Snoozing 244 Street Sleeper
The quest to increase the power output of small capacity single cylinder engined scooters has been ongoing for more than 70 years.
Likewise upgrades, improvements and enhancements to braking, damping, handling of scooters has been developed over time. The pursuit of producing vastly improved power from motors that were at best (the flagship 200cc models of both Innocenti and Piaggio) producing a modest 12bhp has been a quest for two-stroke tuning gurus of all levels of expertise. Ever since scooters began to be mass-produced at the tail end of the 1940s by the big two Italian manufacturers (as with probably every other type of motorised vehicle), there's been aspirations and intentions to increase the power output. Technological advances, especially in recent(ish) times, have led to scooter engine power capabilities way exceeding triple the horses attained compared with a standard unit. Everyone wants their scooter to be the quickest in their area, don't they? Well actually no. Take Bob Slater, for instance; he had a Quattrini 244 motor fitted to his P-Range Vespa, then, out of choice, had it downtuned.
Bob has been riding scooters since 1967 when he was 16, his first being a then unfashionable Series 2 Lambretta TV175. A year later Bob upgraded to a Series 3 TV200. With more than five decades of experience on two wheels, which era out of all of them does Bob regard as the best one? “Without casting any aspersions on other eras, there no doubt that now is the best, certainly for me. It's a wonderful era, the community, and the social side is inclusive to all, I've found. When I had my first Lambretta in the 60s it was purely for transport. I was a working-class kid, an old Lambretta was a cheap and affordable way of getting around. I've had scooters on and off ever since my first one, I've not always had a scooter, having owned and ridden a few bikes over the years too, but motorbikes don't have the personality of scooters. Besides I prefer riding two-strokes, although for long distances I have a twist and go GTS300. I like autos and they have their place, as often they're a start point from which some who start off with one progress to a classic scooter. Currently, I own six scooters, my GTS, a Serie Speciale Vespa 200 which had just 70 miles on the clock when I got it. It now has 4000 miles clocked up. I've another Serie Speciale that I bought in bits (it's still in bits, for now), two Lambretta GT 200s, a Series 2 Lammy
with a Quattrini engine and my dark green and chrome PX, Doris, which I've had for six years now. I don't tend to give my scooters nammes, after receiving the Scootering specc sheet through to fill in, I had a strange dream in which, among other things, my Quattrini engined Vespa ended up becoming named Doris, so that particular scooter became known as Doris, quite literally overnight.”
Bob acquired Doris back in 2015 from a mate, paying £1500 in the process. Although he's not particularly one for customising, in the real sense of the term, he does tend to personalise scooters he owns. Over the time he's owned Doris, he estimates that over double that amount has been spent, so far, on various additions as well as improvements. “When I bought Doris
from Pete it was an all green PX, boring green I call it. I remember when I'd got the first rack and went to a scooter meeting in Swindon, one of the lads commented ‘I see you're a bit of a Mod', which I'm not, never have been. From that comment I sort of modded it up a bit over time, adding another rack, chrome side panels and front mudguard, fly screen and Florida bars. All intended to wind that particular mate up. Other areas that I've personalised are the tubeless wheel rims, a bit of embroidery on the seat, the leather tool bags on the front and back rack, which are a nod to that American motorcycle whose logo my seat embroidery is a spoof of. I've fitted a rechargeable GPS speedo to the handlebars, which is very useful as it shows how inaccurate a standard speedo actually is.”
Bob also carried out a series of changes to the engine, in stages, over a similar timeline as the personalised changes he made. Eventually, after trying a number of options he decided to go for a 244 Quattrini, albeit intentionally downtuned. “I find standard P-Range engines are a bit gutless, I tried several engines with various kits, but I was never happy with any of them. At one of the Swindon scooter meetings, one of the lads had a Quattrini 244 in his Vespa, which got my interest. I was intrigued enough to give Martin at Chiselspeed a call, I've already got a Quattrini in my Series 2 Lammy. Martin told me that a Quattrini 244 in a Vespa puts out 40bhp and lifts the front wheel in each gear. Which would be a bit too quick for me as I ride in all weather conditions, I wouldn't want to be doing power wheelies in the wet, so I told Martin I'd think about it. Doug at Target Scooters really knows his stuff on both Vespas and Lambrettas; he had, at the time, already built four scooter engines for me, one of which he built the engine and scooter (one of my GT 200 Lambrettas). I went to Doug and had a chat, he's now built five engines for me. Doug downtuned it from 40bhp to 24bhp, after trying different carb and exhaust combinations, 26/26 with a Reedspeed expansion pipe was the combination that worked well. It gives lots of torque, is quick without all the fuss and is great to drive.” Words and photographs: Sarge