Dave’s Nostalgic Custom Corner

Tracking down classic custom scooters isn’t easy, but thankfully nostalgia bloodhound Dave Oakley knows all the right people in all the right places

This month’s trip down memory lane from DNCC is the stunning… Hard to Handle

Acouple of months ago I featured the very tidy French cutdown Le Bic, originally built by scooter ‘artiste’ Nico Lebreton. Anyhow, whilst researching it, and speaking to the builder, I realised that this wasn't the only memorable machine that Nico had built. A couple of years later he had also opened up a whole new scooter customising genre with his 'wideboy' stunner, ‘Bad Man’, which was on the front cover of this magazine’s number 193 issue. I knew it had been sold on, but had no idea where or what condition it was now. After a quick email I was back on its trail, tracking it down to wildest Wiltshire and new owner, Chris Aspinal.

I’m looking forward to seeing this beauty again once all the updates have been completed, but for now let’s take a look at the history of ‘Bad Man’. Dave O

Owner’s Name/Nickname: Chris Aspinall, ‘Big Chris’ Hometown: Chippenham, Wiltshire Scooter Club: Exit 17 SC Scooter Name: ‘Bad Man’, named after the Cockney Rejects ballard of the same name Engine: Originally standard 200 with Nico modified exhaust. Now it has a Pinasco 225 top end, 60mil crank and Pinasco 26mm SI carb. Exhaust will be a RH Evo2, but we're still waiting on that Paint: Originally by a local garage in Dieppe What condition was the scooter in when you got it:

Fairly good, but it was in need of updating. Although I carried this out myself, I have taken advice and input from Nico with regards to what would work What have you had done to it, or plan to do since

owning: Complete strip down and re-build, many new parts including wheels, shocks, and exhaust. I have also raised the handlebars up a bit for riding comfort

Do you still do rallies: Yes, when I can What other scooters do you own: Chrome cutdown TS1 225 and ‘Baby Blue’. The latter has been recently stripped down and should be resprayed by the time you read this

Funny scootering story: When I went to France to purchase ‘Bad Man’ I borrowed my mate’s van. Upon returning to the UK, we (me and the missus) were pulled over for a security check by customs. They thought the fact that we were in a borrowed van with just a bright yellow stretched Vespa in it was a bit suspicious, so they asked if the scooter had any drugs hidden on or in it. I replied as a joke: “No, but if you find any, can I sample them?” As you can imagine, this didn’t go down too well, and they said they were thinking of stripping both the van and scooter completely – great! I said, “Feel free to have a look as you won’t find anything!” Finally they decided to simply move us on, drama over, but as we looked back there was a massive queue with some very disgruntled holidaymakers held up by our stop! Funny when you look back

Favourite Event Ever: Any SWSC Woolacombe rallies

Favourite Custom Scooter Ever: To be honest I know it sounds biased, but my favourite scooter is my TS1 Favourite Dealer: I normally surf the net for parts, but do use Neil Wicks (who works on my Lambretta and everyone else's in our town and area) quite a lot

Anything else that might be relevant: The base model was a Vespa ACMA 125, made under licence in France in 1955. Build started in 1996 and took 5 years to complete. Everything was done by Nico. The goal was to try and give it an original, but quality look – mudguard, panels, forks, handlebars, centre tank, belly pan and exhaust were all hand fabricated. All the stretching and frenching was also done in-house.