Lambretta SI Series Sport 225 Paul Calder

This fantastic Series 1 is part of Paul’s private collection and contrary to doing a complete resto’ on this, he decided to get us to do a street rat-rod type scooter maintaining the original paintwork, where possible. Paul decided to take part in the 2014 Tre Mari (3 Seas) event in Southern Italy, which is a 1200km ride over three days. This basically meant he needed this scooter to be reliable, comfortable and fast.  We’ve stripped the bike down so it could be cleaned up and ‘blown in’ where necessary. The tech spec is a 225cc TV200 engine, Casatronic ignition, Cyclone 5 Speed gearbox, 30mm PHBH carb and an RLC Gori 50mm exhaust. The bodywork also got the same attention and once cleaned up / blown in, we discussed the project with Paul and decided to add some cool items (some vintage, some not) such as a cable driven original Smiths rev-counter mounted on top of a metal inside legshield toolbox, TV2 spec switches & handlebar housing and finally modern BGM shockers, both front and back. The painters did their duty and even the additions of tubeless SIP rims were painted and ‘aged’ in a way that these modern extras didn’t stand out immediately.  The idea was to create a vintage racer with a modern ‘twist’ and that’s what we think we achieved. The 225cc BGM powered TV200 engine was also tweaked and coupled with our new RLC 30mm carb manifold the whole set up works as neatly as it looks. A one off RLC red Pegasus with black piping was added along with a period carrier (this was added just for the event and has now been replaced with a smaller sprint rack) to enable Paul to carry a petrol can and waterproofs etc. Come the big day, we only just managed to complete Paul’s bike in time for the ‘3 Seas Tour’ but we did it! The bike ran & performed well and the only hiccup was caused by Paul’s ability to drive through every deep puddle in Southern Italy! This caused a few headaches during the VERY wet first day of the event, with water being soaked up by the ‘Breathe Sweet’ foam carb filter, sat between the petrol tank and toolbox. A quick blow through of the water in the carb and he was back on his way once again, ever-positive and grinning like a Cheshire cat in the intense downpour! What a guy!  The scooter turned some heads on the event and judging by the response, the ‘Vintage Racer’ look applied to a conserved restoration, is a sure-fire winner. The scooter will soon be given a full photo shoot and we’ll add a load of studio pics as soon as it’s done.