From Bond Movies To Vespa Restorations…

Omar Niedenthal made his first outing in the custom show circuit by showing three of his beautifully restored Vespa small-frames at the VMSC extravaganza. As we all know, the competition in the VMSC custom show is strong and the judges have a keen eye for detail. In the face of all this Omar walked away with a trophy. We were interested to find out more about him…

- Stu Smith

SC: How did you get into scooters? ON: “I first noticed Vespa scooters on holiday as a child in Spain. Sounds weird, but I liked the way the front and rear wheels could be swapped, the simple finned brake drums with single arm suspension (basically looking at early PX scooters), and the two-stroke sound and smell was something which had so much character and will always stick with me. I always wanted a Vespa, but actually got a car first at 17, and then after a few shit hand-me-down bikes (Honda H100 and NC50 – basically a bicycle with engine). A few years later I bought a damaged Vespa 50N from Scooterworks in Enid Street, in London. It was £250, the frame was a bit twisted and it was painted in emulsion. I had the frame jigged by John McCloughlin in Cumbria and set about making sure everything that needed to work did so.”

SC: What did you do before you started Niedworks?