BUILDING A LAMBRETTA OR VESPA STREET RACER REV COUNTERS, GAUGES, AND THE OTHER FINISHING TOUCHES PART 6

Over the last five editions, we have gone through the important steps of building a true street racer, and the equipment and engineering required to make your project a successful one. This, the last part of this series, covers the things that finish it all off, including the fine details that make the difference between a street racer which is good to one which is exceptional. Some touches are to a certain extent essential items, whereas others are done purely for cosmetic purposes.

Rev counters

The majority of street racers tend to have a rev counter fitted and, in all honesty, any tuned two-stroke should have one. As both the Vespa and Lambretta fall into this category, then the same principle applies to both. The reason for needing one is simple. in that it allows you to know where exactly your engine is in relation to the power it is producing. Virtually every Vespa and Lambretta owner these days has their scooter put on a dyno. The problem is that many just look at the pretty little graph and see what is the highest BHP it has created. That's fine, but what is more important is where the power band starts and where it finishes. Basically, what is commonly known as the 'power spread' or, in easier terminology, usable power'.

As an example, imagine an engine revs up to 9000 rpm. Looking at its dyno graph there