Pulled from my folder of random Lambretta images. If it’s your scoot… nice. If you took the picture, and you want a credit and a link (or want it taken down), get in touch.
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Monthly Archives: April 2019
Something for the weekend – April 13th & 14th
Morecambe Pre-Season Scooter Rally
Encuentro Vespa & Lambretta de Driebes
BSSO Scooter Racing – Mallory Park
Championship – BHR
Sammy Davis Junior. On a Lambretta.
Skelly style
A proper “Skelly” out of Thailand, from the YouTube channel of Motosyndrome Area 755. I don’t know much about the shop, but from this video it looks like they know their Lambrettas, and do quality custom work.
While not to everbody’s taste – when a skelly is done properly, they are a thing of rare beauty, and a real head-turner. With the custom headlight an chopper bars, chopped legshields, sidewinder seat to the twin megaphone exhausts, plus lots of other little touches – this one ticks all the boxes for me. Good job.
EV’s in E17
I got down to the Retrospective Scooters open day at their workshop/showroom in Walthamstow – London E17. The event was well attended with some nice Vespas, Lambrettas and even a Heinkel Trojan in attendance.
The theme of the day was ‘beating the (forthcoming) Ultra Low Emission Zone’ and there were lots of Electric scooters on display, both from the world leader in electric scooters, NUI, and with a couple of classic demonstrators – a Vespa and a Lambretta, both converted by Retrospective to run clean and green on electricity.
Both machines look very assured, and ‘sit’ like the classic scooters they are. Retrospective had a range of Royal Alloy scooters in attendance too… a modern auto clearly modelled on the classic GP (by way of the Scomadi of course), but The Electric GP next to them looked just like any other classic Lammy.
So what does an electric Lambretta ride like? Full disclosure, I didn’t ride one myself, but I spoke to a couple of people who did. The overall impression of everybody I spoke to was overwhelmingly positive. Everyone that rode one dismounted with a massive smile on their face. I was told that power comes on extremely smoothly, acceleration is fantastic and the whole ride feels very ‘natural’. From a bystanders point of view, it’s bizarre to see a Lambretta startup, move off, and accelerate away all without any noise, smoke or smell. Some might think these are key elements of the whole Lambretta experience – but I’ve seen the future, and it doesn’t smell of 2stroke! There is something really weird about a Lambretta zooming past you in almost complete silence – all you can hear is the noise of the tyres on the road. One issue that as a rider you’ll have to be even more aware than ever of pedestrians stepping out in front of you – as they won’t hear you coming! Retrospective are investigating including a noise generator as part of the conversion.
There is going to be a huge majority of Lambretta owners who will always prefer the traditional 2-stroke powered internal combustion engine of the classic Lambretta. And while the ‘nostalgic side of me sympathises, and agrees, I can see the way the world is changing. There are more and more places where we won’t be allowed to ride a traditionally powered scooter. Or, if we are, we’re going to have to pay handsomely for the privilege. An electric conversion for your Lambretta (or Vespa) isn’t exactly a cheap option, but I for one have started saving up!
Something for the Weekend, April 6th –7th
So, I’m going to try and keep this running as a regular feature. Here’s a couple of things to keep you occupied this Saturday and Sunday…
Gingers Easter Egg run weekender – 5/6/7 April
Leigh Miners, Kirby Road, Leigh WN7 4EF, Ride out to Manchester Children’s Hospital at 13 00 hours, Music and fun Friday night till late, cheap beer, food, Saturday morning from 08 00 stalls refreshments, Saturday night from 19:00 music fun raffle food til very late. Don’t forget your Easter eggs!
Retrospective Scooters Open Day – 6th
I did a big post about this yesterday, so I won’t repeat myself – here’s the link, or just scroll back 🙂
Vintage Motor Scooters Extravaganza – 7th
Run To The Island 15 – 7th
If you’re planning further ahead, check out the EVENTS page for a more comprehensive list.
Retrospective Scooters Open Day
Beat the Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) – Go ELECTRIC!
If you’re in London this weekend, get yourself down to our Retrospective Scooters workshop/showroom in Walthamstow for their open day. The focus of the day is the forthcoming London Ultra Low Emission Zone (ULEZ) and how you can get around paying the £12.50 a day that you’ll get charged for riding your nasty dirty old ‘non-compliant’ scooter. One of the options is to convert your classic Lambretta (or Vespa) to an electric one – I featured the kit in a post, here, a little while ago. They’ll have lots of electric scoots charged up and ready to test ride.
On the day there’s;
- Test ride one of the many electric Vespa’s and Niu scooters.
- Get advice from the Retrospective Scooters team of experts – ask how to convert your classic Lambretta with a custom conversion kit
- Freshly cooked food from local stalls
- Craft beer from a neighbouring brewery
- Listen to DJs spinning the decks all afternoon
So get yourself down to Unit 1, Lockwood Way, Walthamstow, London E17 5RB from 1pm this Saturday.
While we’re on the subject of Electric Vehicles, rumours are reaching Lambrettista Towers that the new Electric Lambretta Vendetta, (as well as a very exciting sounding 325cc petrol variant) is due to come to market shortly. Stay tuned. When I hear more, you’ll hear more. That’s a promise.
Government unveils plans for extra Channel crossings in event of No Deal Brexit
We try and stay away from politics here at the Lambrettista blog. But this is something that affects all Lambrettisti! Rumours have reached Lambrettista Towers that after seeing some archive footage of a Lambretta Amphi-Scooter on this very blog (see original post here), HM Government are buying up vintage Lambrettas at a premium, and converting them to amphibious capabilities.
Jacob Rees-Mogg testing a modified Lambretta scooter
Although not the obvious choice as a sea-going vessel, a converted Lambretta is seen as being more than capable of the short Dover to Calais route, and is being touted as “Just the sort of forward-facing, out-of-the-box innovative thinking this country needs”. A breakaway faction of the government is said to be carrying out experiments in converting Triumph Tigress scooters, claiming the British build scooters are better suited to the task than any ‘Italian Rubbish’. Rumours that the mastermind behind this project is the Secretary of State for Transport, Chris “failing” Graying have yet to be substantiated.
Capacity
Although the storage capacity of these machines is somewhat limited, it’s thought that with enough converted Lambrettas, the UK can avoid shortages of Camembert, Brie, and several other European kinds of cheese. With the addition of front and rear racks, baguettes and croissants can also be accommodated.
lambrettista.net 