Scootering Magazine - November 2014

Luna landing

60s Mod style

This issue is sponsored by

Brighton Belle Lui range #341 November 2014

Scootering | #341 November 2014

Complete guide to the Lambretta

“Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.”

Flanders Fields Lest we

forget

Radical custom www.scootering.com

Stalker

from Russia

Also

Lambretta scramblers Stingrays back on the track

Intermot – the latest scooter & product news, hot off the press!

PLUS: Touring, racing, VVC anniversary, Tech Tips & more...

CONTENTS 3 Hello & welcome…

6 Kickstart

… and where’s the bloody sun gone?

Our popular and informative front section jam-packed full of useful stuff from news and reviews, products tested, opinions, rumours and whispers, custom scooters from yesteryear, readers’ letters, personals, Intermot motorcycle show and plenty more besides.

32

Flanders Fields

Our cover star Vespa, paying tribute to all those who gave so much.

38

Return of the Stingrays!

1960s Lambretta scramble scooters are back on the track – the off-road track that is, and we were there to ride them!

50th Anniversary 44 of the Veteran Vespa Club

A look back at the first scooter club in the UK dedicated to the older vehicle.

50 52Woolacombe Scooter Rally

Club do’s & events

A calendar of scooter related events.

A lovely weekend down in Devon. As it always is.

60The Stalker

Custom scooter from Russia that will cause your jaw to drop and your eyes to return for a second look. ‘Wow!’ is the word you’ll be after.

Luna 98Lambretta Buyer’s Guide

Ever fancied a Bertone designed Lambretta smallframe? Sticky explains what to look for before buying one.

Show Us Your 114Scoot!

Go on, send us ya snaps!

Various scooter 116 club events, from all over the UK & Europe. and Loathing 122Fear with Las Vegas These little Italian scooters are not just for trips to the shops you know. You can tour on them too!

126

Scooter Shootout

Up in Yorkshire the battle for the top speed and fastest sprints is hard fought.

Racing 128Scooter at Cadwell

The finale of the season, and what a great weekend it was. Read what you missed out on here!

132Aces High

Full-blown custom Lambretta, inspired by the flying aces of the First World War.

138Into the Sunset

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

66Brighton Belle

Inspired by a 60s Mod on minimum wages, this Series 2 Lambretta has interesting inspiration together with approval from a period dealer.

74Back to Basics

Barrie tackles possibly the most hated job of all Lambretta riders, replacing the drive side oil seal.

82Staff Scooters

Hole in your petrol tank? Don’t tell the H&S man where Braithwaite lives!

84Specialist Services

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

91Scooter Trader

Classified and business advertising, for all your scootering needs.

4 | SCOOTERING | NOVEMBER 2014

60

32

132

126

66 WWW.SCOOTERING.COM | 5

Flanders Fields

On a quiet road near the Belgian village of Casteau, a mere 50 yards apart, are a pair of memorial stones that commemorate both the opening and closing shots fired by Commonwealth forces during the FirstWorldWar.

e h t f o n r u t Re

! s y a r g Stin rists, Ray Collins and te oo sc o tw 64 19 in k ac B etta specials to br m La x si ilt bu s, oy N Don es races of that time. bl m ra sc r te oo sc in te compe oys Stingrays, and These were known as N ooters built are still sc amazingly five of the six around today.

Brighton

Belle

Much has been said about the effect that‘hire purchase’ had on spending habits in Britain during the Sixties; its availability created a spending spree that young Mods were only too eager to embrace when in the market for some personal transport of the continental variety.

W

ith the average Mod being well under the age necessary to legally obtain financial credit, a certain amount of understanding and trust would be necessary – that and the signature of a responsible adult willing to sign on the dotted line as a guarantor of the loan being repaid.

As with many ‘new fangled’ ideas, HP loans were frowned upon in many families brought up on the ethic of ‘if you can’t afford to pay cash, you can’t afford to own it’. What then were the strictly law abiding options open to a young man in need of freedom, independence and a set of bird pulling, mate impressing wheels?

Lambretta Drive siDe oiL seaL This month we are going quite a long way from a basic job and tackling the drive side oil seal.

You will need...

Flywheel holder, flywheel puller, con rod holder, crank removal tool, gudgeon pin puller, torque wrench, socket set, grease, and you’ll also need a gasket set, piston circlips, oil seal.

Difficulty rating

i

f ever there was a part of a Lambretta engine which was designed on a Friday afternoon then this is it.

Only accessible after removing the whole top end and requiring a new set of gaskets as the engine is put back together, you need a few specialist tools and a couple of hours’ work just to replace a seal which costs a couple of quid.

This all points towards a designer who wanted to get off work and have a pint with the lads. On the other hand, it could be down to the cost of tooling; who knows!

The drive side oil seal does exactly as its name suggests; it stops oil from the gearbox entering the cylinder while the engine is running by sealing the main crankshaft/drive train bearing on the crankshaft side, allowing gearbox oil to lubricate the bearing from the other side.

A good indicator that the seal has failed, apart from a lack of oil in the gearbox, is white smoke suddenly billowing out of the exhaust. Obviously mixing too much two-stroke oil in with the fuel will also cause an excess of smoke but this smoke tends to be blue and will go away at the next fuel stop when the correct ratio is mixed.

74 | scootering | november 2014

The only time white smoke from burning gearbox oil goes away is when there is none left to burn, which in turn leaves the gearbox and bearings running dry and ultimately dropping to bits.

This can be a very daunting job if you have never done it before and the possibility of something going wrong can be quite high.

Therefore you must make sure to put the engine back together using exactly the same type of parts that you removed. For example, the same type and thickness of

gasket, as using thicker or thinner ones instead can alter clearances within the cylinder. It is also worth investing in some specialist tools, because as a Lambretta owner you will be stripping the engine down again. And again…

Finally, while it’s possible to do the job with the engine still fitted, be aware that certain types of inlet manifold will catch the frame as the cylinder is removed. Access is limited so it is probably easier to do with the engine removed.

Barrie

1

2

3

1

2 4 First of all drain what gearbox oil is left and remove the exhaust and side-casing, catching any extra oil as the casing comes off in the plastic tub. Inside, bend the chain adjuster tab washer back and loosen the bolts to slacken the chain. Be aware that you may need to replace the tab washer depending on its condition.

3

Remove the piston circlips holding the gudgeon pin and throw them away. Always refit new ones. Use a gudgeon pin removal tool and not a hammer and screwdriver, it is easy to bend the con rod if sideways pressure is applied.

5

Before you remove the stator plate, mark around it to make sure you get it back in the same place when refitting. To double check the ignition timing see Scootering February 2013 (issue 320) for a guide on how to do it. If you are sure the timing is correct though, marking it should suffice.

Undo the cylinder head nuts quarter of a turn at a time to prevent the head warping as it is loosened following this sequence. Then remove the cylinder head, gasket and slide the cylinder off. If it’s stuck fast it could be that the exhaust studs are in too far and are catching the barrel studs so do not try and force it.

4

Use a flywheel holder and remember that the nut is a LEFT HAND thread so it loosens the opposite way to a normal nut, i.e. the way you normally tighten something. Nut removed, fit the flywheel puller and tighten the bolt to pull the flywheel off the crank taper.

6

A line on the back of the mag housing to the engine case helps to refit it in exactly the same place. At the top and bottom of the mag housing are two M6 threaded holes to put bolts in and ease the mag housing off the engine casing. Alternatively use a rubber mallet to VERY gently tap all around the housing to get it moving.

www.scootering.com | 75

SCOOTER SHOOTOUT

ELVINGTON

This year’s scooter-only two-day sprint event at the windswept airfield of Elvington seemed to have decreased in numbers, but then again it was up againstWoolacombe national rally.

S

traightliners – now operating without assistance from 100mphscooter.com – certainly runs a slick operation; four lanes of action (eighth-mile, two quarter-miles and a half-mile) all operating simultaneously. Registration – if you’ve ever sprinted with Straightliners before – is efficient, with a £10 fee for unlimited runs up the eighth or £35 for the other distances.

Saturday’s weather was less than ideal, with light drizzle and the odd shower hitting the track. At Santa Pod this would completely stop play until everything was dry, but Straightliners allowed anyone brave enough to keep running most of the time.

That was fine as long as you kept off the slippery tar over-banding; which isn’t always easy as red mist and target fixation take over. One lad spectacularly binned his Series 2, snapping a headset and denting his pride.

Besides a whole gang of really quick newschool automatics hitting 13-second quarter-miles straight out of the van, the most interesting and unusual machine on display was probably Iain Brooks’ incredible lattice-framed Falc. Imagine the jib off a crane with a wheel and fairing at one end and a stupidly fast Vespa engine at the other.

126 | SCOOTERING | NOVEMBER 2014

1 1: Falc lattice Vespa sprinter.

2: Richard Baker frightened chicken.

3: James Winter 225cc.

4: Gary Peacock 110mph.

5: Adam Chaplin 100.6mph.

6: Steve Conneely guest riding and breaking the ton.

7: James Winter 245cc 103.1mph.

8: Martin Murray’s Falc Vespa.

9: Eric Cope RB250 103.9mph.