Kickstart

Welcome to the informative front section of Scootering, jam-packed full of useful stuff from news and reviews to products tested, opinions, readers’ letters, Dave’s Nostalgic Custom Corner, music reviews and plenty more besides.

As of May 2015, SIP Scootershop’s tubeless wheel rims for Lambretta and Vespa scooters have been approved for use on German roads. This may not sound like a big deal to British readers, but in Germany the laws are very strict with regards to what aftermarket parts you are allowed to fit to your scooter, even down to your choice of wheels.

As such, these have until now been sold as ‘not for road use’ and while this hasn’t bothered us here in Blightly, it’s not ideal for SIP’s local customers. Therefore they went to the effort and expense (and it isn’t easy or cheap) of getting both the Lambretta and Vespa types of rims tested to the approval of their local TUV (the Germany version of our Department of Transport), and while they were at it SIP has been verified by the German ministry of transport and is now recognised as an approved vehicle component manufacturer.

So, the new SIP Vespa rims have got the German KBA number 50133 or 50163 depending on whether they are 2.10 x 10 or wider 2.50 x 10 size, while the forthcoming batch of Lambretta rims will be marked 50164.

The Lambretta rims come with nuts, Nord-Lock washers and replacement longer studs for your hub, while the Vespa rims retail slightly cheaper (prices start at around £49) as they don’t need the studs.

SIP has also modified the Vespa rim slightly with a cut out to pass a small lock/security cable through, a suitable Abus cable lock from SIP costing £29.98. www.sip-scootershop.com