AF Rayspeed – A behind the scenes look at new products & development | FEATURE

AF Rayspeed is legendary amongst Lambretta riders. It’s a family-owned and run shop, born from Arthur Francis’ old shop in Watford.

Ray Kemp worked there until Arthur sold the business to him many years ago, and he moved his family north to begin a new chapter with AF Rayspeed.

VIDEO| Ben and Ray Kemp talk all things Lambretta

Father and son

AF is still owned by Ray Kemp. He’s now in his mid-70s and has slowly started to take more of a back seat (although he’s still there working every day). His son, Ben, looks after the shop and the development of new products.

We sat down with them recently and looked over the family scrapbooks as the father and son team reminisced about the early days of Ray’s racing and some of his products that changed the Lambretta world forever.

What’s new at AF Rayspeed?

ScooterLab’s part of the joint visit to AF was mainly to look at new products and some of the development work that goes into them. Ben Kemp has been working at the shop in one way or another since he was a boy. After completing a design engineering degree at Rolls Royce, he moved back to Yorkshire and has been part of AF Rayspeed ever since.

Mini engine

Ben’s degree, as well as the product design and development skills learnt on the job at Rolls Royce, have certainly come in handy at AF where he continues to develop new products and update existing ones.

This miniature 3D-printed Lambretta engine is highly detailed and can be used to see if things work or not, this was the first thing Ben designed and printed for AF a few years ago. Note the integrated reed manifold.

In conjunction with Uni

AF Rayspeed works closely on product development with Manish, the owner of Uni Auto, so some designs are manufactured by Uni, or branded as Uni when they’re released. AF are also the UK Uni distributor.

AF Rayspeed ‘S’ Type inboard disc brake

Ray has wanted to make an inboard Lambretta disc brake that could pass for an Innocenti disc brake (at a glance) for at least 20 years. Ben has been working very hard on this and the end is very close.

Ben talked us through it in great detail in the video above so we’ll keep this description brief, he explains things much better than we can.

Key details

• Similar looks to standard disc
• Improved braking power
• Suitable disc material/thickness
• Can be used with disc or drum links
• 4-pot caliper designed for the job
• Pad material carefully chosen
• Easy bleed master cylinder
• Lever position as original
• Matching gear shift for 5-speed
• No hole needed in headset for brake line

The final pieces of this jigsaw puzzle are slowly coming together; they expect it to retail at around £700 for the complete kit, including hose, master cylinder, brake and matching clutch lever. Anybody wanting to keep standardish looks with modern stopping power will have this on their wish list…

Uni/AF Rayspeed bolt-on reed manifold

LTH made a bolt-on reedblock but have sadly ceased now. Uni and AF have developed their own bolt-on reed manifold and there are some important differences with this version, as Ben explains in the video above.

Key details

• Fits straight onto a 200 cylinder
• No modifications to the fins are needed
• Additional porting can improve performance
• Can run a standard carb if required
• Designed to run with Yamaha Aerox reedvalve
• Improved MPG

These are nearing the final stage of development and are estimated to arrive by the end of 2025. When asked for an idea on price, Ben told us “I don’t expect them to be expensive.” He’s designed them to work with the easily accessible Yamaha Aerox reedblock, you can pick one up for a few quid or if you’re going for a high-spec engine a fancy one will cost you about £70.

I’ll certainly look forward to trying one of these on my Stage 4 Series 1 when they arrive.

New Rapido kit?

Ben showed us a prototype cylinder for an updated Rapido kit. With products that are cast or use moulds, the tooling only has a lifespan of so many thousand castings. That means as it nears its shelf life, a new mould has to be made so it’s the perfect time to update things. AF are already working on the next Rapido kit but it probably won’t be here for two or three years.

Key details

• Bridged inlet feeding booster port
• Cylinder can be skimmed or long-stroke crank-fitted
• Option to fit a reed valve if required
• Radial head
• Temp sensor mount for SIP speedo
• Aluminium with Nikasil lining

Ben and Ray are still disagreeing on how this version of the Rapido will end up. Ben wants it to have a reedvalve as standard and use a steel liner in an aluminium barrel so it can be rebored. Ray wants it to be a complete alloy cylinder with Nikasil lining and the option to go reed or standard induction. We’ll have to see when it arrives…

The video is well worth a watch; it shows a clever technique to help show how the ports are working during the development phase. Has it been over or under-tuned?

Uni Auto Lambretta gear controls

Although this is a Uni-branded product, Ben was instrumental in the design of these controls. You can hear all about them in the video above.

Key details

• Gear swivel with bearing
• Tie bar with bearing
• Possibly an adjustable tie bar
• Polished stainless

Most of these parts are ready for sale now, although the adjustable tie bar is still a work in progress. Making the tie bar adjustable costs more than producing two different-length tie bars so discussions are still ongoing about that one.

Ben talks us through development

This video is a biggie, so we’ve split it into chapters. If you like to know some of the processes that go into designing and manufacturing all the latest products for your scooters, this one will be very interesting for you. From dreaming up a product (or improving an existing one) to 3D printing, prototypes, road testing and lots more.

This will help you to realise why the latest fandangled part for your scooter isn’t cheap – literally years and enough money to buy a house goes into the development and manufacture of some products we take for granted. Imagine the risk involved. If something goes wrong once the parts are out there, it doesn’t bear thinking about.

Chapters include

• Chapter 1: Mammoth Head – new version
• Chapter 2: 3D printed crankcases (Time 05:30 secs)
• Chapter 3: New Uni Sport mag flanges (Time 10:10)
• Chapter 4: Uni Lambretta GP headsets (Time 18:14)
• Chapter 5: Python Clutch (21:08)
• Chapter 6: AF ‘S’ Type inboard disc brake (36:36)

Gallery

You can flick through the gallery above to see plenty of stuff behind the scenes at AF. One thing is for sure, the world of classic scooters is still evolving.

Words, photos and video: Iggy

Don’t pester them!

Most of the products featured in our videos aren’t available yet; don’t worry, though. As soon as they’re released, they’ll be on the AF website, and we’ll make sure you know about them.

Although big in stature and massive on the product front, AF is run by a very small team of just four people. Pestering them about parts that aren’t even finalised yet isn’t going to get them on your Lambretta any sooner!