Three months later, this is the final result of non-stop Lambretta tinkering. I thought putting the bike back together would be easier than taking it apart because there would be no need to saw rusty screws off. And it was easy for the most part. But I ran into some problems putting the trim on. I learned that to get the rubber on the bike it's best to let the rubber bake in the sun for a while to loosen it up.
I kept the hole in the legshield so I could put this old-school 70's bolt on mirror which I think turned out to be the right move.
And I didn't have a rivet gun so I got a buddy at Vespa Dallas to do the honors (I couldn't bare botching up as set of new-old-stock SIL badges that I'd ordered from England because I didn't have the right tools.)
I got the bike buttoned up just in time for a huge classic car/motorcycle cruise night that was happening 20 miles from my house. I rode two-up with my girlfriend on the Princess without a problem. I easily hit 50 mph on busy Dallas streets. It felt great!
But as soon as we started back home, I snapped a clutch cable. And in my hurry to reassemble the bike, I didn't put the spare cables back in my glove box. So, for nearly an hour, I rode two-up in first gear topping out at a maximum 12 mph. I got a mile and a half from my house before I completely ran out of gas (Holly was not amused.) A friend was passing by and took us home in his pickup.
I got the cable changed. And a few days later I rode the bike to meet some friends and I lost both the headlight and the tailight! At night. Of course.
Anthony rewired the bike and sort out my singed junction box.
Now I'm on to changing the clutch --- it's slipping pretty bad --- and putting in a real gas tank and a fuel tap so I don't have to take the panel off and manually turn the gas off everytime I shut the bike down.
Wish me luck.
dude, paint, the wheels, hubs, exhaust and engine sheetmetal. Put the right size tires on (you have 3.00x10s on not 3.50x10 or 100/90/10) and ditch the horrible box tail light for a normal GP unit.
ReplyDeleteThe wheels and exhaust are up next for painting. The tires came with the bike and I'm probably going to roll on them for awhile because they're in good shape. I have a 3.50x10 spare which I bolted on the back of the bike yesterday.
ReplyDeleteI'm keeping the horrible box tail light because it's correct for a U.S. market SIL bike. As far as engine sheet metal, I'll probably paint the shroud if I can find paint that will match the airbox and glovebox --- both are in good shape.