VIDEO | A quick flick through
Youth cults have come and gone over the years and aside from the rave generation, Scooterboys were probably the last big youth movement. We were like an army, rebellious youngsters mobilised on two wheels to invade towns across the country. Youthful exuberance, club rivalry and political differences occasionally gave way to violence and destruction, riots, looting and pillaging, pubs CS gassed, performers attacked. Exciting but dangerous times…
Those hedonistic years laid the foundations for the modern scooter rally scene as we now know it. Sticky’s new book Scooterboys – The Lost Tribe gives a full-colour, blow-by-blow account of those formative years. Using lots of unseen photos to stitch together the narrative, (in typical Sticky style) it forms a great overview of the 1980s Scooterboy. A tribe like no other seen before or since.
Foreword by Mani
As we all know, Mani, Ian Brown and John Squire were a part of the early Scooterboy scene, before pursuing a life of rock & roll excess with The Stone Roses. Mani still rides a Lambretta, pops up at the occasional scooter do and shares some of his thoughts and experiences for the foreword to Scooterboys.
Scooters are always in your blood. Once you get that 2-stroke in there it’s hard to shift it…”
As you’ll read, he’s been there and seen some of the things most ‘normal’ people wouldn’t believe when you try to tell them about your latest weekend away.
Two-fingered salute
Scooterboys is part of the ‘Carpet bombing culture two finger salute’ series of books surrounding youth culture (Mods and Skins being the other two books in the series). It’s a 228-page hardback, so looks and feel like a decent publication. The cover image shows a typical 1980s Friday afternoon police greeting at a seaside town. Scooter and rider thoroughly checked over, producer issued, licence checked and quite often three points to follow. It was a part of going away we all had to endure. Towns were overrun by police during a rally weekend, hardly surprising when they had thousands of under 25s arriving for a weekend of drunken mayhem.
Finding ROC 265Y
The machine on the cover photo is a Vespa PX being stop-checked by the police at Redcar National Run 1985. How many of you have already checked to see if ‘ROC 265Y’ is still registered? Do you know who owned it when this photo was taken? Share this post around on your social media and let’s see if we can track the owner. Somebody must know them.
If we can track down the owner at the time, and he/she can produce another photo from the time with the scooter showing the registration plate then SLUK will send them a free copy of the book. It was only 34 years ago after all…
Unseen images
If you’re put off by long overly-wordy books that go into minute detail just to drag a story out and fill pages then you’ll be pleased to find Scooterboys is split into easily digestible bite-sized chunks. The layout is well thought out and the text is set beside some great photos from those formative years of scootering. Many of the photos are from private unseen collections and show the Scooterboy (and of course girl) movement in all its various fashions and factions. Even including what is probably the closest modern day equivalent to the Scooterboy phenomenon in Indonesia.
If you were there at the time, wished you were there, or wondered why the 1980s played such a massive part in the history of the scooter scene you’d better buy yourself a copy. If you’re the kind of ‘Johnny come lately’ who turns up to a 21st century rally in a plush motorhome, heavily accessorised scooter strapped to the bank, and moans about the cleanliness of the showers, or quality of the catering you need to read this to see what it was like back in the day. Rubbish tips, jungles, quagmires and car parks were as good as a rally campsite got. The facilities amounted to a few heavily soiled portaloos if we were lucky, no showers or washing facilities.
The 1980s (and to an extent 1990s) were an adventure, this book will remind you what it was really like if you were there and help you understand if you weren’t. Like any weekend away on an old shopping bike. Scooterboys The Lost Tribe is an entertaining roller-coaster of a ride, jump on board.
more copies released for SLUK readers…
Order your copy here
You can order your copy here
Scooter Lifestyle
If you’re interested in the history of the scooter scene, Scooter Lifestyle book was reprinted in 2017. It gives a warts ‘n all look at the scene from 1985-2007. You can buy a copy of that here.
Iggy
New products always in development…
VIDEO | A quick flick through
Youth cults have come and gone over the years and aside from the rave generation, Scooterboys were probably the last big youth movement. We were like an army, rebellious youngsters mobilised on two wheels to invade towns across the country. Youthful exuberance, club rivalry and political differences occasionally gave way to violence and destruction, riots, looting and pillaging, pubs CS gassed, performers attacked. Exciting but dangerous times…
Those hedonistic years laid the foundations for the modern scooter rally scene as we now know it. Sticky’s new book Scooterboys – The Lost Tribe gives a full-colour, blow-by-blow account of those formative years. Using lots of unseen photos to stitch together the narrative, (in typical Sticky style) it forms a great overview of the 1980s Scooterboy. A tribe like no other seen before or since.
Foreword by Mani
As we all know, Mani, Ian Brown and John Squire were a part of the early Scooterboy scene, before pursuing a life of rock & roll excess with The Stone Roses. Mani still rides a Lambretta, pops up at the occasional scooter do and shares some of his thoughts and experiences for the foreword to Scooterboys.
Scooters are always in your blood. Once you get that 2-stroke in there it’s hard to shift it…”
As you’ll read, he’s been there and seen some of the things most ‘normal’ people wouldn’t believe when you try to tell them about your latest weekend away.
Two-fingered salute
Scooterboys is part of the ‘Carpet bombing culture two finger salute’ series of books surrounding youth culture (Mods and Skins being the other two books in the series). It’s a 228-page hardback, so looks and feel like a decent publication. The cover image shows a typical 1980s Friday afternoon police greeting at a seaside town. Scooter and rider thoroughly checked over, producer issued, licence checked and quite often three points to follow. It was a part of going away we all had to endure. Towns were overrun by police during a rally weekend, hardly surprising when they had thousands of under 25s arriving for a weekend of drunken mayhem.
Finding ROC 265Y
The machine on the cover photo is a Vespa PX being stop-checked by the police at Redcar National Run 1985. How many of you have already checked to see if ‘ROC 265Y’ is still registered? Do you know who owned it when this photo was taken? Share this post around on your social media and let’s see if we can track the owner. Somebody must know them.
If we can track down the owner at the time, and he/she can produce another photo from the time with the scooter showing the registration plate then SLUK will send them a free copy of the book. It was only 34 years ago after all…
Unseen images
If you’re put off by long overly-wordy books that go into minute detail just to drag a story out and fill pages then you’ll be pleased to find Scooterboys is split into easily digestible bite-sized chunks. The layout is well thought out and the text is set beside some great photos from those formative years of scootering. Many of the photos are from private unseen collections and show the Scooterboy (and of course girl) movement in all its various fashions and factions. Even including what is probably the closest modern day equivalent to the Scooterboy phenomenon in Indonesia.
If you were there at the time, wished you were there, or wondered why the 1980s played such a massive part in the history of the scooter scene you’d better buy yourself a copy. If you’re the kind of ‘Johnny come lately’ who turns up to a 21st century rally in a plush motorhome, heavily accessorised scooter strapped to the bank, and moans about the cleanliness of the showers, or quality of the catering you need to read this to see what it was like back in the day. Rubbish tips, jungles, quagmires and car parks were as good as a rally campsite got. The facilities amounted to a few heavily soiled portaloos if we were lucky, no showers or washing facilities.
The 1980s (and to an extent 1990s) were an adventure, this book will remind you what it was really like if you were there and help you understand if you weren’t. Like any weekend away on an old shopping bike. Scooterboys The Lost Tribe is an entertaining roller-coaster of a ride, jump on board.
more copies released for SLUK readers…
Order your copy here
You can order your copy here
Scooter Lifestyle
If you’re interested in the history of the scooter scene, Scooter Lifestyle book was reprinted in 2017. It gives a warts ‘n all look at the scene from 1985-2007. You can buy a copy of that here.
Iggy
New products always in development…
