Italjet Dragster re-commissioning
Posted: Fri Jul 01, 2022 10:24 am
As my 350LC is just about finished ( or at least any more progress is stalled for the time being waiting for the tank..) and the summer is upon us, I thought it was high time that I got the Dragster running and on the road again- I know this will probably be of zero interest to some /maybe most on here , as well, it’s a scooter innit and not everyone on here is comfortable enough with their sexuality to admit they like them 
, but I’m guessing it’s a bike that quite a few won’t be familiar with, and most of us like these sorts of threads with lots of pics so I thought why not do a little thread on it- I'm reasonably sure all the other cool-kids (we know who we are eh Tiepin 
) will look at it even if no-one else does 
So, a bit of history on this one- I bought it back in 2010-ish, when it was just about 10 years old, it was 100% original and unmolested with a grand total of 800km on the clock, and had spent the vast majority of its life indoors.
I bought it back then as I think they are pretty little things, not that common and isn’t going to reduce in value, in this condition, anyway, and I love 2-strokes and riding most twist-and-go scoots too.
The things that differentiate it from the majority of other bikes are of course the single-sided front-end and suspension, and trellis frame.
As scooters go, it’s definitely not the most practical ( you’d get an open-face helmet under the seat but not a full face) , but it does also have a nice little lockable compartment for your stash
or of course, the original toolkit, which mine has
It’s one of my “keepers”, not the fastest thing in the world but accelerates fast enough to zip past most traffic and it gets to 120 kmph on the speedo easily- it has small-ish ( 11” front and 13” rear) but for something with such small wheels, it handles pretty well IMO and has decent brakes, and most people expect it to be a moped and lot slower than it is so it can be quite good fun.
There is quite a big following for them , there are loads of upgrade bits available for both engine and chassis, and they are also very tunable – back at the time my plans included a 180cc Malossi kit ( mine is the 125cc version although they were available as 125 and 180 from new), bigger carb, expansion chamber, and higher final drive gearing,.
I’ve got a whopper Dell-Orto carb and reed valve manifold for it somewhere, but that’s never made it out of the box so I need to find it, and who knows – 95% of Dragsters I’ve seen have been turned into fast, but horrendously chavved-up things - a big part of the appeal of it for me is its originality, so I’d always been of the mind that changes I do make, if any, will have to be completely reversible.
Pretty much as soon as I got it I adapted an old ZX6 ( I think) sidestand to fit, as they don’t come with one as standard , and it looks so much cooler just flicking it out as you jump off rather than lifting it onto the centrestand
) , and just used it for fun little local runs to the shops in my shorts and flip-flops for a few years.
Along with adding a sidestand, I did make a few other small changes to it in the first year or two that I had it, all cosmetic, as I thought they made it look nicer, and they were to replace the chromed plastic top-yoke/instrument surround and handlebar switches (also chromed! ) with black ones, replace the silver brake levers with black to complete the look, and lose the massive standard stalk mirrors with a small single bar-end unit.
The last time it was used was 2014-5 -ish , then just I parked it up in the garage, sort of forgot about it and didn’t go near it for a couple of years, but foolishly I’d inadvertently left it with ethonal content fuel in it which of course completely smegged up the carb.
I of course only found this out when I went to start it a couple of years after that, and back then I whipped the carb off, took it to bits gave it a run through my ultrasonic bath, but it still didn’t run right, and it made me wonder whether it may in fact be crank seals gone hard from standing and leaking, but that was as far as I got back then as other stuff took over and it’s just been sitting in a corner for the last 6 or 7 years
So jobs to do for starters are:
Whatever it is, it’ll get sorted, then I’ll MOT and tax it , see how I feel about it after I’ve ridden it again before I potentially launch into any performance upgrades.
To be continued....
, but I’m guessing it’s a bike that quite a few won’t be familiar with, and most of us like these sorts of threads with lots of pics so I thought why not do a little thread on it- I'm reasonably sure all the other cool-kids (we know who we are eh Tiepin ) will look at it even if no-one else does So, a bit of history on this one- I bought it back in 2010-ish, when it was just about 10 years old, it was 100% original and unmolested with a grand total of 800km on the clock, and had spent the vast majority of its life indoors.
I bought it back then as I think they are pretty little things, not that common and isn’t going to reduce in value, in this condition, anyway, and I love 2-strokes and riding most twist-and-go scoots too.
The things that differentiate it from the majority of other bikes are of course the single-sided front-end and suspension, and trellis frame.
As scooters go, it’s definitely not the most practical ( you’d get an open-face helmet under the seat but not a full face) , but it does also have a nice little lockable compartment for your stash
or of course, the original toolkit, which mine has
It’s one of my “keepers”, not the fastest thing in the world but accelerates fast enough to zip past most traffic and it gets to 120 kmph on the speedo easily- it has small-ish ( 11” front and 13” rear) but for something with such small wheels, it handles pretty well IMO and has decent brakes, and most people expect it to be a moped and lot slower than it is so it can be quite good fun.
There is quite a big following for them , there are loads of upgrade bits available for both engine and chassis, and they are also very tunable – back at the time my plans included a 180cc Malossi kit ( mine is the 125cc version although they were available as 125 and 180 from new), bigger carb, expansion chamber, and higher final drive gearing,.
I’ve got a whopper Dell-Orto carb and reed valve manifold for it somewhere, but that’s never made it out of the box so I need to find it, and who knows – 95% of Dragsters I’ve seen have been turned into fast, but horrendously chavved-up things - a big part of the appeal of it for me is its originality, so I’d always been of the mind that changes I do make, if any, will have to be completely reversible.
Pretty much as soon as I got it I adapted an old ZX6 ( I think) sidestand to fit, as they don’t come with one as standard , and it looks so much cooler just flicking it out as you jump off rather than lifting it onto the centrestand
) , and just used it for fun little local runs to the shops in my shorts and flip-flops for a few years.Along with adding a sidestand, I did make a few other small changes to it in the first year or two that I had it, all cosmetic, as I thought they made it look nicer, and they were to replace the chromed plastic top-yoke/instrument surround and handlebar switches (also chromed! ) with black ones, replace the silver brake levers with black to complete the look, and lose the massive standard stalk mirrors with a small single bar-end unit.
The last time it was used was 2014-5 -ish , then just I parked it up in the garage, sort of forgot about it and didn’t go near it for a couple of years, but foolishly I’d inadvertently left it with ethonal content fuel in it which of course completely smegged up the carb.
I of course only found this out when I went to start it a couple of years after that, and back then I whipped the carb off, took it to bits gave it a run through my ultrasonic bath, but it still didn’t run right, and it made me wonder whether it may in fact be crank seals gone hard from standing and leaking, but that was as far as I got back then as other stuff took over and it’s just been sitting in a corner for the last 6 or 7 years
So jobs to do for starters are:
- See if the (currently flat and possibly sulphated) battery can be revived- replace if not.
- Sort the brakes- the lever on both now comes right back to the bar, so air has got in, which I am guessing means seals, but the calipers and master cylinders will get an inspection, and if no obvious leaks we’ll try bleeding and see where we go from there.
- Put some fuel in it (it’s currently completely empty deliberately) , see if it runs and how it runs.
Whatever it is, it’ll get sorted, then I’ll MOT and tax it , see how I feel about it after I’ve ridden it again before I potentially launch into any performance upgrades.
To be continued....
Nice
Always fancied one of them.
