James Bryant...scooter days
WHEN I turned 16 (1971) my father bought me a Lambretta scooter (LX150cc made in 1964). Unfortunately on the first day I took it out I had an accident with a car just up the road from the house at 64 Manor Gardens, Buckden. Luckily I wasn't injured and the accident wasn't my fault, but the bike was off the road for about a month.
I soon passed my test and got the bike kitted out. Unbeknown to my parents I had the cylinder bored out to 175cc and replaced the carb with a Wall Phillips fuel injector. I had some great times on the bike with Nene, Eddy, Les and others. I finally came a cropper when an American ran me off the ring road around Huntingdon and I ended up in Hospital. The nurses were nice though!
In 2019 I went to Brighton for a holiday and while there visited a museum and amongst other things saw a Lambretta scooter similar to the one I had all those years ago. Needless to say the memories came flooding back.
"Two
wheels good, four wheels bad" (Animal Farm,
abridged, George Orwell, 25/06/1903-21/01/1950)
me, L-R 1971 and 1972
Me next to Lambretta LI 150 series 3, Brighton Museum, summer of 2019