Happybirthdaytous
These days Ican rarely remember where I’ve left my mobile phone, yetI canrecall with perfectclarity theSaturdayinMay 1985 when IwalkedintoWHSmith in Leedsto buythe first editionof Scootering.Upto that pointI’d been an avid reader of Norrie Kerr’s Scooterand Scooterist,togetherwithMar tinDixon’s Scootermania, butthiswas somethingspecial.For thefirsttime, anationallydistributed magazine dedicatedtoscooterswas available, offthe shelves, at thelocal newsagent. (Perhaps duetolocal distribution deals BritishScooteristScene never made it across my horizon.)Thumbingthrough the archivecopy, its48pages nowseemver ythin, the paperwasn’tofthe greatest qualityand aLOT of it wasinblack andwhite.Atthe time,noneofthat mattered;itwas proofthatwewerefinallybeing takenseriously
In 1985,Igavenothought as to howlongthe magazine wouldlast. Icer tainly neverthought that it wouldbearound40years later, andnot in my wildestdreamsdid Ithink that I’deverbecome itseditor. In preparingfor this anniversar yedition, I’ve considered producingarollcallofthose who’ve contributedtoits pages, buttodosowould be impossible.Somecontributed only oneortwo ar ticles,manyhavedisappeared from thescene,and sadlysomehaveleftustoenjoy that neverending ride in theafterlife.Otherswenton to become ‘real’ journalists, whilesomehavebecometrueicons of thescooteristcommunity.Somefromthe early days arestill writingfor themagazinewhile others
have become itscompetitors,and themagazine owes ever ysingleone of them adebtofgratitude. Whatever theircontribution, largeorsmall,they’ve allenabled it to grow,evolveand survive. That’s why, in selectingcontent forthisedition,I’veshied away from tr ying to name ever yone butinstead concentrated on oneman who hasbeenwithus sincethe earlydays, andthat’sSarge.Tomany, he’s best knownasaDJand musicwriterbut as you’ll seeinside, Sargeisthe living embodiment of a lifelong scooterist.I’vealsoavoided tr ying to create a‘top10’ of scooters that we’vefeatured, as anylist wouldbetoo subjective.Instead,we’ve managedto pindownScully, theowner of ItalianStallion. The word ‘iconic’ is oftenthrownaroundlikeconfetti, but if ever ascooter deserves theaccolade, it’s Italian Stallion.Ihopeyou agreethatit’safittingselection forour 40th anniversar ycover
Inside,you’llfind othericonicmoments from the magazine’s histor yand lots more be side s. However, it’s notthe writers, editors, or indeed thescooters whichmakethe magazine. Thebig ge st factor in the magazine’s longevit yisyou,the reader.Withsuch adiverse scenetocover,it’simpos sibletocreatea magazine that ever yone enjoys ever ypageofevery month, butwetry,and we genuinelyappreciate your suppor t.
Whetheryou’vebeenwith us sinceissue one, or are anewcomertothe worldof scooters,welcome to our birthday celebrations!
Don’tforgettoshare your adventures with us,either in Show Us Your Scoots or Postcard ■ stan@scootering.com
ww w.scoo tering.com
Scoo tering Magazine
@scoo teringmag
CO NTENT S
18The Knowledge
The long and short of it, scooter mods for those shorter in stature 26NewsFarewell to our founding father 32Stomping
Scooterist culture from Sarge and Stu
36Japan’sAce Face
Shintaro Sekine, Japan’s‘Ace Face’ and owner of theMuseo Vespa Giappone
42In the beginning
The story of our archive’srediscovery
46Dave Webster,one of akind
Atribute to the legendary racer and co-founder of MSC
52Show us your scoots Memories!
55Tell us what you’re thinking
It’sbeen an electrifying postbag
56Subscriptions
Make sure youdon’t miss acopy, and save money intothe bargain
58Send us apostcard Sarge’sscrapbook
60The Viking from the Nor th Italian Stallion, atrulyiconic Lambretta
68Aworld first
The story behind atruly unique lineup at this year’sNewark show
74Resto-mod
An ACMA Vespa with punch under its panels
80Mar vellous Midland
MSC has been with us since ourfirst edition. We called in for acatch-up
84This month in thegarage
Dan fettles with air filters andsaves a scooterowner from ridingwith apotentially catastrophic front-end failure!
90Scooter spanner sanctuar y
Setting up the perfect home workshop -Part 2
94PX-treme power
We start portingour P2
98Italian Stallionrolling revival
It’stime to press in those bearings, steady now!
104GTS300
Super torqueconverter fitting for beginners
110Race Chat
The legendthat is Maca
115Royal Alloy/Lukas news
Automatically sunshine
118Buyer’sguide
Toptrumps without the cards
123Tales from the vault
Unhappy campers
124Scooter trader
Bargains galore!
128Final word
The next generation
130Next month
If you like do ur celebrations this month, just wait until you see what’s coming next
The Roadrunner
We al lhaveascootering histor ytotel l; some arebrief,somelong. ButthatofMarkSargeantis astory longer andg reater than ma ny couldeverimagine.
Dif ficultasitmay be forustoaccept, theworld doesn’trevolve around the scooterscene,and forthe public, it doesn’tevenregister. Forthose within thescene,cer tain individualshave become icons; others have made anoticeable contribution butare rarely mentioned. In our 40th anniversar yissue we’d like to tell oneof theirstories so that we canappreciateall of them andrecognise howtheyhavehelpedto make theworld of scooters abetterexperience forusall
Theyoung pretender
As 1970 dawned,whatmanyregardedas themostsignificantdecadein thehistory of mankindwas over,and ever yone wondered if thenextone coulddeliver thesamepromise As forfashion,itseemedthatmostwerebeing drawntolong,strag glyhair, butfor afew,the more clean- cut, suedeheadlookwas more
The LCGB was running abestsupporting members championship, and as he attended more and more rallies, Mark won it two years in arow,which was no mean feat.
appealing. As a13-year-old,MarkSargeant looked up to thelocalswho profferedthismuch smar terlook, eventually beingadopted by them andregardedastheir mascot.Herevelledinthe attention, andone of thereasons he likedbeing included wasbecause of thescooters. Most of theSuedeheadshad skellies or cutdowns
with thelegshieldsremoved andreplacedwith plywoodfootboards, whileengines were tuned with Ancillotti exhaustsand an Amal MK1carb, making them horrendously loud.
They wouldallow himtoshoot up theroad when thepoliceweren’t around,and this is how he first learnedtorideone.Itwas ascooter apprenticeship that dreams were made of,and once at thelegal age, or nearly so,there was no question he hadtohaveone of hisown In away,thathad alreadyhappenedthanks to an abandonedSX200 that livedinabush on some wastegroundnearby. Mark anda couple of mateswould club together andbuy a gallon of petrol so they couldscrambleitona makeshif ttrack they hadassembled.Suffering fromyears of neglect, it wasinadilapidated statewithnopanelsorseat, butitran,and that wasall that mattered
This SX wassupposedlyowned by the brotherofagirlhewas seeing,soMark
approached him, offering to buyit. Adeal wasstruckfor £2 andapackofNumber10; therefore, as farashewas concerned, he wasnow theowner.Pushing it thefive miles home on awinter’sevening proved to be eventful,asthe keys fell outofthe ignition just af tersetting off. This wasenoughfor the police to pull himoverand instruct that the lights must be switched on,but with no key, it wasn’t possible.Theyquickly discovered that notonlywas it devoid of insuranceand an MoT, butaccording to them,Markwasn’t even theregisteredowner.The result wasthat theSXwas impounded. Probably theshortest ownershipofaLambretta ever!Perhaps it was time to take thecorrect approach to purchasing ascooter from ashop,ratherthana shadydeal of onedumpedinabush…
TheBritish GrandPrix
Hisapprenticeshipinhanging around with the localSuedeheadswas nowcompleted,but a newone star tedatBritish Leyland. Mark would beginhis workinglifethere,whentheyweren’t on strike,and it gave himthe chance to tr y outaGP. It wasa200 Electronic belonging to afellowapprentice, andheborrowedit during lunchbreakstomakea quickdash home.Insured?Definitely not, butthiswas a time when fewgavethoughtstosuchthings, especially if it wasn’t your scooter. However, this couldn’t go on forever, andashewas now earninga wage he couldsaveup, buyone and be fullylegal
In thespringof1978, it finally happened, andhavinginvested£60 of hissavings,hewas theproud ownerofa GP125. Notonlythat, it also had12monthsoftax anda validMoT, so with abit of insurance, therecould be no more backlash from thelocal constabulary He soon beganclockingupthe milesonit, andthisnew foundfreedom allowedhim to immersehimself in thescooter scene. First offwas aclub, andheand afew otherlocal scooteristsset up theOxfordRoadrunners, whichhefollowedupwithmembershipof the
LambrettaClubGreat Britain. TheLCGBwas hostingeventsatSouthendwiththe help of Mike Karslake,which helped uniteeveryone from around thecountry.Venturing down therealsointroducedMarktoKev Walsh, which, unbeknowntohim,would open more opportunitiesfor himafew yearslater
In away,Southendwas thebeginning of what woulddevelop into theNationalrallies,even though the1979rally therealmoststopped things in itstracksdue to theriotthatoccurred there. Thanks to theQuadropheniaeffect, this wasbound to happen sooner or later. The interest in scooters caused by thefilm notonly allowedscooter ownershiptogrowexponentially butalsoattracted otherelements. Although Mark hadlistenedtothe Quadrophenia album,
he regarded it as “grebo music”.Thatsaid, he wascurious aboutthe filmand hada high regard forit, butthatdidn’tmeanhehad to be aMod.The otherconnectionwithscooters was, of course,Nor thernSoul, andthiswas his preferredchoice. Thediversity of thefactions within meantModsand Souliescould enjoy thescooter scenesidebyside, even when the Scooterboy phasebegan
Suppor ting andsporting
KevWalsh wanted theLCGBtogrowand,inthe newsletter sent outtomembers,appealedfor regional representatives. Theideabeing that they couldspreadthe word andattract new members, so Mark signed up.Thisresultedin Mark andMikeKarslakemeeting properly
The Malossi-equipped Rally
forthe first time at theYarmouthNationalin 1981.Theyinstantly became friendsand began to shareideas.The LCGB wasrunning abestsuppor ting memberschampionship, andashe attended more andmorerallies,Markwon it twoyears in arow,which wasnomeanfeat. Kevwas impressedbyhis dedication,knowing what achallenge it wastowin it once,let alone twice. With this in mind,Kev offeredMarka placeonthe club’s committeeand,indoing so,hebecamethe LCGB’s representative on theFBSCNationalManagementCommittee In areciprocalagreement,he askedKev to join theOxfordRoadrunners,now VCBBranch27, and, with KevowningaRally 200, he could participateintheir activities.That’show it was at thetime, sharingthe best of both worlds that Vespaand Lambrettahad to offerwithout any animosity. Kevwould go down forthe weekend, stay with Mark’s parentsand join in with the Roadrunnersastheir friendship blossomed.
TheRoadrunners were heavilyinvolvedin spor ting events,mostnotably off-road and theever-popularnavigationtrials. Thesocial calendar wasbusy, with allsor ts of different things to tr y, andthese oftenran alongside custom showsand Northern Soul weekenders Mark’s first scootersport eventasa competitor
wasinanoff-roadsportingtrial at Edge Hill, whereheentered the150cc classonhis GP125. He came thirdinhis class, whichmay soundgoodfor afirstouting, butwithonly threecompetitors,itmay nothavebeensucha greatachievement!Asfor hisGP, it wascovered in dirt,withthe odddinghereand thereand ascuffed exhaust,but thankfully it survived largelyintact. It seems hard to believethatthe scooterMarkusedasadaily ride wouldbeput throughsuchtreatment,but that’s howitwas back then.
Abetteroptionwas to buildascooter specificallyfor thejob of off-roading, so the club invested £20inaVespa 90,which had asmaller frameideal foroff-roading.The problemwas that anymembercould useit, so by thetimeeachmeeting hadtaken place, theclutchand variousother partswereusually worn out. Notthatthismatteredbecause they were prepared to spendand work on it to keep it going, butitrequiredalot of maintenance. With so many entering,the club wasgetting a reputation forbeing theleaderinthisaspect of thescooter scene, whichonlyfuelled its members’ desire to continue
With thecostofpurchasingsmallframe Vespas beingsolow,manyrealisedthe best
option wastobuy theirown,keeping theclub bike as aspare.Whattheynow needed was theirhometrack,ifyou cancallitthat, where they wouldbethe host club.Cue onequarr y just offthe A40neartheir hometown.A deal wasstruckwiththe landowners,and thecourse waslaidout.Althoughitwas achallenging circuit, it soon beganattractingthose who wanted to tackle it.Ascrowdsbuilt,itwas decidedtorun weekendscooter events more often, puttingthe club even more firmlyon themap.For Mark,hehad thebestofboth worlds,enteringthe trials by dayand partying by night, notforgettingall theorganisingheand others hadtodo. He enjoyeditthoughand his rolesalongside KevWalsh,aswellasthe other committees,meant that he understood what wasneededtomakeitwork.
Racing ahead
With allthisgoing on,you couldbeforgiven forthinkingthatthere wouldn’t be time to do anything else,but Mark livedand breathed scooters andany thingtodowiththem. He had attended afew scooterracemeetingsand felt theurgetogiveitatry himself. That ambition hadbeenput on hold duetohis involvement with theRoadrunners,thenhesaw an advertisementinthe localpaper.Onoffer wasa fullypreparedracingLambretta with aWildcattunedengine, which, forsomereason, the ownerhad neverused. Mark went to look at it, andinits shiningliver ythe temptation wastoo great, so he purchaseditonthe spot.Hestill needed protective clothing butquickly acquired asecond-hand setofleathersand with aracing licenceapplication in thepost, he wasall setto star tanew career
Thestandardrequirementatthe time was to competeinaseriesofnewcomersessions before beingallowed to race openly,which was relatively straightforward. That is unless you’re abit tookeenand forget theengineneeds runningin. Oneengineseizure later, andhaving been thrown offthe bike,Mark’slearningcur ve as aracer hadbegun.Thiswasn’tenoughto puthim off, as 1984 wouldsee himenter the
Receiving atrophy from Mike Karslake.
The Oxford Roadrunners, aclub that Markhas been associated with since its inception.
Street classand,oncethatwas completed, he obtained hisFSBCracinglicence.For thenext fewyears,hewould race in Groups 4and 6, notjustonaLambretta,the racer’spreferred choice,but also on aVespa It hadbeenanother of thoselocal paper advertisements that ledhim to purchase aRally 200, thefirsttimehehad owneda wideframe Vespa. Having wrestled it offastudent for next to nothing, he wasimpressed with its performanceand hadplans forit. Soon,it was beingentered at race meetings even though, in itsstandardform, it wasnomatch forfully prepared race machines.Thisdidn’tmatter becauseitallowed himtobecomeaccustomed to theunusual handling characteristicsofsuch abulky frame, whichwould soon provecrucial Malossiwas attempting to establisha foothold in theUKmarketin1986, andMarksaw a
potentialoppor tunity beckoning. By now, he waswriting andcontributingtoStuar tLanning’s ScooterScene magazine andusedthisasa bargaining tool foraproposaltoMalossi Thecompany hadrecentlyintroducedanew 210ccseven-por tnicasil-lined barrel,which wasrelativelynew technology at thetimefor the Vespa, particularly in theUK. Mark persuaded Malossitosupplyhim with akit, along with the othercomponentsrequiredtobuild apowerful top- endpackage.Thiswould enable himto useitonthe Rallyand competeinthe newly establishedGroup 6kit classfor 1987.As part of itssponsorship,Malossi insisted that themachine waspainted in ayellowand red livery to matchthe company’scolours andthat
OneofMark’smostrecentideas wasour ‘SendusaPostcard’ feature. To celebrate, we’veassembled more images from Mark’s scrapbookand thesecan be seen in this month’sPostcard, star ting on page 58
hisprogressofthe buildand season wouldbe reported in themagazine. It wasadealthat worked well forall parties, especially Mark, who,despite afew initialteethingtroubles, ultimately wonthe class. ProjectMalossi,asit wascalledinthe magazine series,was ahuge success. Although thedealwas finalised at the endofthatyear, Malossiallowed himtoretain thecomponents.
Mark wanted to developitfur ther and, with help,carried outextensive work on thecylinder, gainingmorepower from it.The body work was givenaonce- over,inwhite nowthatthe Malossi deal wasover, andin1988, he campaigned it once again. At times, theextra powercould be adauntingprospectasthe bulkyframe wasn’t theeasiest thingtohandle, especially on tight, twisty tracks.Regardless, he wasaseasoned proand coulddealwithits awkwardhandling proper ties,allowinghim to mixituptowards thefront endofthe grid againstmachineswith superior handling.Itdemonstratedaunique talent,not just on thetrack butalsooff it,ashe couldcraft adealout of nowherebyleveraging hisinfluenceand yearsofexperiencewithinthe industry
Slow down
As the1990s appeared on thehorizon, ever yone wondered what directionthe scooter scenewould take.Itmustberememberedthat some hadbeenatitfor more than adecade, andinMark’scase, even longer.For him, it wasn’t so much that he waslosinginterest, butadult life meantthere waslesstimeto participate. Theracingwas thefirstthing to fall by thewayside,followeda couple of years laterbythe off-road trials.Other membersof theRoadrunners hadalsopackedthe trials in, andelsewhere fewerpeoplewerecompeting, so perhapsitwas theright time forhim to quit anyway.Althoughrallies were stillon theagenda, it wasamatterofselecting the preferredones. Therewas neverany question of packingitin; it wassimplyamatteroftaking time out, whichincludedfromthe committee work. However, after15years of loyalser vice to LCGB,noone denied that he deserved a breakfromitall.The scooterscene,ingeneral, hadbeenindecline sincethe beginningof thedecade, andalthoughitwould surgeonce again, this became aperiodofsteppingback andreflecting on what hadbeenachieved. However, therewas oneaspectofthe scene wherehis involvementnever stopped: writing aboutit. He beganbycreatingpiecesfor Soul fanzines as earlyasthe late 1970s, followed by occasional contributionstothe LCGB’s magazine Jetset.Itwas the BritishScooterist Scene that gothim more involved,especially
when it wastaken nationally in theshape of Scooterist Scene.Whenthatwas acquired and integrated with Scootering magazine, Mark continuedfromissue 54 andhas done so ever since. Hiswealthofmusical knowledge, as well as that of scooters,means that he hasprobably contributedfor alonger period than anyone
Thesoulwithin
As we’veestablished,there’s little more that Mark couldhavebeeninvolvedwithinthe world of scooters,but he also hasanother passion, Northern Soul.Thisisahugelycompetitive world with apassionatefollowing butdoeshehavethe righttocomment on it?Inanutshell, yes, he does.His first venturetoWigan Casino wasback in 1974 andhewould continue to visitwhatwas seen as itsepicentre,aswellasother venues around thecountry.Being exposedtoit in this waybroadened hisknowledge of thesubject and ledhim to become aNorthernSoulDJ. Ever yone involved will tell youthatbehind thedecks canbeaver yargumentative and explosiveplace to be buthavingconsiderable experience Mark takesitall in hisstride. His first venturebehindthe decksgoesevenfur ther back than theCasinodays, beginningatThe CatacombsYouth Club in Oxford,playing Trojan Reggae,early Ska, oldStax, Atlantic andTamla Motown.The casino’s influence meanthe
begancollectingraresoulrecords,and,given today’sprices, it wasfinanciallythe righttime to do so.These areessential toolsfor anyone goingdownthisroute,and before long,he beganamassingacollectionthatled to him beinga recognised Northern Soul DJ
Listingthe venues Mark hasplayedatwould probably requireawhole magazine,but it’s fair to saythathehas appeared at many of thetop venues sincethe 1970s, alongside some other well-established names. As time went by,this ledhim to promotelivemusic in andaroundthe Oxford area and, forashort while, runasmall record label. In turn,thisled to anew idea, wherehebegan fusing classicsouland funk from the1960s throughtothe mid-1980s. It wasaninstant success, sellingout most weekends.Thisproveditwas possible to take theacceptedboundariesofNor thernSouland push past them.Thoughsomemay have seen it as blasphemy, it didn’t matter.The audience lovedit, andthat’sall that mattersinthe end.
Stillgoing strong
Many people have been involved with scooters foranextendedperiod, some foraslong as Mark. However, fewhavemanaged to maintain theirinterestcontinually forsuchalong period of time.Asfor achievements,Mark’sCVis unique.Not only hashebeenapar ticipantin
so many aspectsofscooteristlife, he’s also made acontributiontothem, whichisalmost immeasurable.The strangething is that when talkingtoMarkabout hishistory,heseesall of it as normal,run-of-the-mill things to do.He’s stillasloyal andpassionateabout hislovefor thescene,justashewas when he wassetting outasthat13-year-old beginner.It’sasthough he’s completely unawareofthe contributionshe hasmade.
Nowfastapproaching theage wherethe government will give himmoney because he’s statisticallytoo oldtoworkdoesn’t mean he’s slowingdown. Hisscootersare nearly all gone, butthat’smorebecause of thelogistics involved in keepingthem; so tooare some of theraresoulrecords,but who canblame him forcashing them in?Scooteringshouldn’t be measured just by what apersonpossesses butbywhattheir contribution to it hasbeen. It doesn’tmatterwhether that contribution is significant or small, butwhenitcomes to Mark Sargeant,thenit’simmeasurable. If there were ahalloffamededicated to thescooter scene, then he should be oneofthe first people inducted;thank you, Mark,for allyou have done andall that youcontinuetodo.
Words: Stuart Owen Images: Mark Sargeant
The Wildcatracer.
1985-2025: Keep(ing)onkeeping on
In Scootering’s December 2024 issue, former ed itor Ga reth Brow nreflectedonthe year that pre-datedthe magazine’s launch.Now he turnsh is attentiontothe year of itsbir th
Can it be 40 yearssince Scootering waslaunched? Incredibly,yes There’snodoubt that 1985 wasa year of many changes, beingkicked offbyVodafonelaunching theUK’sfirstmobile phonenetwork,withErnie Wise making thefirst call.The Band Aidconcertsraisedmillionsfor charity, whileameeting betweenReaganand Gorbachevsignalled theColdWar wascoming to an end. Yes, therewas much to celebrate butfor scooterists, thebig news came from the Number Ones’meeting,and therevealofthat year’s National rallies.
This meetinghad been runningsince 1982,whenMar tinDixon,aresidentof Scarbo roughand editor of Scootermania , joined fo rce swiths everal individualsfrom theL ambret ta Club of GreatBritain ands et
For scooterists, the big news came from the Number Ones’ meeting, and the reveal of that year’s National rallies.
ab outarranging theyear’srallies viaa fo rm of demo cratic voting
Betweenthem, Dixonand theLCGBcompiled alistofknown Britishscooter clubs, then at the beginningofthe year they inviteda representative from each of thesetoapow-wow at whichthe venues anddates forthe year’s scooterrunswould be discussedand decided. As thosewho turned
up forthismeeting were more oftenthannot the main membersoftheir clubs, this meetingwas called quitesimplyThe Number Ones Meeting andwas held annually thereafter forthe rest of the decade.Collectivelythisgoverning body became knownasThe National Runs Committee.
Afullcalendar
Themeeting for1985was well at tended and endedinthe traditionalpar ty whichsignalled thestart of thenew scootering year.Oncethe hangovers hadsubsided, word went outto thewhollyunderground life st ylescootering fraternity of ourBritish Isle s(andbeyond),that thefollowing wouldbethatyear’spor ts of call: MorecambeBay –EasterBankHoliday Clacton–May Bank Holiday GreatYarmouth–Whitsun Bank Holiday
Exmouth 1985.
Dunbar –lateJune
Exmouth–early July
Colw yn Bay– earlyAugust
Isle of Wight–AugustBankHoliday
Weston-super-Mare–mid-September
Redcar earlyOctober
The‘whereand when’wordwas spread among theconnected quiteeffectively via theNumberOnes’ (No.1s’) networkand via thearray of A5 owners’group andniche
scene-specificmagazines such as JetSet, Scootermania and TheRalliest
Back Street Heroes
Theseminimagazines andfanzinesdid notfully quench theever-growingscooter scene’sthirst foraccessibleand national contact, content, customisingand eventinformation.However,
to leaveChelmsford for Clacton, 1985.
Clacton 1985.
believeitornot,manyscooterists of theday startedsubscribing to aBritish bikermagazine called Back Street Heroes to trytofill this void This hadbeenlaunchedin1983tocater for thecustombikescene anddespite theobvious cultural differencesbetween themselvesand those that BSH cateredfor,manyofthose who formed thenewly emergedScooterboyscene felt more of akindred connection to thetraditional BSH reader than to thoseofthe ‘then’ Modmovement. It’s also fair to sayherethatsizedoesseemto matter.AsImentioned in theDecemberissue, an A4-sized magazine hadbeenlaunchedin 1984 by thelatePeter SherwinofRuncorn (a true scooternut of theera andaverygood‘go to’friendof mine)called Scootering World.This really didhit themark, as beingA4insizeitwas seen by most (meincluded) as beinga‘proper’
magazine,indicatingtomanythe credibilityand longevityofour Scooterboy scene.
Scootering arrives
Although Scootering World magazine only graced thescene with asingleedition,being A4 rather than A5 in size,and in colour,ittruly did make an impact.Not leastwithanother friend of mine,Stuar tLanning of Weston-super-Mare, anda certainSteve Myatt, whowould also in time become my good friend andmentor.
InfluencedbyPeteSherwin’s short-livedA4 magazine, Stuart launched thehigh-qualityglossy A4 mag TheBritish Scooterist Scene in 1985 This wasmyfavourite scootermagazinefromthe eraand if Irecallcorrectly ranfor 14 editions This wasrun by Stuart who sold this titleasa self-published,self-promoted andself-circulated
SCOOTERBOYS
Forthe full histor yofthe Scooterboy phenomenon,why nottreat yourself to a copy of Gareth’s book, ScooterBoys. Availablefor £14.99,withfreeUK delivery from ww w.mortonsbooks.co.uk
magazine thebetterpartof10years before the internet existed. An amazingachievement By the1980s,Steve Myatt, ascooter scene stalwart of theearly 1970sand long-standing friend of Pete Sher win, hadbecomesomething of abiker.Itwas he that had, back in 1983, launched Back Street Heroes.Recognising that therewas demand forasimilar publication focusing on scooters,helaunched Scootering magazine.Thiswas distributednationally alongside Back Street Heroes andthe first editionappearedinMay 1985
Therest, as they say, is histor y. My first wordsappearedinissue number two(June / July 1985)of Scootering,somesix yearsafter IboughtmyfirstVespa.Hereweare 40 years and467 editions (plusone 1986 yearbook and 10 editions of my book ScooterBoys)later;and themag,mybook, my scooters andIare still goingstrong.Let’s just ‘keeponkeeping on’.
KTF!
Words: Gareth Brown
Images: Gareth Brown/MortonsArchive
TheKnowledge Thelongand shortofit
Like ma ny modern vehicles,scootershavebeensupersizedoverthe years, of ten leav ingr idersofa shor terstature al most ha ng inginm id-a ir.Here’sour guide to gettingyourfeetbackonthe ground
Q: I’mtryingt obreak in to scoo terowner ship bu t at 5f t1in I’ms trug glingt ofnd ascoo tertha tf ts me comf or tably. What ar emyoptions?
A: Firstly, it’s notyourheightthat’sthe issue, butratheryourinsideleg measurement. I’m6ft 2inbut if Ihad a26ininsideleg,I’d struggle. However, whereI’d winout is in thestrengthto hold up somethinglikea VespaGTS.They’re abig oldlumpand when stationary canbe difficult to hold up if youneedtoleanthem over to reachthe floor
Q: So what scoo ters ar esuitablef or shor terrider s?
A: Unfortunately, most scooters aredesigned around an ‘average’physique; foranyonewho fallsoutside thoseparameters, shor tortall, it’s usuallynecessary to customiseorcompromise. Perusing ourbuyer’s guidewillgiveseat heights, butit’sobvious that thesefallintoa narrow band.For example, amodernVespa Primaverahas aseatheightof790mm,which is thesameasaGTS.There areexceptions, such as theModena/Milano,which hasa very lowseatheightof735mm,but seat height is only part of theequation.
Q: Seat height wasgoing to be my main consider ation, whyisn’t that theanswer?
Most scooters are designed around an ‘average’ physique; for anyonewho falls outside those parameters, shor tor tall, it’susually necessar ytocustomise or compromise.
A: Don’tunderestimate theimpor tanceofseat height.I’vegot twoPXs in thegarageright now, onewithasportsseatand theother with astandardEFL seat.The difference between thoseisanincredible60mm. However, unlike motorcycleswhere arider canalmostput their legs straight down,ascooter hasafloorand that must be straddled.
The closer the seat is to the floor of a scooter,the greater theangle of straddle. In some cases, lowering theseat can make things worse, not better.There’salso the
scooter’sbodywork to consider.This is a particular issue with some Royal Alloy models, which are very wide around the panels, afact that’sled to the introduction of the GT125MT,which hasslimmer side panels and arevised frame that reduces the seat height by around30mm compared with the SE version
Q: Are some scoo ters more suit ed to seat lowering than others?
A: Yes, Series 3and GP Lambrettas aregoodfor shorterriders, as areclassic Vespasmallframes such as thePKor50Special etc. In each of thosecases thereare plenty of seat optionsand theirnarrowbodyworkmeans that it’s easier to straddle thescooter.Ifyou fancysomething different, aVegahas almost no floor to speak of,and thereare numerous tuning options forall of these; lightweightneednot mean poor performance.
Q: If seat lowering ’s no tthe answer,w ha telse canI do?
A: Ideally, we need to lowerthe scooteritself, if we canbring theseatheightclosertothe ground withoutchangingits relationship to the scooter’sfloor, we’llkeepthe angleofsplay as thedesigners intended
This is the difference a2cm reduction in suspension height can make.
SIP’sPrimavera lowering kit –itreally is that simple.
Q: HowdoIdotha t?
A: Lowering kits have been used on motorcyclesfor years, andscooter accessor y suppliersare nowcatchingup. SIPoffersa kit forthe GTSand Primavera, whileSFStainless andTasso offerthe same solution formost RoyalAlloy/Scomadi models
Q: Ar etheycomplicat ed to ft ?
A: No,ahomemechanicshouldbemorethan capableoffittingthemwithastandardtoolbox They’realsoeasilyremoved so won’taffecta scooter’sresalevalue.
Q: Won’ ttha ta ff ec tthe handling ?
A: Yes, butusually in agoodway becausethey lowerthe centre of gravityand that givesa ‘sportier’ feel to thehandling. Forthisreason, it’s notjustshorter riders whofind alowering kitbeneficial
Q: Ar ethere anydow nsides to lowering kits?
A: They areclassed as amodification,soyou should inform your insurancecompany and if you’re fitting onetoa brand-new scooterit mightbebettertoask thesupplying dealer to fit it,justsothey’re awareshouldthere be any warranty claims.They’re also designed to work with standard exhaustsystems,soaftermarket pipesmay foul thebodywork.
Q: Whileloweringbyaf ew centimetre smay work formos trider s, what abou ttho se whoneed alit tlemor eassis tance, or don’t want to alter theirscoo ters?
A: Again, we canborrowfromthe worldof
motorcycleswhere thesizeofsomeadventure bikesmeans even riders of averageheightcan struggle.Asaresult, boot manufacturershave devisedvarious ways of increasing theinside legmeasurementofshorter riders;think of theseasplatformshoes designed forridingin.
Q: You’re joking ?
A: Notatall.There areinfactseveral options. Theserange from high endboots from manufacturerssuchasMario Bertulli whichwill raisethe riderbyanincredible8cm whilestill beingstylish,to‘clip on’soles by companies such as Bootlift.The latter mightnot be the prettiestsolutiontothe problembut have theadvantage of beingeasilyremoved at the destination. In betweenthere arearange of optionsfrommanymanufacturers,ranging from full length motocross-styleboots to street sneakers.Itmight be necessarytoask your local motorcycle clothing storetoorder some in for youtotry,but most offeratleast acoupleof examples from theircatalogues.
Of course, there’salways theoption of just buying some Dr.Martens with their Auric ‘chunky’ sole as that’ll giveyou almost 5cm extra in height.
Choose your look…
Q: Anyo ther ad vice?
A: Shop around forthe solution that’s best for you. Some people will findananswerinone of theoptions above, others will need to mixand matchbeforefindingasolutionthatworks for
them.The bigclubs arealsoagreat source of advice,and joiningthemmight save alot of time andeffor tdiscovering things that others have alreadytried.One thing’sfor certain; you won’tbethe first person to have this challenge andthere’s no reason whyitshouldput astop to your scooting pleasure
As for taller riders, that’sadifferent discussion entirely
Words: Stan Images: SIP Thanks to Joanne andMax forinspiring this Q&A.
WFour zero!
hen such amomentous anniversary comes alongI cannot help butfeel nostalgic. If it was a wedding anniversary it would be aruby and aruby signifies passion,love and devotion. Which Ithink isquite apt!
Ivividly remember the first edition.Inthose early to mid-1980s there were other fanzine-type publications, Scooter and Scooterist for example. Typed on atypewriter and photocopied,sent in the post after acheque had been senttoMr Kerr.Ieven rememberwhen that went upmarket with acoloured paper cover and bold graphics. There was also (I think) asingle edition of afull colour glossy magazine called ScooterWorld.I bought acopy at arun, Iseem to recall, and still have it in the attic somewhere!
But when Scootering arrived in the newsagents it ushered in awhole new regular insight into the scooter world. I could even buyitfromWHSmith in my lunch break. WhenI dug out that first copy a whileago, it slightly surprised me how much was in black and white. In those days colour printing was still very expensivesoonly certain parts were in colour.But what REALLYcaught my eye was aracing scooter, the DTC Rosa Bianca!
DTC,inthe form of Brendan McNally,was Down Town Custom,and I’d seen his paintwork on track in the green and white design that was adopted by the Leeds Central race team. Iwas regularly going to watch racing at this point, commandeered into marshalling duties generally.So, the all-new design of Rosa Bianca really caught my eye in this first edition. Indeed, Iremember cutting out the full colour picture and putting it on my shed wall. Racing for me at that point was just an ambition and RosaBianca
It’shard for Paul to believe that Scootering magazine has been part of his life for four decades:two-thirds of his life!
wassomething that inspired me. Iloved the look of it: racy,professional, colourful.
Iwas regularlyattending the runs as well, so the thoughtofbeing abletobuy amagazine dedicated to scooters from ahigh street newsagentwas exciting! The various fanzine and small-scale publications around at the time were produced in limited numbers, and usually in black and white so a‘proper’ magazine was great!
Iboughtway more editions than Ididn’t, and over theyears, even as my interest came and went,I still flicked through themagazine in newsagents. The style of themagazine evolvedover theyears with owner and editor changesbut despite some peoplesaying otherwise ithas always been written by,and for,scooterists. Pretty much allmyfavourite scootershave been featured in the magazine over the years. Ihave afew hundred editions in the attic or on my bookshelves and Ialways enjoy randomly picking up an old edition.
It is amazing, looking back through those old copies, how muchthe magazine gives a warm feeling, of happy days and places Thinking about it there aretwo key reasons that the scooter scene has endured and developedover the years: the scooters and the people.Tomethat is what it is allabout.
Contemplating the 40th anniversaryI looked back throughsomeold editions and wow, what alot of fond memories and names came back. Peoplethat are still around and part of the scene, others who have passed away but all of them legendary and influential names in the scooterscene.
Those people you meet at therallies with shared interests. The people who fix and repair thescootersthat you thrash around the country at speedsand distances that were never intended. The peoplewho have tuned
When Scooteringarrivedinthe newsagents it ushered in awholenew regular insight into the scooter world. Icould even buyitfrom WH Smith in my lunch break.
scooters to go that fast! The people who restore machines to original specification from theirencyclopaedic knowledge. The people in clubs who just fix your broken engines in their sheds. The people who haveraced these scooters at ridiculous speeds, regularly throwing themselves and machines downthe racetracks of the country.
In early2016 Iwas asked by Dan Clare, who was about to take over editing Scootering, ifIwouldwrite acolumn. Iwas flattered and honoured and assumed I’d do that for afew months, but nine years later,here Istill am contributing to the magazine and hobby that has been partofmylifefor so long.
Over in the Race Chat section there’sa certain symmetrytothe last 40 years as Ichat to my friend and the legend that is Brendan McNallyabout the DTC race team and his plans for the 2025 race season. Last year his daughter Nikita was so close to the ultimate perfect season of wins, but thisyear is about hisson Jimmy who has the same ambitions. A DTC paint job is still as distinctive now on track as Rosa Bianca was 40 years ago. Forty years–what atimeithas been!
those
The legendary Maca andRosaBianca.