Sole Racer
One man’s passion for Lambretta scooters and Adidas trainers is skilfully and passionately combined to a very high standard resulting in this stunning scooter... Sole Racer.
One man’s passion for Lambretta scooters and Adidas trainers is skilfully and passionately combined to a very high standard, resulting in this stunning scooter… Sole Racer.
When it comes to building a custom scooter, finding inspiration for a theme can come from almost any aspect of life. Big brands are often used in motorsport… booze, fags and oil brands probably being the most well known in classic motorsport circles. The brand in question here, however, is Adidas… and it seems to have limitless options when the company’s, now diverse, range of products is considered. The Dassler Brothers Shoe Factory was operated by Adolf and Rudolf Dassler, who came from a family of shoemakers. After a fall-out between the brothers, Rudolph went on to found the Puma brand, whilst Adi-Dassler formed Adidas. The company’s footwear is widely renowned for its iconic three-stripe design. The world of sports footwear has always been a fiercely competitive one and getting noticed is not that easy, but the unique ‘three-stripe’ design is identifiable around the world as belonging to Adidas.
As Adidas have developed their brand over time, limited edition designs which hark back to their early successes have been released from time to time with the intention to boost sales.
One such offering is the Adidas Spezial. As the company highlights, the idea of this collection is to take the history of their classic design and re-work it for the 21st century. The emphasis is to create a new look, based on an old design, whilst not forgetting their history.
Custom hotbed
Ever since Colin Westerfield's venture into the world of scooters way back in the early 1980s, he has always had a soft spot for the Lambretta Grand
Prix. Coming from Scunthorpe, which always has been a hotbed for custom Lambrettas, he was soon drawn in, like so many others influenced by the localised competition to build something different from what has already been seen before. With a healthy obsession for the Adidas brand, and more notably their Spezial collection, for him this was the perfect theme from which to base his project around. There was no question of it being anything other than a Grand Prix. Knowing how ‘one-upmanship’ is very prevalent in that part of the country, there was never even the slightest chance of the engine remaining as the standard 125cc capacity it originally came in. Being a keen and experienced Lambretta owner, Colin took on the task of doing the build himself. Though the paint and engine have been farmed out, the rest of the work has been undertaken by himself. Once he had completed the dry build, off it went to have the paint laid down.
Dark vision
The problem of getting a scooter painted in Scunthorpe is that it usually ends up in a long queue as there are so many of them being done at the same time. Having drawn up his vision of how he wanted it to look, Colin settled on the idea of Maca being the chosen one for this job. To make it stand out more visually, the idea was to use a dark base/background, which normally wouldn’t be the preferred choice. Using the iconic strip layout across the entire bodywork and in bright green, the idea now looks perfect. Firstly a black base was used, overlaid with a silver and blue candy, giving a deep metallic look. The ‘Lumo’ green (which must stand for luminous?) stands out perfectly, making it a stunning vision.
Using a slight off-white for the graphics proved to be the icing on the cake, and as you can see from the results, all the colours compliment each other perfectly. Maca has cleverly used the iconic jagged edge stripe design and combined it with smooth, flowing curves which complement each other perfectly.
Though the jagged strips may have been Colin's dream to start with, I'm pretty sure they turned out to be Maca’s nightmare at times. As per usual though, he has created another one of his masterpieces, and one which I think stands out from his other work, it being different to the norm. Though it took a while to get done, with Maca probably complaining of nauseating visions, Colin is more than happy with the result. He should be, because there have been plenty of Adidas-based custom scooters in the past, but this one I think has a totally refreshing and new look about it.
Power struggle
With the rest of the scooter now set up in top-notch paintwork, the engine was always going to be something special. After all, if you turn up in Scunthorpe with a new custom Lambretta (regardless of how good it looks) it has to have a big engine to match! That job was trusted to Darrell Taylor, who didn’t disappoint.
As you can see by the specification, it’s been well worked on, but I don’t think it’s over the top. Colin intends to use the Lambretta as much as possible day to day, so though he wanted it to be fast and have wicked performance, it also needed some level of reliability too, so it was set up with a blend of both.
An AF close ratio 5-speed gearbox was selected to complement the tune, and that
After all, if you turn up in Scunthorpe with a new custom Lambretta (regardless of how good it looks) it has to have a big engine to match!
should happily distribute the power to the rear wheel. This set up was combined with an LTH seven-plate clutch, thus making the transmission as smooth and reliable as possible. To be able to cope with the power and make sure it can stop, a PM front disc and suspension set up have been fitted. Apart from a digital speedo and EGT gauge neatly housed in the glove box, there aren’t too many extras, which is a good thing as sometimes as they can clutter the overall look.
Bling free
Apart from a few polished pieces such as the master cylinder, there is no chrome or engraving featured. To be honest, it doesn't need it as the paintwork does the talking here. Even items such as the engine cases, which are usually a haven for chrome and polishing, received metallic anthracite powder coating instead. Even the headlamp rim has had the same treatment.
There are some subtle finishes though, such as the petrol and choke levers, as well as the missing grill at the rear of the frame, replaced instead by a set of holes covered with a mesh to finish off.
The same kind of work continues underneath the panels, and there has definitely been a lot of thought going on, with Colin trying to do something different to what is usually seen. There is no doubting Colin’s Lambretta building skill, as his work is completed to a very high standard. There doesn't seem to be one component, not even the smallest part, that hasn't had a great deal of care and attention shown to it during the building process.
Sole purpose
When building a custom Lambretta, it's been said time and time again about how difficult it is to do something new. If you are doing an extreme modification than possibly it's a bit easier, but a full-bodied custom Lambretta, not so. Colin has two obsessions in life – Lambretta and Adidas.
With careful thought and planning, he has combined the two and the photographs here show he has executed it to perfection. Sometimes it’s too easy to have a theme which you are passionate about, and to lose that message in translation. Not so with ‘Sole Racer’, a unique take on an iconic brand, which is refreshing to the world of custom scooters. I’m pretty sure Colin has no plans for anything else at the moment, but one must wonder what he might do next if Adidas launch a new range in the future…
Words: Stu Owen Photographs: Gary Chapman