Madspeed Vespa – safeguarding a legacy
Dave ‘Madness’ Madison is renowned for building serious custom performance Lambrettas; he’s built only one Madspeed Vespa and there were no shortfalls in that outcome…
Dave ‘Madness’ Madison is renowned for building serious custom performance Lambrettas; he’s built only one Madspeed Vespa and there were no shortfalls in that outcome…
Dave knows his craft, and the development of a one-off custom performance Vespa was a break from the norm. Thhe scooter was originally built in 20000/2001 for a good mate of Dave’s, Chriss Bruce, who at the time was with West Ridinng SC. Even though the majority of Davee’s portfolio is geared towards building perfoormance Lambrettas, he clearly had no problemp developing a performance Vesspa with head-turning custom looks to mmatch. Since the original build, Chris rode tthe scooter for a couple of years and then sold it to ‘Big Al’ from Bradford Discharge SC (BDSC). “At the time BDSC were all running tuned TS1s so Big Al needed something to keep up. With this in mind I rebuilt the engine with a one-off barrel, which gave the scooter an upgraded 230-235cc engine capacity and the capability to keep up with the TS1s. The only problem was that Big Al kept blowing it up!” Dave laughed. Over the years tthe scooter went through several pairs off hands. “I totally forgot about it until thee phone rang off the hook one night with peopple telling me that the scooter was on a TV sshow called Pawn Stars UK. It turned out the sscooter had been bought by the pawn shopp and was being sold. I never heard anytanything about it since I’d watched the show, until Tony Robertshaw got in touch to tell me that he’d now got the scooter and he was bringing its legacy back to life.”
A new chapter…
Tony Robertshaw’s been into scooters for some time. “Where did it all start?” “Well for me, first of all, I think it’s in your genes because back in the 50s my mom was a cool-looking scooterist. My memories of the scene start in 1982, which was the year I became the proud owner of an orange/red Vespa Mk1; it wasn’t anything special but it was mine. At the time the scooter scene in Halifax was huge and being a part of it has left me with some fond memories that I’ll never forget,” Tony smiled. Having owned the standard-looking Vespa for a while, Tony decided to have it resprayed in red metal-flake by the now late John Harrison, (aka Trotsky). “I also added a 150 top-end, and the scoot lasted me for a further season until it got nicked. When the insurance paid out I bought a Lambretta SX200, which I had painted in metal-flake green, again by Trotsky. It was a typical 80s-style custom Lambretta, but I had no end of problems with it so I swapped it for a P200.”
Search
As time passed Tony moved on from the scooter scene. “I started to race motocross bikes and then I moved on to racing large performance bikes. But like I said, no matter what, if scooters are in your genes then they’ll never leave you and about four years ago I got the urge to get back into the scooter scene.” In his search to find a scooter Tony started looking on social media and auction websites. After a while
one caught his eye and unbeknown to him the one he’d seen was a bit special. Having taken delivery of the scooter, Tony started to look round for custom sprayers and engine parts. “During my search I’d uploaded a few pictures of the scooter on to social media. It was at that point that my phone went crazy and I got loads of messages telling me the history of the scooter and that it was the Madspeed Performance No1 Vespa!” Realising the significance of the scooter Tony did some research into the engine. “It’s got a 210 Malossi cylinder, matching cases ported by Spanner Monkeys’ Andy Liddle, a 60mm Mazzucchelli crank, 28mm PHBH carb, lightened flywheel and it kicks out 22.2bhp!”
Originality
Since Tony’s had the scooter, and having realised its history, he had a change of mind about the direction he was going to take its development and decided to keep it as original as possible. “All the paint is original, which in itself is a tribute to Trotsky’s work. Inevitably time has taken its toll on some areas of the paintwork; in particular the side panels. So to protect them I’ve had some new ones repainted to the original colour scheme, which I use for riding. In terms of the engine, well that’s a tribute to Dave’s engineering capability because the only thing I’ve really had to do is give it a full checkover and change the seals, bearings, piston and rings!”
Having brought the scooter back to its original stomping ground in West Yorkshire, one of the previous owners, Les Smith, put Tony in contact with Dave Madison.
“When I called Dave to tell him that
I’d got the scooter it was quite a proud moment because when I told Dave what I’d done with it he gave me a pat on the back for making the scooter look as good as it did when he first built it.”
This scooter is the only Vespa carrying the Madspeed brand and Tony’s been told that there won’t be any more.
“I’m extremely proud to own the scooter and I’m 100% committed to keeping it original and to keeping its legacy alive. The scooter’s ridden not hidden; hence the new side panels and I now tend to ride with my wife, Sue, who also thoroughly enjoys the rallies and the scene.”
Over the last four years Tony and Sue have made some great new friends. “We’re also members of T’old Reckless SC which is another bonus; they’re a great set of lads and they’re as daft as a box of frogs, the lot of them! Oh, and in terms of my own personal connection to the scooter? As you know, the original paintwork was done by Trotsky and he was the fella who painted all my scooters back in the 80s.”
Words: Stu Smith
Photos: Gary Chapman
Build photos: Tony Robertshaw