I can’t be alone in having viewed shaft-drive Lambretta owners as the real ale drinkers of the scootering world. I’ve usually found them huddled in a corner of the custom show muttering about Teleflex gear changes, bevel gears, torsion bar suspension and other phrases that have left me feeling technically inadequate. There’s also an entirely different scene surrounding these early vehicles, Vespas included, that’s more genteel than the typical scooter rally; London to Brighton on 8in wheels and three-speed gear boxes, anyone?
The future’s in the past
Part of the reason for these esoteric pleasures is that the shaft-drive Lambrettas are so different from their chain-driven ‘Series’ and GP relatives, indeed very little more than basic principles are transferable between them. For a long time parts have been difficult to source and, being polite, their performance was barely adequate in the 1950s. In today’s traffic conditions they’re lethal. All these limitations have meant that enthusiasm for such machines has been confined to a small but knowledgeable bunch of enthusiasts. That was until two men decided it was time to turn their attentions
