Scooter Expo 2019

As soon as I heard about Scooter Expo I wanted to come, and then when Andy asked Lee to bring Meat Is Murder we were honoured to be part of such an iconic day.

BOOK FOR 2023! Scooter Expo 2023 is on May 21st and you can book digs here.

Alfreton Leisure Centre was the venue for BRSA custom shows between 1989 and 1991, and so when the guys from ScooterNova and SLUK had the idea for a new event it once again provided the perfect venue. 

Scooter Expo 2019 was more than your average custom show though. Even the biggest ones I’ve been to at the Isle Of Wight and Bridlington don’t come close to the array of scooters here. Each one was personally invited and it’s a carefully curated collection of scooter from all eras, which included some of the biggest trophy winners from the 1980s. I was so excited to see Little Rascal and Sign Of The Snake alongside the incredible Wake and Dazzle. Then there were the newly customised ones that were being seen for the first time, my favourite being the stunning tribute to The Clash, Breaking Rocks In The Hot Sun.

As you can imagine, I took a ton of photos, literally hundreds. As such, I’m splitting the write-up into two posts, one of which will be dedicated to the scooters themselves.

Click here to see the full Scooter Expo photo galleries

Scooter Expo Prep

Our prep started with me venturing into the loft to find the box marked ‘Lee’s trophies’ which I dragged downstairs along with a copy of the 2008 Scootering featuring Meat Is Murder on the front cover (thanks Andy for doing that for me, perfectly timed for his 40th birthday!) and some other Smiths paraphernalia. 

We loaded the scooter into the van (it’s so long it only just fits in a Transit, diagonally!) and headed up north, popping in to see Lee’s family en route. As we checked into our hotel we spotted Stuart Lanning and a few other scooter people, and there were even more at the Wetherspoons in the town including the ScooterNova gang. After a cheap dinner we went back to the hotel, while others headed to a local soul do, which was brilliant by all accounts. 

Soggy Alfreton

Sunday dawned and the weather was dreadful. We arrived at Alfreton Leisure Centre really early, with Iggy, Linsey, Ann and Andy buzzing around organising everyone, ably assisted by a posse of red-shirted helpers, bouncers and car park attendants. I lost count of the number of times I saw Ann running from one hall to another, clearly keen to keep up her daily step count.  I did over 12,000 just wandering aimlessley from one hall to the other!

We set up in Hall 2, in good company with a few other chops and oddities. There were some familiar faces from the south who’d also made the trip up north, with Dean Percival bringing his tribute to Captain Pugwash, Captain’s Revenge. Sean Robinson had transported a couple of his crazy contraptions, Indo Low and the ScooterCar.

Each exhibitor was given a goodie bag with a special patch, commemorative medal and other bits and bobs. There would only be a few trophies, just punters choices for best Vespa and Lambretta, and exhibitors choices for the same, plus classic Vespa and Lambretta. 

As we had Daniel with us we had brought an array of colouring items including some Sharpie pens so I took it upon myself to offer my services to write colour-coordinated signs for all our scooter neighbours. I particularly enjoyed the multicoloured sign for the multicoloured Riding Dirty Customs chop next to us!

Naturally I took the opportunity to take a few photos before the show officially opened at 10am. In Hall 1 I was heckled by Nick Jolly who had brought his Hall Of Fame Lambretta which he and Mark Halsall have restored back to its 80s beauty. 

Once the doors opened although it got really busy it was such a massive venue that everyone got a chance to see the scooters up close and take their own photos. Custom shows are usually so crowded and only last a couple of hours, so to have all day to appreciate the scooters in all their shiny glory was something special. 

I spotted Norrie Kerr whom I’d never met in person but as we’d spoken by phone and corresponded by email I thought I should introduce myself properly! 

As well as the scooters, there were a number of demonstrations and talks taking place throughout the day. Dave Dickinson was doing some airbrushing and stopped for a chat with Daniel to inspire his artistic talents. He suggested a signwriting course so once he’s trained up we will be open for business ha ha! There’s nothing like starting them young…

I was gutted to have missed Slacker The Pinstriper who I follow on Instagram. I love his work, both the signwriting and pinstriping, examples of which were on show.

I said a quick hello to JB Tuning who had worked on one of Lee’s engines a few years ago.

Sadly I missed Norrie’s talk but managed to catch part of Sticky’s chat, but it was standing room only and the heat was too much for Lee so we escaped to the relative cool of the main hall. It was so lovely to catch up with friends that we haven’t seen for a few years and also some of my clubmates who had driven up from the south coast for the day. It goes to show what a special event this was that scooterists had travelled from all corners of the country. 

There were plenty of trade stalls too. Daz was doing good business on the Crusader stall, and others in attendance included VE-UK, Lexham Insurance, Putoline Oils, as well as the LCGB and VCB.

We made good use of the leisure centre facilities which included the cafe as well as their swimming pool! Daniel and Lee splashed around for an hour giving me a chance to write this post while it was all fresh in my mind.

One scooter which caught my eye is this orange Lambretta which is owned by Gary Wickham and dedicated to The Clash. It was finished just a few days ago and is going to be a multi-trophy winner once it’s properly out and about. If you get a chance to see it at a custom show in the near future then do get down and check out all the details on it. From the engraving and custom parts to the paintwork and seat. It’s called Breaking Rocks In The Hot Sun and I have plenty more photos which I will link to when they are uploaded.

At around 3pm it started to wind down, with a few scooters being packed up. The organisers counted the votes and handed out the trophies, with the winners including Seig Heil, The Meteors, Real Gone Kid, Ceremony and some classic Lambrettas and Vespas.

It had been a brilliant day and I loved talking to so many people, especially those I’ve connected with online and got to finally meet in person!

Click here to see the full Scooter Expo photo galleries

Please keep checking back for the scooter photos. I have around 400 to sort through and will create multiple galleries for them and link to them from this page.

Rally Guides
If you’re planning your scootering calendar for 2021 then check out my 2021 Rally Guide to get the best choice of accommodation.

For an in-depth guide to the biggest scooter rally in the world, here is a link to my Isle of Wight rally guide.