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#360 June 2016

Invasion of the

Scomadi

four owners give ‘real world’ reviews!

SIP SCOOTERSHOP

GERMANY

PLUS

mega store open day

ESSENTIAL

maintenance tips chains & ignitions

BSSO Thrills ‘n’ Spills ■ DNCC Serial Thriller ■ Into The Sunset ■ ATOMS SIP street racer ■ Bang for Buck tuning ■ Reader’s Ride ■ Dealer and club spotlight ■ and more!

CONTENTS 03Letter from the editor

A warm welcome to June edition of Scootering.

06Kickstart

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

12

Scomadi special

Four owner/riders give ‘real world’ reports – includes feedback from Frank Sanderson.

25

Rally report

28

Rally report

Tenby scooter rally report, BSRA#2 in words and pictures.

Oddballs scooter rally – Sarge has the images gives us a full report.

31Rally report

Llangollen scooter rally report, Jordan’s journey and write-up.

40

Show us your scooters

47

Dealer spotlight

The best of the rest from the readers stunning rides.

This month we take a look into the workshops of scooter repair centre ATOMS.

50

Letters

Feedback and full throttle responses from the readers

105Tech quick fix tip 108Tech tip

Stu Owen talks drive chains.

Bang for Buck tuning: Part 2 of the SIL200 tuning developments.

113Tech tip in a jiffy!

Ignition timing woes fixed

115Tech Torque

Release the power from your engine! Darrell Taylor talks about MSV.

127BSSO 2016 131Scooter Trader

Thrills and spills at Mallory.

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

143Into The Sunset

Another crazy scooter story from the past. Sort of.

144Nostalgic Corner

Scootering magazine’s longtime lover Dave O takes a look at another iconic machine.

146Way Back When

Our look at you and your vintage scooter pics.

55SIP open day 2016

Editor Dan takes a peek inside the new 5000sq ft premises and hi-tech set-up of SIP Scooter Shop.

67Painting by numbers

Part 2 of our tutorial on how to give your scooter a perfect paintjob.

71

Tuning pioneers – 112mph, 250cc, sub 14 second ¼ mile

Special feature on tuning pioneers Fred Willingham and Peter Ham.

77Club Focus

MKSC’s very own Jeff Lovat talks about the club and his Lambretta love affair.

Never miss from only an issue £20 Subscribe today on page 60

82Club Do’s & Events

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

interview with 95Music Sarah Collins Northern Soul saved my life!

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KICKSTART

NEW LAMBRETTA ¼ MILE SPRINT RECORD BROKEN

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n Sunday, May 1, 2016 Eric Cope set a new quarter mile sprint record at York Dragway.

Riding Darrell Taylor’s RB250 tuned, full bodied, road-legal Lambretta GP he recorded at time of 12.81 seconds for the quarter mile with a terminal speed of 102mph!

Earlier in the day Eric had recorded a time of 12.96 seconds at 101mph. This being the first time ever a full bodied Lambretta with its normally aspirated engine has covered the quarter mile distance in less than 13 seconds. As with any record he intended to back it up with a similar time to validate it. To everyone’s amazement he not only backed it up but went even quicker with the 12.81 second run.

To put into perspective what an incredible achievement this really is, you only need to look at fastest times ever achieved by a Lambretta over the quarter mile. Only a handful of riders on fully blown sprint Lambrettas have gone under the 13 seconds over the last 40 years. If you take into account the extra weight of a full bodied Lambretta then Eric was already at a disadvantage.

Also given the fact that once a machine is travelling at

Eric cope launches off the line at York Dragway on one of his record breaking runs.

Photograph by kind permission of D R Photography@straightliners.

50mph, which Eric would have been doing in around four seconds, the much larger aerodynamics of the leg shields are trying to slow the Lambretta down considerably.

So how it was possible for Eric to achieve these times and speeds? A combination of both rider and machine working in harmony. With the engine tuned by Darrell Taylor kicking out a staggering 45bhp, as the Lambretta increased in speed the slow-down due to the aerodynamics was not as great.

Combined with Eric’s skill at pulling off the line flat out – vitally important for getting a standing mass to a moving mass – he was utilising all the bhp available. It also has to be noted that conditions on the day were ideal with a cool temperature and slight cross wind.

Eric said both he and Darrell were very proud at what they had achieved, all the hard work of engine development and riding technique finally paying off. Both of them have

now been working for over two years on the project to achieve this feat. As for the future Eric and Darrell are continuing development as a team as they attempt go even faster with the full bodied Lambretta, their goal of going under 12.5 seconds over the quarter mile.

Eric is also considering going down the full blown sprinter route but that will be at a later date. If that is the case then who knows? It may be possible for the 11 second bracket to be finally broken.

DREAM RIDE FOR MARTIN VIA CANCER TRUST AND & HILLS SC Sevenhills Scooter Club received a message from the Eve Merton Dreams Trust charity, who fulfil the dreams of cancer patients, about Martin who has cancer of the oesophagus and dreamed of sitting on a Vespa again.

I contacted Cec Sercombe from Donny Hunters, we got other people involved, contacted other clubs and put the message out. The

6 | SCOOTERING | JUNE 2016

response was phenomenal. Cec set up the event and we invited scooterists from all over the area. Martin was meeting his family at Hatfield main club, so it was decided that we would surprise him.

Cec arranged a meeting place five minutes’ ride from the club, and went there first to surprise Martin with a ride on his Vespa. We had ridden to the club en masse that day,

200+ scooters had made the effort and we hid in the club grounds so that Martin could not see us all from the road.

The grin on his face as he came down the drive was massive, but when Cec turned the corner into the club and he saw us, he welled up with emotion. I don’t think there was one big tough scooterist that didn’t feel that moment.

A massive round of applause

brought him to a stop and he got off the scooter in full Mod attire. The charity was handing wristbands out, and at first wouldn’t take our donations saying that we had done enough – eventually we forced nearly £500 on them.

Massive thanks to everyone who gave up their time to make one man so very happy, it’s what scootering is about.

Fatpiggy

Imminent rally, ride and race dates

Kelso Scooter Rally: May 27-30 Vespa World Days: June 2-5 Big 7 National Rally: June 17-19 BSSO Cadwell Park: June 24-26

News in brief

VARIETY IS THE SPICE OF LIFE… EXCEPT WHEN IT ISN’T During my recent trip to SIP’s new HQ in Germany for their fantastic open day I was reminded of how the German scootering community love a good Vespa. It was strange at first – of the hundreds of scooters on site, I only saw two Lambrettas that day.

But then as the day went on I noticed how casual everyone was… no Vespa/Lambretta elitism. No model snobbery.

No Indian/Italian issues. It was great, I really enjoyed it. To see so many people hanging out, all casual and cool with what seemed like hardly any ‘cliques’ really was a pleasure.

I started to ponder if that style of scootering could ever translate into the UK scooter scene, and wondered what it would be like if it did. It wasn’t

until later on the way home I was reflecting on it all a little more, when I actually saw the other side of the coin.

Although there hadn’t been any finger pointing at people’s choice of attire, and little if at all any snobbery or elitism… I hadn’t seen that wonderful and eclectic mix of machines which only the UK scooter scene enjoys in such abundance. Yes, the range of historical and beautiful Vespas was amazing, and a big YES… I would love to see so much more of that style of scootering introduced into the UK. But one thing is certain, I wouldn’t want it at the expense of all our tuned, chromed, engraved, painted, airbrushed machines. I’d be lost without a good 250cc tuned motor

strapped to a Lambretta with street-racer paint job!

It’s not that the German scene doesn’t have any custom or tuned scooters at all, they do… just not in the way that we do. Not even close. The German laws are very strict about tuning and customising, and a law like that in the UK would be horrific.

So given the choice, I’ll stick with what we’ve got. It’s better to have the choice of how you immerse yourself into scootering. But that’s the point, we have the choice. If the ‘casual’ Vespa scene took hold in the UK like it has in Germany, and coexisted alongside the more usual rally-traditionalist… I don’t think that would be a bad thing at all. Food for thought. Dan.

A new left-hand exit TS1 manifold is imminently due for release! A lovely little gem we unearthed in Germany recently was a new-tomarket CNC machined manifold for TS1 owers who prefer the 'traditional' left hand carb exit style. MMW will be crafting the item, so we can expect a highquality finish as per usual. We shall keep you posted as more news comes through.

Lambretta Consortium have released online teaser images of the NEW LN50/125/180 four-stroke ‘modern’ Lambretta 'Vendetta' scooter which is due for release this year. Official info is still sketchy on the final spec, leaving people to speculate on potential details. We will have the full info as and when it’s released.

A UK company has just released a NEW range of carbon fibre ‘pre-preg’ Lambretta panels and bodyparts to market. Pre-preg is a hi-tech production method from F1 and aerospace, which allows the finished product to be even stronger and lighter than standard-grade carbon fibre. We will bring you a full report and images in upcoming editions.

Scooterists in South Birmingham will remember Moto Continental with nostalgia and now, nearly 30 years after the closure of the original scooter shop in Selly Oak, the name is back with a vengeance!

Originally focusing on second hand Vespa scooters, owner Sean Nash now has the Piaggio, Vespa and Gilera franchises for Birmingham.

The first customer of the new store, Mark ‘Maca’ McDonald, arrived on the blue Vespa PX he had bought from the original Moto Continental shop in April 1986, almost 30 years earlier. 0121 693 0022 info@motocontinental.co.uk

Invasion of the

i d a m o c S

Love them or loathe them, four-stroke autos are here to stay.

Based on the classic lines of the Lambretta, and conceived by two of the country’s best known scooter businessmen, the Scomadi scooter is under the spotlight this month‌

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here has always been a reluctance by some to accept new types of scooter – none more so than automatics.

Since social media provided a safe platform for keyboard warriors to vent their spleen, questioning both the legitimacy and acceptability of automatic scooters has been a red hot topic. Some die hard scooterist Luddites have raged against their inclusion in Scootering magazine, citing sister publication Twist & Go as the logical medium for them.

Bodger’s first column an issue or so ago provided an overview of the ever-present opposition to change on the scooter scene.

The fact is, some automatic engine scooters have found acceptance and favour within the scooter fraternity, while others have not. It’s a case of history repeating, as in the late 50s and early 60s there was a profusion of various makes, models and marques offering their version of a motor scooter. Vespa and Lambretta became the most popular back then and it’s a choice which has remained present ever since. The rise of the Darkside Scooter Club and events – a tongue in cheek Star Wars reference to how

automatics are perceived by some – has added a dash of humour to the debate.

Later this year an EU directive comes into being basically banning the sale of new two-stroke machines. Irrespective of how the UK votes during the EU referendum, the wheels are irreversibly in motion for new two-strokes.

The first batch of the first production run of the Scomadi 125 – a four-stroke automatic – arrived in the UK last autumn. With an appearance based on a GP Lambretta, one that’s been overdoing the weight training in a fitness gymnasium, Scomadi scooters possess a degree of appeal for the traditionalist in the aesthetics department. Let’s be honest here: how a machine looks really is as important as performance and it’s fair to say Scomadi does look right. The price is right too – with the 125 retailing for a pocket-friendly £2500 or thereabouts, and the forthcoming 200cc version pitched at around £4000.

Given the spiralling prices asked for a classic Lambretta, especially a fully restored genuine Innocenti TV, SX or GP 200 model regularly hitting five figures, Scomadi is an affordable option that

comes with a retro appearance as well as decent performance.

The progress of Scomadi scooters has been followed by Scootering magazine from the outset and as production of new Scomadi scooters of various capacities increases, and the scooters continue to develop, I’ve a feeling that the Scomadi is going to soon become the workhorse scooter of choice for many. The invasion has begun!

What the owners say

Over the next few pages four (previously ‘classic geared-scooters to the bone’) scooterists give their first impressions of their Scomadi 125s. All but one work at the same one-stop Northampton-based outlet, which consists of Night Owl Scooters and UK Wrap. The latter half of the equation offers a budget way of personalising, if not customising, scooters and the process certainly individualises Scomadi plastic body panels – something these Scomadi owners have chosen to do to their respective scooters.

Words: Sarge Images: Gary Chapman

National Rally #2 Tenby 2016

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After a brilliant weekend at Whitby, it was time for National Rally #2 with SCSW at Tenby.

enby… the jewel in the crown of the Pembrokeshire coast was the destination for the second national scooter rally of 2016. Tenby has always been a very popular holiday destination, with its gorgeous beaches, fabulous coastline and everything being in easy reach. Which all meant that this was always going to be a great place to hold a scooter rally .The forecast leading up to the weekend looked very dodgy; with high winds and rain expected, it looked a very uncomfortable ride ahead. So with our Encyclopaedia of Sheep and a pair of wellies packed, plenty of euros and a passport, we left Burton on Trent.

As we set off early Saturday morning we had blue skies, even though a little icy first, we were blessed with lovely weather all the way, and an absolute pleasure passing through some of the nicest scenery in the UK. I think we picked the best day to travel, as a lot of people said that they had a very rough ride on the Friday. Despite a rough ride for some, a good time was had by all at the night time do which was held at De Valence, the place was packed, live sets by ska bands the Evil Turkeys and Rude Soles were amazing and kept the place rammed. In fact all the pubs that had a ‘scooterists welcome’ sign did a roaring trade serving thirsty and hungry scooterists.

Saturday hosted the usual parts and custom show, with a very high standard of machines, and also a ride out was organised

just after lunch to Saundersfoot, a short ride up the coast.

Others basked in the sunshine of beer gardens, soaking up the atmosphere and the beautiful weather that we were being blessed with. The pubs started to fill up early with a choice of venues to suit all tastes, with The Riff and Skacasm gigging at the De Valence.

Sunday came and the weather changed around all too soon with the change being much for the worse, and many scooterists opting to leave for home and brave the elements, which left the town very quiet and subdued. The last remaining scooterists opted to dodge the showers and went for a cheeky pint or two.

Overall a great rally destination, a great ride and I hope this destination keeps going for many years to come. We awoke on Monday morning, the day we were leaving, to guess what? More rain. We packed up the scooter and, dressed like the Honey Monster against the rain, headed for home. We stopped to refuel about an hour away from home, cold and wet with puddles in our gloves – diesel plastic gloves were a godsend!

We met a couple who were on their way back to Durham – nearly a 700 mile round trip – that’s dedication for you. It’s great to see people supporting the Nationals and doing some great distances on scooters. It was a fantastic weekend, meeting old friends and making new. Till next time…

Steve n Denise

Let’s have a quick word with...

We asked resident columnist Jordan for his take on the rally, this is what he had to say: You just know it was going to be ‘one of those rides’, when a mile down the road at the local petrol station you realise you’ve left your two-stroke oil at home. That probably wouldn’t have been such a problem if I wasn’t trussed up like Michelin man, in a vain attempt to keep out the sleet!

Possibly another bad omen was the snow ploughs returning from the Pennines half a foot deep in snow!

Anyway, onto the M6 only to find that my tried and tested gloves started to rapidly soak through, leaving me with hands so cold I was wondering… can I get frost bite from this? I’d like to say things got better but then a slightly lost scaffolding lorry spat its contents out in front of me (could’ve been nasty)!

I was looking forward to meeting up with YGSC member Ben at Welshpool, at least I’d have some company then. After waiting for over an hour, I got the text ‘my big end has gone’. Great!

Thankfully at least the weather brightened up, and so I started to make some reasonable progress at last! I eventually made it to Tenby and it was glorious sunshine. Things were looking up! The good mood wasn’t to last long though, I just couldn’t find the official campsite!

Someone had apparently nicked the signposts (b@stards!) and not a single soul had a clue where it was.

I ended up knackering my exhaust pipe on a speed bump on the wrong campsite, which was the icing on the cake for the journey. Finally, after 10 hours of riding, I’d arrived and had my tent pitched! I’d like to add I had a cracking night on Friday which I will say made it all worthwhile, and left early on Saturday to avoid the rain. The roads were remarkably enjoyable in the fine weather. In contrasting style I was home in 4.5 hours! Looking forward to the next rally already.

OIL! Don’t leave home without it...