Things we now know…
The last 12 months have certainly been interesting, with massive changes taking place in the UK, Europe, America – indeed the whole world. More than ever, current events mean that things never stand still but here six things we’ve learned about scootering
■ Brexit is potentially bad for scooter prices as currency fluctuations make imported parts more expensive. The pound hasn’t fully recovered following its rapid drop in value in June so this is pushing up prices for both quality Italian parts as well as the Indian parts arriving here. The jury is out though on whether importing of scooters will be helped or hindered if regulations change, assuming Brexit actually happens! Hopefully sterling will gradually recover over time and we won’t notice the increases so much!
■ Engine technology continues apace with some very high quality casings, barrels, brakes, hubs and pretty much everything you need to make your scooter faster and more reliable. Manufacturers in the UK and Europe have continued to invest heavily in developing new products to continue to push retro scooters forward. Every month it seems there’s a major new development with very high quality parts arriving thick and fast. The concept of an off the shelf 40hp+ complete engine is tantalisingly close. These developments show the enduring popularity of the humble Lambretta is not fading. If we didn’t know it at the start of 2016 we certainly knew by the end that the future for performance scooter engines is rosy – as long as two-strokes aren’t banned!
■ Retro is Dazzling for sure, there have been a few high profile reinventions of classic scooters and more in the pipeline. The fantastic job done on the Lambretta custom scooter Dazzle has turned heads and dropped jaws all year. There are other similar retrospectives on the way I’m sure. I overheard a conversation effectively saying that maybe customisers were running out of ideas, but I don’t think that’s the case. Certain scooters from the 1980s and 90s were absolute classics and recreating them with a modern twist and added technology simply adds to their legendary status. The fact that they still feel ‘current’ is testament to their original quality, so expect to see more of this.
■ Italians are very fast when it comes to racing scooters. At times in 2016 the Italian Casa Team were absolutely dominating the BSSO race series. The Italians brought style, red wine and a ham slicer as well as speed to these shores but at the same time they embraced the UK riders in a spirit of friendship. The Italians have some very different tuning methods but their riders were simply amazing and spectacular to watch. But the best British riders upped their game and chased them very hard. Expect to see some of the Italians’ developments and engine parts being used more widely in the coming years.
■ Old school is cool. Despite the new technology arriving there is also a trend towards really solid more basic old school and rustoration scooters. Retaining a scooter in its used state, with paintwork patina intact is increasingly popular with many people. Most scooter rallies see an increasing number of scooters in the ‘rustoration’ category. Sometimes these have trick engines underneath the battered or rusty paint but more often they have with relatively standard engine specifications. We even see new paintwork distressed to appear old and battered. It’s an interesting contrast to the show and shine scooters.
■ Home engineering is alive and strong with as many riders as ever interested to learn and do their own mechanics and engineering. The programme of technical articles and workshop ideas that feature in every edition of Scootering are very popular and demand has grown for both basic and more advanced information. The continuing growth of high quality tuning parts makes it ever easier for engines to be build in a home workshop from quality parts. The experienced home mechanic can build an engine using off the shelf tuned parts to give power and reliability that would have been very hard to achieve years ago and without getting grinding and tuning tools out.
It’s been a great Scootering year in these ever changing times, and its going to be interesting to see what 2017 brings to make scooters ever better! Paul Green