Crime Lord – custom scooter
In or out of the ring, this beast is a knockout.
The gangsters
Twin brothers Ronnie and Reggie Kray were born in Hoxton, London, on October 24, 1933. Their career and pastimes are now legendary after being made into films and numerous books. They were known for being boxers, night club owners, celebrities, gangsters, racketeers and murderers to name but a few. They were arrested on May 8, 1968, and after a lengthy trial they were convicted and sent to prison in 1969 to start their respective life sentences. There’s not much about the twins the public doesn’t already know, and that probably makes the subject matter for this scooter all the more recognisable. Ronnie died on March 17, 1995, and Reggie followed on October 1, 2000, but the legend and people’s fascination with the twins lives on.
The scooters
The Kray twins have influenced quite a few custom scooters over the years and this most recent one belongs to John Benson from Leyland in Lancashire. But that’s not how the situation started out. A chap by the name of Scott Sheedy originally commissioned the scooter to be built, employing the services of Troy at Serious Scootering in Preston. Scott originally purchased a donor Lambretta GP200 from Troy for the project, and at this point he already had the basic idea/concept for the machine fairly well planned out in his head. But Scott needed some extra input for the details though, and so embarked
My loyalty to my brother is how I measure myself
on a large amount of brainstorming and idea development with (now owner) John Benson.
At the time John was working at Serious Scootering, and so with his input a fuller and broader vision for the custom scooter was agreed upon. To start, the scooter was stripped back to bare metal, the usual dry build and panel beating/ fettling took place, before it was then brought back to life by the skilful application of a BMW metallic ruby black basecoat, which was laid down by Troy. After that, the awesome artwork was airbrushed on by Alan Smallwood, and detailed engraving was entrusted to the master: Don Blocksidge. Chroming was completed by Midas Touch to their usual high standard, and one-off custom parts and accessories were provided by Keith Newman at K2 custom classics. The engine unit is a straightforward, tried and tested, TS1 unit. The popular JL3 and Dellorto carb combination was used, along with an Italian Li150 gearbox and up-geared chain/sprockets.
That kind of spec is standard issue for so many mile-munching Lambrettas: nothing fancy, just proven combinations on a fair budget. The project was started by Troy in October 2015 and completed by March 2016. Since then… despite all the hard work and the scooter’s great looks, it has not become a ‘trophy scooter’ which just sits at home. John gets out and thrashes it mercilessly at every opportunity. The scooter definitely has that ‘lived in’ look, or as so many like to say: ridden not hidden.
Not long after completion Scott found himself in the unfortunate position that many scooters owners do from time-to-time, and he had to let the scooter go.
The departure – to a home from home
Not long after completion Scott found himself in the unfortunate position that many scooters owners do from time-to-time, and he had to let the scooter go. So he asked Troy to put it up for sale in his shop, and this is where it inevitably came to the attention of John Benson. With John having had such a large input into the design and craft of this awesome custom, he felt a very personal connection to the scooter and without too much hesitation bought it for himself. It can often feel a bit like owning someone else’s shoes when a custom scooter is purchased, but the personal connection freed John of any such worries and made the transaction a no-brainer. Being a relatively fresh build a scooter hasn’t been seen out much so far but John plans to take Crime Lord on its maiden voyage to Bridlington later this year. Words: Kris Green
Photographs: George Ellis