Scootering March 2023

Recently I had a brew with the editor of a classic motorcycle magazine, and saw the opportunity for a bit of fun. If you follow the motorcycle press you may have noticed that an Indian company has purchased the rights to use the BSA and Gold Star brands. Recently the company has launched its interpretation of what the iconic Gold Star would look like had BSA continued production. Does that sound familiar? With a sense of mischief, I asked how the ‘Goldie’ launch had gone down with his readers but the reaction wasn’t what I expected. “They think it’s okay,” he began. “It’s not a Gold Star; liquid cooled for starters, but it has the look and is much easier to live with. A lot of my readers are getting…

We’ve had many tributes to the late Fred Willingham. Perhaps the one which sums him up best comes from his old friend and fellow racer, Christine Jackson: I first met Fred at Snetterton circa 1964. We would chat at various events up and down the country. I really got to know him after I took a job in Bradford in 1970; Fred was working as a weights and measures officer. While designing, building and sprinting his recording-breaking Lambretta, I went with Fred to several events in and around Yorkshire, and at some, I competed on his bike; great fun. Fred was always so organised and on time, with nothing left behind; his mum often would make a picnic for us. He had made a substantial set of rollers used to…

KICK START This information is provided by Stephen Hattersley, of WildWood Legal, a firm of solicitors specialising in claims for injured scooterists. Stephen, a qualified solicitor for 25 years, has been riding scooters for more than 30 years and has acted for injured riders across the UK. He knows the tricks and pitfalls that insurers use and pulls no punches in his dealings with them. He rides to work every day and understands the challenges you face out there. Q. My solicitor is bringing a claim for me after a clown knocked me off my scooter. I’m not going to be able to work for at least six months, probably more. I’m worried about how I am going to pay the bills in the meantime. Is there anything that…

I am writing with some sad news which we as a club would be grateful if you could share in Scootering. Russell Dear, our club president and one of our founding members, passed away on January 3. Russell had been involved with the scooter scene since the 80s and was one of those lads that kept at it, never a year went by that he didn’t attend rallies or have scoots. Originally from Ellon in northeast Scotland, Russell did spend some years living in London. He was well known both locally and nationally, and things are going to be very strange without him around. (Although the club runs will probably now leave on time!) He loved his music and was particularly fond of Ska as could be seen by his…

It was back in April 2022 that we published photographs taken by Manish Mittal of Uni-Auto inside the Scooters India Factory at Lucknow just before it closed for good. Although it’s well known that much of the tooling was too worn out to be of use, there were exceptions and Uni-Auto is currently in the process of commissioning ‘test shots’ ahead of the first production runs. Among the moulds secured by Uni-Auto are those for horncast grilles, air scoops, air filter box elbows and carb manifolds, but it will probably be the GP headset that causes most interest. Before restorers of Italian machines get too excited the casting is of the later, Indian, type and therefore unsuitable for concours restorations. However, for owners of Indian machines or those who simply…

While open-faced lids aren’t everyone’s cup of tea, this recent release from Bell is a scheme that’s crying out to be translated into a custom scooter. This year Bell is proud to announce a partnership with the Steve McQueen Estate to launch a series of helmets and apparel paying homage to the original King of Cool. The first helmet in the series is a Custom 500 Six Day McQueen, a period-correct replica of the helmet McQueen wore while competing in the 1964 International Six Day Trial off-road race. This Steve McQueen replica Custom 500 comes in a beautiful blue and white paint scheme, with subtle red accents just like the helmet McQueen wore during the competition. ‘Steve’ is written in a playful font on the back of the helmet, adding…