Clobber? Check. Scooter? Check. Pipe? Maybe lose the pipe. Though sucking a thoughtful pipe immediately makes you look more intelligent. Ok. Keep the pipe. Maybe I should get one…
Flakey Framebreather
1
MetalFlakey that is. I think this is what you’d call a ‘real bobby dazzler’ gold and copper metalflake on S1 Framebreather. Spotted this on beauty on eBay… it’s in just finished condition and got a Stage 4, 200cc engine in, so the performance won’t be a let down. I know this is a late 50’s scoot… but for me, it’s got a bit of a 70’s vibe about it. In a good way. If Brian Connolly rode a Lammy, it would look like this. A Sweet ride.
You like? Buy it on eBay here. Go on, treat yourself.
Matched set
There’s some nice machines in the Britanny Ferries sponsored Retrozone at the Motorcycle Live. The star of the stand is clearly the “matching pair” of a ’64 150 Special and a ’74 Mk1 Escort RS2000… what a classic combo. There are also a brace of “Fizzies” and Fizzy competitors from Suzuki and Honda. All bikes I didn’t rate too highly ‘back in the day’ but they seem to have improved with age… or I’ve mellowed.
The Motorcycle Live show is on at the NEC, Birmingham, until the 1st of December.
Lambrettista. Now with added Facebookyness.
In exciting developments today*, it was announced that the Lambrettista blog (this one) was getting it’s own Facebook page. It’s here. So you can follow, like, Share and do all that stuff there, too. The WordPress blog aint going anywhere, and it’s where most of the detail will be… but I was getting a hell of a lot of traffic from Facebook, (Especailly when the nice people at Scomadi and The Rimini Lambretta Centre linked to my posts on their FB pages) it’s silly not too.
Pop over and “Like” me on Facebook here: https://www.facebook.com/LambrettistaBlog
*I know, it’s not exciting to anyone. Except me. A bit.
The $200,000 Lambretta
Well, $209,000 actually. But when you’re spending that much, the $9k in pocket change. Anyway, it’s (another) “Jimmy” replica (from Quadrophenia). That’s right. You read it correctly… it’s not even the ORIGINAL scooter from the film… that one (this one) sold for a mere £36,ooo back in June. But, in case I’m sounding a little unenthusiastic about it, there was an excellent reason this scoot fetched so much… it was for a good cause… the (RED) Charity… in an auction curated by Apple’s head of design Sir Jonatan Ive. And it is signed by Roger Daltrey and Pete Townsend. Ok, so it’s a true “pop icon”, I can see the appeal. And you could buy half a dozen absolutely top notch Lammies for the price of this one. Make that a dozen. But that’s not the point is it
If yore interested in the actual scooters that were in the film, there’s is an excellent site, VCB160 that tracks the history of the two main scooters in Quadrophenia; Jimmy’s Lambretta and Sting’s “GS” Vespa (which is actually a Vespa Rally, made to look like a GS).
via ScooterFile
Original Innocenti Twin SX200 prototype being restored by the RLC
Twin cylinder Lambretta’s are something most Lambrettisti have at least heard of, if not seen in the flesh. The most well known being the 250cc Targa Twin engines. What some people maybe don’t realise is this engine is based on a Innocenti original… and prototype twin cylindered SX200’s were developed and built in Milan.
Two of these ultra rare beasts are owned by Lambretta maestro Vittorio Tessera, (head of Casa Lambretta, author of many Lambretta books), one of which is on display in his Lambretta Museum. The other? It had the engine removed years ago, and hasn’t run since it left Innocenti. But all that is going to change.
Impressed with the painstaking “conserved restoration” The Rimini Lambretta Centre carried out on the original 1960 Roma Olympics Series 2, (see my previous post about these beauties), Sig. Tessera commisioned Dean and the team at the RLC to do a similar job on the twin. As pretty much a “one off” – it differs significantly in configuration from it’s contemporaneous partner – it presents an immense challenge; but one that the RLC are more than a match for. This is one to watch. I can’t wait to see, and hear, this historic machine running.
BIG thanks to Dean from the RLC, for helping me put this post together, and proofing my ramblings.
Find out more on the Rimini Lambretta Site.
Lambretta Shot
Not a lot to add to this, but a nice shot of a nice scoot. By Keith Nairn, on Flickr, his photostream is worth checking out if you, like me, like classic bikes (some nice Laverdas for instance) and other mechanical ‘boys toys’.
Mad Bixby Moto’s Deathdealer II Scootercycle with Sidecar
No, it’s not a Lammie. But it looks a lot of fun. The result of a “build-off” competition run by Dues Customs, and made from a Honda Z50 found in a skip, and a junked engine from a Chinese scooter, along with a bunch of other scrap (total budget $158), produced this wonderfully original little machine. The “hilarious” video (you may want to substitute the word “hilarious” with the word “annoying”) shows the scoots capabilities off pretty well. Although I preferred to watch it with the sound off after about 30 seconds, although I may just be experiencing a temporary sense of humour failure.
Bixby Moto specialise in monkey bikes, customs and racers… check out their website here. There’s some lovely little beasties on there.
Via Scooterfile,
DL200 Electronic for Sale
I posted a DL (GP) 200 Electronic on the bloat back in July, with the description “rare as a Spitfire” … well, here’s another , on eBay. If you’ve got deep pockets and you know your Lambrettas, this could be the one for you. It’s on sale in Walton-on-Thames, which is where I live too… unfortunately, it’s not mine!
Here’s the eBay link
Scomadi update… with rough pricing and first delivery dates
My post about the Lambretta lookalike Scomadi scooter from Lambretta Innovations was the most popular single article I’ve ever posted on the Lambrettista blog, so there’s obviously a great deal of interest in this lovely looking GP inspired machine. 
Below are some more pics, showing, I think, the general high level of finish, and quality of materials used. This isn’t something that’s been bolted together from a parts bin, it’s been designed (albeit based on a Bertone original, but hey, if you’re going to imitate somebody Bertone is not a bad place to start), refined, and refined again. The refining process isn’t quite finished yet, as there are a few more tweaks before the Scomadi hits full production. And that’s not far off. They’re talking about “early spring” for the first deliveries, and seeing as we are nearly in December now, that’s not too long to wait.
Regarding pricing, word is that the 50cc should come in at around £1800, the 125 version at something over £2000 depending on the exact spec required. So not outrageously expensive, and certainly more affordable than I was expecting. No word yet on the flagship TL300, although that will clearly be the most expensive of the range. These aren’t official figures yet, so hold fire before popping down to see the bank manager. As before, keep track of the latest developments on the Scomadi website, or their Facebook page.
UPDATE: There’s a good article in this months SCOOTERING Magazine, with an interview from Paul Melici, one half of the partnership behind the Scomadi scooter. There’s a bit more info there, so get down to your newsagents and bag yourself a copy. But remember where you read it FIRST 🙂
On a related note, fans of the “new Lambretta” the LN, may be pleased to hear that there may be positive news on this soon. Legal battles with holders of the Lambretta brand name seem to be finally coming to a conclusion, so we may be seeing more about these well reviewed machines again soon. Not everyone’s cup of tea, I know, but an official Lambretta is not a bad thing in my book, even if it simply serves as a “gateway drug” to an original classic 🙂
lambrettista.net 