The workshop build begins...

Started to build the workshop today. It was freezing. And I didn't get as much done as I wanted... It may be a while before it's completed...

I'm Building the Workshop!

Just ordered a big pile of wood, as Carol says that I can build my workshop! I'm going to make a well ace workshop which will enable me to carry on with the rebuild, so the scoot is on hold for a while until I get the accommodation sorted. Watch this space!

Away for the Winter

The rebuild has been put on hold over the Christmas period, as 'someone' wants the kitchen back for Christmas lunch... I mean, it's only a day, isn't it? We could eat in the lounge, instead of on the dining table, surely? 

Anyhow, I have wrapped the scooter up in a big tarp and put her on the deck. The scooter, that is...

Stoneguarding

This evening I have stoneguarded the inside of the side panels, the underside of the front mudguard and the interior of the toolbox. Loads of masking, loads of spraying and loads of black stoneguard paint everywhere. Not a glamourous job, but it needed doing, and it should offer a lot of protection when I get it out on the road. That's all.

Speedo

So one of the first things I bought for this rebuild is a new speedometer unit. I bought it from ebay about a week after I got the scooter, and it has been sat around ever since. Initially, I was a bit disappointed that the twenty or so quid I paid for it (may be less, may be more - it was a while ago) didn't buy me a Lambretta logo above the milometer bit, as most Lambretta speedos have this lettering. I was going to buy another unit with the logo, but then I got to thinking that this would be an ideal spot for a bit of extra customisation... I printed out the Alpha Industries logotype to the correct size and I was going to cut out a frisket using matt frisket film to do the airbrushing on the speedo face.

That was far too fiddly to do, however, so I found an alternative... And these are the results. Special or what?

In the meantime while waiting for the engine I have done a few other little bits and bobs... I went to the end of season scooter rally at Morecambe, and in the parts fair there, I picked up a bracket to mount my CDI and Regulator, some anti vibration rubbers, metal gear change and throttle wheels and assorted springs, clips and fixings that I was short of. I also got a new Ducati Regulator and and LML CDI unit from Lambretta Cottage Restorations. The bloke there was really sound, to the extent that he was doing himself out of a sale because he had no CDI Units in stock of the type I was looking for. I ordered the part from him, however, and it came through the post within a couple of days. Anyone after any parts for their rebuild (I have also bought one of their complete nylon lined cable sets too), I strongly recommend these people as they are honest, fair and supply good quality parts. Most of the above mentioned parts are now fitted, and waiting for the engine to arrive... As I am.

Spoke to Jonsey about the engine today... It is coming on apace now. The crank is fitted, and the top end has been rebuilt and put back on. The Gears will be the next bits to be given the Grimspeed treatment, and then it should be a matter of putting in the new bearings and seals and throwing the thing back together... I hope!

More Headset

So the headset saga continues... The job I have been putting off is the wiring. To me, it is a nightmare - my brain can't cope with it at all.

I was up at Scootlife, my local scooter shop run by Taff, buying some bits when Ady called in for some stuff for his T5. I explained my lack of progress with the rebuild being down to my reluctance to start the wiring, and Ady kindly offered to come down and give me a lift with the wiring. He arrived next day and we (or rather he) set to work. I was right about it being a nightmare... I tried to follow what was going on, but failed after about a minute. Anyhow, 30 Maplins Bullet connectors, five brews, a few biscuits and umpteen fags later, and we were done. We had a working scooter. We tested the wiring using a battery charger to give us some power instead of the engine (Ady is a qualified electrician, so don't try this unless you know what you are doing) and the Halogen light conversion (from Sparkrite Technologies), the horn, the brake light and tail light all work! Fantastic! And that's with a dodgy switch I bought from ScootRS (should have been 3 position, not 2 - typical!).

We put in a load of extra earths as well - apparently, you can't have enough of them - so hopefully, the scooter will be a good runner, electrically. I am going to do myself a wiring diagram as soon as I get the engine back from Jonsey and get it all wired up, so that if I have to disassemble it, I have a chance of putting it all back together again. Incidentally, the blue wire (not the correct colour, I know... It's all we had) is the feed for the switch on my front brake light. The other wire is in there somewhere too.

Gear Selector

Matt from the Pogue Mahone Scooter Club had my Gear Selector cover polished. And it is beautiful. Continuing the theme of breen and orange, I decided to paint in the numbers in Humbrol Enamel Flourescent Gloss Fire Orange. I think it looks good, although I will probably have to do another coat later.

Headset in detail

So when you start your rebuild, no matter how thorough you are, you will always forget to buy something... I have forgotton loads of stuff for my rebuild and it is only because I have good local suppliers on hand that I can progress.

This week, I have been looking at the headset. The Lambretta headset is the hub of all the scooter... Most of the control cables terminate there and the nightmare that is wiring goes on beneath the speedo dial. I started by looking at my control rods... they were horrible. I tried to refurbish them, but then I noticed that a lot of the nylon parts were looking worse for wear. A quick scout on the interweb later, I came accross the website of Scooter Restorations based in Nottingham. Their site is excellent, and it has exploded diagrams for almost all areas of the scooter with links to the products in the diagram, so you can look at a drawing, guess which bit it is then click on the link to find out what the part is really called ('Can I have three plastic wiggly bits please?') and order directly. I needed a load of plastic bits, and while I was at it, I thought that I'd order new control rods too... Clicked and ordered at 4.45 pm, but I needed the bits then, so I gave them a call. The man on the other end of the phone was really helpful, and he said he would try to get the parts out as soon as possible. True to his wrd, they were with me by 2pm the following day. That is excellent service, so I left a testimonial on their website and called to thank them. The whole order was £50 (I also bought some Lambretta specific tools too), so the value for money aspect is also good. I'll put them in and see how they look.

I intended to put brass type control wheels in the scooter, as the nylon ones can be a bit prone to wear, but closer inspection revealed that the brass bits I had bought were for star ended control rods... I had to go with the nylon ones for the time being, but I will replace these with better quality ones soon.

The Rebuild underway

The rebuild couldn't start early yesterday, because I needed a part. To be precise, I needed a Lower Frame Cone Cover. A small piece of pressed steel which goes between the Frame and the Frame cone... It costs £2.50, and I didn't have one. Anyway, a few phone calls later and I was heading over to Preston to buy the aforementioned article from Frank Sanderson at Lambretta Innovations. And what a nice chap Frank is... He showed me round his workshop and I saw some really excellent Lambretta conversions going on. He is a superstar in the scootering world, but he is a down to earth bloke like the rest of us - a real unassuming northerner, and a top bloke. My next scooter may well be one of Frank's wonderful creations.
So, part in hand, I returned home to begin the rebuild. Only I couldn't... I had to Waxoyl and Stone Chip Guard the area behind the rear numberplate, and that involves taking the scooter outside to spray it - As it was bloody freezing yesterday, I decided to do the spraying in the nice warm kitchen, on account of the paint needing to be warm enough, you understand. So I set up a makeshift spraybooth using an old sheet and the maiden, masked off the bits I didn't want spraying and proceeded to apply liberally. I think I got away with it!

According to Sticky, the chassis rebuild has to go in a certain order, and I'm not about to argue, so I proceeded to fit the rear mudguard and the stand. The rear mudgard needed a new hole drilling, as the original one was about 20mm away from where it should be, and the stand was a real pain to fit because of the bloody spring. After much jiggling and on and offing, I eventually got the stand and the spring fitted, using a combination of brute force and the stand bolt to drag the stand in line. Then I remembered that I'd bought a stainless steel splash plate, so the whole thing had to come off and go back on again. Such is life!

Forks went in next, and these were really easy to do. Loads of grease, bearings, tab washers and bolts, and in it went. It looks really well, and the scooter is finally starting to have a feel of a scooter, rather than a load of components now!

The Theme Revealed...

OK... Some of you have been waiting for this, so I will finally reveal the theme for the scooter. Originally, I was going to do a 'Pressure Drop' themed scooter, after the excellent song by Toots and the Maytals, but I have seen a few scooters of the same name knocking around, so I decided against that one.

So that set me thinking... What shall I do with mine. A couple of days to go before the respray, I was wracking my brains wondering what to do when it hit me. I'll do a scooter based on an MA1 flight jacket - The ones which many scooterists (not mods) wear. And not just any MA1... The king of all flight jackets, Alpha Industries!

The colour I chose was a sage green colour specified for Skodas in the 70's and 80's which matched the colour of olive green used in Flight Jackets quite well. The thing about MA1's is that they have a reversible lining which is bright orange, so that a downed pilot can put the jacket on inside out to be more easily seen in an emergency. So all the scooter internals (the petrol tank, Airbox, airbox bellows and the toolbox) are painted in Ford Focus ST orange.

I have other plans for the scooter too; It's not just the colourway I have chosen... These will be revealed as I do them. So you'll want to see a photo now, I guess... Thanks for your patience.

Half Term - Don't you just love 'em?

Back from Bridlington and looking at a week off work, so I thought it was about time I did something with the GP... I got the front upper and lower bearing races two weeks ago, and they have been in the freezer since (note to self; don't put on tongue), and I picked up a pair of silent blocks plus a Mark Broadhurst rear wheel race bearing and a copper exhaust gasket from the parts fair in Brid, so we're good to go. On the subject of the parts fair, why do we get charged a fiver to go in to spend? It's wrong that we have to stump up this money... I don't mind a couple of quid, but a fiver? Come on! ) OK... End of rant.

Anyhow... The good news is that because of my lack of workshop, Carol has agreed to let me start the build in the kitchen, where the dining table used to be... What a result. A warm, light environment with clean floors and easy access to brews in which to put the scoot back together... It can't get better than that! I'm off to move the dining room table now, and get the frame prepped for the rebuild. May even post some pictures later today to show how much I've done...

The Engine

The alchemy that is Mechanicking is a real dark art to me. Don't get me wrong, I can get by with a Haynes Manual (or Sticky's book, in this case) and do basic maintenance, but when it comes to a full strip and rebuild, I would prefer to leave that to people who know what they are doing.

This is why I have just dropped my engine off at Jonsey's. Jonsey (or Grim as he is sometimes known) has been around Lambrettas for years. He is also in our club, and I knew him back in the day when we were kids too. He watched me take a hacksaw to my SX200 frame in Karl Parkinson's garage, and I recall him shaking his head sadly at my actions. Jonsey also still has every scooter he has ever owned, stored neatly in boxes in his Uncle's Loft. And I saw his garage, which some refer to as the El Dorado of the Scootering World... Original bits and bobs from allsorts of scooters are lying on shelves, or are stacked in nooks and crannies everywhere.

I had to ask Grim to take it easy on my engine... He is notorious for building things which shouldn't be built, so I told him to give mine a slight tune, but nothing which involved the removal of load bearing and or structural parts of the engine... I want a reliable scooter, not one which goes really quick until it goes bang. I want to be able to travel to Kelso or the Isle of Wight safe in the knowledge that I will arrive there and be able to get back again. A rare dream, I know, but one I am used to on the Vespa...

So, a few hundred quid lighter I gave the engine to Grim with a bag of bearings, seals, clips, tabs, washers etc. We'll see what comes back!

Back from the sprayers - It's looking good

The scoot is now back from the sprayers and I think the colours work really well for the theme I have planned. I'm not posting any pictures yet, because that will give the game away, but I love the way it's looking.

Chris Timmins did my spraying... He's the guy who did Ady's Lambretta (the Factory Records LI which Ady managed to plough the Southport Road with... Nice Job, Ady!) and he did an excellent job of Ady's scooter and he's really cheap. So I thought I'd give him a go for mine. Turns out he used to live next door to me when I was a kid... One of those wierd coincidences that life sometimes throws up.

Anyhoo... Colours were applied (colours, as in plural) and he did an even better job of mine than he did with Ady's (in my opinion). There were a couple of bits on the headset bottom where the paint was a bit light and some primer showed through, but that was due to Chris not knowing Lammys - He sprayed it upside down and the recess for the steering lock and a couple of small points where the gear indicator is weren't covered properly still showed the primer. I pointed this out and he sorted it immediately, which was excellent... He also went above and beyond on the frame, as after it was done, I asked for the small rivet holes where the Indian chassis plate used to be (above the bridge piece) to be filled. And it only cost me £320 including the prep, paint and everything! A real result! Anyhow, if anyone wants a Lammy doing, I would recommend him. A good painter who does a really good job at a reasonable price! Drop me a mail and I'll pass on his mobile...

Badges and Stainless runners

Now I have the new legshields, I can take the opportunity of fitting some of those tricky items which will damage the paintwork if (or more likely, when) I get it wrong. Ady said one of the most tricky jobs was fitting the stainless steel floor runners to the legshields, especially round the curve. So I figured I would give mine a dry fit before the paint went on. And I'm glad I did. The runners are well made, but they take a lot of jiggling (and therefore scratching) to get on. A few taps with a hammer and a screwdriver finally got the last runner in place, though... I like the way they look, however... Very special.

While damaging the legshields was on the cards, I decided to drill the holes for my fraudulent badges. The scooter is an Indian Vijay 150 Super, but I am putting Lambretta GP150 badges on it... How wrong is that? Like labelling Rola Cola as Coke... Anyway, it's my scooter, so I'm doing it. I have been taking loads of reference photographs of GP's to get the positioning of the badges right... Most of the GP's I have seen are Indian in origin anyway (there are a few telltale signs to spot 'em... It's a fun way to spend an afternoon on a rally, Indian spotting... I bored Carol senseless with that game at Cleethorpes). Anyway, I took an average of where other people put theirs and drilled the holes... I like it, anyway. I'm sure some anorak will tell me that they are in the wrong place, but it's an Indian GP... As far as I'm concerned, they look good where they are!

It doesn't fit...

Those of you who have done a few rebuilds will have undoubtedly used the words in the title of the post before... 'It doesn't fit' seems too echo from every forum in the scootering world. Now it's my turn to use the phrase.

I offered up the toolbox to the new legshield, and from above, it looks spot on... The PX toolbox was from ScootRS, and it has been shaped to fit a GP legshield.

Unfortunately, the person who shaped the toolbox has obviously never even seen a GP legshield in his (or her) life, before... I would need to take a bus between the legshield and the edge of the toolbox! It is a shame, because everything else I have got from the company looks to be of good quality... Plan B needs to come into action as soon as possible... Plan B is to put the PX toolbox on e-bay and see how much I can get for it... By the time I have trimmed the toolbox so that there is a nice, equal gap all around the edge, and I have ground off and repositioned the anchors inside the box, I may be able to fit a tissue inside. So it really is not worth having. So off it goes. *End of rant*

Forkin' nice!

Managed to get the front end rebuilt today and I think it looks really good... Had a few problems souring the locking nuts and the big washers, so I had to clean up the original ones that came of the scooter after raiding the big box of shite. Thank God I don't throw anything away!

The new stainless front shocks were a Christmas present from my mum, as I mentioned earlier, and the re-painted hub and forks have been documented before, so it was a question of getting the wheel and tyres fitted to the bits and making sure it was all safely bolted together.

The Nissin shock will need a little surgery - It scrapes against the wheel rim a little, so I reckon that I need to grind about a millimetre off the four lugs closest to the wheel... Shouldn't be too much of a problem, and I will do this at a later date.

The stainless cable guide looks well, but the big story is the tyres. These are Heidenau 'Racer' tyres and are 'K' rated to 81mph. Most scooter tyres are 'J' rated which means that they have been tested to 62mph. These are also tubeless, which means that in the event of a rapid air expulsion scenario, I have more chance of stopping without making a large, Mark shaped splat on the tarmac. I'm hoping not to test this theory out though, and I will fill the tyres with slime before test riding on them. The rims are Sterling Tubeless rims in chrome, as I have heard reports of the stainless type tubeless rims splitting. I got these from Rich Presley at last year's Cheeky Northern Monkey's weekender, but I forgot how much these were... I should have kept more accurate records...

New Leggies!

Went over to the Mod Shop and took the plunge... Bought a new set of GP legshields for a bargain price. Luckily, Jimmy Caz and Alex were there too, in their 4x4, so they took them home for me. Cheers, Chaps! At least while I have them, I can take the opportunity of dry fitting the stainless floor runners and the PX toolbox...

To the Sprayers

Took the Lammy to the sprayers today. It had already started to flash rust, so I decided to get it in as soon as possible... It should have a coat of primer by Saturday, so hopefully, it won't rot away too much.

The sprayer is a chap called Chris Timmins, and I was introduced to him by Ady, after he sprayed his scooter really well. And really cheaply. I say introduced... Chris was actually my next door neighbour when I was a kid, and he lived at 4 Brookside for a number of years before moving away. Small world, eh?

We talked colours (the scooter is going to be sprayed in one colour, but elements will be in another colour, to keep the suspense going for a while longer), and Chris said he could repair and re-weld the damaged bits, but I have been pricing up replacement legshields anyway, and for £90, I could have a new set with none of the hassle of being repaired... Not sure what to do yet.

Back from the dippers

So the big day has finally arrived...

The frame and panels and bits have just arrived back from the dippers and they look good. The total bill came to £120, which I thought was quite reasonable.

The entire scooter fits in the back of my hairdressers LandRover (a freelander), so I didn't have to mess around hiring a van. Carol had to go to work on her scooter though, which was a bit of a pain for her. Sorry! To make amends, I'm going over to meet her and I will buy her a nice coffee on the way back. It's the least I can do!

There is some work to do on the legshields, though... I have perforations where the rust has eaten through and another couple of spots where it has been welded up in the past by a nine year old Indian boy...

To be fair, though, he's a better welder than I am! The subframe has also had a touch of Indian welding behind the numberplate, so this section will need to be replaced before it goes to the painters as you can see daylight through some of the joins.

The top bearing race has taken a bit of a beating in the dipping process, but I was going to replace that anyway, and I will do the bottom one as well, even though it looks (and feels) OK.

Time is now of the essence... The longer it hangs around unprotected, the more likely it is to start to rust.

Unfortunately, I have not got too much spare cash lying around at the moment, so donations would be gratefully recieved... I had a car boot sale to raise some cash for the respray and we got £200 for some stuff out of the attic, which was nice... Still a way short for the full amount, though.

No, really... Fork off!

So the forks came back on the Friday all refurbished and welded up, thanks to the people at The Mod Shop... Strengthened rods and uprated springs, new rubbers and a new pair of fork links, all for £80... Not too bad at all! I spent the weekend carefully stripping the forks of paint. I have decided to Hammerite them in a brushed silver, which is how they leave the factory. And Hammerite covers a multitude of sins. I had a bit of a mishap with the new front hub last week, too... That got Hammerited in the same brushed silver too... Not too much of a biggie, as I was unsure of what colour to do the hubs anyway, as I had one white one (the new one from ScootRS) and one silver coloured new rear hub that I got from SP4Y at last year's Bridlington Parts Fair. So now, they are both going silver.

Last Thursday, I chose the paint, too... I was originally having the scooter done as 'Pressure Drop', but after seeing three or four of them on the scene, I've kind of gone off the idea. The new theme is going to be... You'll just have to wait and see! I've never seen one on the British scene before (or anywhere else for that matter), but it's going to be nice. I'm quite excited about it.

So... Back to the forks. After stripping with a really potent paintstripper, and lots of wire wooling, scraping, wire brushing (both by hand and with the drill) and a light sanding, they were ready for painting. And I've just put the second coat on now, with the help of Carol who is a painting goddess... Hammerite has a temperature range, by the way, which is how I cocked up the hub, requiring it to be stripped back to bare metal and repainting. So if it's above 25°C, the paint clogs like a cloggy thing and just sags before you get chance to move it around... And that's my tip of the day! Check the temperature before you start painting. Anyhow, the top photo is the forks after I'd stripped them (or if they are side by side, the one on the left), and the bottom one is the forks after the second coat... Look OK, don't they?

Sent away for acid dipping

Took the bits into Preston today for dipping... The downside is it's probably going to cost a little more (£120ish), and I noticed that the area behind the number plate is in need of welding...

The people there told me it will be ready in about ten working days, so it's going to take a little longer than I anticipated. They also explained the process... The parts are baked in a large oven over a period of several days, and after that, they are immersed in a large tank full of a really weak acid which dissolves the flaking paint. After that, the parts are pressure washed in a detergent which contains phosphor to prevent flash rusting. It all sounds very technical, but they seem to know what they're doing...

Fork off!

The forks will need extensive work... Looking at them and reading Sticky's manual, I reckon it's a job for the professionals, so I phoned the Mod Shop in Eccleston, and took the forks over to them...

My Mum bought me a pair of stainless front shocks from there for Christmas last year, and they are the weld on bracket type (not that my Mum is any Lambretta afficionado - those are what I asked for...), so it's only right that the people I got them from should weld the bits on. And while they are at it, they may as well do the fork strip and rebuild, too. So I loaded them onto the PX and off I went. I went through what I wanted with the guys there, and they told me to call them in a couple of days.

Stripped and ready

The scooter is now stripped down to component level... A really satisfying feeling, seeing it in this state. I need to get it stripped now. I'm using Ribble Technology for the stripping... They did my mate Ady's scooter and did a good job of it. The company is based in Preston, so it is fairly local, although I'll have to wait until Carol is off next week because I'll need the car. It is possible to take each piece individually by scooter, but it wouldn't be the best use of my time...

The Chinese boxes in the foreground are all labelled and ready, the scooter itself will now be stacked up and readied for the stripping process... I need to check for hidden components (lugs, shims, etc) which may be destroyed by the dipping process...

And that toolbox was a right bastard to get out, too... The forks will be totally refurbished, which means that I'll have to strip these by hand after they have been done... More on that later.

The big strip

The catalyst for the big strip came when I got a visit from my Dad... We started talking about the Lammy and I said I was waiting for some cash in order to start the rebuilding process. I need to get the scooter Acid dipped to remove the Indian paint and crap that have built up over the years, but I estimated it would cost £80 - £100, which is money I would rather use for going on rallies with.

The idiot in the picture is my son, Scott, a challenged individual who usually does nothing... This looked like fun, though, so he offered to help.

So anyway, back to the story... My dad then game me a oner for my Christmas present, which he said I should use to get it stripped... So I did. I started that afternoon and by the end of the day, the scooter was all but stripped down. I know that this is the easy bit, but there is an immense feeling of achievement in looking at a pile of components which was formerly a rolling scooter... I will be replacing all of the nuts and bolts with Stainless Steel items, so there was no need to be careful with their removal. Some particularly stubborn ones were hacksawed off but most have been retained in my "Big box of Shite". The components I will be reusing are in there too, in the plastic tubs you get Chinese meals in... I love Chinese, so I have managed to acquire quite a few of these, which is handy! The lids are also useful for writing on, which means that (theoretically, at least) I should have a chance of finding these components when I later need them.

Just out of shot in the first picture is the original "Big box of Shite". This has been upgraded to a plastic model with wheels, though, after a rain related incident compromised it's integrity. It is pictured to the right, along with my catalogued Chinese boxes.

If you are wondering where the front wheel and hub went, this was donated to Matt from our club (the Pogue Mahone Scooter Club) for Ange's Lambretta project. I have a replacement unit anyway, so it was surplus to requirements. Matt also polished my air scoop, so I owed him one...

The box of bits

So I mentioned earlier about the box of bits... This turned out to be a real headache for me. I bought some stuff from ScootRS which arrived fairly promptly with the exception of the front Hydraulic disc brake kit (drum links) which was out of stock at the time. The prices of these items were excellent compared to the rip off prices for the same stuff on eBay, and it is calculated in dollars which, because of the strong exchange rate at the time, meant I got more for my money. The only issue I had with the ScootRS stuff was not really anything to do with the company, but with the shippers.

I used the fastest shipping option, by FedEx (2-5 days), which arrived within the specified time... Only a couple of weeks later, I was stung with an import duty bill from FedEx based on the value of the items... One to watch for, if you are doing the same yourself. Admittedly, the duty was low, based on the valuation of the items which ScootRS enclosed with the package (which is lower than the price I paid - maybe that's how much they get the items made for in Vietnam...?) but it was still a nasty surprise which I didn't account for. Apparently, the slower shippping options do not incur this duty, but I have no evidence of that... I didn't want to wait 90 days for a boat to arrive anyway.

I also bought some bits off traders who set up stalls at rallies... Disco Dave sold me some good stuff, as did SP4Y (Scooter Parts 4 You) and Steve at Scootergifts has been particularly helpful and great value for money.

So... We have the bits, and I reckon I've spent about £1,500 plus over the course of last year, and I still don't have everything I need... It's like buying a Lambretta on HP!

So it begins...

I got an Indian GP for my 40th Birthday in 2007... My partner Carol bought it for me as a project to complete over the summer, and I was well chuffed... The panels looked nice and straight and although it needed some work, I felt sure I could do it using the excellent manual by Sticky.

And so it sat there. All summer, then through the autumn, winter and spring. Rallies came and went, and it was far easier and dream about what it could be, and what it would look like than to actually do it. I'm lucky enough to own a few scooters, so the need to complete this project wasn't that urgent.

I wasn't totally idle, though... On each rally, I made sure I bought at least one item for the rebuild. Small things, sometimes, and other times I got a larger bit. At the Cheeky Northern Monkeys do, I got a set of Chrome tubeless rims, for example. Then at the Isle of Wight, I bought some Heidenlau tyres to go on them. I also got some things off the net, from e-bay and from ScootRS in Vietnam. The e-bay stuff was of varying quality (some OK, but mainly average), but the ScootRS stuff was excellent.

So it got to Spring of this year and I had a scooter and a box of bits. All I needed was to put them both together... Can't be that hard, can it?