In this video join us when we take a trip to Ryka's cafe and check out Kelvins awesome RD350 powered Lambretta! Enjoyed the video? support the channel :) www.buymeacoff...
Hi there. Kelvin here. The Rossa was the first but had a lot of inbuilt problems ie heating issues wheel hubs cracking etc etc. I built this by eliminating all of the original bikes problems. Trust me it wasn’t.easy but well worth the effort ....
Absolute beauty! There have been loads of similar conversions over the years, but this is up there with the best of them in my opinion. Great engineering.
Hi there I wasn’t born cleaver I just followed my Dad (bless him) when I was little around the garage when he was working on his car. The key to anything is think about the problem first then slowly it’ll come to you 👍
Lovely 😊 Back in the day I bought an old li 150 for a fiver...Good fun. Then when i turned 16 I bought a new fs1e (1973) We used to go to Rykers bar back then. Good old days 😃😃
Great build - well thought out. There are quite a few RD engined Lambrettas out there - 250/500 Gammas too. Scooter technology has come on leaps and bounds over the last few years with Casa Lambretta(and others) offering kits to take standard engines from 40 to 80 bhp depending on requirements and reliability required. Twin disc kits and other reinforced parts - engine casings/tyres/shocks/anti-dives etc available to suit. There's some mental kit for Vespas available too.
I have the casa SSR Scuderia 265. Its 47.5 bhp so that's very close to a bog standard RD 300. Not quite there but almost. It actually has almost the exact bhp and torque figures as the old air cooled kawa KX 250. I rode a few of those as a kid and I think that's probaly enough power! I'm pretty sure the cylinder is based on a KTM 300 dirt bike cylinder so it will have that crazy on/off power delivery. Before the scuderia I had the casa SS hyper performance engine. That was scary fast and I only really pinned it two or three times. 90> on a lambretta is not for the faint hearted!
This is tickling every single last one of my happy glands , I had a yammy fizzy in speeddblock yellow in 1977 and transitioned to lammy's in 1979 , ,, the work here is amazing 👏
I clicked on this because I owned an RD 350 way back in my youth of the 1980s. I did a number of upgrades but it was no where close to the beauty and quality on your build, You sir have built a work of Art!!
this is fantastic ,im not a scooter fan but this is an awesome build !!!!!!!!!!! anything thats a true custom build deserves respect love it !!!!!!!!!!!
Very well said! I agree, this is an incredible custom build, the radiator cooling installation is itself outstanding, let alone all the other wonderfully thought out details that go to make up this fascinating build.
love the thinking out of the box,most people build the same as everyone else same engine/same wheels same interior,i always built cars in my own style who wants to be the same as everyone else ? great work ,dare to be differant !!!!!!!!!!
As a former 1964 Lambretta owner with a tweaked engine (the scooter, not the owner!), who had mates with RD250s and 350s, I am gobsmacked with how well he managed to integrate the RD350 gubbins into the limited space available. It looks like a factory special. I would LOVE to ride it!
I agree it has been done before but with them there were many problems .. rear hubs cracking … engine overheating etc etc I went through all the problem these guys had and eliminated them whilst building this …. This one is as perfect as I could build it … I have had 90 out of her and she does a wheelie in third gear …. Dangerous but brilliant to ride 👌👍
Think that one of the first that we saw on the scooter scene back then was a lad that worked for British Aerospace that was going to try and make a living out of Lambretta YPVS conversions...
Absolutely fantastic build. I had a non YPVS 350LC and loved it. I also have an affection for the curvy lines and status of the scooter. Your build offers the best of both and is a thing of beauty 💛🖤
I am not a religious man but, Oh my God that is cool. Anything with Yamaha speedblocks looks fantastic but that is next level.Love your R1 as well but the scooter is just beautiful
I was pals with the lad next door but one back in 1970. He was 2 years older and had a succession of scooters and bikes. We went to Oliver's Mount meetings on Scarborough a couple of times and over the Yorkshire moors into the dales. It started with a Vespa and the a GP 200 Lamb to an AJS 350. I still ride a scooter every day but miss my 600F.
AHHR mate you are in a different league! Absolutely fabulous 🤩 please share this creation with Yamaha now! Love it, it's top of the hit parade! Want one.
He said it...YAMbretta...excellent work...probably the best custom mod I've ever seen in 40 odd years of biking...perfect engine for it...too much power really...but common sense on the throttle...I guess a 100MPH would be a bit frightening with Lambretta handling...amazing what some people can do with their brains and hands...I'm in awe
Ha! I saw somehing just like this about 20 years ago in Back Street Heroes magazine. It looked totally stock-just TWO little pipes poking out. How fast? 'Dunno,' said the owner, 'The speedo only goes to 90'. On 10" wheels? YE GODS!😲
It's the sort of 'sleeper' vehicle someone like Paul Newman would have loved. He used to put huge power into tiny vehicles like old VW beetles when he was a young actor and blow the doors off people to embarrass them in their hot rods. "We just got beat by a VW bug" This is a factory-quality build and you could sell the plans and kits and vehicles. Due to the age of the motor, they were legal in the U.S. in the mid-1980s, it might be able to be street-legal even here in the states.
Ah the smell of two stroke smoke, blue smoke curling behind the bike, reminds me of my glorious (not) misspent youth. Coaxing my BSA D14/4 Bantam to start. The sound of the twin expansion exhaust pipes crackling away, music to my ears. Great bike mate
There is not a single thing on this build that I don't like. Is this the only "Yambretta" in existance I wonder? Top work Kelvin perfectly executed. Great video thanks for this👍
Hi ... Kelvin here .... there are a few around but with this one I made sure all the problems encountered with the other builds back in the 80's were corrected with this one .... so no overheating and no hub cracks to name a couple ....
The man definitely has talent to build that in he’s shed.. I was with Sanj a couple of weeks ago when we saw this scooter 🛵. Having seen it in the flesh it’s truly amazing 🤩.
The fork you got from India will have been GP ones, the Li ones are longer and that's what the scooters frame is. Looks like a Spanish lynx front mudguard too the GP ones are more pointed and Li ones are more rounded. I know what you mean about 90 mph on a lambretta 😬
Amazing!!!! Excellent work done by the owner of the Lambretta 350. I have an RD350LC here in Brazil and I am stunned by what he managed to do. Congratulations on showing us.
Already been done. About 20 years ago. People on the scooter scene have been putting RD engines in Lambretta’s for a long time. Great on a straight but poor ground clearance
That is a beautifully done build. Looks like it was meant to be. Lots of non-Lambretta RZ350 and RZV500 stuff on my channel. Thanks for posting this one.
Good engines , I love Yamaha, I had 4 DTR s in the 90s my mate had a DT LC engine looks same just bigger, I had a YZ 250 with same style that black an white strip
This is been done at least twice to my mind.. and this is a super fun project. Back in the day, as a Vespa and Lambretta scooter rat.. I had an old scooter magazine that had instructions on how to do this exact build. By all accounts super fun and would beat many bikes light to light.. leaving the lagging riders of dropping their jaw.
I have a very critical eye for custom bikes and cars and normally like very few, or find some spoiled by a small detail. This however I think is beautiful. Well done. Excellent
Absolutely stunning build. Only criticism, and it's not a criticism of the bike, just the builder understating his talent, but you should put on the video title that the engine comes from a RD350LC YPVS, rather than the air cooled RD350 as the title says.
oh God I hate scooters so much , but I want this one so bad it hurts. It looks so well built , you can see the thinking that had to go into it. And it's a 350 powervalve , effin outrageous.
What an understated genius and the end result is a real work of art! Only cost 5K odd but I am sure that there would be more than double that in “free labour and engineering”.
