Thursday, August 15 – Sunday, August 18th 2019
The Lambretta Club USA have announced the Lambretta Jamboree this year will be in The Black Hills of Dakota, at Custer, South Dakota.
It’s a great area for riding – with some of the local highlights being Needles Highway, the Iron Mountain Road, the Custer wildlife loop, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial, Sturgis, and Deadwood.
More details, and booking information on the LCUSA site, here.
Great artwork by Adam Xyl! (Thanks Peter).
We all love our 2-strokes – but they’re not the most environmentally friendly of machines. Many people think the future of transportation is electric. With the likes of VW, BMW and even Jaguar joining Tesla in bringing electric vehicles to market, is the writing on the wall for fossil fuels? After all – when even Milan – the home of the Lambretta – bans classic scooters – you have to start taking these things seriously.
An electric scooter is not a new idea – and I’ve featured a few on the blog already. I even featured the first footage on the internet of the new Electric Lambretta – which is rumoured to be coming to market soon. Piaggio isn’t missing out either, and you can buy a Vespa Elettrica today. But what if you love the lines of an authentic vintage Lambretta or Vespa?
Well, now you don’t have to choose between a new, eco-friendly electric scooter, and vintage classic. Codenamed “Project E” Retrospective Scooters are producing a conversion kit for the most popular models of Lambretta & Vespa. They will remove the old petrol engine, electrics and cabling, and install a DC brushless electric motor, motor controller and lithium-ion battery. Ease of riding, reliability, economy and environmental footprint are all brought into the 21st Century – but most importantly the exterior styling remains totally original. A lot of effort has been put into cleverly hiding the modern tech behind dummy plastic engine casings keeping your classic looking as authentic as possible.
Retrospective will be offering the conversion as a DIY kit, with prices starting at £2,485. They will fit it for you for around £500. You can even add it as an option if you’re having a scooter restored. You’ll also have to factor in the cost of the batteries – not included in the kit price, and they run to £850. You can choose to have just the one battery, or improve your range by adding another one or more.
Project E is compatible with most popular Lambretta models – LI Series 1, 2 & 3 and GP models can be converted. Retrospective are working on a J Range conversion, and a LD will follow at some stage.
Retrospective offer a variety of different lithium-ion battery options. Each has been made specifically to suit a range of needs – from a Sunday run-around to an everyday commuter.
One of the great things about this conversion is that it can be fitted without butchering your classic scoot – as Retrospective say “No scooters were harmed in this conversion, no cutting, welding or grinding; the conversion perfectly fits the classic frames” this makes the conversion is completely reversible – so if you want to go back to burning dead dinosaur fuel, you can.
The future is bright. The future is retro.The Retrospective conversion may be the future for classic scooters. And what could be more eco than riding a machine originally made maybe 50 or 60 years ago, powered by electricity?
I originally found out about Project E on Scooterlab, which covers a lot of ground that I don’t. If you haven’t seen their article, check it out here.
Retrospective Scooters are based in Walthamstow, London E17, and as well as designing and building the electric scooter conversion, they are experts in Scooter Restorations, Servicing and Repairs. Check out their website here.
If you like you’re Lammies fast, here are a couple of Street Racer style scoots that will turn a few heads, and beat most things away from the lights.
First up is a 40 BHP, 230 GP, finished in bright green and black, and ‘no expense spared’ on creating ‘the best street racer available’ (the quotes are just to highlight these are the seller’s words, not mine, and in no way to cast any doubt on them). All work was carried out by JB Tuning; spec includes a Casacase 66mm crank, RB250 cylinder, Wossner piston, Mammoth head, Casacase ignition, Cyclone 5 speed gearbox, 39mm Delortto carb, Casa power clutch, Casa side casing, Pioe design exhaust, Casa disc brake, BGM suspension and a Sip speedo – all producing 40bhp/23 torque.
On eBay with a classified price of £10,000.
The second one is a Malbroro themed racer, with the engine upgraded to Mugello 225 and dyno’d by Daryl of Taylor Tuning. It’s a “Smooth running Scooter that is perfect for touring”. It has been in Scootering Magazine many times.
It has been ridden regularly ( as they like to be ) but is in almost as-new condition. It has just undergone a full service with oil change new stator plate and cdi unit.
It has a classic 1970 “J” registration number. It’s up on eBay for £7,900.
It’s been a while since I posted a collection of ‘oddballs’ (here are the last lot). So here goes, to be clear, the term oddball is not pejorative – these are scooters that just aren’t Lambrettas and Vespas – or clones of them!
First off is this BM Pokerino from 1963. BM, or Bonvicini Marini were an Italian motorcycle manufacturer founded in Bologna in 1952. An ‘ace’ looking little scooter, but, I must say my favourite part about is the poker hand badge – so if you’re feeling ‘flush’ (see what I did there) you can get hold of the Pokerino for a classified price of £1,895. It looks to be in great original condition.
Next up is a second 50cc classic – a straight-looking Zundapp RS 50 – another good looking little scooter. Yours for a grand.
One more ‘nifty fifty’ before I get to the big guns
… a Garelli Como – and I’m always a little unsure about classifying these larger wheeled bikes as ‘scooters’. Yep, it’s got the scooter style bodywork, but with those big wheels it’s more moped than scooter, right? While looking a little ungainly, the Garelli just about manages to pull off the ‘moped in disguise’ thing. I think. Anyway, it’s nearly twice the price of the Zundapp,at £1,995.
Next up is another scooter I don’t think I’ve seen before – A Jawa Tatran. Jawa – a long established Czech motorcycle marque – got in on the scooter gravy train just like everybody else. And they made a decent job of it by the look of things. This one has had a full resto job done on eBay for the same price as the Garelli, £1,999 – probably the better buy?
If you get that scooter, you’ll probably want to grab this book too… on eBay for £16.99.
Finally, and did I save the best to last? Maybe.
A great looking BSA Sunbeam. Look familiar? Well, the Sunbeam is basically a ‘badge engineered’ Triumph Tigress. One of my favourite British scooters, there’s no denying the sensuous smooth lines of this little beauty.
This one appears to be in very good nick, and has had the same owner for 15 years. It’s got a classified price of £2,495.
I’ve posted about a Lambretta holiday before, notably about the Loco Wheels guys who do guided Lambretta tours of Mallorca (check out their website here). But if the Spanish mainland is more your thing, how about Andalucia?
Lambrettours do unique guided scooter tours in southern Spain. The tours are tailored to offer scooter and bike enthusiasts day trips or accommodation package scootering holidays touring and visiting the famous whitewashed villages of this Malaga region.
You ride a vintage Lambretta (see below for the collection) – through stunning scenery and quiet country roads, for a safe and memorable adventure that you’ll never forget.
Your guide will be Lambretta enthusiast Darren – who has owned, rebuilt and maintained various models over the last 3 decades. Darren moved to Spain early 2001 and has mapped the best routes of the region to show you what the area has to offer in terms of gastronomy, wine bodegas, historical towns and areas of outstanding beauty. What are you waiting for?
For more information, including the various tours available, check out the Lambrettours website.
And bloody brilliant. Not a Lambretta (obvs – as the youth say these days). But now and again I like to post a bit of ‘industrial design’ that is somehow Lambretta related, or may inspire somebody in the creation of a ‘custom’.
This is a purely conceptual creation of Dennis Sedov. The bold, brutish straight lines and overall simplicity may be at odds with the sensuous curves of a classic Lambretta, so I’m not going to labour over a link, but there’s something about the aesthetic I love. Love the seat (and built-in back light), love the front light. Originally discovered on Yanko Design. See more of Dennis Sedov’s design work here, and his motorcycle designs here.
This would make a nice little addition to your LD or D Lambretta… An original NOS (New Old Stock) Fuel Gauge. It’s in fantastic condition and even comes in its original box – a thing of beauty in its own right. Available on eBay, here.
Pub prices too expensive? Bar too far to stumble to? The Lambretta Cambretta Trailer is a “must for every scooter rally, man cave, enthusiast etc”
It’s a totally unique hand-built “party trailer”, based on a jet ski trailer, which can be towed by a Lambretta. It’s got working electrics, including indicators, and a fully functioning bar, lights, stereo witch run off the mains or a 12v battery.
Certain to make you popular at the next scooter rally, if you fill the optics up!
It’s on eBay, here
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