High Powered Hybrid

The arch rivals of original 60s Mods, the rockers, arguably popularised the particular practice of engine transplants, certainly in Britain. Their cafe racers were notorious road ripping rides. Often, but not always, cafe racer hybrid motorcycles were based around the Norton featherbed frame. On the scooter scene creating a bespoke scooter utilising a frame from one make or model with an engine liberated from a different make or model is also nothing new. Fitting Lambretta Series 3 engines to older Innocenti models such as a Series 1 or 2 has been done and documented. Both small frame and early Fatboy Vespas have had large frame Vespa motors shoehorned in.

Lammy engines in Vespas and vice versa have come to the fore over the years. There’s been auto-engined classic scooters around since twist and go’s gained a degree of acceptance on the scene. Motorcycle engined scooters involve some seriously trick engineering, again there’s been countless examples, including the short-lived Rossa 350LC. Taffspeed’s Lammy powered, road legal fairground dodgem car is one of the most radical, extreme examples of a scooter powered hybrid that I can think of. When is a hybrid two-wheeler not a hybrid? Would it be when a one-off machine is based on an idea that has gone beyond being a concept vehicle, a work in progress that has already had a launch, in a basic