Pete Quaife Vespa

attended a Kinks concert. In 1965 a young Steve Henman time remains to this The influenceit had on him at the a stunning scooter day – so much so that he now owns of the Vespa SS180 which replicates the later version Pete Quaife. once owned by Kinks bass

SS180 tribute: Steve Henman's scooter tribute to the legendary Kinks guitarist

Steve's story begins in 1965 when he used to watch 16-year-old Mods riding their scooters to school, thinking they looked so cool and lucky enough to be able to do so. He was only 13 at the time, so wasn't old enough to own one himself.

That all changed in 1968 when he bought his first scooter, a Lambretta TV175 S2, which cost him £65. Steve remembers it fondly: “When I first got the scooter, I had a company respray it and also refurbish the top end for me. When it was returned, I went for my first ride at night. All was good until I rode from a street-lit road on to a country road; my front light beam hadn't been adjusted properly and was pointing upwards, so I couldn't see where I was going! I subsequently hit the kerb with the front wheel and came off the bike, crumpling the nearside legshields and damaging the front crash bar and front light unit – I could have cried…”

ALL DAY AND ALL OF THE NIGHT

Steve also has strong memories of his first scooter-related event – the 1970 Shepton Mallet Bath Blues Festival (the forerunner of Glastonbury).

Reflecting on his adventure he said: “I went on my TV175 with my brother and two friends on their scooters (Lambretta GT200 (TV200), Li150 S2 and Li150 Pacemaker). In 1970 the M4 motorway wasn't complete and from Cardiff you could only join it at Newport. The overall distance to the festival was about 70 miles.

“When we were within about three miles of the Royal Bath and West Showground (where the festival was being held) all the roads and country lanes were blocked by cars, vans and fans on foot, so we were forced to walk our scooters to the venue gates. We had anticipated we might get some strange looks as we were ‘Mods on scooters', whereas the vast majority of fans were hippies; however we hadn't anticipated the Hell's Angels on motorbikes and their aggressive stance towards us!

“We did eventually get to the venue safely and quickly learnt that the festival had catered for 150,000 fans attending, but due to the popularity of the event, those without entry tickets had breached the perimeter fences and it was estimated that 250,000 people attended. The overcrowding created major problems for camping space, shortages of food and drink, plus the lack of toilet facilities. On top of this, bands and their equipment had difficulties in reaching the event, resulting in some of the bigger bands resorting to using helicopters. The whole situation was compounded by torrential rain storms throughout the weekend, which only added to the logistical delay in getting bands on to the stage on time.

“However, even with all the difficulties and discomfort, it was all worthwhile as we got to see and hear the likes of Pink Floyd, Jefferson Airplane, Steppenwolf, Fairport Convention, Santana, The Byrds, Led Zeppelin and many more!”