Wayne and Vikki Norman had been searching for a Vespa 90 racer (for Vikki to ride), but getting hold of one was proving to be something of a nightmare. A quick think and a change of direction saw Innocenti’s Luna line machines being chosen as a suitable alternative.

The original plan was to get a Vega 75 until a chance phone call, in August 2007, from Adam (Bob) of the Leicester Phoenix SC. He was at the Grand Prix Scooters Open Day and told them there was an importer who was selling scooters, which just happened to include a Lui 50CL and he thought they should give it a look. The scooter was a runner, complete and a mere £450. Before parting with their hard earned cash, the little Lui was given a few spins round the car park by both Wayne and Adam. Then a deal was struck for £420, with the dealer being happy along with Wayne and Vikki who now had a project to work on. Lui (for that was now his name) was loaded into the back of their Peugeot and off on a 15 mile trip to his new home.

On arrival, Lui was unloaded and subjected to more spins around their Close. To add to the fun, Lui decided that he would be a struggle to start – and then the throttle cable snapped! Now this would stop most people and as Wayne and Vikki have always been 100% Vespa, this meant they had no spare. No fear for Wayne who managed to complete a suitable bodge in half an hour and Lui was up and running again.

Then the homework began, with Wayne undertaking research on Lui to see what he should and shouldn’t have. This paid off with the discovery that Lui was of 1968 vintage but he was missing some rubber trims, however he did have a genuine speedo fitted (a bonus as the 50CL didn’t come with one as standard) and the rear rack, which although not an Innocenti item, looked right; so it was kept.

As Lui was Vikki’s scooter she wanted him a girlie shade of pink! Mind you, this wasn’t what Wayne had in mind. He and some friends convinced Vikki to think of another colour, so she settled on Lui’s original colour of orange, but with a modern girlie twist.

A visit to see Neil at Leicester Enamellers was next on the agenda as the hunt for a colour match began. Neil said that ‘Pukka Pie’ orange was close and he had it in stock (hence the graphic behind the seat). He got the job of not only doing the orange powder coat, but of also doing the metallic black parts and the silver parts of the scooter. The legshields and the petrol tank were sent to Shane at Faircharm Restorations to be sprayed orange as well. So why paint for these parts – well, that’s simple, they both had small dents that needed filling and this wouldn’t have been possible if they were then to be powder coated. Shane also had all the scooter parts blasted before they were either sprayed or powder coated. The end result was both companies came up trumps with their colour matching. In fact the overall cost was a mere £170 for the powder coating and £250 for the paintwork.

While the main parts of Lui were away being blasted and coated or painted, Wayne and Vikki made contact with Jem Booth in Preston. He supplied them with all the parts they needed, including the missing rubber trim, a new seat pad, seat cover, gasket sets and many other items. There were some things that even Jem couldn’t supply and a new stand was one of them. A look through the small ads in Scootering paid dividends with a stand and headset base coming from a seller in Staffordshire. A visit to Wicksteed Park Parts Fair and Peanut Duck saw more parts being acquired – not because they were needed, but because they were cheap!

In Classic Scooterist Scene, edition 73, we introduced readers to ultra-long distance rider Red, who related his experiences of his first 1,000 miles riding the Scomadi TL250. He picks up his tale from that point . . .

Since my last report I’ve covered approximately another 1700 miles, including riding to Stirling to take part in Highland Scoot 2010. I was impressed with the handling, both on motorways and the 170 mile rideout that we did on the Saturday (some of those roads could be classed as farm tracks which included long, steep inclines). The auto made good everything that the Scottish roads and weather could throw at it, but the seat is still too hard! I’m just pleased I decided against wearing the kilt for the rideout! It performed well and sat around 70mph plus easily on the run home from Stirling on the Monday (Stirling to Ferrybridge Services in under 4½ hours, including fuel breaks, etc). It returned a fuel consumption of approx 55mpg throughout the weekend.

I’ve been in touch with Paul and Frank of Scomadi regarding some small issues mentioned in my previous report. I can now use authorised Piaggio dealers for Scomadi servicing, which is a great help as it saves a lot of hassle finding the time to take it to Lancashire for every service and because service intervals are every 3,000 miles – the 6k, 12k and so on, are major services and the intermediate ones are just the minor servicing (fluid levels, brake wear, rollers etc). I’ll still take it over to Paul at least once a year for him to have a look over it, especially as I expect to do in the excess of 15,000 miles a year. I’ve received an Excel spreadsheet with service intervals on, but still nothing official though! Paul sent a link for a workshop manual for the Piaggio X9 as you don’t get anything when you buy it – the problem is that it’s 262 pages, so it’s a lot to trawl through when looking for some info! (I’d still rather have some official paperwork). Also there’s still no mention of a service book that can be stamped at each service, or any warranty paperwork. (I’m going to get my daughter to make me a service book, just to make it easier for me). I’m going to use Ron Daley of Barnsley as he’s been recommended to me by Paul. I’ll let you know how I get on in the next report.