LAMBRETTA CLUTCH ASSIST
Like many ageing scooterists who travel across the country for rallies, one niggling problem I have is with my Lambretta clutch; sometimes it’s too much, due to the lack of mobility in my fingers and hands. Arthritis is something a lot of riders come up against after years covering your clutch lever just in case you seize your Lammie; you want to be ready to pull in the clutch lever to save destroying a piston and barrel (if you’re lucky).
Over the last few years I've been watching with interest the different designs of the clutch additions for Lambrettas, ranging from complete cassettetype clutches, to replacement pivot arm and a splined rod (like the set-up in the Casa sidecasings). There's a few to choose from and the cost of them is just as extreme from one design to another.
Taking my time to decide on what to fit that will assist with my issues of aching fingers due to a stiff clutch lever, I spotted a post on social media by someone who has already had similar problems.
Derek (Del) Dowling is 70 years young and took to riding scooters back in 1968 when he purchased his first two-wheeled machine (a GS160 Mk2) while serving a five-year apprenticeship as a toolmaker precision engineer. At 25, Del left the toolmaking industry to become a design engineering draughtsman, which eventually helped him get a position at Ford's Dunton Research and Engineering Centre as a design and development engineer, up until he retired.
Del suffered from pains/arthritis in his hand after a long ride and researching it he found a clutch modification that worked with the GP Lambretta sidecasing. Being an engineer, he explained the technical design of a rack and pinion type, which he found to be a good design – but it cost him £400 by the time he'd purchased the sidecasing and all the other parts associated with its fitting. Explaining that he had two other scooters with Quattrini engines fitted that had stiffer-than-standard clutches, he had to do something to them to make them more rideable. Looking at a cost of £1200 for all three I can see why he set about putting his past skill set to the test.
A LIGHTBULB MOMENT
Del came up with what he thought was a decent first idea, but found the difficult part of the design was making it small enough to fit between the clutch adjuster set-up and the clutch lever arm (there's a lack of space in this area on a Lambretta and it can be very fiddly to say the least, especially when a cable snaps and you're on the roadside in the rain, trying to thread the inner in the eye of a trunnion while traffic splashes you.
The final design, Del told me, was way overengineered and very expensive to produce; although it was only intended for himself and possibly some fellow clubmates, that didn't matter that much. The prototype really worked from the off and as proof has stayed on that machine for two years, only being removed recently for him to photograph the new Mk3 version.
Because the first version was so impressive and worked so well, he received lots of encouragement from his clubmates and decided to set about a redesign to cut the cost of production with maybe selling a few. The pulley wheel idea was created, which fitted in the available space much better.
When I saw the simplicity of the product recently, I had to agree with Del, who said: “For something that looks so simple, the clutch assist is amazing really. The advantages of it are more than just a lighter clutch lever; it also feels smoother to operate, reduces any snatch and more importantly, possibly makes it almost impossible to snap your clutch cable due to the mechanics of the unique design.”
Del admitted he was a little slow off the mark in getting himself organised for any sales of the first production run; a friend posted it up on social media before he was actually ready to put them out there for sale in the way he'd planned. So it was a rush to get the first ones packaged up without proper instructions, etc, and he then had to start selling them.
THE WAY TO GO
Selling the clutch assist kit across various Lambretta social media scooter pages, Del felt it was the most honest way he could put them out there to fellow scooterists.
If the product wasn't any good, or not good enough, he thought the hard-to-please side of scootering would shoot it down and he'd simply just not sell any more. Also, if it proved to be not practical for most scooterists to use, then he wouldn't want to sell them to fellow Lambretta riders anyway.
How wrong could he have been; from the very start, he was selling them as fast as he could produce them. As the kit evolved with the ongoing improvements to its present Mk3 production version, total sales so far are coming up to 600 units.
One thing that amazed Del was the actual size of the scootering world; he's selling kits to most of the countries in Europe, the US, South America, Indonesia, Japan and Taiwan; the list is endless.
Other scooter products have been produced over recent years (like the bridge kits to make it easier to remove rear footboards for repairs), but this clutch assist kit is just the thing that riders need. Priced at £28, they're simple to fit and will make riding your Lambretta much more enjoyable.
I was sent a kit to review and having a good look over the kit's parts, they're really well made; from the pulley wheel and the cable trunnion stand, everything works well and nothing had to be altered to make it fit to my standard SX200 engine set-up.
One thing that is required (Del puts this in the kit) is an extra-long clutch inner cable. A standard clutch inner would not be long enough to double-back from the pulley to fit through the provided trunnion on the gear/ clutch adjuster bracket.
Once the cable is pulled tight to take up the slack from the headset lever end, it's simple to tighten the grub screw in the trunnion – even if you have dodgy fingers or hands, which is the reason for the kit in the first place.
In my SX200 engine I have a Readspeed five-plate clutch kit in a standard crown wheel and basket, so although above a standard four-plate, it wasn't too stiff in the first place. But I believe the quoted 50% reduction in ease of use at the lever is totally correct and I found it smooth and very light for me to pull in. I'd go as far as to say I found it easier to set up than a standard clutch arm trunnion inner.
Often you find yourself needing three hands to pull the inner back behind the rear shock, holding the trunnion in place, while trying to tighten the grub screw – phew! I'm tired just writing it.
For testing the durability and longevity of the kit, I'll have to come back to you all, as I need to get some miles on this scooter to run-in the engine anyway – watch this space.
But in conclusion so far, well done Del for your scootering passion and engineering skills to find a product that ticks plenty of boxes for all us old Scooter Boys and which doesn't put us out of pocket, but is of such a build quality that it just might outlive some of us anyway (hee hee)!