August 2013 Archives

Ooh-la-la! The makings of a very fast motor. Can you name all the tasty goodies in this build?

I had some time to work on the Lambretta recently, and figured it would be good to install the choke kit on the carb.  It has a 24mm Mikuni, and previously, I had to pull off the cowl and manually pull the choke on it when I wanted to start the scooter from cold.  Jet200 sells the conversion kit, but I previously had gotten the wrong style of choke cable, so I was thwarted in my attempts to install it.  Finally, I got the right cable, and it was time to do it up!  As you can see in the photo above, the existing choke is the black plunger on the left side of the photo.  

Here is the new kit that I got from Jet200.  Not a lot of stuff, easy.  So I pulled out the old mechansm, and installed the new cable into the lever on the frame.  Then I threaded the choke end into the brass adjuster as seen above, and attached the cable through the spring and onto the plunger.  Simple. 

The only problem I ran into was that the cable housing end would not fit into the brass adjuster.  So I had to make some "adjustments" to the cable housing.  It kind of looks ugly, but it does get the job done.  When I was finished, it all worked great.  Sweet!  Now I don't have to pull off the cowl every time I want to start the scooter!

Sure you can fix a scooter, but can you delve into computer code and fix a broken website blog? I know I can't... which is why we here at scooterlounge.com have a phalanx of scooter-riding computer nerds who work night and day to keep the site up and running. We had a little problem with the blog for the last few days that stopped us from posting. Thank the computer gods, and the scooterlounge IT team, it is now fixed, and we can resume our normal posting!

So, I have a late model Vespa PX 200.  It had clutch problems, so I got some time to open up the motor and take a look.  I was shocked to discover a regular old-style clutch, and not the cosa clutch.  I really have no idea why this motor did not have the cosa clutch in it.  Well, I just so happened to have a cosa clutch lying around, so I took out the clutch that was in there, and put in the cosa.  Above, you see the original clutch on the right, and the cosa clutch in the motor on the left.

I think the cosa clutches use just a nut and lock washer.  However the system in the motor was the old style, and that is what I had lying around.  So I put a new nut and cage on there to get the clutch on.  It isn't really what is supposed to be on there, but it works just fine.

Now, I can actually ride the scooter.  Soon, I'll do a post on how it runs with the SIP road pipe I also installed (but couldn't ride because of the bad clutch).

August 8, 2013 Update: Well, it looks like the hive-mind has spoken. These must have been genuine. They ended up selling for a whopping $800!! There were 13 bids on it. Someone had a rare collectible, that's for sure.

July 27, 2013: Every once in awhile, something shows up on ebay that you just never see. Here is a set of Lambretta work overalls. They certainly look old. The main question is whether they are from the Lambretta factory, or from some shop somewhere (probably in Italy). I am not enough of an expert on the Lambretta factory to know. However, it sure seems like some people with deep pockets think it is a genuine article. As of today, the bidding is over $400! I wonder what they will ultimately sell for. One thing is for sure, they are very cool!

I'm not really sure where this photo was taken. It looks like it was at a stand at some sort of convention. Note the old tube gadget in the background. Also take a look at the guy in the background with the cowboy hat, bolo tie, and the plaid jacket. The whole scene is very 1950's. Awesome!