A warm welcome to April issue of Scootering.

Ihad my mind on costs recently, mostly because I’m attempting to put all my recently accumulated knowledge on paint spraying into effect. The subject matter is my 1969 GP125 and I’m now trying to practise what I preach. The ‘guide to painting’ series we ran was well received, and I encouraged readers to give it a go, so now I’m having a crack myself. Anyone who’s done a full restoration will know just how easy it is to let costs run away with you when you want to fit all the newest and shiniest bits.

I am therefore determined to reuse as much of the original machine as I can and stick to the budget. With this in mind, it is rather timely that we’re running the ‘Bargain Hunt’ feature on page 52 this month, in which owner Gary Powell has repeated the ‘budget’ mantra and built up a lovely trio of scooters for a price lower than some owners spend on a single machine!

I intend to do an old school bore and porting job to the 125cc cylinder, to see what I can get out of it… but every night when I go to sleep, all I see is cylinder kits and expansion chambers. Stay strong young Jedi!

But that’s enough of my budget-related ramblings, this month we’ve another jampacked edition: the lead scooter is the stunning ‘Rattler’ painted by DDK and owned by Scootermaniacs club member Dave Ridge. The paintwork is so good I worked up a thirst just looking at it! Bodger is back on the rant this month too; I’ll leave you guys to respond via the letters page as usual.

Jamie brings us the highlights of the Scooterist Meltdown in Germany, and Paul Green enters ‘Scootering Room 101’. Stan’s been busy too – getting up close and personal with Manish Mittal of Uni-Auto to get the latest on their new range of Lambretta and Vespa products. It’s great to see so much quality stuff being produced and our Dealer Spotlight at Buzzsolomoto is filled with Spanish gold. There’s a ton more besides, but I’ll let you unearth it at your own pace. It’s another belter this month… enjoy the issue.