Although we are probably at the forefront of alternative piston use in Lambrettas this is not without it's problems. Most of the pistons we have found to use in Lambrettas do not go straight into the standard Lambretta configuration (58mm stroke crank, 107mm long conrod, 16mm gudgeon pin and a crown height (the distance between the gudgeon pin and the piston crown) of xyz). This makes things complicated for everyone - for you because you just want to buy a barrel kit and it's all "you need this crank with that rod and this crank pin and that machining or that packplate" and for us because we have to make the cranks and machine the barrels. We keep about 6 different types of conrods and over 10 different crank pins. To be honest, Japanese piston conversions are good but a pain! This problem, coupled with a general supply problem with decent popular Lambretta pistons (62mm 175 conversion pistons, TS1 225 pistons) has lead us to look into getting our own range of pistons made. We are currently working on a range of pistons designed to fit onto a "normal" style Lambretta crank. These pistons will initially be launched in the largest sizes (68, 68.5, 69, 69.5, 70, 70.5, 71mm) but will eventually be available in sizes from 62mm to 71mm in 0.5mm sizes. This means they will fit ANY Lambretta barrel (LI/SX/TV/GP) from a 175 conversion, 190 conversion, SR barrel, Imola, Monza, TS1, Rapido, to Cast iron 200 conversions. These pistons will be able to be used in barrels that might have otherwise been scrapped for a lack of oversizes like old Honda 205s for example or original 200 barrels that have got to 67.5mm and have run out of oversizes. Using the factory tuned stage 4 200cc kit as an example we can now offer nine oversizes to that kit using our pistons so the barrel might end up lasting longer than you!! The pistons are going to be made in England by a company that makes pistons for 500cc moto GP bikes. They will be forged rather than cast and will be rated to survive use up to 180hp, more than a Lambretta will ever do. Because they are forged they are three times as strong as a cast piston and are also much lighter so you will get a lot less vibration. They will not be prone to cracking like some pistons in use now. Put simply, the difference between forged pistons and cast pistons is in the manufacture. Cast pistons are formed by pouring molten metal into a mould under normal gravity. Forged pistons are formed by injecting molten metal into a metal mold. At the same time a punch (as pictured below) is forced into the mold under a lot of force. This makes changes to the metal at the molecular level. Under a microscope all the metal particles in a cast piston are nicely resting on each other. The metal particles in a forged piston are all tangled together. It's like locking your fingers together and getting someone to pull your hands apart - it's quite hard. This is what makes the forged pistons three times stronger. We will be using rings freely available through our sources without having to remake them. These are drawn wire ring, you can tie knots in them without them braking and they are available off the shelf in the range of sizes we need. By now you're thinking "How do I get one of these pistons?". Well, we are in the preliminary stages of getting the tooling made so we estimate they will be available in the next few months. We estimate they will sell for about £120 inc VAT which sounds like a lot but when you consider that you are buying probably the best Lambretta piston ever designed, which is rated to more power than your scooter could possibly produce and will fit onto a normal Lambretta crank without modification then it begins to look like a better price. Also if you like at the price of the Honda MTX piston kits or some of the Kawasaki pistons used in Lambretta conversions then they start to look like a bargain! ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ich selber halte von MB mittlerweile nicht mehr so viel, so leid es mir tut. Gute Erfahrungen leider nicht vorhanden, Kurbelwellen aus schlechter Qualität, persönliche Service Probleme,... whatever