Regular SLUK readers will have seen us following the Retrospective Scooters electric conversion story over the last few years. Well, things just got serious.
Having fine-tuned their reversible conversions and made them available for many types of classic scooters it’s time to give them a proper road test.
Disclaimer
For the purists out there, no classic scooters are permanently harmed when carrying out these conversions. Everything can be put back to standard. In 20 years’ time when the government decide 2-stroke is the future they can be swapped back quite easily.
Five Nations
Later this week, Retrospective owner Niall McCart and the man who initially developed the conversions, John Chubb, will be setting off for a tour of Ireland. The duo will be leaving the Lambretta Club of Wales Five Nations rally in Caernarfon on Saturday 30th September.
Niall will be riding a recently converted unrestored Lambretta Series 2, whilst John will be on his own converted Vespa Sprint.
Off the ferry and turn left
After leaving the rally, the duo will take a ferry to Dublin from Holyhead and basically just turn left. There’s no set route, no backup van and they’ll be carrying very few spares. The riders will lay their heads wherever they see fit, or wherever they can get to at the end of the day. With no roadside infrastructure for electric bikes/scooters, the only option is to recharge where and when you can.
This trip isn’t designed to make everybody think it’s easy to do a long-distance trip on an electric scooter. It’s all about testing the equipment, checking new components on the Lambretta and fine-tuning the app for longer-distance riding. What it will do though is show that an electric scooter can do a leisurely tour.
Why convert?
We’ve ridden these conversions from day one and can attest to their useability. They’re good fun, and quick. For anybody living in a city with a ban on ‘polluting’ vehicles, it makes a good compromise and allows you to carry on riding your classic. Some buyers just want the classic scooter look without the hassle of maintaining a two-stroke engine.
Reversible
Of course, everything is reversible and at the end of this trip, the Lambretta will be put back to standard by shop mechanic Gianfranco.
John’s Sprint is running an older version of the conversion and he sees no reason to upgrade to the latest spec so it’ll be interesting to see how he gets on.
No back up
The pair will be covering around 800 miles in around 10 days, roughly following the Irish coastline in a clockwise direction. They’ll both have a spare battery and an extra one with them to be on the safe side but they plan to recharge at extended lunch stops and grab some power along the way if and when it’s needed (they only need a standard wall socket). They’re planning to cover 80-100 miles a day.
Macmillan Cancer Support
Aside from enjoying everything Ireland can throw at them, the pair will also be raising some money for charity along the way. One of the charity organisations that really does go the extra mile for anybody suffering from cancer is Macmillan. If you’d like to support the trip feel free to donate here.
Follow the trip on SLUK
We’ll be getting regular updates to share with our readers as the pair embark on their adventure.
