This Yamaha RD350-Powered Lambretta Scooter Goes 130 MPH And Consumes Harleys For Breakfast

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There’s a certain kind of romance that comes with riding a vintage scooter. Something like an old Lambretta is not fast, but it drips with style and as I could tell you from experience, they get attention everywhere. One person found an exciting way to make a Lambretta riot. Jed Thomson took a Lambretta and crammed a Yamaha RD350’s two-stroke engine inside, turning the little scoot into a fantastic ripper with 60 horsepower and a 130 MPH top speed.

As many of you already know by now, I love searching for and writing about oddball cars, RVs, and motorcycles. Years ago, I had a crazy idea to take a Chinese Honda Ruckus clone and power it with a 670cc V-twin engine from Harbor Freight. Well, I didn’t know how to weld back then so the project never went further than buying the donor scooter. Nowadays, I find myself looking for two-wheeled weirdos like the U.S. military’s multi-fuel combat motorcycle or the brilliant Royal Enfield Taurus. Thanks to the folks of Rideapart I’ve found another, and it’s one ridiculous Lambretta:

This video comes from YouTuber 999lazer, who has a similar mission to seek out bold two-wheelers, but his fare is usually of the two-stroke motocross variety. This looks like a regular vintage Lambretta, but it has some real firepower under the covers. Its builder, Jed Thomson, also has a story to tell.

The Lambretta’s Story

Lambside

Lambretta is a brand rich in history. As our friends at the Lane Motor Museum write, the company was started in 1947 by Ferdinando Innocenti in Milan, Italy. Innocenti was an industrialist and in the years prior he established a steel tubing factory in Rome. This business moved to Milan in 1931 where his business continued engineering products like scaffolding, pipes, and joints. Following World War II, Innocenti’s factory was destroyed and Italian citizens needed transportation. Innocenti saw a future for inexpensive transportation to get people on wheels. Thus, Lambretta was born. I’ll let the Lane explain what makes these different than a Vespa:

Unlike the Vespa, which was built with a unibody chassis pressed from sheets of steel, Lambrettas featured a more rigid tubular frame to which the body panels were fixed. Early Lambrettas lacked bodywork and had scanty legsheilds compared to its rival, Vespa, but it had a larger 125cc engine—a good contrast to its 98cc competitor. Another important feature of the time was its second seat; it was marketed as more of a social scooter than a functional one. A more important distinction, the Lambretta engine was frame-mounted (Vespa was on a swing arm) resulting in superior handling over the Vespa.

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As Thomson explains, the scooter actually started life as a Serveta Jet 200. According to Scootering magazine, Lambretta opened its Eibar factory in northern Spain in 1954. By 1960, the company had produced 50,000 scooters and by 1965, the factory changed its name to Serveta. In 1967, the Serveta factory began production of the first Serveta Jet 200s. These scooters were similar in design to the Innocenti SX 200, save for a different front mudguard. Scootering notes that in 1969, Lambretta began importing scooters like the Jet 200 into different countries. When new, Thomson’s scooter had a 198cc two-stroke single that made 10.33 HP.

Thomson tells our host that this scooter has a story. He used to race motocross with his brother on Suzuki RM250s and the pair eventually found themselves two-stroke road motorcycles. But, as time is merciless, the pair eventually went to school, got jobs, and ended their motocross runs.

Lambsteering

Thomson explains that his motivation for building the machine was that his brother passed three years ago. After his brother’s passing, Thomson was left with a little bit of money and instead of just spending it, Thomson decided to build something in his brother’s memory. The result is this scooter, named the ‘Envious Git,’ which has Tomson’s brother’s name on it.

The Build

Scooteng

When Thomson bought the scooter, it was just a chassis with a frame and body. It didn’t have an engine, front wheel, or forks. Thomson took the scooter to GWH Scooters in the UK. This shop specializes in cramming Yamaha engines into Lambrettas and has been doing so since the 1980s. The scooter got painted in a shade of green that Lambretta used in the 1960s and a Yamaha RD350 frame was sourced from the United States. GWH then cut functional vents into the front and sides of the Serveta body before mating the Yamaha with the scooter.

Lambbrakes

Thomson explains that just ahead of the seat is where GWH cut the Lambretta frame and grafted on the frame of the RD350. The Yamaha’s engine was cleaned up. It’s making 60 HP and is capable of going 130 mph. That’s 130 mph on tiny scooter wheels and tires. Small bore scooters are normally nimble machines, not speed demons.

As Motorcyclist Magazine wrote, the RD350 traces its roots to Yamaha’s first 350cc street motorcycle, the 1967 YR1. Its successor came in 1970 as the R5 350. This was the machine that Yamaha developed into the RD350. As Rider Magazine explains, Yamaha took the R5’s engine and added seven ports and reed-valve induction, a technology straight from motocross, fitting for a motocross-inspired scooter build.

1973 Yamaha Rd350 Rd 28418
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Reed-valve induction utilized a thin piece of metal between the carburetors and the cylinders that would open when exhaust gases flow out of the engine causing a vacuum, allowing more fuel and air to go in. Yamaha advertised the RD350 as making 39 HP so long as you kept the revs high. Motorcyclist called the RD350 “a Giant Killer for the ages.”

Update: Thanks to you lovely readers and upon a second look, this Lambretta build appears to be based on the RZ350, which was sold in the United States from 1983 to 1985. These featured 347cc two-stroke twins making 59 HP. The RZ350, which is sold in other markets as the RD350, was the last in the line of RDs for Yamaha. This appears to be where the confusion is coming from.

1985 Yamaha Rz350 15912171455ef6
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A Giant Killer

Lambspeed

This scooter? Well, it makes the RD350 seem safe. Thomson says that at 120 mph, the scooter feels sketchy and a bit wobbly. I can’t say I’m surprised. Thomson goes on to say that he’s done 120 mph just once and he won’t be doing it again.

There’s some neat engineering going on here. Remember, this twin-cylinder engine would normally be exposed, not encased. Aside from the heat extraction vents, the scooter has a radiator up front, two water pumps, heads that are supposed to keep the engine cool. It also has a six-speed sequential transmission, exhausts from Italy’s Casa Performance, racing brakes, and a seat from Thomson’s first Lambretta. Jamie, his brother’s name, is found in multiple places on the scooter and some of his ashes even hang from the scoot’s keys.

Lambshifting

Lambpipes

Thomson explained that he dropped the scooter off at GWH and for six months, all he saw was the taillight and the license plate. When he finally saw the completed build, it brought him to tears.

Aside from the scooter’s heart-tugging story, it really does seem like a wolf in sheep’s clothing. This scooter makes a few more horses than a Suzuki Burgman 650, but comes in a small scooter package. Thomson talks about destroying Harley-Davidsons and other cruisers while making sportbikes work to keep up. And he gets to do it on something that looks like a slow scooter.

That right there sounds like a dream. I’d love to experience a scooter or motorcycle like this. It’s a hot rod on two wheels! I hope Thomson gets to make many years of memories out of this beautiful, frightening machine.

Speedlamb

If you’re interested in seeing more two-stroke motocross motorcycles, give 999lazer a watch, the channel seems like good fun!

(Correction: As readers have pointed out, this is most likely not powered by the engine of an older 1970s RD350, but of a newer 1980s RD350, which was sold in America as the RZ350. I have added additional context and regret the error.)

(All screenshots: 999lazer on YouTube)

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35 thoughts on “This Yamaha RD350-Powered Lambretta Scooter Goes 130 MPH And Consumes Harleys For Breakfast

  1. 120 MPH on a Lambretta? Good luck, God looks after fools. I ONCE did between 180 and 190 KPH (the speedometer vibrated so badly and navigation required so much attention that I can’t say for sure) on a Sportster 1200 and it used 2 lanes of highway.

  2. I like it, I used to have an SX, I’ve had many Vespas as well. I got tired of working on them so this would be nice. I have one 66′ Vespa left in storage, there are some EV kits out there that I have considered.

  3. Dear God. Having owned and tracked (and crashed) RZ 350s, it’s hard to imagine throwing a leg over this thing. The RZ, even in showroom tune, is surprisingly quick and demands one’s full attention. Called RD 350 L/C in other markets, it is Liquid-Cooled, see, and very different from the air cooled bike in the embedded photo. Wait; I still have an RZ with 1998 miles on the clock! It’s in my bedroom.

  4. I love the looks of these old scooters. I think the Lambretta had a top speed of 70mph, good enough on curving mountain roads. But Mercedes if you are willing to drive anywhere close to 130mph you are far braver than me. KUDOS.

  5. That is nicely done, if rather extreme.
    I can see making something like this and then kind of wishing you hadn’t, but I can see this as a tribute. Anyway cool as hell. I can see it as a Harley killer, IME most out there are stock other than pipes and farkles, blowing off small non-sport bikes seems to be entertainment around here.

  6. That fast on 10″ tires? Yikes!
    But then I knew a guy who put a Cushman Truckster motor in an Eagle frame and rode it on I-80 from Denver to Lincoln Nebraska.

  7. Lame, the front end geometry is why it wobbles at speed, these little things are not meant to be fast and claiming to “destroy Harley-Davidsons” is also retarded. I am not sure a Harley rider would realize the scooter kid was even trying to race, but even so, almost none would care. racing a big twin is not what riding a Harley is about. Though I do know of a few equally modified Harley’s that are putting down over 200 HP to the wheel, yet just like this scooter the chassis has a lot of trouble dealing with it at full scoot.

    1. I am not sure a Harley rider would realize the scooter kid was even trying to race

      LOL. I don’t think I’d be calling someone who was in the Royal Marines for 22 years a “kid”.

  8. This looks like a regular vintage Lambretta

    I’d be hard-pressed to call this remotely “regular” looking, given the wildly out of place expansion chambers on display.

    That said, I’d also enjoy scaring the crap out of myself with it.

  9. DAAAAAAAAMN!!

    That is bonkers and beautiful. Those expansion chambers… :-O

    To clarify slightly for other old bike types who may be confused: in the US, the RD350 was purely an air-cooled model. The engine in the Lambretta comes from what the US market called an RZ350, which was liquid-cooled. The US RZ350 was called an RD350 elsewhere. 🙂

    1. Count me among those – I didn’t know the RZ designation was US-only. I was just looking at it & thinking, nope, that’s not an RD350 head. (It hasn’t been THAT long since I’ve mucked around with RDs & the R5, my memory can’t be already failing me there!)

        1. The LC designation was only used on the 81-82 RD350LC. 83+ was a complete model revamp and it was labeled RZ350 with a letter after it to designate the year, outlier being they kept the RD350 designation in the UK/Europe. LC may have been on the registration there.

      1. It’s the potential for wobble under hard braking at high speed with that small tire that really scares me. Get that puppy oscillating and yeah, catapult you may.

  10. I am afraid of the handling of that thing. I rode a friend’s RD350 once and the front end was a bit noodley and I’ve ridden quite a few different scooters (not a Lambretta though). None of them have inspired confidence at more than 30-35mph. I am all for too much engine in too small/light of a vehicle, but this one scares me.

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