Reader’s rides: Budget Lambretta build | FEATURE

SLUK reader, Gary Norgate, set himself the task of buying and building a Lambretta on a budget of less than £4,000.

That was to include buying the scooter, making it look cool and getting it on the road. You can find out how he got on with transforming the frame and box of bits (pictured above) into a head-turning scooter below. If you’ve got a project you’d like to share with us, we want to hear from you.

Bargain hunt

There are still bargains to be had, though, if you spend a bit of time looking for a deal. For example, the complete (but tatty) Series 3 Lambretta pictured above on an eBay ad. Or the Series 2 project that this story is about.

Unfinished project

I bought this box of bits for £1600. You just have to choose a project based on your skill level and finances.

For some buyers, a complete running scooter is what they need (although you could still be buying trouble), whilst others like to be able to build a scooter from bits and put a bit of love into it.

Not a cheap hobby

Scooters can be expensive to buy and a similar thing can be said of the price of quality parts:

• £600 for a cylinder kit
• £250 for ignition
• £400 for clutch
• £400 for an exhaust

Not to mention the cost of paint and professional support. It’s a costly business! And it got me wondering whether it was still possible to build an ‘affordable’ scooter that stood a chance of becoming a regular, reliable rally ride and that would also turn heads.

Here we go again…

Picked up a bargain

The starting point for an affordable build has to be an affordable base, so when an unassembled Series 2 with a box of associated parts popped up, I rashly jumped at it. Just 24 hours later, it was being delivered (thanks, Mike). First pass of the inventory suggested the £1600 purchase price had been well spent.

Registration

I’ve registered quite a few scooters in my time, and so the process of gaining a new V5 was simple. Fill in the forms, attach the evidence, prove identity, send it all off and bingo! And it only cost £55.

Scrubs up well

The small block engine was crusty, to say the least, and I could have splashed out on a media blast, but I opted instead for simply soaking it in dissolved dishwasher tablets and scrubbing it with various brushes and scourers. A final rub up with Autosol and the outcome is certainly respectable (saved me £70). The internals were re-usable, and the scooter came with a new Tameni crank and a ‘tuned’ 200 barrel/piston (tuned by who, I know not), so I opted for a rebuild with new bearings, seals and gaskets, which added up to £77.

Such an engine set up is never going to set the world on fire, but with a new AF Clubman exhaust (£96), I would expect a steady ride with sufficient pace for ‘A’ roads and enough low-down grunt to haul my skinny shanks away at the lights without embarrassment. I can always upgrade to the pre-loved £150 Mugello 186 kit that I’ve got in the garage at a later date.

Harnessing the power

Having regularly suffered the indignity of clutches slipping or dragging, I have to confess to regularly over-egging in this department. However, as much as I’ve never regretted investing in various Casa, LTH and Python clutches, these each cost in the region of £500, quite a chunk to put into an affordable build. Given that I was never going to accept a standard clutch, the middle of the road seemed to be a Reedspeed 5 plate conversion. This has 25% more friction area, new springs, utilises the standard basket and only costs £44 (I’ve got one of these in my 225 Monza and it has never been a problem).

Now the expensive bit

So far, so good, now this is where it usually gets expensive – paint! The cheapest solution would be a rattle can and rub-through distressed look… Add a little sign-writing and you’re done for less than £200. Hmm, I do love a series 2 and the straightness of the tin was really crying out for a little more tender loving care. Affordable is one thing… but simply putting together an unfinished project without improving it felt like a bit of a cheat… I’m sure we can do better than that, and, after all, I wanted a scooter that would ride well AND turn heads.

Azzuro Flaminia

This led me to scanning the internet for inspiration, and having looked at everything from rats to street racers, full customs to hot rods and sleepers to standards, it was an advert for an “Azzuro Flaminia” (light blue – but it sounds so much better in Italian!) Series 2, which eventually caught my eye. The colour is correct for a 1960 li125 and I thought that combining it with black flashings and internals would give me a traditional but custom look (if that makes any sense at all!).

Paint or powder?

I took the frame, forks, hubs, rear mudguard, toolbox and petrol tank to JL Finishing in Bury St Edmunds and they gave everything a blast clean and powder coat for £200. The finish is a deep gloss black that hides the finer imperfections and adds a hint of menace. The powder is very hard-wearing and much less fussy than paint. I love it and was tempted to give them the job of coating the tin as well – BUT, a well-applied paint job looks much nicer up close, so I dropped the bits off to my mate’s commercial paint shop (thanks Lee and Gav) and they wove their magic for a very reasonable £600 (they don’t do ‘fancy’ and are set up for commercial vehicles and crash repair but the quality is immaculate and perfect for my purposes of a single standard colour).

Waiting for paint to dry

I’ve spent most of my working life as a project manager, and so I’d worked out that waiting for paint would be the “Longest pole in this particular tent”, and so while I waited, I cracked on with rebuilding the forks and making sure I had everything I needed for re-assembly.

The magical box

Fortunately, the magical box of bits that came with the scooter contained most of what I needed, but I still ended up buying assorted; nuts and bolts, cables, new bar grips, new speedo, a sprint rack, number plate holder (pressed ally black and silver number plate was £25 from ebay – why pay more?) and, my one extravagance, a second hand custom seat (£200 – but I’ll get £50 back when I sell the old saddles). I also splashed out £68 on some anodised gear linkages (which look so much nicer and fitted well with the black guts of the scooter) and £155 on a new Spanish-style turning mudguard (again, I’ll get some of this back when I sell the original mudguard and its embellisher).

Endurance

By now, the weather had turned, and working in the unheated shed was a real test of endurance, so I set myself small, achievable goals for each session. However, the reality is that even the simplest of jobs on a Lambretta tends to become more involved once powder and paint have been applied! I wrestled with seat fitment, fought with the rear shock absorber, and had a real battle fitting longer studs for the tubeless rims. In the end I gave up, and my mate Bob, who has far more patience (and skill) than I do, drilled out the old studs.

Just keep telling yourself that it’s all part of the fun.

First kick

Slowly but surely, the project came together, and whilst dealing with a couple of final curveballs from the kickstart (not enough rear runner clearance), faulty coil and a warped flywheel (£120 spent on replacements), it was soon time for the first start and a set-up on the dyno.

The scooter is a genuine “first kicker” and made 14bhp with 14 ft-lbs of torque (£90 for the dyno and jetting – including the first aborted attempt – damn that flywheel!) – respectable for a budget build. The ride itself feels like a standard scooter and the exhaust note is far from offensive. The braking is a little ambiguous, but in essence, it starts, stops and rides just like a Lambretta should.

Money well spent?

Now the final total reveals I spent £3,900, which includes the cost of the project, powder, paint, parts, dyno and expert support where needed (big thanks, as always, to Bob and Stuart). Was the overall cost too much? I probably could have bought a complete scooter for less, but it would never have been ‘mine’ and I would have missed out on all the fun and satisfaction of the build.

A quick look at current prices suggests this cost compares with that of a modern 125 retro twist-and-go and is also about the same, when you take inflation into account, as a new PX would have cost in the mid-eighties. Personally, I love it and I love the process. Time will tell if it’s going to be reliable but all of the parts are sound, it has been built ‘right’ and there are no surprises lurking – so it’s got every chance. Ultimately, it’s another one back on the road, 65 years old and still turning heads!

Words and photos: Gary