The two-stroke era has seen some crazy motorcycles and scooters that have come into the Indian market. However, as technology evolved along with the need to preserve the environment, people have moved on from the two-stroke era.
However, there are a select few who still cherish being a part of the insane era by restoring mad machines that had come our way in the past. We have come across one such restoration of a Lambretta scooter done by Senthil Govindraj, a tattoo artist from Bengaluru.
Apart from being drop-dead gorgeous, the highlight of the scooter has to be its powertrain. The scooter now features a 350cc twin-cylinder two-stroke engine that produces around 65bhp. To handle this insane power there are other mechanical modifications done to the scooter as well.
The donor scooter for this project was a Vijay Super Mark 2, which is essentially a re-badged Lambretta. This project was started back in 2019 and was abandoned halfway through. However, Mr Govindraj received a call from his friend about the project.
With a passion for customizing bikes and scooters, he bought the scooter and started working on the restoration process. While most look to restore these vintage machines to original condition Senthil had other plans on giving the scooter a unique character.
The new insanely powerful two-stroke engine comes from the Yamaha Banshee ATV. As this project used Yamaha and Lambretta, the artist likes to call it ‘Yambretta’. The engine uses a liquid-cooling system with a radiator placed on the front of the scooter.
The intake has been neatly integrated on to the scooter’s apron at the front. The custom air vents at the front also feature a Yamaha logo which indicates to the fact that the scooter uses an engine made by the Japanese automaker.
The scooter’s chassis had to be split in half and extended to make room for the twin-cylinder engine. The custom chassis has been strengthened to help manage the 65bhp of insane power of the scooter as well.
The suspension and braking also received changes to help manage the newfound power. Suspension at the front is now equipped with additional damping, while the rear shocks have been beefed up with larger springs.
Braking is done via twin-disc setup at the front and a single disc setup at the rear. Also, the scooter features premium tyres, which will help improve the handling characteristics.
Coming to the looks of the scooter, it features the same rectangular headlight cowl. The lights now receive LED treatment along with a round-shaped LED DRLs adding to the modern-retro looks of the scooter. The scooter also features a self-start system as well.
The original body worked has received a new yellow and red dual-tone paint scheme with ‘Gold Flake’ branding on the side. The artwork on the scooter is done by Motomatic R&D who has shared the picture of the scooter on their Instagram page. For the final touch, the ‘Yambretta’ feature twin blacked-out exhausts placed on either side of the scooter.
Senthil has put his heart and soul into this restoration project. Apart from his passion to preserve these vintage machines, he had to shell out a whopping Rs 2.5 lakh to get the project to completion. With the amount of work that has gone on to this scooter, it is no surprise to end up with such costs.
Thoughts About The Lambretta Modified Scooter Powered By 350cc Twin-Cylinder Two-Stroke Engine
The modified Lambretta is among the best-looking scooter with clean graphics and has been restored with subtle modern touches. The Gold Flake graphics theme makes the two-stroke engine even more authentic as the smoke will pour out of those twin-exhausts. However, the highlight has to be the 65bhp of power that is available with the twist of the throttle on a scooter!