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Under the heading of "other" we have include a few items that would
be very foolish to over look when trying to up-rate your Lambretta.
Lets face it you could have a 100mph rocket, but if you cant make
it go round corners or stop it it wont last long.
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Suspension / Brakes & Others |
Front dampers
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There are various types of front damper kits available for
those Lambrettas that do not come with them as standard. Two
of the more popular ones for standard type dampers are fairly
similar. Both share the same bottom bolt on links, but while
one needs a bracket welding on the top of the forks, as per
factory standard, the other type is a copy of an original accessory
which bolts on. The late type is quite handy if your Lambretta
forks are already painted, but please note there are a number on the market, whilst most work, some are not manufactured correctly which can cause the top bracket to move. Other types are available and tend
to be adapted for accept more motorcycle type dampers, Kawasaki
type being one of the more popular. These type of kits normally
come with their own style of brackets and some even with adjustable
settings for the dampers. Which ever kit you choose, any of
them are a worth while addition for better handling. For an
overview of fitting instructions, click
here |
Rear shock
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Again as with the front dampers there a number of different
choices for users to choose. The cheapest option and only a
slight upgrade over standard Lambretta shocks is to plump for
the Indian Escort brand. They are slightly stiffer then Italian
Sebac units, and last well. Bi-turbo make an adjustable rear
shock absorber for Lambretta, quality appears to be patchy.
Although rebuild kits are available for this type of shock,
in truth once they start to leak they are only fit for the bin.
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Disc Brake
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Although Innocenti Lambrettas were the first production two
wheeler to introduce a front disc brake as standard on their
machines, these were only fitted to 175 and 200 machines. All
of the smaller 125/150 models could easily be upgrade to disc
brake to improve braking performance. The discs are now re-made
and despite reports of them not being as good a quality due
to the manufacturing process they are infact very good quality. Disc fork links are again currently
in production, although these are made in India, they are of very good quality. Hydraulic conversions are now in abundance for the
Lambretta from a whole host of suppliers. These options include
from a simple cylinder to convert standard disc brakes to the
fluid type, to a full twin disc system. Some systems require
the disc type link still, others are manufactured and made around
the more common drum brake style disc. One thing I would say
about the hydraulic conversions is that make sure it has a bleed
nipple. While I would admit that just about all systems now
come with this, there were a only a few years ago a few on the
market which didn't have any, making the setting up and maintenance
of the system near on impossible. |
Wheels & Tyres
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For wheel rims, there are now a few options on the market. A wide rim allows the tyre to
spread out further which in turn makes more rubber in contact
with the road surface, it should be noted that these in most cases cannot be used with the wider tyres.
Tyres, there are a whole host of tyres
from many different manufacturers in a whole host of styles and
tread patterns. New tyre sizes can be fitted to Lambretta standard
rims, as well as the 4.00*10 (which is becoming harder to find)
100/80*10 & 100/90*10 can be fitted giving wider tread patterns, but these should really only be fitted to the rear.
These tyre sizes are more normally fitted to modern types of
scooter but are ideal of improving the handling of any Lambretta.
One note you should remember is that you can fit either wide
rims, or wide tyres, but not both together.
The newest item on the market comes from ScootRS which are tubeless wheel rims. At first reports of the rims only fitting certain hubs were overcome by a newer version which fits all hubs. Tubeless rims are quite an important advance in terms of safety, as should you be unfortunate enough to suffer a puncture, a wheel without a tube will deflate much slower then a tubed wheel. This is because a tube holds all the air, and can quite literally rip when punctured, quickly deflating. A tubeless tyre does not suffer from the same affects, in fact it can be known for a nail to puncture a tyre and not deflate at all. Specialist tyre fitting is required for these tubeless rims. |
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