Getting ready for the off

So in Scootering terms, there are more than a couple of unwritten rules; for the purposes of this page, I am going to talk about two of them: 

1 - You can't just have one scooter; regardless of how many you buy however,  it is an absolute fact that they magically reproduce in the garage, workshop or shed (or sometimes in all 3, at the same time) 

2 - You have a favourite scooter; you may have a day-to-day scooter, a commuter scooter, or a shiny, special occasion scooter, but you will always have a favourite one.  

Henry's favourite is 'The Red One' and the fact that he has 2 red scooters is completely immaterial. When he talks about 'The Red One', he is always talking about the 1967 SX150 that he has owned since 1992 and in the 32 years he has owned it, he has ridden it thousands of miles; Milan in 1997, Avignon in 2013, Adria in 2017 and many other UK and European rallies in between; after Adria however, the SX was used only sporadically. Henry did ride it to Plestin Les Greves in 2019, but then it got put away for some long overdue TLC and it sat in the back of the workshop for 5 years (mostly gathering dust and cobwebs) ... waiting for its moment.  

When we started our initial planning, without hesitation, Henry said he was going to ride 'The Red One', so its moment had obviously arrived! In October 2023, with 10 months to go, it was dragged out of the workshop and like the amazing scooter it is, it started up immediately. Probably glad to get away from all of the spiders...   

In order to ensure as trouble free a ride as possible and to give the SX the much needed TLC, Henry started gathering parts for a major rebuild. He did decide though, that he still needed the scooter - including for a photoshoot that we had planned for 10th February - so with the 'old' engine still in, it was surface cleaned for it's starring appearance and then immediately after the pictures were taken, it was stripped back to the frame and 30 years of crap was cleaned up and the major rebuild project started. 

That was until recently ... it turns out that 'The Red One' has been to a number of different countries (see above) but never Ireland or Scotland so, despite being in full-on preparation for the Tour, Henry took a break from the rebuild and temporarily threw a 'spare' Mugello kitted engine into the frame and rode it to Portrush Scooter rally in Northern Ireland.  And here we are, with less than 120 days to go, the SX has added 2 more countries to its travelogue and a somewhat broken stator plate to the things that need replacing. It will be back on the bench soon, for its new sparkly CASA 225 engine (and a new stator plate). 

My scooter was a lockdown purchase and was a completely original 1961 LI 150 Series 2. An original, standard Series 2 is not the fastest scooter on the road however, and Henry rides like a endurance racing loon, so we put the original engine safely to one side and he built me a new engine last year. I haven't really ridden it much since then - to the LCGB rally in Arundel I think - so my preparations have been much simpler...