According to the book a standard Italian GP has a “claimed” dry weight of 123 kg. EDM’s RB-

barrelled Evo Demonstrator weighs 96kg including a full tank (approx. 10kg) of fuel !

You’ve been framed

The Evo frame is similar in routing to a Lambretta GP frame, but not the same. For a start it is

made from slightly narrower 60mm diameter tubing with a 4mm wall thickness. Unlike the Innocenti

original, this one is pressed in two sections, which are internally sleeved and welded together to

create the familiar tubular spine. While the important positions of the fork tube, engine mount and

top shocker stud are all as Innocenti intended (but not necessarily as Innocenti or SIL built them)

the routing of the tube has been altered slightly. The main pipe now runs 10mm higher in respect to

the engine mount, allowing the use of long shock absorbers together with TS1/RB/Imola cylinders

and reed packing plates if desired. The tube also has a gentler kink down towards the legshields.

This means that it is now simple to get any barrel on and off by simply removing the rear shock.

Lightweight

Of course one of the main reasons for the Evo’s ease of access and comparative anorexia is a total

absence of the heavy, pressed steel seat arch section. Instead this is replaced by a single glass

fibre moulding of the whole rear end. Separate laser cut brackets are welded to the frame tube and

used to support both the seat hinge and locking plate. As such the glass fibre body does not need

to carry any load, allowing it to be very light and thin.

The mould creation is done by Richard’s brother Rob, who used to produce lightweight fairings for

well known motorcycle race teams. The legshields are produced as a bonded two-part moulding

with the inner incorporating a legshield toolbox. This is pretty much essential since no other storage

space is provided. The other special body components are combined front mudguard and

horncasting, and a special air-scoop that mounts under the legshields and directs air at a series of

holes drilled into the head cowling.

Of all the many innovations on the Evo, this scoop was the only one that I wasn’t sure about.

Whether the air feed from the scoop into the cowling at high speed outweighs what is lost from the

fan via the cowling holes is a matter of debate. Certainly the system will only work effectively at

speed and with a specially modified head cowling. Given that case, it might just be better to feed

cool air from the scoop direct to the fan or the carburettor.

Feeling Frisky

So, you ask, what does an 86kg RB-powered GP feel like ?

Well in short , it’s a lot like riding a race Lambretta on the road. The Evo feels raw, responsive and

alive in a way that no modern machine can really match. With hardly any mass to dampen vibration

you can feel the engine singing in time with the throttle.

Richard’s RB engine was hurriedly setup but felt not far off in terms of jetting. It only had 19 miles

on the speedo when he handed me the keys. Shall we consider the running-in period to be over

then ? 

What really impressed was the precision of the controls, due no doubt to the smooth cable routing.

As promised the revised pedal design means that this is a Lambretta rear brake pedal with both feel

and power, with none of the usual flop or bend. Straight out of the box the Evo felt good.

My first surprise was at the traffic lights and seeing how much the headset shook backwards and

forwards with vibration at tick-over.  Normal Lambrettas do this and GPs seem worse than earlier

models, but even so it felt like quite a lot of flex. 

We were lucky to grab a short time at the local kart track for the photoshoot. It was obvious that the

Evo handled well from the way Rich was able to throw it around: down to the alloy stand feet round

left-handers and onto the NK exhaust body when turning right.

In actual fact the kart track proved very little. With a perfectly flat surface and Dunlop TT91 race

tyres fitted you should be able to achieve good lean angles on any lambretta. What we really

needed was a bumpy, twisty road to check if the Evo really worked. Rich knew just the place and

led the way on my Yamaha Tmax 500.

One of the problems with losing so much weight from a scooter is getting suspension soft enough

to fit. Having tried the now popular Yamaha R1 rear shock conversion – and found it harder than a

Glaswegian bouncer – Rich fitted a good old Indian Escort shock absorber which was still probably

too stiff for a really light rider.

The way that the Evo wiped the floor with the more powerful Tmax spoke volumes. With a centre of

gravity only slightly higher than a snakes beer belly and the usual short Lambretta wheelbase the

Evo changes direction very rapidly. The original suspension layout is still crude and has limited

travel. This means that the whole bike tends to take-off over large road imperfections like a jet ski

on a choppy lake, but unlike some Lammies it always landed in line and under control.

The true deciding factor in its ability against the Yamaha of course is power to weight ratio. With

the virgin RB engine cruelly held on the boil the Evo literally fired off every corner like a 1960’s

commuter vehicle has no right to do. With maybe 25hp on tap, losing a quarter of your vehicle’s

mass makes a real difference to braking and acceleration !

Newies

The truth about the Evo though is that it is not a 1960’s vehicle. This is a brand new ‘kit scooter’ in

very much the same vein as you may still buy a glass fibre replica Jaguar E-type look-a-like and

build it up using parts from a donor vehicle. Rich has set the price for the Evo kit at £2450. To make

this into a complete scooter you need to add a few major components such a pair of GP forks and

a headset, a seat, an engine and some wheels. For the moment all these parts are still available off

the shelf, making this a totally new vehicle. As such it should really go through SVA testing (Single

Vehicle Approval) to obtain a brand new registration.

The alternative is to give a pre-regisitered GP frame to Rich so that they can perform an Evolution

conversion on it by cutting off all the surplus parts and re-welding on all the laser cut brackets to

take the Evo bodywork. With a checked and reset engine mounting position you’ll get all the

handling benefits, an almost identical weight and none of the registration headaches.

The Deal

So far the demonstrator has had a bit of a tough life, having been rushed around three different 

shows and fallen over in the van and sustained minor damage each time. Rich also admits that he

rushed the final preparation and painting in order to get it ready, which is why the fit and finish of the

glass fibre parts is not as good as it could be.

When it comes to supplying customer kits, the frame and 10 litre fuel tank will all be painted to the

customer’s spec, and the glass fibre bodywork will be supplied in primer.

“When one is ordered we’ll put on all the bodywork, match it ll up and drill all the holes. There will

be a build manual with it, and it will still need a dry build before you think about painting it”. The last

thing you want is to paint that back end and then realise that the rear of the runner needed to be cut

around the exhaust.

“We can then paint the bodywork to suit for a good price because you haven’t got a million parts

hung in the booth – only five. To do a standard one colour paintjob would be about £350 and if you

damage it then it’s a lot easier to repair glass fibre bodywork with a bit of filler than to repair a bent

st of legshields.”

“We’ve had a lot of interest in the bodywork alone, but that’s not for sale separately unless you are

an Evo owner. We don’t want a situation where someone spots a scooter at a show and says “oh

look it’s an Evo only to find out it’s just another GP with one of our scoops fitted. We want these

scooters to be something special.”

Evolution

The Lambretta Evo is indeed something special. It might not be very practical for rallying – since

luggage carrying ability is minimal – but if you’ve spent thousands on a tuned Lambretta engine and

you want a light, fine-handling chassis to make the most of it then this is just the ticket. Mr Darwin

would definitely approve..............

Sticky

Note – it turns out that the crank fitted to the RB was twisted, hence the amount of vibration felt.

Martin "Sticky" Round