Ace Cafe Run

?

 

You've pulled.

 

http://www.sweller.co.uk/sob/index.html

 

Oh yes, a very nice 2 tone purple SX200 and a red Li150 S1 or S2 (or even a
TV 175 S1 or S2 in the foreground - can not tell without seeing the front of
the scoot.. Never been into Vespas, must be an acquired taste.

And the Parka's (for winter) and a Wrangler for summer, ah what memories.

There is a rusty gold coloured GP/DL 125/150 to the rear of the guy doing up
his hat.

Are Lambrettas allowed on this site. Would be good if permitted because you
never see them on the Alt scoots site.

Went over my bike ownership last night. Not in order but and often had two
bikes at the same time:-

Early 50's Norton 500cc twin in featherbed frame. Bought as a box of bits
and a frame/forks/wheels for £2.

Raleigh Roma scoot. Ugly as shit, 78cc but reved like blazes and flat out
at 40mph. Not a recommended mode of transport but bought a frame and 2
engines in bits for a fiver, sold 4 months later for £25 and it never let me
down.

1957 Lambretta LD 150 blue & silver - £9

1958 Lambretta LDB150 red and white - £1 with bent forks which I swapped
from the blue/silver LD. Bloody reliable those LD's, shaft drive, chronic
brakes but kept on going.

1960 Li150s1 bored it out to 175cc ran it for a couple of months. Paid £6
for it and sold to the son of a copper for £35 after rebuilding engine and
giving it a coat of Dulux.

1960 Lambretta Li150s2 for £12 Green and silver. Had been stored for ages
but still fired up. Bought in 1969 and kept until 1985. Rebuilt twice
before cutting down legshields and respraying metalflake yellow and purple
(seriously cool cool colours back in the mid/late 60's). Rebored to 175cc
with Wal Philips fuel injector but later got hold of a GP150 engine bored it
out to 180cc with a 5 port conversion by Raffety Newman, a padded crank
case, machine cylinder head to increase the compression, Ancillotti 50mm
racing exhaust, a 22mm overjetted Delorto carb (better than an Amal because
you could still use an air filter on it), Li125s3 gearbox, SX150 forks with
uprated springs and retrofilled dampers, 5 plate clutch, a reverse pull
front brake (30mph to zero in 21 feet which is very good for a single
leading shoe drum - bet a modern disk is not much better at that speed but
obviously better from 60). Topped it off with an Ancillotti racing seat and
a new headlight reflector (terrific lights for 6v 25w/25w bulb). Got about
40mpg and would easily see off an MBG GT to about 60 mph which was quite a
feat in the late 60's. Top speed only c.65 mainly due to the 125 gearing
but got there VERY quickly. Rear tyre life of only approx 2000 miles. Kept
this scoot until 1985 and sold it to some yungster for £100 but truly wish I
had kept it.

BSA Bantam D7 175cc for about 6 months and 'traded up' to a;

BSA Bantam D14/4 175cc bored out to 200cc. A surprisingly quick machine for
what it was. Looking back several of my bikes/scoots needed rebores. Sold
to my best mate when I got the chance of getting the Tiger Cub

Triumph Tiger Cub 200cc, (£20) one of the slickest 200cc singles I ever
had. Teriffic fun and great handling even on 60's rubber. You could hear
the Cub coming from a mile away. Sold for £20 nearly a year later but after
it had been in the folks garage for a few months.

BSA C15 250cc single semi thumper (only 3 1/2 years old when I got it which
I considered as being virtually new!!, my pride and joy but pissed oil
everywhere - Dad hated it and told me he would get rid of it if I didn't).

Honda CB175 - Very expensive at £120, never spent this on a bike before ut
wow, a revelation compared with the brit oilers. A dream machine in the
mid/late 60's, quiet, quick (for then), ultra ultra reliable, no oil leaks,
always started, never let you down, good brakes, headlights you could see
with. Kept this along with my scoot (the Hybrid) for a couple of years and
traded in for the Honda 400 getting

Honda 400/4 supersport - crap accelleration to 8500rpm then like shit off a
hot shovel to about 13k - front disk used to give me nightmares. Not
terribly reliable and a pig to set up the carbies. Scared me, for those
days it went too fast, did not handle particularly well and wasn't too keen
on stopping particularly in the wet when the front disk (a new invention on
bikes in those days) seemed to go completly AWOL. One summer and 8 months
was enough and it went for £300.

All bikes had gone by 1975 (got married!!) with exception of my ride to work
Yellow and purple hybrid Lambretta which I sold in 1985 so the kids didn't
get any ideas,

Time warp to 2003 and back on a bike in Aussie relearning with a Honda
Rebel 250 and now in

2005, Yamaha Virago DX535.

Aspire to an Indian Chief but will happily settle for a Kawasaki 1500
Drifter with some Indian look alike bits. Still hanker for another
Lambretta, either a SX150 or SX200 but well tweaked with either a 180cc
Imola (for the 150) ot a 225 TS1 for the 200 and modern rubber, suspension &
brakes - just sentiment really!

Andy

 

'Hog says...

Because the staff are miserable cunts who won't even acknowledge you,
unless you're wearing Dainese or Armani gear.

I've been there, I wasn't impressed.

 

Well.

 

I still can't think of what to say.

 

I don't like the atmosphere in most of the big single brand dealers
TBH. I've only been into D.G. once without my mate Linda who bought a
new M600 recently. With her, they were quite friendly but of course
they want to shag her. Without her they ignored me.

So did you get the shock changed and did you get the discs done ok?

'Hog

 

'Hog says...

I was ignored while I wandered around, until I expressed a desire to try
a 996 for size, and the salesman almost asked me for a deposit before
he'd allow me to sit on it. **** 'em if that's their attitude.

No and no. I've been far too busy and with the shitty weather I haven't
had the urge to go outside and do it.

 

You must have caught them on a friendly day - they're normally even less
friendly than Alvins.

The bit that really made me laugh was when the salesman was telling me
that Italian bikes had so much more character than the jap bikes & that
I would understand what he meant when I bought one - given I'd just
parked the SFC outside & was wearing a Laverda t-shirt I wasn't wildly
impressed.

Bob

 

LOL
They have an early Jota sitting for sale in there. It's rough though.

'Hog