Just in time for this Friday’s five-or-so hour run down to Wildwood, New Jersey for the first (we hope annual) East Coast Classic this weekend, the Lammy has had a splash of color.

Two paint-related issues needed to be addressed on the bike, and together with the installation of a replacement to a cracked headlamp lens have pretty much finished up my to-do list which has taken the past six months to cross-off. With these final details done and dusted I’m feeling good about the bike making the ride. Not that paint contributes to mechanical well-being, but hey.

First up, an issue that has nagged me since purchasing the bike last year: some prior damage done to the headset top. A previous owner had drilled holes in the headset to accept left and white wing mirrors and these had been unceremoniously knocked out during what I assume was a lane-splitting exercise gone bad given the bike has no other bodily evidence of a drop. The resulting damage left two gnarled “exit wounds” and badly kinked the casting. Further, these holes had been hastily repaired with bondo applied like MacGyver applying Bazooka Joe.

The new unfinished legshield spare wheel rack and the original damaged headset.

Considering the headset top unsalvageable, I had originally bought an after-market headset top from Casa Lambretta, but (and no points against Casa) the cast was – as is often the case with duplicate parts – a poor fit and poorly cast.

I decided  therefore that it was time to save the original part. Figuring not only a TIG welding exercise was needed to repair the damage (it’s aluminum) but also a new coat of paint to match the rest of the bike, I was put in touch with Gowanus based auto repair shop that has previously done work for both (the sadly missed) Brooklynbretta and (happily still with us) Scooter Bottega.

In addition, after removing the original rear spare wheel rack following concerns over the fact that the weight of the wheel can crack the frame, I was left without a means to carry a spare. So I took reader Chris’ advice and purchased a nice Scootopia legshield spare wheel holder from Scooters Originali. Figuring I was going for a color-match and spray anyways, I added the new rack to the order.

Taking a ride out to New York Auto alongside the Gowanus canal in Brooklyn.

New York Auto on Nevins Street is run by a nice guy called Chris who clearly cares about his work. Where other auto repair shops would have quickly laughed me and my 35 year old piece of aluminum out of their shop, having familiarity with scoots, Chris welcomed the work.

The job took about three weeks to complete, mostly just because Chris subbed out the welding and tried three color matches before he found one he was happy with (to his credit) but the results turned out great. To weld the headset, finish it and paint and clear coat both pieces cost $300 which I felt was a fair price for the work.

The headset back on the bike. For some reason the photograph highlights a shift in color. In reality it looks like a perfect match.

In the photo above you can see the orignal top back on the bike and the color match is fantastic given Serveta ochre is a color that never made it out of the decade of the Seventies.

The rack installed on the bike. The "hub cap" is from the original rear rack.

Above the Scootopia rack is installed. Most of it is hidden from view behind the wheel but it’s also been color-matched to the bike. I kept the “hub cap” from the original period rear-rack and added that to retain as much of the lovely original patina of the bike as possible.

To be honest, if you look at the ignition key at the back of the headset you can see that with the wheel added it’s a tight fit on a Jet 200. It sits high up on the back of the legshield but given I’ve had it painted I’m making do. Just goes to show that you should always “dry fit” new parts before painting to make sure they fit the way you expect them to.

In my case it just means that when I insert the ignition key I have to remove it from my keyring of house keys to give it enough clearance above the tire. A small hassle but no great shakes. Presumably on a Innocenti Series 3, the legshield doesn’t interfere with the ignition.

So there we go. The bike is now fully operational, and all back in one piece with all of the original bodywork. Now to head out on the road to report from Wildwood…

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