So this is my first entry. I want to start it by giving a brief history of who I am in relation to a certain Lambretta scooter.
I'm not sure when it happened exactly. Or why. Or how. But it did, I fell in love with scooters. That love of scooters spread through me like wildfire. One day I was a relatively well adjusted member of society, and the next all I could think about was how awesome it would be to bomb around on a Vespa.
I had some money saved, and decided I would buy a Vespa. I did some studying about what would suit my needs best and I ended up buying a 2007 Black GTS 250. I put a lot of chrome and mirrors on it, as well as a lot of kilometers, and made A LOT of great memories on it. I took it to rallies, went to bike nights, rode it around town and in the country, and generally made great use of it. I still really love my GTS, too. I would hate to ever part with it. <rant> I also think that there are many traditionalists out there that need to realize that twist-and-gos are what's getting a new generation into classic scooters. I'm the proof of that. </rant>
It wasn't long though before I started getting jealous, though... A few of the members of our local club had vintage scooters, or classic scooters. I saw them at rallies, too. Scooters with clutches. Scooters that spewed out blue smoke. Scooters that played that distinctive and beautiful two-stroke song... I wanted one. I needed one.
Well, I ended up buying one. A 1982 Vespa P200E. I affectionately named it "Sparkle Motion" after all it's shiny chrome (front fender and cowls). I wasn't disappointed, either. Sure it stranded me once or twice, and I always boast about it being a reliable 25 kick bike, and in the world of classic scooters it is a dime-a-dozen-boxy-work-horse, but it makes me feel legit. I feel like I'm engaged with the machine, that there is a skill to riding one. I'm not a passenger, I'm the controls. Which brings us to now...
It bothers me, a lot, that I don't have a clue how my scooter actually works. I don't know why shifting a gear makes it able to go faster. I wouldn't know what to do if I snapped a cable on the road. I don't know the very basic things I should know to even maintain a classic scooter. I have many friends that are very willing to help me, and they don't let me down, but I realized that I don't feel legit anymore. I'm a passenger again. My desire to learn is weighed down, too. People who know their way around a scooter and it's innards find it tedious and time consuming to actually explain what's going on. It's hard to be patient enough to teach someone like me, who has no background information at all, when it's so much faster to just get it done and going again.
This is why I've decided to make this commitment. To myself, to scooters, to learning about the ins-and-outs of the machine. I've made this commitment by buying a 1961 (though it was sold as a '59) Series 2 Lambretta TV175. It needs a lot of work, and a lot of parts, and no doubt time, money, sweat and blood.
I plan to blog about it all here, too. I will blog about what my next step is going to be, what I spent money on and how much, references and literature I use, mistakes I make, and hopefully accomplishments I make. I hope that it can serve as a tool and an inspiration to anyone else in the same spot as me. If not, well maybe it can serve as a big red flag warning.
I might be into deep, so I better start learning to swim.
I'm not sure when it happened exactly. Or why. Or how. But it did, I fell in love with scooters. That love of scooters spread through me like wildfire. One day I was a relatively well adjusted member of society, and the next all I could think about was how awesome it would be to bomb around on a Vespa.
I had some money saved, and decided I would buy a Vespa. I did some studying about what would suit my needs best and I ended up buying a 2007 Black GTS 250. I put a lot of chrome and mirrors on it, as well as a lot of kilometers, and made A LOT of great memories on it. I took it to rallies, went to bike nights, rode it around town and in the country, and generally made great use of it. I still really love my GTS, too. I would hate to ever part with it. <rant> I also think that there are many traditionalists out there that need to realize that twist-and-gos are what's getting a new generation into classic scooters. I'm the proof of that. </rant>
It wasn't long though before I started getting jealous, though... A few of the members of our local club had vintage scooters, or classic scooters. I saw them at rallies, too. Scooters with clutches. Scooters that spewed out blue smoke. Scooters that played that distinctive and beautiful two-stroke song... I wanted one. I needed one.
Well, I ended up buying one. A 1982 Vespa P200E. I affectionately named it "Sparkle Motion" after all it's shiny chrome (front fender and cowls). I wasn't disappointed, either. Sure it stranded me once or twice, and I always boast about it being a reliable 25 kick bike, and in the world of classic scooters it is a dime-a-dozen-boxy-work-horse, but it makes me feel legit. I feel like I'm engaged with the machine, that there is a skill to riding one. I'm not a passenger, I'm the controls. Which brings us to now...
It bothers me, a lot, that I don't have a clue how my scooter actually works. I don't know why shifting a gear makes it able to go faster. I wouldn't know what to do if I snapped a cable on the road. I don't know the very basic things I should know to even maintain a classic scooter. I have many friends that are very willing to help me, and they don't let me down, but I realized that I don't feel legit anymore. I'm a passenger again. My desire to learn is weighed down, too. People who know their way around a scooter and it's innards find it tedious and time consuming to actually explain what's going on. It's hard to be patient enough to teach someone like me, who has no background information at all, when it's so much faster to just get it done and going again.
This is why I've decided to make this commitment. To myself, to scooters, to learning about the ins-and-outs of the machine. I've made this commitment by buying a 1961 (though it was sold as a '59) Series 2 Lambretta TV175. It needs a lot of work, and a lot of parts, and no doubt time, money, sweat and blood.
I plan to blog about it all here, too. I will blog about what my next step is going to be, what I spent money on and how much, references and literature I use, mistakes I make, and hopefully accomplishments I make. I hope that it can serve as a tool and an inspiration to anyone else in the same spot as me. If not, well maybe it can serve as a big red flag warning.
I might be into deep, so I better start learning to swim.
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