LML – Lohia Machinery Limited

Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears; I come to bury Piaggio, not to praise them. The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones; so let it be with Piaggio. The noble Lohia hath told you Piaggio was ambitious by embarking on building Vespas in India. If it were so, it was a grievous fault, and even more grievously hath Piaggio a decade later sell its share. Here, under leave of Lohia and the rest of the Machinery Limited - for Lohia now known simply as LML continued building the classic Vespa P models using the same Vespa machinery.

Now Piaggio, in its wisdom has decided to re-enter the Indian market and they have also decided to reintroduce the classic Vespa P model. So now in South Africa, you can buy two similar 80s era scooters at vastly different prices. A genuine Italian Piaggio Vespa PX150X for R50,000 and a LML Star Deluxe for R20,000. Although the build quality of the LML leaves a lot to be desired, it is a new scooter at 30k cheaper so they are becoming very popular with many being resprayed and rebadged to resemble their Piaggio cousin in a Mod form. I am not sure if the LML would hold a good resell value but that time will tell.

Scoots in Fourways who repairs, restores and service older models of Piaggio Vespas and Innocenti Lambrettas, also sell the latest LML models. This morning, I joined Scoots for a ride to Sofi in Greenside for breakfast then to Newtown, under the bridge to view the graffiti. It was more of a LML ride than anything else as you can see in the photo above. From left to right is a silver LML Star Deluxe, a white LML Star Deluxe, another silver LML Star Deluxe with the blue seat, a red LML Star Deluxe with the lime seat, a copper Vespa P200E with a red seat, a Lambretta Grand Prix 150 and finally Sophia, a black Vespa ET4.

After the graffiti tour, our motley crew ended up at 44 Stanley for more refreshments.

Scoots

There is a new kid on the block, well not so new if you see their toys. Scoots.mobi is a Vespa, LML and Lambretta scooter shop right here in Fourways. They specialize in the real retro and go for the Mod look. They sell, restore and repair the ever so popular two stroke scooters. The partners of Scoots, Bruce and Shaun, invited the Posers Scooter Club, that is us, to join the Aces and Vesparados Scooter Clubs for breakfast at Sofia in Greenside and then ride with them to a vintage car show in Melrose.

Eleven scooters left Scoots for Greenside along a windy route and arriving at Sofia we joined twelve other Vespas and Lambrettas already there waiting for us. After the greetings and introductions out of the way we sat down for a simple breakfast consisting of bacon, eggs, chips, toast and coffee for only costing R25. Then ten vintage Vespas, five modern Vespas, five vintage Lambrettas, two LMLs and a lone Big Boy set off for Melrose to check out the vintage cars and we sure made an entrance with heads turning as our motley group entered.

After the hard work of scootering around Magda easily convinced our eleven scooters to grab a pint at Melrose Arch. The Posers sure made many new friends today and we were thankful for the Aces and Vesparados for allowing us to join them on the ride. For more photos see my Facebook album Aces, Posers and Vesparados.