Scooter the Fero Lambretta Twin | FIRST RIDE

Commercially available Lambretta twin-cylinder engines were once like hen’s teeth but not any longer. They’re two a penny these days, well almost.

The Targa Twin has been around for years now. Then we’ve got the high-power Casa Performance Twin – soon to arrive. In the UK, Gran Turismo are well underway with their own twin engine and recently, Italian shop, Scooter the Fero revealed their own solution. It was shown (and ridden by a lucky few) for the first time at Lincoln Euro Lambretta recently. Shaun was there to take a quick ride and have a good look around. A more in-depth feature can be found in the latest issue of ScooterNova Magazine, out now.

Smokin’ twin

One stall that drew a lot of attention all weekend at Euro Lambretta was the all-new Chimera twin conversion. It was on display by an Italian scooter shop, Scooter the Fero. They had brought along two complete and running versions of the conversion over to Lincoln, as well as a display engine and all of the components to see individually (check out the photos in the gallery). 

450cc and 50bhp

They had a small block and a large block option, with a lucky few allowed to take the large block Series 2 out for a spin. Having seen Barrie Braithwaite’s Cheshire Cat grin after he’d taken the big block out for a test ride for ScooterNova I had to find out more. Understandably, Barrie was grinning as the big block was fitted with twin TS1 kits fitted giving 450cc and approximately 50bhp.

I had a long chat with Federico the designer behind the Chimera and his passion for this project is infectious. He explained there has been a lot of development and thousands of miles testing over three years to get the kit to a point where STF were ready to go public and take orders.

Original casings

This is not a full replacement engine, the idea is you use your own engine casing and then swap the original mag housing, crank, etc. for the new Chimera kit that “bolts” on in place. Sounds simple, but whilst Federico explained he has created very detailed instructions, you do need to know what you’re doing and have a bit of an engineering head on your shoulders to fit this kit and get the best out of it.

You need to cut the flywheel side engine lug from your casing, then drill at an angle through the casing to allow two bolts to align perfectly with the threaded holes in the new Chimera mag housing. That’s before you fit the cranks and torque correctly the collar that secures them. That said it certainly isn’t beyond an experienced shed builder’s capabilities, but certainly worth the heads up to those thinking of buying the kit.

What you don’t get

The kit also doesn’t come with the cylinders and pistons, (you also need to supply the manifolds, carbs, etc), but you do get two CNC specially designed cylinder heads that will need to be machined to suit your choice of cylinder and piston. These are a necessary part of the kit as they allow both barrels to cool effectively.

Cooling

Federico explained they spent a lot of time designing the heads and cowls. It is common on twins to have a large difference in operating temperatures between barrels when air cooled from one side. Their design has reduced this difference down to approx 10 degrees meaning both carbs can be jetted the same.

Exhaust choice

The other special item needed is the exhaust system. I’m sure most will want the twin expansion set up to show off their new toy, but there are also two-into-one options, including a box exhaust for standard looks.

So how does it go?

Well, put it this way, after I set off riding through the Showground and wheelied it as I opened it up in second gear, I got a bollocking from the marshals to slow down… Barrie’s Cheshire Cat grin was catching, thankfully that’s all I caught off him. 

Out onto the main road and with no marshals to intervene this time, it pulled really well and certainly wasn’t a slouch. I’ve been spoilt over the years and have been lucky enough to ride a lot of very fast scooters, this was another to add to the list.

The power delivery was not too fierce, but it seemed to have bags of torque. I rolled right off in fourth gear (currently running an Li150 gearbox) until it was virtually at tickover and then wound the revs back on to test it, it pulled effortlessly back up to speed. 

Potential

It certainly has the potential to be a great touring engine with a very good top speed, and with so many quality cylinder kits available there are a multitude of options dependent on what you want from it. I guess that until we see one of these in the hands of a mile-munching scooterist we won’t really get to see its full potential.

With the TargaTwin having been the only “off the shelf” option for a twin set up for many years, it’s great that we are seeing new options and with the new GT Twin in its final stages of development and soon to go into testing, (looking good) and the monster Casa Performance CP 250 Twin raising the bar, we really are going to be spoilt for choice.