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jimi
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,205 
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I like that style  In the Sixties they were known locally to me as "stripdowns" as you can see from the 2 either side of mine in the first pic I posted  |
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Black is not a colour ! .... Its the absence of colour
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I like that style In the Sixties they were known locally to me as "stripdowns" as you can see from the 2 either side of mine in the first pic I posted What made you not go down that style route? |
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jimi
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,205
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Out of a dozen or so guys I ran about with most had Series 2 Lambretta's, apart from one guy with a Vespa, one with an LD and myself with a Series 1, most of the series 2's were "stripdowns".
I was originally going to go that way, but having a Series 1 with the fixed headlight made it a bit awkward to get the look right, so I acquired a set of Series 2 handlebars. However by that time "stripdowns" were getting a bit common locally and I wanted to be different. So I then decided to see if I could fit them and keep the existing headlight, that went well and I ended up with both working. I really liked the look so kept it like that and the scooter sort of evolved from there.
It started life as White/Light Blue and went through a few colour changes, White/Purple, then White/Orange before ending up Blue /Orange, paintwork was inspired by a model I'd built years before of a Le Mans Porsche in Gulf racing livery, all the painting was done with household gloss paint, it was all we could afford at the time, we were all apprentices so money was tight. The aerial was a army surplus 2 section tank aerial, can't remember where the second rear light came from ( a motor bike I think) I do remember fitting a microswitch to the rear brake linkage and wiring it up to a dual filament bulb in it so I had a brake light.
The "Jimi" on the side panels was done for me by a friend of my Dads who was a signwriter by trade ( at the time he worked for GEC doing lettering on large electrical panels by hand) I watched him doing it and was gobsmacked by the skill he had, made it look so quick and effortless, easy even... when it's certainly not, as I found out when he let me try my hand on a bit of scrap.
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Last Edit: Jun 8, 2019 0:18:07 GMT by jimi
Black is not a colour ! .... Its the absence of colour
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Out of a dozen or so guys I ran about with most had Series 2 Lambretta's, apart from one guy with a Vespa, one with an LD and myself with a Series 1, most of the series 2's were "stripdowns". I was originally going to go that way, but having a Series 1 with the fixed headlight made it a bit awkward to get the look right, so I acquired a set of Series 2 handlebars. However by that time "stripdowns" were getting a bit common locally and I wanted to be different. So I then decided to see if I could fit them and keep the existing headlight, that went well and I ended up with both working. I really liked the look so kept it like that and the scooter sort of evolved from there. It started life as White/Light Blue and went through a few colour changes, White/Purple, then White/Orange before ending up Blue /Orange, paintwork was inspired by a model I'd built years before of a Le Mans Porsche in Gulf racing livery, all the painting was done with household gloss paint, it was all we could afford at the time, we were all apprentices so money was tight. The aerial was a army surplus 2 section tank aerial, can't remember where the second rear light came from ( a motor bike I think) I do remember fitting a microswitch to the rear brake linkage and wiring it up to a dual filament bulb in it so I had a brake light. The "Jimi" on the side panels was done for me by a friend of my Dads who was a signwriter by trade ( at the time he worked for GEC doing lettering on large electrical panels by hand) I watched him doing it and was gobsmacked by the skill he had, made it look so quick and effortless, easy even... when it's certainly not, as I found out when he let me try my hand on a bit of scrap. This is such a great insight, thanks for your input. I’m also a Signwriter myself with most of my work being done at the moment on Lambretta side panels 👍🏻👍🏻 |
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jimi
Club Retro Rides Member
Posts: 1,205
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I think it's great that your interested in the history, much of the grass-roots social history from this era will disappear when my generation is no longer around. Pictures are hard to come by, not everyone had a camera back then and it wasn't cheap to take pictures, you had to buy a camera and film and pay for developing, plus you couldn't preview the pictures so you were never sure how/if they would turn out, that said I kind of regret not taking more.
It's definitely much easier to document things now, forums and digital camera's / phones make things much easier, almost everyone has one. Just putting these posts up here has triggered memories of stuff I'd forgotten about, I now remember some of the guys fitting larger profile tyres to the rear to increase their top speed, I seem to remember you had to space the wheel very slightly to get clearance. IIRC Dave (the brown/yellow Li150 in my first picture) had one fitted, gained a few MPH in top speed but obviously lost at bit in acceleration. Here's another picture you might like that I came across
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Last Edit: Jun 9, 2019 21:38:59 GMT by jimi
Black is not a colour ! .... Its the absence of colour
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Jun 16, 2019 20:31:59 GMT |
I think it's great that your interested in the history, much of the grass-roots social history from this era will disappear when my generation is no longer around. Pictures are hard to come by, not everyone had a camera back then and it wasn't cheap to take pictures, you had to buy a camera and film and pay for developing, plus you couldn't preview the pictures so you were never sure how/if they would turn out, that said I kind of regret not taking more.
It's definitely much easier to document things now, forums and digital camera's / phones make things much easier, almost everyone has one. Just putting these posts up here has triggered memories of stuff I'd forgotten about, I now remember some of the guys fitting larger profile tyres to the rear to increase their top speed, I seem to remember you had to space the wheel very slightly to get clearance. IIRC Dave (the brown/yellow Li150 in my first picture) had one fitted, gained a few MPH in top speed but obviously lost at bit in acceleration. Here's another picture you might like that I came across Another quality pic mate. 400x10 rear tyre as appears to the regular 350x10 was another big thing of the late 70’s early 80’s scene. I have s couple of NOS ones to use on my builds. Glad this thread is bringing back some memories for you 👍🏻 |
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Jun 16, 2019 20:41:44 GMT |
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Jun 16, 2019 20:43:03 GMT |
Attacked it with a wire wheel on the grinder and the try horrors are revealed   |
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retrolegends
Club Retro Rides Member
Winging it.....Since 1971.
Posts: 3,697
Club RR Member Number: 94
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Jun 16, 2019 21:49:29 GMT |
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Keep the updates coming, how easy was the CBT? Been on about with a mate at work so I may be doing mine soon. 👍
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1974 Hillman Avenger 1500DL1992 Volvo 240SE1975 Datsun Cherry 100a flying custard1965 Hillman SuperMinx Rock N Roller1974 Austin Allegrat Mk1 1.3SDL1980 Austin Allegro Mk3 1.3L1982 Austin Allegro Mk3 on banded steels2003 Saab 9-3 Convertible 220bhp TurboNutter1966 Morris Minor 1000 (Doris) 2019 Abarth 595C Turismo (not retro but awesome fun) www.facebook.com/DatsunCherry100a |
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Keep the updates coming, how easy was the CBT? Been on about with a mate at work so I may be doing mine soon. 👍 It’s easy mate, this time was my third time over 19 years. Don’t think you can actually fail it |
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retrolegends
Club Retro Rides Member
Winging it.....Since 1971.
Posts: 3,697
Club RR Member Number: 94
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I keep looking at peds but I may as well get something a bit bigger, possibly a C90 if I can handle the power. 😂
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1974 Hillman Avenger 1500DL1992 Volvo 240SE1975 Datsun Cherry 100a flying custard1965 Hillman SuperMinx Rock N Roller1974 Austin Allegrat Mk1 1.3SDL1980 Austin Allegro Mk3 1.3L1982 Austin Allegro Mk3 on banded steels2003 Saab 9-3 Convertible 220bhp TurboNutter1966 Morris Minor 1000 (Doris) 2019 Abarth 595C Turismo (not retro but awesome fun) www.facebook.com/DatsunCherry100a |
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I keep looking at peds but I may as well get something a bit bigger, possibly a C90 if I can handle the power. 😂 It’s just the price of them now, they’ve really shot up |
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retrolegends
Club Retro Rides Member
Winging it.....Since 1971.
Posts: 3,697
Club RR Member Number: 94
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Jun 17, 2019 19:07:09 GMT |
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Yeah can’t believe how much a decent step through is now! At one time you could just drag one out of a hedge bottom! 😂
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1974 Hillman Avenger 1500DL1992 Volvo 240SE1975 Datsun Cherry 100a flying custard1965 Hillman SuperMinx Rock N Roller1974 Austin Allegrat Mk1 1.3SDL1980 Austin Allegro Mk3 1.3L1982 Austin Allegro Mk3 on banded steels2003 Saab 9-3 Convertible 220bhp TurboNutter1966 Morris Minor 1000 (Doris) 2019 Abarth 595C Turismo (not retro but awesome fun) www.facebook.com/DatsunCherry100a |
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Jun 17, 2019 21:47:22 GMT |
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CBT stands for compulsory basic training, you can't fail as it's not a test but if they feel you are not ready for the road they can make you come back for more training, the only good thing is it's the same price supposing you take one day or six.
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Last Edit: Jun 17, 2019 21:48:38 GMT by bugtastic: Spelling
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Jun 18, 2019 10:23:55 GMT |
Keep the updates coming, how easy was the CBT? Been on about with a mate at work so I may be doing mine soon. 👍 i passed mine on sunday, so it cant be that difficult. Basically three sections Carpark- learning clutch and handling, then steadily more 'difficult' manouveres, like emergency stop, slow riding, slalom and figure of 8 just to get you used to the bike, and plenty of random scooting about beforehand as well classroom- bit of law and highway code, roadcraft theory, stuff like positioning at junctions etc Road- two hours blatting about on roads with an instructor observing |
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lilbob
Part of things
Posts: 416
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Jun 18, 2019 18:13:48 GMT |
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Did my CBT in February 2018 and haven't looked back
IV just about saved the money for my full bike test
If I can figure out how to post pics from my phone I'll post a few pics of my bikes if anyone is interested
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More terrible repairs unearthed. Think I’m going to cut my losses and swap the seat loop over with one I have.   As you can see pretty bad and the time and effort to fix isn’t worth it. |
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Keep the updates coming, how easy was the CBT? Been on about with a mate at work so I may be doing mine soon. 👍 i passed mine on sunday, so it cant be that difficult. Basically three sections Carpark- learning clutch and handling, then steadily more 'difficult' manouveres, like emergency stop, slow riding, slalom and figure of 8 just to get you used to the bike, and plenty of random scooting about beforehand as well classroom- bit of law and highway code, roadcraft theory, stuff like positioning at junctions etc Road- two hours blatting about on roads with an instructor observing I "failed" mine back in 1997 - a figure of 8 on a drizzly playground with wet leaves scattered over wasn't the best environments for an 18 year old completely new to any forms of motor vehicle. i was in catch 22 situation that the only practising i could do would have been off road or illegal and i didn't want to screw up my freshly restored 57 vespa and the cbt was on proper bikes with pedal gear change etc that i couldn't get the hang of. In hindsight i should have started out with a little moped in the local park. any way still enjoying the various scootering photos past and present in this thread.  |
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Jun 24, 2019 14:30:32 GMT |
i passed mine on sunday, so it cant be that difficult. Basically three sections Carpark- learning clutch and handling, then steadily more 'difficult' manouveres, like emergency stop, slow riding, slalom and figure of 8 just to get you used to the bike, and plenty of random scooting about beforehand as well classroom- bit of law and highway code, roadcraft theory, stuff like positioning at junctions etc Road- two hours blatting about on roads with an instructor observing I "failed" mine back in 1997 - a figure of 8 on a drizzly playground with wet leaves scattered over wasn't the best environments for an 18 year old completely new to any forms of motor vehicle. i was in catch 22 situation that the only practising i could do would have been off road or illegal and i didn't want to screw up my freshly restored 57 vespa and the cbt was on proper bikes with pedal gear change etc that i couldn't get the hang of. In hindsight i should have started out with a little moped in the local park. any way still enjoying the various scootering photos past and present in this thread. Sent you an Instagram link 😉 |
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In the Sixties they were known locally to me as "stripdowns" as you can see from the 2 either side of mine in the first pic I posted 
