Category Archives: Not a Lambretta

Hot Shots! Part Deux – Topper Harley

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This films been around since 1991, and I’ve only just noticed that the main character, Topper Harley is probably a scooter reference. Duh! Now, I was sure I’d written a Harley Topper before, but I was probably thinking about the other indigenous US Scooter, the Cushman (post here… worth checking out… oh, and this one).  Anyway. I hadn’t.

Topper Harley

Topper Harley

Harley Topper

Harley Topper

The Topper was the only scooter Harley Davidson every produced. Made between 1961 and 1965, and despite it’s squarish, “50’s American Refrigerator” lines, it’s certainly not a bad looking scooter. (That last sentence just shows how much my aesthetics have changed over the years… I remember when I first saw a picture of a Topper I thought it unbelievably fugly!). Let’s just say it’s “of its time”.

There’s an owners club, with a ‘virtual website’ (a tautology surely? perhaps an ironic one) here.

In a postmodern twist, Topper himself has his own Facebook page, here.

Anyway. Back to Hot Shots, and my favourite line:

Topper Harley: You’re the only one that knows how to get to the ‘copter pad. If I’m not there in 15 minutes, you know what to do…
Colonel Walters: Yeah, get the hell out of here!
Topper Harley: No! Wait another 15 minutes!

Mystery Scooter ID’d!

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Screen shot 2013-09-23 at 17.52.53Kudos to Yasin, who Identified the mystery scooter above as a KTM Ponny. A Ponny II to be exact. KTM, or KTM Sportmotorcycle to give them their full name, is a long established (founded in 1934) motorcycle, scooter and bicycle manufacturer from Austria. If you haven’t heard of KTM in relation to scooters, it’s probably because your more familiar with their modern off road bikes and racing sponsorship… you may recognise their livery of orange, black and silver. The Ponny II dates back to 1962, and is, in my humble opinion a good, solid looking scoot. While it may not be as pretty as a Lambretta, (or even aV*spa), it certainly holds it’s own against other scooters of the day.

KTM_Ponny  MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERA 1225224182522_f ktm_ponny_ii_dl_dlg_mit_puch_motor_betriebsanleitung_die_technischen_daten_fuer_den_puch_motor_sind_beiliegend_vv_2807

The Ponny II, superseded the original 1960 Ponny scooter (funny that), itself a good looker. In fact, it’s a shame they didn’t keep the twin headlights… that’s a good look!

KTM SCOOTER PONY

KTM carried on making retro looking scooters right into the late 70’s, and while they are pretty much unheard of in the UK (to my knowledge anyway), they have built a cult following in mainland Europe. As you’ll see, the 1979 KTM Hercules pictured below is virtually identical to the 1962 Ponny, with the obvious addition of (rather ugly) indicators. Big, solidly built machines, I don’t know what the performance was like, but I can’t imagine it was blistering with a 50cc engine. I’m not sure if they made a bigger capacity, but it would suit the bike. A quick search of eBay yielded no complete Ponnies or Hercules’s… but a few parts. But it’s one I’ll watch out for in future.KTM Hercules Scooter

This is not my first KTM post, by the way… regular readers may remember my post about the radically styled KTM Electric Scooter… straight from the future of scootering. Check it out here.

If this post has piqued your interest of the KTM marque, you can find out more, below.

KTM Ponny Club Facebook page

KTM Sportmotorcycle Website

Mystery marque… can YOU id it?

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Screen shot 2013-09-23 at 17.52.53I mentioned this pic in my Capri post… and Dave, who shot it, asked me if I could ID it. Easy I thought. It’ll be one of those lesser known marques, like a Zundapp Bella, or a Durkopp Dianna. Maybe one of those gallant british failures like a Triumph Tigress or a BSA Sunbeam. Virtually all the major motorcycle manufacturers tried to get in on to the scooter boom in the late 50’s / early 60’s. Marques like Puch, Ducati and even Harley Davidson all jumped onto the scooter bandwagon. So, If it’s not something I recognise straight away, I’ll be able to find it online, or in one of my scooter books.

Well. I was half right. In so much as it’s like a Zundapp Bella. Like being the operative word. The front end anyway. The back end got more of a Zundapp R50 look about it, or even Lambretta J-range. It’s definitely NOT either of these thought!

So… can you identify this mystery scoot? Let me know!

As before, the pic is from davepcv’s flickr, here.

Well done Seb, for identifying it as the Austrian KTM Ponny II Super IVKTM Scooter. 01

Pic from Classic-Motorbikes.net

 

Capri Sun!

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Agrati CapriRemember that shot I posted of an Agrati Capri and a London Doubledecker? Yeah, you do… this one. Well, Dave, who shot it got in touch (ages ago, actually… but I’ve been busy!) to let me know he had another shot of the same scoot. As I alluded to earlier… a lovely little scooter the Capri, beautiful lines, and you can often pick them up for peanuts (well peanuts compared to what you’d pay for a Lambretta) on eBay. Parts are obviously not as easy to get hold of as a Lammie, but the internet has made that a bit easier too…

Anyway, thanks Dave… check out more of his pics on Flickr here. Check out the “Abandoned scooter, two cats and a barbecue” shot!

My Beautiful Laundrette…

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Wash Windsor Laundrette VanLambretta influenced Laundrette design… check out the website here!

Didn’t know if this was Suitable…

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Screen shot 2013-08-08 at 11.32.19Lambretta Tux Screen shot 2013-08-08 at 11.32.10Lambretta Tux CufflinksGeddit… SUITable… oh ok, I’ll get my coat. Anyway, lets plough on… if you’ve got a posh “do” to go to, and your evening suit (or ‘Tux’ as the young folks call them, in the colonial style) is looking a little shabby, you might want to get hold of one of these fine Lambretta branded garments, from MyTuxedo.co.uk. There’s even a special package at £179.99 of Tuxedo, Shirt, Tie and Cufflinks, which is a bit of a bargain. I’ll stick to my kilt… but I’m very tempted by the Union Jack waistcoat, as, when I was a nipper, I was always a bit of a fan of the one sported by Tim Brooke-Taylor in the Goodies!Union Jack Waistcoat

Here’s the Tuxedo link

Fancy an Indian?

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Harley Davidson… you’ve got some competition. The japs have tried, but, Honda Goldwing aside,  have never quite puled off the big cruiser thing. I’ve been keeping half an eye on Indian motorcycles over the last few years, and it looks like 2014 might be the year they’re back with a bang.

They’ll certainly turn a few heads. But what’s this got to go with Lambrettas? Nothing really. I’ll occasionally post about another marque that catches my eye. They’ve got a cool logo. And my Grandad used to ride one, way, way back. Enough reason for me.

Indian Motorcycles

Lambretta and a London Bus…

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Scooter and A Red Lodon Bus

Well, that’s what I thought when I first saw this pic… but that’s not a Lammie… too skinny a derriere for a Series 2… My guess would be an Agrati Capri… One of the few Lambretta & V*spa competitors that could hold a candle to them in the industrial design stakes.

Anyway, whatever the scooter, it’s a wonderful image, shot by davekpcv on Flickr.

iPhone dock Scooter Speedo

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Electric Scooter iPod dockFirstly, this was my idea… right. Someone has gone into my brain, probably while I was asleep… and nicked it. But mine was built into a Lambretta dashboard, either like the one you get on a Rallymaster to hold the clock and rev counter, or into the top of a legshield toolbox.

This blatant ripoff of my idea (if there are any lawyers reading, this is a pathetic attempt at humour!) is attached to a Japanese electric scooter, which doesn’t come from one of the big four (Honda, Yamaha, Suzuki and Kawasaki), but a company called Terra Motors. They’ve got a bit of a track record with electric vehicles, launching an electric TukTuk back in March.

Back to the iPod dock… doesn’t do too much really either shows you your speed, or how much charge there is left in the battery. I would be kind of cool to be able to switch to a sat nav mode, or blast some tunes out through some integrated speakers. Rigged up to a traditionally powered scoot you could show stuff like engine temperature, and revs too… all fairly easy to achieve I imagine. In fact, I bet someone’s already done this on a Lammie. If you know of it, let me know, I’d love to do a post on it.

So electric scooters. Cheap to run, less to go wrong, and once they’ve got the performance and range issues sorted out, I think a bit of a no brainer. They’re the future. Although I still prefer mine Lambretta shaped.

via C|Net

Lambretta LN ‘Pure Smithy’ Dealer Special

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I haven’t posted anything about the LN or it’s sibling modern Lambrettas* recently, as they’re not really my bag… and there hasn’t been anything new to report. I don’t know how they are selling, and I certainly haven’t seen one on the road, but I wish them well. If the marketing department at Motom* had any imagination, they’d sign up a Lambretta blogger, and let him (or her) have one for an extended test drive. Say six months. By the way… on the last count The Lambrettista blog is read in more than 70 countries. Just saying.

Lambretta LN Pure Smithy media-2 media-3 media media-4Anyway… at  but I thought this was quite interesting. Had to look twice at this LN on eBay. I thought it was an official Paul Smith licensed product, but it’s clearly a fairly clever knock off. I wouldn’t be totally surprised if Mr Smith had been involved, as he was allegedly a mod as a young man, and his work retains a certain ‘mod aesthetic’… but if he had it would have been all over the papers. Another marketing opportunity missed? There I go, off on a tangent again. Back to the original point of this post, which was, that the LN is now starting to appear in different incarnations, customised, much as dealers would customise ‘proper’ Lambrettas back in the day… I’ve no particular opinion on whether this is a good, or bad thing… it’s just interesting. Mildly. Well, I thought so. If it floats your boat, and you’ve got a spare £3k knocking around, you can get one here. And they’ll give you a fiver change. It’s being sold by the Pure Group, in Harrogate if you don’t do eBay.

Lambretta LN Union Flag $T2eC16F,!yME9s5qE+8bBRwI(Z6J+g~~_12 $(KGrHqNHJFYFG99q-4lfBRwI(,VRi!~~_12And if the Paul Smith look isn’t up your strasse… there’s a distressed union jack version. A bit ‘comedy mod’ for me, that one, I’m afraid.

*Motom Electronics Group are one of the claimants of the Lambretta name. There’s a trademark/license document here that explains it all in legalese. My thoughts can be found on this site if you stick Lambretta LN into the “handy searchbar” (that’s one for the “stuffyoushouldknow” podcast listeners).