Flippin’ cold this morning

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Minus 3. Both my throttle and gears were frozen solid on the handlebars… juducious use of teh old WD40 and a towel heated in the microwave did the trick. Mind you by the time I got to work my fingertips were like ice – despite my winter gloves. Anyway, reminded me of the Cold Weather Challenge run by the guys over at 2StrokeBuzz… Check it out, and if you’re one of my readers in ‘the colonies’, why not give it a go? But if you do… stay warm, scoot safe. 

Btw… the blogs not dead… got lots to post, it’s just getting round to it between work and family. 
Interesting post to come about the ‘new’ (when does it stop being the new Lambretta??) Lambretta LN, from someone who’s actually got one… and has had a long correspondence with the Lambretta Consortium over ‘brand Lambretta”. Which I’ll stick up when I get my arse in gear. Which is even trickier than getting my scooter in gear when it’s minus three. (see what I did there?).

A New York scooter rideout

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<p>A NEW YORK DAY TO FAR ROCKAWAY from Naoto Ono on Vimeo

From NYC to Rockaway beach, beautifully shot. Looks like a fun day fellas. Nice soundtrack too.

Rare tartan ‘deerstalker’ helmet on eBay

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You’d need to be a certain kind of person to pull off wearing this; and probably need a nice LD or Series I with period tartan seat covers and wheel covers to go with it. Personally, although a proud scot, I was never sure about the tartan accessories that you could ‘dress’ your scooter with, but it’s a look, and when it’s done well it certainly evokes the era of the scooter. 

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And I’ve never been convinced about deerstalkers. Unless your Sherlock Holmes, leave well alone. I know some of the original mods wore them (briefly!), and there was a bit of a fad for them in the early ’80’s… very much part of the “casual” movement… worn with belted, burgundy leather jackets, very pale jeans frayed at the bottom and kickers. Or perhaps I’m getting all of that wrong, the casual thing never really grabbed me, I stuck with my charity shop/carnaby street mod revival look. Anyway, if I was going to wear a deerstalker, one in Cameron tartan (which I think this is) would come close to top of the list. 

But if you’ve got the cojones to pull it off, here’s the bash hat that will make you stand out in the crowd. Although I certainly wouldn’t reccomend it for everyday wear. Buy it now for £160 on eBay.
I reckon it will go to Japan. They like this sort of thing out there!

Model D Racer Replica for sale

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A bit of a palette cleanser after that horrible Pato in the last post… there’s a lovey replica of a Model D racer for sale over at Car & Classic. Not a genuine racer, but built on a genuine D frame, with, what looks like to me, a good eye for detail. Now there are those of you who’ll think D’s should only be seen in that drab olive green / khaki / pale grey colour they were originally sold in… and not messed about with in any way… but I love this “corsa” look…

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While I’m on the subject, I’ve seen a D repainted in GP Orange and it was a revelation, the machine looked almost modern, and you could see a definite lineage between it and a Luna. Concours? No. Original? No. Desirable? Yes, to me anyway. What do you think? Go on, don’t be shy…

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If you’re interested, it’s going for £3,750 (ONO)… which I think is a bit of a bargain, personally. Something a bit different, I reckon it would be pretty rideable on todays roads, and a real head turner at rallies.

If you’re interested, here’s the link.

Lambretta. Not.

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Whatever you feel about the Lambretta LN and it’s siblings, at least some attempt has been made to echo some classic Lambretta styling. Which is more than can be said for this monstrosity. When I saw it, I got a little bit of sick in the back of my throat. It’s marketed as “Brand new Mod Vintage Lambretta ‘PATO’ Scooter Blue 151CC RRP- £3,900.00… Limited Vintage Edition Grab One For Yourself” I’d highly recommend that you DON’T.

This has less Lambretta DNA than a Lada, and all the street cred of a Disney character comedy tie. 

Get a proper Lambretta, get a LN, get a V*spa, for gawd sake… get a cheap Chinese twist’n’go… but avoid this. Seriously. I’m not going to even stick the eBay link up. 

 

Lambretta model C bits on eBay

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I don’t usually post parts I’ve found on eBay up here, but these are sufficiently rare… well… you don’t see Model C bits coming up all that often do you? A couple wheel rims, a hub and a shock, If you’ve got a “C” it’s probably worth snapping them up, even if you don’t need them right now. Fella’s also flogging a couple of LD carbs. Just a bit of a heads up! Link, or search for Morris5901 on eBay.

Amphibious Lambretta

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I’d seen this video a while ago… but it’s worth a post if only for it’s “Mr Chummley-Warner” style narration! 

New record for riding a Lammie no handed

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Don’t try this at home kids!

Lussio Lisarelli from Gubbio, in Italy had a liver transplant a few years ago. He wanted to show the world what 70 year old transplant survivors could do. So he decided to go for the world record for riding a Lambretta, without using your hands. Like you do. 

Suffice it to say, he did it, travelling 1,150 metres, and exceeding 13 minutes. No handed. On a Lambretta. For the technically minded who wnat to work out how he did it I’m going to cut and paste directly from the “To lead 2 stroke” (Italian) vintage scooter blog where I found the story.

“Lucio part, meshes with the gears up to the 2nd or 3rd as needed, and then locks the knob with a rubber band already rolled up on the handlebar”

You might understand that, but I’m none the wiser. Sounds dangerous enough without locking your knob up with an elastic band… but I think it may just be lost in (Google) translation 🙂

Ultimate oddball scooter collection up for grabs…

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We’ve all been there, garageful of scooters (I wish!) and a nagging missus… when you going to get rid of those bloody things… you never ride all of them… Well one guy (it’s got to be a bloke really) is selling his collection of Scoots and Microcars on eBay. 47 of them. That rather puts the Lambretta collection I posted previously fade into insignificance. 

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There’s a huge collection of what I, rather patriosingly, call “oddballs”… everything from Bernadet’s to Zundapps, and everything inbetween. Well, nearly everything… there are a couple of famous marques, notably Lambretta and V*spa, missing from this collection. I bet a) he doesn’t like V*spa’s, and b) he’s keeping his Lambrettas :). (Although there is an NSU Lambretta in the mix) Many of the scoots are sidecar combinations and/or trailers. There are even a couple of microcars in the mix, a Goggomobile Coupé and a Goggo Limousine. I’m uncertain as to what a Goggo Limousine is (although I’m guessing limousine is probably overegging it somewhat), but a Goggo Coupé is one of the prettiest microcars made, in my ever so humble.

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So if you fancy a Czeta 502, a IWL Berlin, a Maicoletta or MV Augusta… or one of the 43 other scoots, stick your bids in here. There’s a fairly decent British contingent in there; a brace of Triumphs, a Velocette and Osa. You’ll need fairly deep pockets though, as it’s currently sitting at € 46,000 Update:  it’s up to € 52,000 and I don’t think that’s STILL anywhere near the reserve. And no, he doesn’t want to split them.

I reckon this lot will be snapped up by a transport museum somewhere… probably in the states.

Full details are worth checking out, even if you’re not going to put a bid in! 

I may just buy an extra lottery ticket this weekend. You never know.

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The London 2012 Olympic Ceremony – from the back of a scooter

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Told you there’d be scooters. Amazing vid from one of the lucky few who rode around the Olympic Stadium on Sunday night.