Scootering January 2020

If I was to mention the names Bob Haro, Tim Judge, Harry Leary, Patterson brothers, Tim March or Melanie Vauvelle… I wonder how many readers of Scootering would have a clue who I was talking about? To me these people were gods (and goddesses) when I were a lad back in the early ’80s. BMX royalty no less. They were to BMX what Norrie Kerr, Dave Webster, and the Frankland brothers are/were to scootering… the legendary names of riding and racing. So I was delighted when I saw the name Eddie Fiola being mentioned within one of this month’s feature scooter write-ups, as it sparked yet another pleasing nostalgia trip for me. Back in the day Eddie was known as ‘the flying banana’ within the BMX scene, due to the…

Stu Smith Vespa & Lambretta owner, scooter obsessive, amateur home mechanic, rally goer, Mod sympathiser, music lover and general all round good egg. He writes your rally reports, be nice to him. Nik Skeat Vespa P-range obsessive, well-travelled rally rider since the 80s, founder of the notorious Scooterboy World forum. He’s also a brilliant beer-brewing bearded Scootering feature writer. Paul Green Vespa & Lambretta scooter enthusiast, BSSO professional and general good egg. Our Paul has a long history of scootering both on the road and on the track, with the breakdown bills and crash scars to prove it. Stuart Owen LCGB ‘life member’, 100mph Lambretta Club owner and scooter restoration expert to boot. Scooter rider, rally-goer, restorer and author. Reaches the parts other scooter journalists just can’t reach. Christian Giarrizzo From Italy to Australia, this man gets the miles…

It’s hard to believe that this time last year I had no intention whatsoever of trading in my trusty old GTS. It may have lacked character, but it was unquestionably reliable and most importantly paid for. When I was invited to the press launch of the GTS HPE (‘High Performance Engine’) in Italy last winter I was more than happy to escape a cold and rainy Yorkshire but had no expectations of being impressed. By the time I landed back at Manchester I’d decided that I needed to own one. Fast forward nine months and my GTS has completed 6000 miles. That figure would have been higher but the early promise of more pan-European voyages was sadly curtailed by family illness. For most of the summer it was used for…

I’ve always viewed top boxes as the two-wheeled equivalent of Crocs. We all know they’re practical, but good looking they are not. Working for Scootering means carrying lots of gear and against my better judgement I ordered one. Don’t tell anyone but I’m quite taken with it. Not having to worry about bungeeing my camera gear to a rear carrier has been a godsend and if I need to carry a weekend bag the box comes off with four screws. Also, as Gaz, our advertising guru pointed out, a top box has many uses……

Scootopia has just released a 185cc cylinder kit for small block Lambretta casings. The barrel is made from aluminium and Nicasil lined, and uses the tried and tested piston port induction system. It also has a boost port added to help with the scavenging efficiency. The head, of course, is also made from aluminium and there is no need for a gasket between it and the cylinder. They’re not claiming it to be the most powerful kit out there, more of a reliable round town kit producing plenty of low down torque. It has been tried and tested at several endurance races by the Scootopia race team and worked flawlessly. No doubt tuners will see the potential to extract more power from it and being piston ported it should be quite…

If you, like many owners of Vespa PX, EFL, T5 and PK models, want to convert to a chopper or cutdown with extended forks, you’ll know that finding a speedo cable long enough is hard work! Since the 1980s Beedspeed has supplied these in several different options, and has just released its newly upgraded version. The extra-long speedo cable is available in PX EFL clip on as well as MK 1 screw-in fittings, with options of extending the cable by up to 78cm longer than standard. Beedspeed has also just taken delivery of extra-long speedo cables for Lambretta in both Italian and Indian fitment in both the black and grey versions. More info: www.beedspeed.com…