Issuu

E E R F Scooterist

Scomadi

‘FP’ TL200

DVD!

on test

Historic Mods!

Lambretta discovered

FALC Honda-spec

carbon Vespa

LCGB a snapshot in time SIL200 Bang for Buck

engine tuning

Supertune Pacemaker

PLUS

feature scooters

Scooter Trader ■ Event Guide ■ Taylor Tuning ■ Dealer Spotlight: H-Bomb Scooters ■ Stu Owen essential maintenance ■ Rally reports: Vespa World Days ■ Kelso ■ Hayling Island ■ and more!

#361 July 2016

Furious

CONTENTS 03Letter from the editor 06Kickstart

Welcome to the July Scootering.

The front section with latest news, views and product reviews!

scooter 14Mods! by Richie Lunt

A historic treasure unearthed and restored.

Rally report

Kelso, scooter rally report BSRA#3 in words and pictures. Vespa World Days France rally report, images and write up from Sarge.

Rally report

Hayling Island rally report, Big Stan’s journey and write-up.

Show us your scooters

The best of the rest from the readers stunning rides.

113Tech Tip

Bang for Buck tuning: Part 3 of the SIL 200 tuning developments.

117Tech Torque

Release the power from your engine, Darrell Taylor talks about measuring, burretting and calculating.

121BSSO 2016 #3 scooter 125Fibreglass bodywork

East Fortune thrills and spills.

BSSO’s Jayne Morris looks at the improving quality of ﬁbreglass scooter bodywork.

127BSSO 2016 #4

Fast paced action from Darley Moor.

131Scooter Trader

Your sales and classiﬁeds section – including Specialist Services & At a Glance.

144Nostalgic Corner

146Into The Sunset

Dealer spotlight

This month we take a look into the workshops of Harry Barlow’s H-Bomb Scooters.

Letters

Feedback and full throttle responses from the readers.

Scootering magazine’s longtime lover Dave O takes a look at another iconic machine. Another crazy scooter story from the past.

58Test ride and review

Scootering’s dangerous duo Dan and Jordan put the new Scomadi ‘FP’ TL200 through its paces.

71Painting by numbers

Part 3 of our tutorial on doing the perfect paint job.

75LCGB – a snapshot in time The trials and tribulations of the LCGB through the years.

82Club Do’s & Events

Your essential guide to the scene – What, Where & When!

95Alternative events

Ink & Iron and Dubfest 2016 featuring scooter displays

125GP FALC 103Honda Carbon Fibre Vespa

Christian Giarrizzo brings us a mouthwatering cover scooter.

109Tech quick ﬁx tip Stu Owen talks hubs.

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History Revealed:

The Wembley 9s Series 1 Lambretta

At the turn of the 1980s, I devoured the images found in Richard Barnes’ Mods! book page after page of photos from the heyday of Modernism. One image stood out, that of a slightly scruffy Series 1 with its rider leaning against the seat wearing white jeans and a T-shirt emblazoned with a Yale logo… The question in my mind

Quite why that scooter and rider should have been be singled out by a newspaper photographer for not one, but three photos taken at Margate in 1964 I was never sure. Was it the college T-shirt? Surely a spurious design, as I’m sure no Ivy League institution of the era would want to be represented in that way. Was it the assembled group captured on Albert Terrace overlooking the marine gardens and seaside town behind? Probably not, as a standard looking Series 1 would pale into insigniﬁcance among the Gran Sports, Turismo Veloces and even against a Sportique Supreme. There had to be something else about that scooter that made it and its rider stand out in a crowd of people desperate to shine brightly as individuals. The question sat at the back of my mind for 35 years, until quite by chance I received a phone call a short-while before the 2015 August bank holiday Brighton rally. I was asked if I’d heard the news, about a Series 1, which had been in the Mods! book, being found in a derelict but original to ’64-’65 state? With a statement like that, I hoped there could only be one Series 1 from the book which had resurfaced. Asking who had found the scooter I quickly made a call to the new owner with one thing in mind… putting to rest that nagging question!

Enter Ralph

Raife (Ralph) Lowe is well known on the Scottish scooter scene and has built up a healthy respect in the international Mod arena for assembling outstanding Sixties style scooters. Quite by chance he’d happened upon the scooter and by the time I

called he had it safely in his workshop. Conﬁrming it was indeed XXH 554, the Series 1 seen on the front at Margate in ’64, he told me it had lain, its heritage forgotten, in a West London cellar since around the mid-Sixties, if the last tax disc from sometime in 1965 was to be believed. Gathering more than a layer of dust, the scooter had degenerated to the point of dereliction after being demoted to a sometime children’s plaything before being abandoned to the subterranean damp, gradually disappearing below a layer of household rubbish. I asked the question which only Raife was in a position to answer, what made that scooter stand out above all others that weekend in 1964? “It’s pink,” he answered! More than that, it’s pink and a metallic gold. The mystery was solved along with the curiously enigmatic Mona Lisa style grin the owner had on his face. His scooter had been painted in such a way that it would literally leap out from a sea of predominantly white and silver scooters capturing the photographer’s attention enough to separate the young Mod and his steed from the pack, resulting in a portrait immortalising him for all those that were to follow in his baseball shoeprints. Asking what else was in the cellar, Raife told me that he’d been so excited… he hadn’t checked! He quickly decided to return to London (not a mean feat as he lives close to Glasgow!) on the off chance of any memorabilia being left behind. The story of the scooter’s discovery though is best related by Raife himself...

National Rally #3 - Kelso Stevie rom Animals Fae Naboombu SC Logistical Nightmares SC navig e breakdowns, after a great we els ..

elso, a little market town in the Scottish borders which sits on the banks of the River Tweed… famous for its fishing and the 12th century abbey, founded by a group of monks first arriving in Scotland in the reign of King Alexander I. Now holding its 14th scooter rally, Kelso seems to be a very popular rally, especially among our soft southern cousins… as it’s just over the Scottish border and easily accessible for most to get to. I arrived at the rally early on the Friday; most of our club were coming down later and some on Saturday. I made my way through Lanarkshire’s scenic roads via Kilncadzow where we always used to stop at the local bakery, Davy Doc would always stuff his face here but unfortunately for him the place is now closed down. The roads from here to Peebles are a two-wheelers’ delight, full of twists, bends and dips to test the best of riders, the flowers by the roadside are testament to that. A scary moment for me came just outside Newbiggens where a flock of sheep had laid claim to the road as I came round a blind bend! With them safely passed, my next arse twitching moment came in Galashiels where there was a large diesel spill which the council were trying their best to cover up with red ash. It wasn’t enough to stop the back end of the Lambretta sliding out – I only narrowly escaped ending up on my arse.

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Ten miles from Kelso the sun made its first appearance after I’d been caught in rain for the last 50 miles, it was a pleasant surprise to see the roads drier again especially at the big sweeping bends where a few years earlier one of our past members didn’t make the corner and mounted the grass verge… along a hedge, and back onto the road with not a scratch! Myself and big Wrighty were still laughing when we got to Kelso a few miles away. I eventually reached the rally site only to be met by a queue of camper vans a few hundred yards long , I jumped the queue to the front where a few more scooterists joined me and we were ushered in. I remarked to a steward that someone would come off their scooter with the amount of mud at the gate, and the words were barely out of my mouth when a big English fella came a cropper as his scooter landed on top of him. A few fellow scooterists came to his rescue, no damage done though… just his pride hurt. I set about claiming our usual camping spot up at the big oak tree, making sure we had a table for the amount of drink I knew would be put on it and consumed over the weekend ahead. Dealers were already setting up stalls outside on the grass area; a few were catching some early shoppers. Late Friday afternoon a steady influx of scooters raced over the campsite looking for

There’s cool, and then there’s ice cool.

The scooter’s theme title ‘Nice ‘n’ Sleazy’, a song released by the Stranglers a full year before this scooter was even born, could lend itself to so many interesting thoughts and images, but nothing grabs your attention and interest like the ones laid down lovingly by super-talented brothers Steve and Paul Eccleshore. the mind. The colours and sexy artwork couldn’t work together any better, combined with the gold lettering and the imagery of the band, it is simply sublime. A real attention grabber and a thing of beauty. The motor which propels this hard-used road scooter was put together by the bearded beast, Harry Barlow of H-Bomb scooters, and is running one of Harry’s now famous touring-tune TS1-230cc engines with a five-speed gearbox. Despite its lovely paint job, this scooter is not wrapped in cotton wool as so many are, the engine was built for a purpose, which was to get Wilky around the country on as many rallies as possible, and that’s exactly what it’s done. Residing under the industrial toxic clouds, spewed out from the Black Pudding mines near Bolton, this beauty is no stranger to the elements while being thrashed and ridden as often as possible. Wilky uses this scooter for rallies both here and in Europe, and it has barely missed a beat, which is testament not only to the hardy motor and mechanical works of H-Bomb, but also to the Eccleshore brothers who painted it… as it STILL

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Slut.

Show us your

Please send your scooter pictures to: Show Us Your Scooters, PO Box 99, Horncastle, Lincs, LN9 6LZ (include an SAE if you want your print returned) or email a HIGH RESOLUTION image to suys@scootering.com

Scoots

Geordie Boy Brown of Gloucester & Cheltenham SC promoting the club’s 10th anniversary... and road safety.

Gary Doherty sent this in of his daughter Sian and his son Alex on his LI 125 Eibar Bitsa.

Chris Burgess, member of the Scootermaniacs Scooter Club, sent this in of his garage. He says: “The scoot on the bench is a 1958 Lambretta LD, Series 3 conversion, RT195 kit, 10in front end conversion. 1960 Series 2 Lambretta, one family owned it from new until I bought it last year, Imola 186 kit ﬁtted. 1978 Vespa Rally 200, US version, 3000 miles from new, 1000 of those done by me in the last four years.”

This is my SX200 I purchased it in 2006 from Marco at Scooter Emporium then in London. It was on show and for sale at Weston Museum (Nigel Cox) fully restored in mint condition. When I moved to rural Devon in 1976 imagine my surprise when Mike Karslake moved to my village and set up his museum. Wow – a great neighbour. My then-wife and I got involved in the Euro rally doing B&B, supplying wine and waitresses for the evening meal, cooking food over the weekend, also having various committee members with paperwork from the factory discussing Lambrettas. Not long after came the day of the auction to sell the contents of the museum, a sad day for many scooterists. It was a real pleasure to have known Mike Karslake. Happy memories. John Martin

These are of Gary Smart on the Scomadi stand during a holiday to Phuket, Thailand, in April 2016 to celebrate his 50th birthday. The event being held was Phuket Bike Week on Patong Beach. Happy Birthday!

T E RI N

CTICA RA

PAINTING BY NUMBERS PART 3

Having looked at the extensive process of preparation in Part 1, and following up with colour coats and lacquer in Part 2, we are spending this month back with Paul Hindle at Eyecandy to address the correct process for multiple layers of paint, striping and stencils. What grade finish?

At the end of the preparation and primer process you are faced with the choice of what grade paper to take the primer to before moving on. This choice is dependent on what type of paint you plan to use in the colour coats. The range of grades runs from 400 through to 1200 wet and dry. The choice of which is used will affect your final finish.

Final finish pre-paint

When completing a project using straight colour 2k paint, a 400 grade wet and dry paper is quite sufficient. However, when any paint along the lines of candy, pearl or metallic is used, then it is advisable to work progressively up to a 1200 grit paper. The reason for this is to avoid what are known as ‘prep-scratches’ which are as the name suggests and can show through a finished paint job. Look carefully at any metallic paint job and where the level of prep-sanding has been done with an insufficient grade of paper and prepscratches can often be seen, quite often more so where body filler has been used. So at this stage use the correct grade of paper according to the colour-coat paint-type to be used next, and ensure your primer stage is finished to the correct level. As the name suggests, the paper used is wet and dry. Paul prefers wet sanding as it keeps the paper clean of residue and results in, as he says, “a proper job”. After the wet and dry stage is finished, Paul is meticulous in his approach to washing down all remaining residue. Any hint of contamination can ruin the final result.

Colour coat finished, time to mark out and mask.

Paint choice

When making a selection and purchasing the paint for your project, you will have the choice of water-based or solvent-based. Water-based paints are notorious as being

Build scooter up to get lines across panels perfect.

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LAMBRETTA CLUB OF GREAT BRITAIN

A SNAPSHOT IN TIME PART ONE: 1977-1992

Today the Lambretta Club of Great Britain (LCGB) is a thriving organisation. With more than 6000 members and substantial operating funds the future for the club looks ever more secure. This has not always been the case however, and over the past 50 years the LCGB has been through some very turbulent times. Stu Owen explains...

he roots of the club go all the way back to the mid-1960s when Lambretta ownership was at its greatest and the membership stood at over 100,000. When Lambretta production ceased in 1971 the LCGB went into freefall, only to be resurrected towards the end of the decade. In this article, we take a look back how, against the odds, the LCGB rose back from the ashes.

The mighty fall

The very beginnings of the LCGB can be traced back to the days of The British Lambretta Owners Association (BLOA) which was formed by Lambretta Concessionaires during the 1950s. Anyone purchasing a new Lambretta automatically got membership to BLOA so it came as no surprise that the membership numbers would rise

dramatically. By 1965, and now under the guidance of Bob Wilkinson, BLOA was rebranded the LCGB. The club was employing full-time staff to cope with the greater administration and organisation required of the large membership. In the early 1970s, with the Italian Lambretta finished, the only new machines were coming in from Spain. But as the popularity of the Lambretta waned membership gradually declined. By the mid-1970s there were no funds coming in. The club ran out of money and ceased to exist. What was left over was mothballed and put in the trust of Mike Karslake. It stayed that way until 1978.

Resurrection

During the mid-1970s there were still areas of the country where small pockets of Lambretta enthusiasts thrived, none more so than the north of England.

During 1977 several members of Widnes Saints scooter club approached Mike Karslake with the idea of re-forming the LCGB. Led by Kevin Walsh and John Illing a meeting took place to see if this proposition could be feasible. The outcome was to reform the LCGB in 1978 to see if it could grow and become financially viable. The founding members of the reformed club were: John Illing, general secretary Gordon Eves, treasurer Pete Sherwen, newsletter Kevin Walsh, public relations officer Keith Cutler, administration Keith Sharps, club shop Nigel Ashbrook, committee member Initial reaction to the club re-forming was encouraging as the membership, which incidentally cost ÂŁ2 per year, steadily

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Pacemaker-Shabby Chic Sixties Style and a Supertune replica

Amal 60s handlebar mounted thumb choke adjuster.

Roy Speed inlet manifold and Amal MK1 concentric.

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Drum brake with reverse pull setup.

Moto Mekanic Vespa

A true Jekyll & Hyde! Despite its clear sprint-race design, this monster has a Jekyll & Hyde power delivery, first lulling you into a gentle sense of security... before ripping like a wild animal. Check out the Moto Mekanic Vespa...

espas are scooters which are immersed in everyday Italian life as well as being a basis for Italian culture. They are intended to stop at every junction, commute through traffic, and all the while flaunt their stylish lines. But on the other hand, there are machines such as the V54MMK16 which seem tailor-made for the life of the scooter bandit! Part original Vespa, part wild animal and painted black. It is a Vespa, that when used in city traffic, would be like trying to raise a tiger in a small Italian apartment. It is a scooter which could allow bandits to escape in a matter of seconds from the scene of any crime if such a utopian underworld existed. In short, the V54MMk16 is a beast. This creation comes from Cristian, a mildmannered mechanic based in the Friuli-Venezia Giulia region in the province of Udine, northeastern Italy. Cristian has fused a Vespa 50-Special with the top end assembly of a FALC-made Honda 125GP kit, using a bespoke pipe, PVL ignition and Dellorto race carb. On paper it is a fierce character, a true Jekyll and Hyde, pleasant yet psychotic, especially when coaxed into life upwards of 10,000rpm via the throttle. Thankfully the Stage 6 brakes, suspension and alloy-trellis brace help to keep it in shape... as best they can! Cristian is very reserved, typical of the people from the Friuli region who are known throughout Italy for their cold Nordic ways. A perfect example which captures the essence of the Friulianos people is the memory of the earthquake of 1976, a disaster which devastated the entire region and brought everyone to their knees. From the farmers