Before we get into this story, I’d just like to wish my good friend (and owner of these two scooters), Chris Macnamara a very happy 50th Birthday today! Have a good one boyo and I hope you enjoy the feature and videos.
Also, I’m sorry for breaking one of your fine-looking scooters during the making of this feature…
Words, photos and videos: Iggy
This particular story has taken a lot longer than anticipated, in fact it’s taken so long the original project Lambretta has spawned a matching Vespa sibling.
We first started this feature in September 2018 after a trip to Rimini Lambretta Centre, Chris talked over plans with the boys about transforming a £250 Indian GP frame into a high-spec, head-turning street racer. You can imagine how the Italians reacted when they saw the rusty purple Indian frame in the homeland of the Lambretta.
Hydraulics and electric start
As is often the case with a project, things started to get more complicated and the original plans to use lightweight race bodywork were soon ditched. Claudio Cattaneo was given the job of converting the rear end to a lift-up hydraulic system instead. We also enlisted the help of Gary Seale at Supertune to convert the Casa Performance SSR265 motor into an electric start, something that had never been done to a CasaCase.
After the remote control hydraulics had been finished by Claudio the frame was sent back up to Rimini for some TLC and dry building. They also fabricated a huge air scoop into the right hand panel and fitted various brackets and ancillaries before the metalwork came back to England in early 2019 for its paintwork… or at least the first spray job. That turned into a job that Chris wasn’t happy with so the parts were pulled out of the sprayers and we were forced to find an alternative painter.
Racepaint UK
Terry Chambers of Racepaint UK in Nottinghamshire agreed to take on the job. The turnaround was pretty quick and the paintwork was just how Chris envisioned it, he wanted a street racer style design using his favourite Kingfisher Blue as the basecoat.
Chris also wanted to give some recognition to his booming shoe business so various slogans and ‘The Brogue Mobile No1’ were sign written, as well as a few logos of importance to him, including ScooterLab, which was a nice touch. It was at this time that the owner decided he’d like a fast Vespa in matching paintwork, so he sourced a T5 and sent that up to Terry to work his magic, along with an Arai helmet.
Back to Italy
Whilst that was being done, the fresh Lambretta paintwork was shipped back to Italy in the autumn of 2019 for RLC to work their magic. The build began in earnest and was close to completion as 2020 arrived… we weren’t banking on a global pandemic to put a spanner in the works (or stop spanners being worked as the case may be). As the world shut down for much of 2020 the project ended up being left for a few months. Meanwhile, this also affected The Brogue Trader massively, his thriving family owned and run retail business was temporarily decimated. Nobody needs fancy shoes during a lockdown…
Chequebook custom?
One thing you can say about Mr Mac though is that’s he’s tenacious and you can’t keep him down for long. During lockdown, he tried to keep himself busy by building a few scooters at home for friends. Many years ago, Chris had worked for Ian and Terry Frankland, so he knows one end of a scooter from the other.
The thought of owning what is essentially a very expensive ‘chequebook custom’ scooter didn’t sit well with the owner and he’d already decided he’d build the T5 himself. He wanted a very quick Vespa to sit alongside the SSR 265 and after some research, he bought himself a complete ‘plug ‘n play’ long stroke Quattrini 260 built on Pinasco casings. The engine was sourced from Germany and came ready to just bolt in.
Just before Christmas, we went down to Cardiff to take a few photos, shoot a bit of video and more importantly test ride both machines.
Before that though, Chris talks us around his scooters, the video above shows the Lambretta SSR 265 in all its glory.
VIDEO: The Brogue Mobile No2
Above Chris gives us the lowdown on his T5.
Insta versus Reality
You know how you have an ‘Insta versus Reality’ view of scooters sometimes? That’s how it was for this feature. We were picturing a beautiful thrash down the South Welsh coast, riding twin scooters, both with vicious personalities. Capturing some great on-board footage of Lambretta against Vespa, maybe some drone footage and some tasty photos on the beach as the scooters cooled in the winter sunshine… We weren’t banking on the laws of tuned two strokes coming into play that’s for sure.
It started out ok, the sun was shining and the roads were almost dry after an overnight frost, although it wasn’t overly cold. Both scooters were sat glinting in the sunshine, metallic paint glistening under the winter rays.
Chris was riding the SSR to start with and I was taking the T5. The Lambretta started without fuss with a turn of the key. It’s the first CasaCase engine to be converted to electric start and it works magnificently. Turn the standard looking ignition key and it fires into life instantly. Chris has only ever used the kickstart twice since he’s had the scooter. There were some concerns that the high-compression engine might struggle to start in this way but those worries were soon cast aside. It took quite a bit of work to convert the SSR including making a new mag flange and getting Protti to reroute the exhaust. It was all worth it though for the instant pose value of starting it on the key.
Meanwhile, I’d kicked the Vespa into life, both scooters sounded angry, crisp and clean. With a combined 80 horsepower of two-stroke aggression between them they craved abuse. The owner goaded me into battle.
It’s at this point that Chris mentioned the T5 had only just been rebuilt after he seized it. The barrel had been relined, new piston fitted and it had only been ridden to the local garage to fill it up. It was also at this point that Mr Mac told me to follow him around his favourite local roads. What’s a lad to do?
We headed into the countryside and pulled up at a set of lights. As they turned green Chris nailed the SSR, leaving me to realise that a 37bhp Vespa is very light on the front end. I backed off the throttle momentarily and recalibrated my brain. This thing is fast, brutally fast. The power comes in like a light switch is being turned on. The T5 speedo needle buries itself permanently off the clock in seconds and stays there. The T5 is around 8bhp less powerful than the SSR 265 but you really don’t need any more power from a Vespa. In fact, 37bhp is too much. It’ll wheelie easily into third gear and at one point the front wheel was hovvering inches from the tarmac as I rode over a small crest… in fourth. This is serious power for a chassis designed to take around 12bhp.
We started to enjoy ourselves a bit. Chris was giving the Lambretta full gas, obviously, I was following. I was starting to get used to the way the power was delivered: delivered like a letter bomb from an enraged environmentalist. It’s brutal but once you realise you can control it you can begin to ride it. I was catching the SSR… The sound and power delivery of a tuned two stroke is a magnificent thing. There’s nothing else to compare. The crispness of the exhaust note as the waves of power reverberate off the roadside is something to savour. As I sit rocking in a nursing home in the electrified future I’ll cast my mind back and remember this feeling. They can outlaw our scooters but they’ll never take away our memories. It’s an immersive 3D experience that heightens all your senses.
VIDEO: On board the Vespa 260
Game over…
At full chat the engine note is suddenly replaced by silence, not a serene kind of wonderfulness as I drift into 2-stroke heaven, it’s the silence of an engine that has suddenly gone from 10,000 rpm to zero in the blink of an eye. Various things go through your mind as you hastily pull the clutch lever in, the main thing on this occasion was ‘Oops, this is a new engine’ – or at least it was. We’d been riding for a total of 5-minutes and 3 seconds, barely enough time to warm them up…
I could hear the SSR in front of me as I coasted to a slow enough speed to try and let the stricken Vespa bump into life. Thankfully the seize wasn’t solid and the scooter fired up – although it was about as happy as an angry Welshman when I spluttered to a stop a bit further ahead, where an oblivious Chris had stopped to wait for me.
After explaining what had happened and the owner admitting “We were going a bit lively though.” I left him trying (unsuccessfully) to kick start the T5 whilst I took the SSR for a quick blast. It was safer to be away from the angry Welshman.
Fixed it
Since we blew the Vespa up the top end has been repaired, new piston fitted, the compression has been lowered to 6.6 from 7.5 and the ignition system has been changed to Polini to allow a bigger fan for more cooling.
VIDEO: On board SSR 265
I made my getaway quickly, thanks in part to the electric start.
It’s a while since I’ve ridden an SSR and this one has a few extra tricks up its sleeve, like the Motorino Diavolo sequential gearchange for starters.
It was the first time I’d ridden a scooter with a sequential gearshift and it takes a little bit of getting used to. Twist the handlebar into first and the bar goes back into the neutral position, pop it into second and it does the same. It’s the same for the other three gears. Having ridden manual scooters for most of my life it doesn’t come naturally at first and Chris told me he hated it to begin with but he’s used to it now and is warming to it. I must admit I quite liked it and although there’s nothing wrong with a conventional scooter gearchange if you’re building something with all the toys, you want all the toys.
The Brogue Mobile No 1 sports top-spec Mupo suspension and a twin Casa front disc. The handling and braking are about as refined as you’ll get on a 45bhp ladies shopping bike. SSR 265 power abuses that refinement though and you can feel the chassis is close to its limits on country roads when you get a move on (leaving it as a conventional full frame may have been wise).
Riding an SSR is all about the immense power and the way that feeling is transferred to the rider. On 10” wheels you feel the minor undulations of the road, on fast 10” wheels those feelings are amplified. I’ve ridden superbikes at 180 miles per hour and because everything about them is designed for speed it’s not overly exciting. Ride a Lambretta at close to a ton and you know you’re alive. I defy anybody to ride a fast scooter quickly and not be invigorated (or frightened).
Thankfully after a brief test ride I was able to ride back to a not quite so angry Welshman and he jumped on the SSR to nip home and fetch the Transit recovery vehicle.
This project may have thrown up some unexpected challenges along the way, the scooter may not have gone to plan initially, either on timescale, or budget but it turned out very well in the end. Look around the scooter in the accompanying videos and spot some of the details and one-off items, like the bespoke Oiltek tank (it had to be made to suit the hydraulics), 3D printed battery covers, one-off mag flange, remote control hydraulic rear end. Look at the attention to detail, the kind of detail and build perfection you expect from a Rimini Lambretta build (even if they didn’t want to build an Indian scrapper).
For a man whose business relies on a nice matching pair it was only fitting that Chris has ended up with a couple of very quick head-turning scooters as well.
SLUK discount
The Brogue Trader are offering SLUK readers a 15% discount off your online order.
Simply use the code Scooter15 at checkout.
Brogue Trader are based in Cardiff but also have various Loake branded stores across the UK (Bath, Canterbury, Cardiff, Chester, Edinburgh, Exeter, Glasgow, Leeds, Manchester) you can always be assured of fine service, a warm welcome and a cold beer when you visit…
They stock brands including Loake, Crockett & Jones, Tricker, Joseph Cheaney and many more. They also have some pretty tasty leather overnight bags and accessories.
Gorgeous design and concept. Choosing the sportiest of the rivals, and combining the design is a tribute to a lifestyle. Maybe putting some of that unnecessary fuel thingy in the tank of the Five would have saved the engine…