Scooterotica

not a lot to add right now, but thought I would see if anyone interested in my project

when I started this project I had never even sat on a scooter, my very dear mate and motogp watching buddy was hugely into the lambretta scene, Writing for magazines, restoring scooters and locksmithing etc, all round diamond geezer. often sat looking at his SX200 outside and the idea was born that I would build my own scooter

not convert, "build" so I found a loop, and a set of forks, and from there just kind of guessed the rest, making my own headstock and front section

the basic idea was that it should all fit under standard panels, no widening etc, it should run 10" rims to keep that GP look, and be bike engined as thats what I know.

also I really dislike the tiny swingarm setup as the chain tension varies greatly and I really cant see the susepension working properly, so its all on a swingarm setup.

a ducati/Rossi paint scheme to keep the italian theme going. based loosely on a ducati scheme that I saw a venom cobra scooter painted in.

I picked up bits and pieces as and when I saw them cheap enough, scored a complete Cagiva mito engine with carb and black boxes etc for £150, bonus as its italian, and Rossi rode a cagiva long ago.

Sadly Vic was taken from us last October and I just binned off the project in honesty, didnt seem much point in finshing it., then I decided that I was just being silly, would mean that the time we spent chatting and discussing it etc would have been wasted and thats just wrong, so I started on it again

this weekend it rolled out of the garage into the light for the first time, leggies are just dropped on, but do bolt down into the correct places and sit square.

currently saving up for a pair of front shocks (bits of steel welded in place at moment) and rear suspension (2 options, either conventional under the panel, or laying a shock down between your feet along the floor) while I look at it outside and decide on ride height etc.

still long way to go, but maybe starting a thread on here will spur me along and get it sorted a bit quicker, theres no wheel spacers in this pics so they appear off centre, they wont be LOL, steel bar currently in the lathe being bored out.


I know that the front frame section is in the wrong place, but I kind of liked the idea that it was on show, just so that you can see its not a stock frame, and make more of a feature of it, henec the cross tubes that run through it, the legshield floors are still to be marked and trimmed in that area.

total spend from scratch so far is about £450, I will make the fuel tank, got radiator and lots of other parts already, fully expect to have it dry built and useable, minus paint, for about £600.

the wheels are now running 15mm axles front and rear, nice and beefy.

I turned up an adaptor to move the sprocket out in line with the front sprocket, and also made this into a bearing carrier, so theres 5 bearings in the wheel, one disc side, 2 together where the old sprocket was, and now 2 sidebyside, that run inline with the sprocket, helping to make sure nothing moves and fully support the sprocket.

520 chain as per stock bike, and a honda cb125 rear sprocket, been through the gearing and its worked out final as about 3% lower than the stock mito125 gearing.

currently making up the stinger tube, theres a kevlar can thats going to be shortened and mounted on the right hand side, will stick out past the back of the scooter by about 3"

Coming on nice, one to keep an eye on for sure, good luck with the rest of the build.

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I"m liking that a lot, your mate would be proud of you

I know that people will comment that the cog is higher etc, but this was the best way to get the package in place and short, either that or go mega low, then I thought it looked wrong and the exhaust issues would be huge

the fat expansion chamber is underneath and ground clearance is a bit minimal, but its right on the centreline, my original plan was to create something that would lean, and I could go and annoy the local bikes with

Im not afraid to admit that it might be wrong when finished, then I will cut it up and start again, still lots to do, but this is a general shot of it.

will be running HID headlight conversion, LED tail lights etc, digital speedo in a lambretta speedo housing so that it fits into the headset easy and tidy

everything I build I like to look at it and work out how to do it with my abilities and available materials/tools. that way nothing is farmed out, cost is minimal and no greater feeling that say " I built that" and actually meaning it

the axle holes will be slotted and chain adjuster blocks inserted into the arm, but just using holes was best way to keep it all square while it was jigged up

I have only had to take the very front of the left hand sidepanel off a bit, will make up an airvent to go there to hide the altered portion and also add some cooling.

radiator will be inside the front legshields, will cut out and mesh the leggies to provide airflow, soon get started on cardboard template of the fuel tank, want at least 8 litres, if I get stuck then the plan is to run the tank with a large bore hose to another tank under the floorboards, with a pump up to a swirlpot that gravity feeds the carb, its only a 125 motor but they are thirsty lil buggers.

Great project keep the updates coming

Agreed, very interesting.

you were saying about the swing arm ,in your last pic rear appears ridged ?

the straight section of tube is merely in place as per the post above to mockup ride height.

I have 3 options, currently seeing what option comes up cheapest.

conventional setup with about a 200lb shock by my reckoning

shock laid down along the front frame section.

or a pull shock from a Harley, one of them should work just fine, as well as keeping things clean and tidy up top.

trying to save up some money to buy a pair of Frank Sandersons front shocks for it.

great project, what are the rims off?