Sante has come early in the Southern Scoot workshop with new parts for the Black Roughie and some other projects on the go. Hopefully, the Bajaj will be the next scoot to complete next years MotoTT (which most scooterists still call the Mille) and its time for some new bits and pieces to upspec. The SIP speedo and fast flow fuel tap should work nicely with the bigger long range tank and the rear suspension is pretty bad at the moment so a new adjustable shock should sort that out. There are also some tubeless rims somewhere…..
Also to compete it needs to be warranted and registered. The man at the motorcycle shop said “it just needs indicators and a front brake switch”, something I have never done before. Way back when, the Bajaj had indicators that looked hideous and most people just took them off and stuck their arm out for corners, which is how this one was when we got it.
Bajaj front brake switch
The front brake switch is something the later model PX’s have but the Bajaj never had one so time to get one installed. The PX’s use a pretty common inline compression type switch which works by installing the switch as part of the brake cable. The cable sheath needs to be cut at a place where the switch can be located with out getting in the way of anything else. Reasonably straight forward on a PX with the amount of room in the headset but a little trickier in the Bajaj, SS, GL type headsets as there is limited room.
You have to solder on two wires to the switch, and getting the inner part out of the switch is either really simple and just takes two minutes or is a real pita and you nearly wreck the thing trying to get it out. Once its out its just a matter of soldering on the cables, I used some speaker cable I had lying around, putting the spring back in and closing it back up with a pipe wrench or some other adjustable jaw tool.
You will have to estimate or measure where to cut the cable sheath to place the switch and make sure you remove the inner cable before cutting the outer. I had an old cable sheath that I used to get the measurements right before I made the cut. Some cable outers are ridiculously hard to cut even with a hacksaw however the ones I have can be cut with electrical cable shears. For me it was just a matter of trimming the sheath and trying it until I got it to fit into the fork hole with just the right amount of brake cable sticking out of the fork leg. The wiring from the switch now just needs to be run down to the foot brake switch.
Bajaj indicators
The Bajaj came with a broken indicator switch that has proved quite hard to find as its an odd rectangle shape to whats around with the more common round ones and larger PX style ones. I got one of the round ones but it didn’t cover the existing screw holes in the headset so I butchered the rocker assembly out of that to fix the one I have and just need to find a rubber gasket that will fit the switch. I found some skull LED lights on traders that I liked and a 12V indicator unit designed for the very low wattage LEDS. If you get the wrong one the LEDS wont flash or may flash once as the unit is rated to supply X amount of power with X amount of load.
The Roughie already has a 12v system so now its just the fun bit of cabling to do. The Bajaj originally had the spare wheel mount on the leg shield right where the glove box now lives and had two threaded holes that went into the fork/cabling cavity. I used the lower hole to run the front indicator cabling up to the horn cavity. This took ages with various wires, string and hooks tried until a couple of zip ties taped together finally got the cabling through.
I have discovered what a marvelous wiring tidy, gaffer tape is. Its awesome and just makes the job look a little more professional and is a practical solution to keeping wires out of the way. I still have to run the rear indicator cabling through to the switch but will work that in with the SIP electronic speedometer/rev counter cabling that needs to be done at the same time.
While I’m doing this cabling the new fuel tank has now had a couple of coats of primer. When it came out of the box I thought “there’s no way that will all fit in there” but it fits nicely. One thing you may need is a longer fuel tap rod. The fast fuel tap that SIP sells comes with a nice alloy one included in the box. Also the petrol cap is a different shape to the standard one and sadly doesn’t come with either a rubber or cork seal – something SIP should look at including in the future.
The skeleton (from Greek σκελετός, skeletós “dried up”) is the body part that forms the supporting structure of an organism.
Sally the Skelly is the current pilot for Elsie the Lambretta scooter and has been keen to get out and ride but alas, she has no eyes to see where she is going….
Sally’s hobbies
While she is a keen scooterist, some of her hobbies include:
The last time I rode the super it went well but near the end of the ride it was right down on power and just didn’t want to run. It would start and idle fine but would just die in top gear and I eventually had to ride it home, thankfully not too far, at about 2km/hour. Thinking back to what may have changed, I originally had a ScootRS expansion chamber on it but Mrs JC wasn’t keen on the noise it made so I swapped that out for a cheap Sito, that I had got off Trade Me.
I had changed the main jet to a 120 for the expansion chamber and the bike ran well but was just too loud. I cleaned the carby and put a 116 jet in it and took it for a ride but this made no difference at all. The Sito was pretty shabby and I had been looking at the SIP Road exhausts for the Black Roughie project so had got 2 new ones in from SIP.
Bizarrely the SIP road didn’t foul the stand in any way, went on pretty quickly and after putting the 120 main jet back in, it started and idled away happy as Larry. The exhaust wasn’t as loud as the expansion chamber, sounded better than the Sito and also meant not having to remove it to get the rear wheel off. The scooter ran exceptionally well and so far has been one of the best modifications I have made to it.
Obviously a lot of thought has gone into the design of these exhausts as the one I put on the Black Roughie transformed it into a different machine. The obvious differences are the segments in the pipe from the muffler and the addition of 2 spring tags for attaching to different barrels. The springs aren’t overly long but there is a small plate included to locate one of the springs on to one of the flywheel cover screws and you would then just have to drill a hole in one of the cooling fins to use the other one.
Recently we talked about taking the scooters out for a run, something you have to plan with the weather here in the deep south over the winter. I thought a quick check of the scooters was in order, for fuel, tyre pressures and anything not working. Mrs JC’s Super started fine as the battery had recently had its annual recharge along with the rest of the vehicles with batteries but the headlight didn’t work so a quick check was in order.
I was lucky enough to have a new spare one for a Sportique that is one of the next projects. The old light was one of those ones that you can only get slim bulbs in through the reflector before clipping the wiring plate on and then I had to change the wiring connectors but eventually got it hooked up – still no go. After checking with a meter for continuity to the switch and the regulator and then confirming that power was coming out of the regulator, I checked the original wiring diagram I had followed when I rewired the scooter but couldn’t see where an issue might be.
It’s such a scooter thing, that when you want to go riding there will be something not working and that the quick 5 minute fix invariably turns into an hour or two followed by swearing and general grumpiness….
After a cold beer and some timeout on the computer, I rang my auto electrician friend.
After explaining what I had found he asked about the earth for the light – What earth? It used to work and didn’t have an earth.
It has one now and the speedo light works as well.
The Bajaj has had quite a few additions as it has evolved from Barry the Bajaj into The Black Roughie. In effect the Bajaj has become the test bed for all things scooter and will continue to be “adjusted” as time permits. It has been a great learning tool as I have been lucky enough to be able to do what I want to it but not have to rely on it as my only scooter.
The S/H glove box went on with no problems and it is huge, compared to the standard Vespa ones plus it came with a key so all good there. The rubber seal isn’t the best but it works okay. Originally the spare wheel was mounted there but I would rather have the extra storage. The spare will probably be mounted onto the rear of the scooter.
The fuel cap had an old cork seal that was pretty well buggered and fuel would sometimes leak out so a shiny new chrome one has fixed that.
The ScootRS pipe of doom really wakes up the DR177 kit however it has a very peaky power band and then just dies in top gear. While a lot of fun from a standing start, it’s not very practical on the road. A new SIP Road exhaust has now made a huge difference with useable power through every gear. Its not as loud as the expansion chamber and now the rear wheel can be removed without having to take the pipe off, so a big win all round.
Capn Crac has one installed in his GS and really rates them so they must be the go. The temperature functionality also appeals. However it doesn’t look like there is a 2.0 version available in the Vespa 125 GT/150 VBA/VBB/GL/GS/Sprint/160 GS/180 SS at this time so I may wait for that one to come out.
A new feature of the 2.0 versionis the choice between ananalogue speedometer or rev counter. The speedometer needle can be used to display either speed or rpm. During longer trips you can also record the total time of your journey and the average speeds for bothdaily stagesand thewhole tour, which can be set up individually.
Thetotal number of kilometrestravelled, recorded by your original speedometer unit, can also be transferred to the km value displayed. In combination with the SIP fast flow fuel tap, withfuel reservesensor, all Vespa models can now benefit from a fuel level warning function. To indicate the ebbing level in your fuel tank ‘FUEL’ starts to blink on the electronic display. In addition, it also improves the voltage regulation of your complete electrical system.
This was the first of the event previously known as the Mille Miglia Scooter Challenge.
Christiaan from Retroscooter and his hard working team outdid themselves this year with a sublime event. With around 70 scooters taking part this year the scene was set for some serious competition and is an indication of how well this event and its organisers are regarded in New Zealand.
This year having two classes – Trophy and Tourist proved to be a very shrewd move with teams either wanting to push themselves and their machines hard or to just complete the event and have fun as a team. Regardless of the class – everyone had fun (except maybe Pol..) and there is an awesome fellowship developing between the different teams now that there has been a few events and everyone is getting to know each other.
Team Arscrac entered in the Trophy class this year and came in 6th out of the 12 teams in that class. All riding older, piston ported Vespa scooters we had a few minor issues as you might expect from classic 50 year old machines. Some of us have had the engines and suspensions updated both for reliability, comfort and to be competitive and some proudly show their age with patina and period accessories. Another big effort by our Australasian contingent to take part this year and made for an overall good time.
We all congregated at “Capn Crac’s” place this year, where he has recently built an awesome shed for his new business and after some minor fettling with the scooters we put a few miles on the new motor then had a BBQ, a few beers and enjoyed some scooter visitors.
I managed to join the ‘Super Seize” club this year with an unexpected rear wheel lock-up and skid to a halt moment on my SS180, something that a lot of SS riders have done over the years. Luckily for me it was on a straight piece of road with not too much traffic around and after a moment to compose myself (Far Canal) , my team mates managed to get it going again after a quick push down the road. Up until then the scooter had been performing exceptionally well thanks to an engine rebuild by Mike Salmon from Not a Motorcycle Shop in Upper Hutt. With a fresh motor the scooter was a joy to ride, especially on the hills, however the change from the main fuel tank to the reserve had leaned the mix out enough to induce a soft seize. After that the scooter ran just as well with no obvious lack of power but to be honest you do start to wonder if it’s going to happen again….
Triumph Tigress
This year, an Auckland based team showed up on four Triumph Tigress scooters and stole the show.
The Triumph Tigress, also sold as the BSA Sunbeam, was a scooter designed to have good performance and handling for the motorcycle enthusiast. The scooter was available with a 250 cc four-stroke twin or 175 cc two-stroke single-cylinder engine. Both engines were forced-air-cooled. The two-stroke was a development of the BSA Bantam engine but the four-stroke was a completely new parallel-twin with gear rather than chain drive to the gearbox. The contact-breaker fed two ignition coils, each of which had a lead to its spark plug without a distributor. Drive to the rear wheel was by a fully enclosed chain in an oil bath. Both versions had four, foot-operated gears. Some of the 250 twins were fitted with an electric starter and a 12 volt (not 6 volt) electrical system. The 250 twin sold well and could do 70 mph (105 km/h) with efficient suspension and good road holding despite having only 10-inch wheels.
The only problem was build quality: it was sometimes said that a Tigress was a joy to own so long as someone else was paying the repair bills.
There must have been some epic days and nights to re-build the Triumphs with Vespa disc braked front ends and 4 Stroke 400cc Suzuki enduro motors. All the modifications to get everything into the frame and body shell of a 50 year old scooter showed commitment and a touch of madness from Team Foreplay. Just the time and energy, let alone the cost, to get these machines built to a time frame and the inevitable problems with repowering anything would have been pretty high. However, the scooters just looked and sounded fantastic. These weren’t bodged death traps either as a very high standard of mechanical engineering, welding and fabricating was evident when you had a good look around these machines and you could see that a lot of thought had gone into how these builds could be achieved.
The Triumphs went on to win the event and were well ahead of most of the scooter technology on the Motoretta this year with what they had put together. There were some grumbles about them not being in the right spirit of the Motoretta and having too much of an advantage over most classic scooters, however in my opinion, they have just opened a door for a whole new type of scooter class. Whether that is something for the Motoretta event or not we will have to wait and see as there will be ramifications for the organisers and any future events around the legalities of modified machines.
Good on them for doing something different and making a damn good job of it.
This years event also featured some technology for keeping track of the riders with riders given a passport/route book the morning of the event in their goodie bag. “Each team members passport will have a QR number on the back which will be used for logging times. At the start and finish of each stage the rider must scan his passport on the timekeepers iPad. Departure times will be 1 minute apart, with the leading teams leaving last. This will be your recorded start time, regardless of how late you leave. Arrival time is taken from the last team member to arrive at the checkpoint (or from the second to last team member when the abandoning of a member is notified to a race official)”
“There will be a lunch stop each day for at least 15 minutes. There is no maximum lunch time however remember it will get dark around 6pm” this was a portent of things to come as with last years event most teams had time on their side and just had to maintain a steady speed without getting lost to be at the last daily checkpoint before dark. This year the times were shorter and riders had to push to get home on time and maintain a healthy points score however a breakdown or a wrong turn impacted on your day in a big way. Last year not too many teams came home in the dark but this year there were quite a few, team Arscrac included.
Near the end of day one we had travelled north from Whanganui and missed the turn off to the Raukawa Falls YMCA camp, where we were all staying for the next two days. We carried on up state highway 4 for an extra 20 minutes or so before, luckily for us, we were flagged down by a lady in a Toyota Prado who told us we had gone past the camp. By the time we got back to the site it was nearly dark and this cost us a few points.
Like all of these events so far, there are always things that just make it so worth doing – other than getting to ride your scooter with your mates.
Andrew, a well known and respected scooterist from Palmy, built a 1951 Vespa based on the Sei Giorni 125 – which was developed for trial racing in Europe, from scratch for this event. An impressive effort and a very handsome scooter that not only looked the part but also completed the event. Put together with a mixture of scooter parts and a whole lot of Vespa know how, he is well known for completing high quality restoration and custom projects. He goes hard and then he goes home – Respect.
Pol, also a well known and respected scooterist from Auckland was riding his Lambretta this year (unsure why as he has a very fast small frame) and was unfortunate to run off the road, down quite a steep bank and into a … wasp’s nest. The irony of a Lambretta in a wasp (Vespa is Italian for wasp) nest was just too much and you couldn’t script that for a comedy show. The landowner and the support crew, bravely all lent a hand to get him out before being stung to bits. Thankfully he and his scooter weren’t too badly damaged, however he did complain a bit about a sore wrist which later, turned out to be a broken arm. He soldiered on and decided it was not safe to ride his scooter but then ended up helping the support crew and Fran with the running of the event. He goes hard and then he goes home with a broken arm – Respect.
Team Calvary got second place this year with 3 new riders joining up with Matt Brookes AKA Mr Skoot from Wellington. Chasing the Triumphs would have been a mission but they nearly pulled it off. Matt has had some mixed results over the years with scooter breakdowns and crashes but deservedly finished this event with only a couple of scrapes. One of the most experienced scooter riders around he thrashed his 8″ wheeled super pretty hard over the gravel stages and word has it that he was a very lucky man to actually ride off the Rimutaka hill stage. They go hard and then they go home – Respect.
Hailing, and I don’t mean the lumpy rain we get, from the deep south I hadn’t been on almost any of the roads we were to cover during the four day event. On reflection, almost a month later, I can’t think of many better roads to have done an event like this on. Not quite so much gravel this year was probably a good thing for the majority of riders especially in the trophy class as you had to push to maintain a competitive time. The Akatarawa, The Forgotten World Highway, The Gentle Annie and the road over the Rimutakas into Wellington, were probably my favourite roads.
The accommodation was a good standard this year and my team didn’t even notice the snoring at the YMCA camp. There were some late nights had by teams welding up this and that and stickers mysteriously appearing on scooters, motors being retuned and parts replaced and a general good feeling all round.
Whats going to happen with this event next year is that all participating scooters will have to be registered and warranted so whether some teams can get their frankenskoots together in a timely manner remains to be seen. I think we will see faster scooters in the trophy class and teams will need to look at what they are going to ride to be competitive. The PX200 engine and scooter will feature prominently in the Vespa camp and the hard core Lambretta riders, who are generally riding faster machines, will be looking more at their reliability and fuel consumption.
A four day, 1000 mile team ride for classic geared scooters.
An epic test of man and machine, taking in the BEST roads and scenery in New Zealand’s North Island and the chance to win the amazing handcrafted MotoTT trophy
Teams of 3 or 4 riding together with points allocated each day. This year’s event leaves Wellington Thursday 23rd of April and takes in the Manawatu, Taranaki, Hawkes Bay and Wairarapa regions. The ride finishes on Sunday 26th in Wellington.
All accommodation, and 3 dinners and 3 breakfasts are included in the entry fee.
The Scooter Challenge is an endurance ride, from the sea to mountains in New Zealand’s heartland. From windswept Stirling Point in Bluff to the tourist Mecca and alpine resort of Queenstown. A journey of 220 kilometers to raise funds for the New Zealand Prostate Cancer Foundation.
The Challenge is in no way a race – it’s an awareness-raising and fundraising event for the survivors, families of those with prostate cancer and those committed to making a difference. By raising funds and awareness for the Prostate Cancer Foundation we are helping them continue their great work.
2015 is the 4th time running of the PlaceMakers Scooter Challenge; the next ride will be in 2017 (making the event bi-annual).
On Sunday September 27th 2015, more than 12569 smartly-dressed gentlefolk in 391 cities from 77 countries will straddle the saddles of their café racers, bobbers, scramblers and other marvellous custom motorcycles to raise awareness and help fund the cure for prostate cancer.
Craig is leading the charge on organization of this year’s ride. The basic plan for this “North of the South” ride is as below, finer details are still to be worked out. Keep an eye out here for more details as they come together:
Day 1, Friday 13th ( what could possibly go wrong): Start at Kaikoura, e.g; those from Chch travel up the night before or early in the morning, (some may even take the Thursday off work as well and make a day of it). Those from North Island can meet us there – or in Blenheim.
End point for the day is probably Havelock via Blenheim, Port Underwood, Picton and Queen Charlotte Drive. There are sealed options for those wanting to avoid the gravel. Possibility of an evening ride out to Portage for dinner and drinks via the Kenepuru Rd out around Kenepuru sound. ( 80km round trip from Havelock)
Day 2, Saturday 14th: End point for the day is Murchison via Pelorus Bridge, Nelson, Kaiteriteri, Tapawera, Glenhope to Murchison.
Day 3, Sunday 15th: North Island Folk head home via Nelson Lakes to Blenheim etc. Christchurch people head home via some shingle roads, etc.
Recently we were fortunate enough to be able to travel to South Africa and to go on two Safari’s. The two Lodges – Hoyo Hoyo in the Kruger national park in South Africa and Muchenje in the Chobe national park in Botswana were just awesome. Most of what you see of on TV about wildlife in Africa is just metres away by Landcruiser or Landrover and the guides are really worth the money for their knowledge of their environment and where to find animals at a given time.
They can also spot animals that you would just drive past and still haven’t seen. If you are after the top 5 (or the big 5 in some parks) – Lion, Leopard, Rhino, Elephant and Buffalo then the guides are invaluable. We were lucky enough to see the top 5 and most of everything else we could by two very experienced guides from a feeding Leopard up a tree to a tiny Tortoise on the side of the road to a 5cm Chameleon on a branch of a tree we just drove past.
I would recommend either of these lodges to anyone contemplating a Safari in South Africa and Botswana. Check with the lodges to see what time of the year is the best for their area as the wet and dry seasons dictate the movement of the animals (and the mosquitos) and if you like fishing some lodges can offer this depending on the season. We were lucky enough to get a half days fishing on the Chobi river for Tiger fish.
After the touristy things we stayed in Capetown for nearly two weeks and found it to be an awesome place. Very good value with the exchange rate, nice and hot and friendly people everywhere. Some of the history of South Africa isn’t the best (although to be fair its not just South Africa with a past…) and there are plenty of places to go and see how tough it was there, like Robben Island where Nelson Mandela was held and District 6 where coloured people were forced off the land.
There is a castle and the mandatory Table Mountain or the Waterfront where you can sit and eat or drink nearly anything, shop or listen to local musicians, go on the canal tour or the Capetown Wheel or if you are really keen – rent a couple of Vespa scooters and ride down to the cape point.
Some of our scooterist friends Craig and Kate had mentioned where they had got their scooters from when they were on holiday in Capetown so we went around to see the Scoot Doctor people about getting a couple of Vespas.
As it turned out they were about 3 blocks away from our hotel and pretty easy to find. Mrs JC was a bit worried about actually riding a fair way on the open road and through the city in another country on a Vespa scooter but an automatic 125 for her and a 250 for me were just the ticket. They came with a screen, top box and helmets and were a lot of fun to ride after classic geared scooters. Quiet, comfortable and with plenty of room under the seat for bags and jackets they were very economical as well.
Neil and Pete have been running the Scoot Dr business since 2006 and have a mix of scooter restoration, sales and servicing and rentals. They also service and sell tuk tuks.
We followed the route Pete had suggested from Capetown to Green Point, down the coast to Noordhoek, Hout Bay and Chapmans Peak then across to Fish Hoek and down through the nature reserve to the Cape Point. The road up to Chapmans Peak is a bit like the devils staircase on the way to Queenstown here in NZ but considerably higher and twistier. Great fun if you are an experienced rider but a little intimidating if you aren’t especially with some of the buses taking the corners a bit wide…
As it turned out she put her big girls pants on and by lunchtime was actually enjoying it!! Awesome stuff.
Pete was very helpful in giving us advice on where to go and what to see and even answered the after hours phone when we arrived back a little bit later than anticipated and had to park the scooters in the hotel car park overnight. Nothing was an issue and we found them very easy to deal with and when we had some spare time later near the end of our holiday, we went back and rented the same scooters for another trip up the coast. We hadn’t seen a lot of Vespa scooters while we were in South Africa and Neil had said that was because the import tax was quite high on them and that made the Asian scooters a better buy for some people. We did see a few small frames, PX or Bajaj based courier and some restored scoots around the place but there seemed to be mainly automatic vespas on the roads there.
If you are in Capetown and looking for a great day out in the sun on a Vespa scooter then get in touch with these guys.
Its funny the things you learn as you pull your scooter to pieces and then put it back together again.
I am not a vespa expert by any means but have acquired a pretty good knowledge about scooter engines, wiring, exhausts, tyres, forks, wheels, carburetors, stands, bodywork, painting, seats and pretty much everything else I have done to the Bajaj.
Barry the Bajaj aka The Black Roughie started out as a cheap (yeah right tui…) scooter for her indoors to learn to ride on and see if being a scooter chick was her thing, however it very quickly turned into the never ending story…..
So I finally got around to rewiring the scoot to suit the PX150/DR177 motor and I thought for good measure I may as well upgrade the front fork to 10″ for better braking. The fork went pretty much without a hitch and the braking is definitely improved. The rewire, while a PITA has given me that little bit more experience and confidence to make it easier to convert most older vespa scooters without batteries to a 12v system using the same loom and hardware, with a key or without.
Some say the 6v system is all you need and works well but I find the 12v system more to my liking because:
The lights are brighter and the horn doesn’t kill the headlight
There’s really only 2 points of failure and easy to test – bulbs or the regulator
Some 6v lamps are getting harder to find now
A 12v ignition, in my opinion, is more reliable
Time will tell what the next thing to do to Barry will be but its been a hoot so far….
Was produced in Italy between 1950 and 1951 with a total of 42500 units.
With 125 cc it has a Bore/Stroke of 52×58 mm and a carburetor Dellorto MA16.
This model has 3 gears and 4.3 horse power, going up to 65-70 km/h with a consumption of 50 km/l.
The lambretta 125LC weights 80 kg, it has a fuel tank of 6L and uses 4×8 tyres.
So after a bit of hoisting with some rope and pulleys we have managed to get Elsie the Lambretta into her new spot in the shed where she now has Sally the Skelly for company. For an incomplete scooter its quite heavy and an ungainly thing to lift to a height, by hand.
With the addition of some chains and hardware from E Hayes and sons, the best hardware shop in the country, she is now safely secured.
In a perfect world, finding an engine, fuel tank, right side panel, wheels, floor boards and various other bits and pieces would enable me to restore this eventually, however Elsie the Lambretta should remain relatively rust free in her new environment and may be joined by another wayward scooter.
Southern Scoot is part of team ARSCRAC and will be riding with a newly rebuilt SS180 motor by Mike at Not a motorcycle shop. The logistics are not too bad for this trip with the scooter already in Mikes workshop in Wellington. Mrs Southern Scoot is going to be involved with the support team again this year and is looking forward to meeting up with the Mille riders from last year.
Team ARSCRAC are entering four 1960’s classic Vespa GS and SS geared scooters for this challenge of 1000 miles over four days travelling over the bottom half of the North Island. This is the first NZ Motoretta Tourist Trophy event (Originally the Mille Miglia) to be held in NZ with 14 teams in the trophy class and 3 teams in the tourist. After a 3rd placing in last years Mille, Team ARSCRAC will be looking to take out the top prize.
This isn’t your standard ride out with the local scooter club…..
A 4 day, 1000 mile team ride for classic geared scooters.
An epic test of man and machine, taking in the best roads and scenery in New Zealand’s North Island and the chance to win the amazing handcrafted MotoTT trophy
Teams of 3 or 4 riding together with points allocated each day. This year’s event leaves Wellington Thursday 23rd of April and takes in the Manawatu, Taranaki, Hawkes Bay and Wairarapa regions. The ride finishes on Sunday 26th in Wellington.
So the Bajaj had another stock 150 motor with the “sporty note exhaust system” and just needed rewired….
The newish motor started and went well but needed some more go as carting me around was OK but not very fast and the 8″ wheels at any speed are a little scary, especially in the gravel roads around my neighborhood. Mrs JC now has a faster scoot and not being able to keep up with her on this one is not a very good thing.
After the amount of work and money I have already spent on this I decided to make some more changes to the “Black Roughie” as that’s just scootering for us slow learning southern people….
A couple of Trade me purchases later and I had another donor motor that, as it turns out, had originally come from Ross, an Otago scooterist based in Dunedin. It found its way from him to Mr Skoot in Wellington and then to Dan another Wellington scooterist and then to me. Originally a PX150, it had been fitted with a DR177 kit and a 24mm Spaco carburetor and just needed some minor tidying up before I could install it in the Bajaj. I already had the Scootrs “pipe of doom” exhaust so everything was falling into place.
Mr Skoot also supplied a 10″ Atomic branded GS150 type wheel and tyre for the front. Traditionally, you would have put a whole 10″ fork assembly into the scooter and just used a standard 10″ wheel however this allowed me to retain the standard 8″ fork and hub assembly and to just bolt the new wheel on. It looks good and just went straight on with no issues.
One of the roughies side pods had some rust and a few holes in it so I sourced a S/H one through Paul at Vespa Spares. He sent me one off a Chetak which fit fine but had some holes for trim and indicators on it and it was a different colour. Recently I had painted another scooter, Elsie, with a couple of cans of matt black and silver and had some left over, so I decided to give the roughie a paint job. From a distance it looks great!!
Another big day and a late night in the shed later I had the roughie painted, the new motor in with the exhaust, two new 10″ wheels, fueled up and ready to go. Unfortunately 2am isn’t the best time to be test riding the scoot so it had to sit there until the next day. It started 2nd kick and after taking it for a run then adjusting the idle, I went for another ride along the road adjacent to our property. The Scootrs pipe is quite loud however when you are giving it a handful it sounds OK. It goes very well indeed and I’ve been told the DR177 kit isn’t the fastest but is reliable compared to other kits. Time will tell…
So next on the list is the 12V wiring for the lighting system…here we go again…..
After a bit of wire bushing and a bit of a clean Elsie is ready to go outside to the paint booth for painting. Good old matt black and silver should look OK. I masked everything up with some paper out of the printer as it was all I had out in the shed and took the body outside to the paint booth to give it a new coat. The original whitewall tyre I had for the front looked a bit sad so I pumped it up and gave it a silver coat and did the same for the rear one and they turned out not too bad.
The paint on it is pretty rough up close as taking it to the sand blaster before painting it, probably would have disintegrated most of the back end and the sides of the body as they were very rusty. The new running board looks OK from a distance as does the old tail light I found in a box of junk. I had a couple of old spotlights that I got off Trade Me ages ago and found that one of them was the right size for the headlight and Ant had given me a chrome surround which looks great. I managed to clean the black paint off the Lambretta badge and it came up quite well.
I found an old seat cover that would fit and I tidied it up but after putting it on decided that I quite liked the look of the seat as it is.
The next mission is to hang it up in the shed somewhere….
I managed to source a L/H side panel off ebay for the LC125 Lambretta frame I got from a local guy.
It came from a very helpful German trader and is actually off an NSU Lambretta. Nick, one of the scooterists in the know, had said that this may be my best bet of finding parts for it and so it turned out. It took about 5 weeks to get here via German post but its in very good condition.
“The NSU Lambretta started life in the 1950’s, being made under license in Neckarsulm, and between then and the time the production stopped in 1957, some 189,000 examples were turned out of the factory. Based on the 125cc engine unit, early examples were as Innocenti had designed, but soon the NSU works modified the scooters with their own extras”.
I have had to do some panel beating to get the side panel to fit properly which has been hard considering the rear of the frame is quite rusty and I’m not a panel beater….
I had an old rusty old 8″ vespa wheel rim, which after some cutting and grinding I adapted to fit as the front wheel. I also had a pretty well shagged whitewall tyre and an axle bolt I found in my bits and bobs. After a bit of mucking around the wheel now sits as it should and doesn’t look too bad.
The headlight piece doesn’t quite fit but is close enough and looks good for now.
Was produced in Italy between 1950 and 1951 with a total of 42500 units.
With 125 cc it has a Bore/Stroke of 52×58 mm and a carburetor Dellorto MA16.
This model has 3 gears and 4.3 horse power, going up to 65-70 km/h with a consumption of 50 km/l.
The lambretta 125LC weights 80 kg, it has a fuel tank of 6L and uses 4×8 tyres.
Recently, a local man was selling an old Lambretta frame on Trade Me, that he had had for over 20 years. It looked pretty well buggered in the photos as if it had sat outside in the weather for 20 years before finally finding its way to a shed.
While not really being a Lambretta man, I did like the look of it and like all old relics it could probably tell a story or two. Having plenty of Vespa stuff to do, it probably wont be getting restored as all the parts you need are basically gone however as time goes by some parts may become available…
Some of the scooter experts had said it was an old LD scooter and I was lucky enough to be given a part for one by one of the Napier scooter boys. With a bit of help from Nick, a man who once owned a similar scooter, I was able to ascertain what year and model the frame actually is by finding the stamped serial number on the front engine mount.
The LD’s and apparently some other later models, have the serial number stamped on the rear engine mount just under the oil tank. As it turned out it is the model before the LD – an LC, and is one of the first Lambrettas to originally have side panels.
Trying to find all the parts needed for this in NZ would be a real mission and with the condition of the frame not being very good, probably a waste of time and money………….. however if someone out there has a side panel, any condition considered, I would be very interested to hear from you.
Recently we were lucky enough to attend this event as an addition to a planned family holiday to the north island. Big thanks to Christiaan from Retroscooter who was kind enough to lend me his SS180 for the rally and to put us up for the night in Auckland – respect.
The Retroscooter Cafe and Workshop was undergoing a transformation as new flooring was being installed to go with some of the other changes the team had made to make the place bigger and brighter. The coffee was excellent and it was great to catch up with some local scooterists while there. The workshop has been very busy to date and there have been some good sales for people wanting classic scooters with a reliable local workshop. Christiaan has some good ideas for his new business and I am sure he will do well.
Some of us left from Retroscooter to travel to the ferry terminal on a warm sunny day via the motorway and being from the deep south, where we don’t have motorways, navigating the traffic was an interesting experience on a scooter. To be fair the SS went very well considering the weight it was carrying. The trip across to the island on the ferry was helped by drinks from the bar however it looked like the weather had changed for the worse with the rain and the wind starting to blow a bit but this was going to be the norm for the next three days with changeable conditions.
We had organized to stay with two of the nicest people on the planet, Aaron and Laura, so Mrs JC and Laura had gone over on an earlier ferry to sort out the digs for the event. They had organised an awesome house with a deck and all the amenities and within walking distance to Oneroa for us. We have stayed on the island before but this accommodation was outstanding plus we had some pretty good “flatties”. Aaron and Dan had ridden up from Wellington clocking up around 700kms on the mission to the event – awesome stuff. I rode down to meet Aaron off the ferry to show him the way to our accommodation but lost him on the way back to the house – sorry about that mate.
A dinner had been organised at the Mudbrick Restaurant for the Friday night and as per a lot of scooter events people arrived throughout the evening. It was great to catch up with Lance and Ant from the Napier scooter boys and Shaneo who were all staying at a backpackers somewhere but had made the trip north. Lance or 8 Ball as he is known to us scooterists had a serious crash a while back that kept him off the road for quite some time. A very likeable man with a big heart and an awesome sense of humor, his trusty PX200 is now on its 3rd motor and he can be seen at scooter events in both islands at any time as he likes to travel. Getting back on the scooter must have been hard but ride he does, and in my opinion, he is the epitome of why we are into scooters and do what we do – Big ups and respect my bro!!
The Restaurant is part of the local vineyard and the views are awesome. The service was excellent however due to the number of diners there was a long wait for our main meal, which when it arrived, was very good. Samantha and Jason had ridden to the restaurant and were well rugged up for the trip home as it got dark and quite cold by the time we all left. All in all, quite a busy day, and everyone was really looking forward to the next part of the rally.
The “amazing race” was the event planned for the Saturday leaving from Onetangi after a BBQ breakfast. It looked the the rain was going to spoil our day but after a few showers it cleared up. Big thanks to the BBQ crew who put on a great start to the day. Everyone was paired up with a partner to ride around the island getting clues and performing tasks as directed by Teresa and her team in a time trial type of event, with the winner being whoever completed the route in the shortest time. I was teamed up with Gnu (my apologies, if I have spelt this wrong) a very tall man riding a white small frame. Gnu was working on a PX at Retroscooter just before the event – hope you have got it sorted out. If you have been to Waiheke before you will know that there are a few gravel roads around the place and like all scooter events it is inevitable that you will need to ride over them at some point. Following the map was straight forward on the roads however once we hit the gravel Gnu was off! Embarrassingly I was having trouble keeping up on the SS, partly because it wasn’t mine and I didn’t want to fall off it but mainly because Gnu is quite mad. To be fair, the gravel on the roads there wasn’t as bad as some we found on last years Mille, however Gnu set us a cracking pace which looked like it would pay off as we caught up with a few of the early starters. It was a great ride for the day and we were going well until an unexpected fuel stop put a dent in our final time.
After a few drinks at the local Sandbar establishment, the prizes were handed out and some of us settled in for a bit of a session. We went for a meal and returned later to catch up with Ant, one of the Napier scooter boys, who had brought an LD scooter part up with him as I had recently purchased an LD frame for a possible restoration but on closer investigation it will more likely become some signage. Ant is another interesting man that has been around the scooter scene for ages and knows everything about Fiat cars and owns a few of them. Thanks very much for the part Ant.
The Sunday was about packing up and heading to Onetangi for the final day of catching up over brunch with a ride out and then making your way back to Auckland (or the mainland for us). Catching up with our roomies and Hone, who was riding a rather nice Sportique, was great. Chalky, another scooter identity from the Canscoot club in Christchurch and now lucky enough to be based in Waiheke had turned up to have a look. Riding his Lifan 200 powered Nzeta scooter but also having a classic green SS180 that’s a bit of a legend in the mainland, just quietly, it was noticed that he had bought his man bag with him to the event. There’s no problem with the man bag of course James, as we are all about that sort of stuff around here, but it was an interesting pink colour…. After a few laps around Onetangi some of us had to leave and catch the ferry.
For us, this event just capped off a wonderful 10 days in northland. We met a lot more awesome scooter people and caught up with some friends we hadn’t seen in a while. Christiaan and Teresa we hope you will come to ours one day, however you will have to have wasp beer as there is very little Feijoa wine to be had in the deep south.
The Bajaj Super was a two-stroke 150 cc motor scooter produced in India by Bajaj Auto between 1976 and 2006.
Early models were a licensed reproduction of the Italian-made eight-inch-wheeled Vespa Super. Production continued even after the licence agreement with Vespa expired in 1977. In response, Vespa’s parent company Piaggio filed patent infringement suits to block Bajaj scooter sales in the United States, United Kingdom, West Germany, and Hong Kong.
Later model Bajaj Supers appear to have incorporated various features of the Vespas: VNA, VNB, VBB, Super and Sprint. For instance, the 1981 model Bajaj Super has near-identical components: Vespa Super body, VNA/VNB/VBB 8-inch wheels, and Vespa SS180 headlight.
In its early days, there used to be a booking period of at least one year, until it was replaced by Bajaj Chetak.
The Bajaj Super has a 150cc 6 BHP at 5500 RPM of engine, with excellent pick up and a top speed of 80 km/h in standard testing conditions.
So Barry the bajaj aka the black roughie has been in the naughty corner for a while now.
With the re-power of Mrs JC complete, the 150 motor that was very under powered for a 10″ wheel scooter looked like a good candidate for the 8″ bajaj and came with a racing pipe……well not actually a racing one, as in making more horse power, more of a sportier note than factory type of exhaust….
After a big night and early morning in the shed removing the old motor and installing the replacement 150 engine, the scooter runs better than it did however electrical issues are still there and it could now do with some new gear change cables.
The headlight and brake light don’t work and the horn is wanting to stay on all the time. The rear light works but only when the ignition switch is on park. I noticed the swing arm shock absorbers need changed as well.
So just a few more things to do however there could be light at the end of the tunnel…..
So the new battery strap lasted about 2 days….an old inner tube soon got cut up to fit and so far is doing a great job. All of the other new parts turned up and have been installed and a couple of small issues have now been resolved.
I had a Scootrs pipe on the motor but it was deemed too noisy so an old sito was installed however this meant having to adjust the centre stand to get clearance past the pipe as the old rubber foot on the pipe side had turned to a melted mess and the bike never sat right. Adjusting the stand legs with some brute force and the addition of some metal stand feet sorted that out nicely.
This whole build has been about giving the scooter a bit more power, better lighting and adding an electric start plus to be fair, it retains its classic look. Its not going to go on long road trips and just needs to be reliable enough for the odd sunday ride or a local rally. Its no racer by any means and following the scooterhelp wiring diagram has achieved most of what was required.
One of the issues I found was getting a 12v, DC horn as per the diagram and also once the wiring was complete and double checked there was 12v at the horn circuit when there shouldn’t have been. Once you connected the horn it was on all the time so I tried 3 other horns but same result although the AC horns did smoke a bit when connected. The relay clicked as you would expect when the horn switch was pushed and the switch was correctly wired as per the diagram.
I replaced the relay but that made no difference so eventually contacted a local auto electrician who looked at the diagram and suggested there was a mistake in it, which turned out to be true. The red wire from the battery connected to the the horn relay on the 87a tag just had to be moved to the 87 tag. Once this was done everything was good and the horn circuit was voltage free. Thanks for that Bryan. The 12v horns are common on some Lambrettas and PX’s but not many will fit into the housing on the front of the leg shield and are usually black.
I ordered one from ScootRS for a Lambretta as that was all they had in stock and while it was small enough to fit in the housing it looked a bit naff. I had a couple of older horns and decided to pull one apart and use the chrome front on it with a horn gasket that came on the scooter. It turned out not too bad and is very loud for a classic scooter horn.
One of things you will need to consider when doing something like this, if you don’t go for the electric start, is to replace the kickstart lever. The original PX kickstart is angled and there is no way to use that on this body. The easiest thing to do is to buy a new one from SIP or Paul from Vespa Spares will sort you out. Make sure you get the one that is designed for a PX motor in an old frame.
The tail light, brake light run off the battery so they are bright and work very well. The headlight runs off the motor/regulator and is very bright, however there is no high/low beam or speedometer light working with this set up. Not an issue but it would be nice to have. I have installed a key switch that controls the ignition relay for security.
The battery and the relays all fit nicely into the side pod and there is a good amount of useable room for tools and oil containers. One thing overlooked was attaching the nuts to the two side pod bolts at the very rear of the scooter, this will have to wait until the battery is removed – which hopefully will also fit through the pod door…..
Its early days for this scooter but at the moment, it runs very well and is a lot better machine than it was. I found this headlight surround which just needed some adjustment with a rubber hammer to fit the contour of the supers light housing and although “chrome wont get you home” this one wont be going to far from the nest.
Without the autolube system someone, yes you Mrs JC, will just have to get used to adding oil at the petrol station like the rest of us.
Rack up another convincing win on Saturday to the MODs in the MAR yet again despite dubious judging and rigged events in the greasy Rockers favour.
A barbecue to start off with at the First European motorcycle shop, 114 Carlyle Street in Sydenham and then a couple of laps around the streets of Ch-Ch. With no serious mishaps but a close call in the braking department from Dean the mod and the weather looking like rain, we went over to Lyttleton and then on to the Tai Tapu Hotel in Selwyn for some refreshments and games. I always look forward to the ride through the tunnel for some reason and the noise and smell of two stroke oil, with 30 odd scooters in there, is just great. We only passed a couple of old triumphs on the way that must have broken down however the rain looked like it may stay away.
fastest rockers bike
brents rat rod
steves minta rally
home made rockers bike
Sadly the Rockers were woeful in all of the premier events like the egg and spoon race, the slow race and the blindfolded rider but atoned for that with a comfortable win in the gumboot tossing…..thankfully they were saved further embarrassment by not having a tug of war this year. Phil did his best to auction off a few triumph items for charity, which were mainly purchased by some of the Ashburton harley riders that had called in for a beer.
All in all another great Mod victory (no one was harmed in the making of this event, except Dean the mod)
scoot parking
his n hers lammys
two SS’s
jason & simon rip it up
The parts for the Super still hadn’t turned up so the SS was loaded onto the trailer for the trip north instead. The SS performed well over the weekend, especially on the hills and is a very different bike to ride then my PX or even Janes Super. Just having run it in, its still not overly fast but that will change in time and after more road miles. After another quick ride back to town, we went for a debrief at Smash Palace. By this time it was getting cold and a few bevys and some hot chips were the order of the day. Not many of the rockers came back so that just meant more parking for the mods. However there were two rockers there that had been waiting for the Phil’s free beer shout, promised for when the rockers next won the event…..
mods
mod parking
two old rockers
distinguished gentlemans ride
On the Sunday the Distinguished Gentlemans Ride was on. This is an international event for Classics, café racers, bobbers, trackers, customs, modern classics, classic scooters & undefinable 2/3 wheeled machines. With 258 rides across 57 countries the aim is to raise money for helping to find a cure for Prostate Cancer.
I have ordered a new BGM shock and some other electrical bits and pieces and a strap for the new battery.
With the old super shock in the bike the PX200 electric start was causing some issues as the extra weight and the location of the starter motor for some reason meant that the frame was hitting on the starter motor assembly. I was a bit surprised to find this as everyone I have talked to had said they had no issues with the starter motor hitting the frame. To be fair there is a little more weight than the average sized rider when I’m on the scooter…..and according to some scooter forums, it looked like the simple solution was to just drop the electric start.
Yeah right Tui……
A quick measure up and it looked like a small 20mm slot just had to be cut out of the body to allow the starter housing to go past without too many issues. Once I had taken the grinder to the body the slot looked a bit odd so I ended up trimming about 5-10mm off the bottom edge of the body and just following the contour around so that the slot just fit in and it didn’t look too bad at all.
Hopefully the new shock and the rest of the parts will turn up soon as the plan is to take it to Ch-Ch for the Mods and Rockers ride out with the Canscoot team.
A while ago we brought a Super for her indoors to learn to ride on as Barry AKA the Bajaj and the Black Roughie turned into a bit of a work in progress.
Purchased off trade me it looked and turned out to be an “asian import”. One of my local scooter friends in Auckland went and had a look at it and her indoors liked the look of it so a deal was done. Its turned out to be quite a good scooter and runs well but is quite slow. There is a minor electrical issue with the horn but that will be fixed. It has the standard 6V magneto system with an average headlight and a pretty dim tail light. The stop light has a mind of its own and can best be described as intermittent.
For a learner rider its ideal and she’s not too keen on going any faster but with the amount of other idiots on our roads I would rather it had a little bit more oomph just in case. Originally it would have had 8″ wheels but with the 10″ wheels and good tyres, the gearing is just wrong on it. It goes great around town and in 3rd gear on the open road but you wouldn’t cruise like that all day long.
Shortly after its purchase I upgraded the crappy tyres on it and then I rode it from Ch-Ch to Hamner and back with the Canscoot ones on one of their jaunts. With its lower top speed, I just had to leave a bit earlier than everyone else. They were riding over to the west coast via some serious off roading tracks and I didn’t want to push my luck with it. However it ran like a clock and I must say I was impressed with it as I didn’t think it would get as far as it did and I was glad that it would be a good scoot for Mrs JC.
Not long after that some of our friends were on an NZ tour on their scooters and came and stayed with us for a bit. I went with them down to Bluff for a ride and tried to get up Bluff hill to the look out at the top. If you haven’t been there on your scooter put it on your to do list. Its not the steepest hill in the country but on a scooter with no power it is quite challenging and if you miss a gear, in some parts, it will really test your clutch to get it going again. I didn’t want to blow it up as she who must be obeyed, would be very grumpy about that, so decided that where it stopped was as far as it was going. The trip down Bluff hill was considerably faster and you need to be careful on the off camber corners.
I had been looking at a 177 kit or something similar for the Super when an opportunity came up to purchase a PX200 motor from a wrecked scooter. An electric start and better lighting was something that appealed to Mrs JC so another deal was done and the motor was duly dispatched. I didn’t want to have to cut a hole in the body for the oil level sight glass so decided to not keep the oil tank for it and to remove the oil pump assembly and pre-mix the motor. Filling in the oil channel and removing the pump fittings was pretty straight forward and while I was modifying the carburettor I also installed a larger main jet and drilled out the air filter for better airflow.
The Scootrs exhaust of doom should hopefully work better with this motor and I purchased a selection of main jets to see what will work best with it. So far I have replaced all the cables, run new electrical wiring and components and installed a battery box. It looks like the rear shock may have to be replaced or a slot cut in the body where the electric start housing now hits on the body.
I have been following a wiring diagram from the Scooterhelp website using a new light switch and some relays to get the electric start and the rest of the lighting sorted out.
Its been a bit of a mission so far but what else are you going to do?
