the collar turned up

and a polo shirt or polo neck jumper underneath. I got a lot of my clothes, as did lots of working class kids, via the Provident – Provident cheques to buy clothes meant you could get functional and practical but definitely not cutting edge fashionable clothes!

For me and my mates at the time, Moss Bros was the ultimate place locally we could aspire to buy menswear from.

Did you go to any seaside gatherings during the 60s?

No, not really. I didn’t go to any rallies either, except for one, which was when Lambretta Club held one in Southsea.

Did you stay with your Li Series1 throughout the 60s?

I eventually got a GT 200. At the youth club I went to, when I said I was getting a GT, not too many people were that impressed.

Especially not the girls, as by then the better off lads could afford to get a Mini. When I did get my GT, ALL the girls wanted to go for a ride on the back. I really felt like a god with all the female attention it got me. I had few accessories on it, backrest, and back rack, flyscreen and front rack, I didn’t have any lights and mirrors though. I had some Florida bars for a short while too. For me, the best accessories on my GT were a pair of stocking clad legs, one either side of me as I was driving it around town!

Sarge

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A quick one with...

EDDIE PILLER E

ddie Piller has been involved with various parts of the Mod scene since 1979... or even earlier.

Fanzine editor, record label maestro, international DJ, creator of a genre, and man about town.

To some, Eddie is one of the real kingpins of Mod. What first attracted you to the Mod scene?

It was a combination of probably three things, my mum was secretary of the Small Faces fan club, and so I had something of a Mod upbringing. In 1979 I noticed people at football were wearing parkas. I was becoming aware of bands, especially The Jam. Then the combination of the first few gigs I went to; first was to see The Chords at a pub in Plumstead, the second was to see The Purple Hearts. There was an excitement, a real buzz at both of those, which culminated at my first alldayer at The Triad Centre in Bishop’s Stortford, Back To Zero were among those playing. It felt as if everybody there were outsiders to punk, yet we all had lots in common with each other, it did feel like the start of something. Which it was.

What inspired you to start your fanzine Extraordinary Sensations?

In 1979 fanzines were a huge part of Mod culture, the main ones were Maximum Speed, Direction

Creation and Shout. Tony Lawton, who was in Guns For Hire, who became Department S, co-wrote Get Up And Go fanzine.

He was very supportive and encouraging, in fact he helped me a lot when I started up Extraordinary Sensations. First issue I ran about 20 off and sold them all at the first gig. When Maximum Speed finished in 1980 I had to take it much more seriously. Even though I’d only been on the Mod scene for a year and a half then, aged 16, I was seen as bit of a veteran! Patriotic and Roadrunner were good fanzines of that time, at one point there were hundreds of fanzines spreading the word, exciting times.

The early 1980s saw a second wave of the Mod revival. What was it like at the time?

Yes we saw it as a second wave at the time. All the bands from the 1979 revival like Small Hours, Purple Hearts, even Secret Affair, had ended by then. It seemed like there was nothing else around – I’ll get pulled up on this but it was how I saw it – except for in Essex. There was Small World, and there was Fast Eddie, although Fast Eddie were more r’n’b inclined. From there new bands arriving on the scene tended to be more soul and r’n’b inclined than the punk inspired class of 79. Then there was

Makin’ Time, The Moment, The Scene, 007 and bands like that.

Not forgetting The Prisoners who had a non-Mod following already via their record label. It culminated in the Countdown 5 4 3 2 1 Go! compilation that I put together. Looking back, musically it’s not that great, yet for atmosphere and capturing that period it’s great.

Which brings us to the advent of acid jazz, in effect a new Mod direction?

By 1987 I, along with quite a few others, had had enough of the way the Mod scene was going and what it had become. I was listening to a lot more jazz, organ jazz and boogaloo. The Prisoners had run their course and transformed into JTQ, it all

snowballed from there. Original Mods were into jazz in the beginning, all we did with Acid Jazz was take things full circle with exciting new bands revisiting early modern jazz and putting their own spin on it.

Funk and soul elements soon followed. In 1989 both The Face and ID magazines ran features on what they called the new Mod revival. In one of the magazine articles it was said about Acid Jazz that “Eddie (me) had bought the Mods and Giles (Peterson) had bought the casuals”, which was a brilliant and accurate observation.

I guess we’ve been doing something right with Acid Jazz as it was our 25th anniversary in 2012 and we’re still going strong.

Sarge

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