Just open the Amazon portal and type “Mantitta Racing”. Or “80 cc kit”. But also «control unit for scooter 50 » In less than ten seconds dozens of results appear. All perfectly ordered with a click: from the clutch lightened to the sports variator, from the charcoal increased to the transformation kits for pedal bicycles. With lots of engine and mixture for the mixture. Prices within reach of a teenager. Guaranteed shipping.
Some sellers specify: “For sports use”. But nobody really checks where that piece will end. This is how mass illegality is born on two wheels. A noisy phenomenon that silently crosses Italy and that involves thousands of boys, compliant car repairs, preparatory and, in some cases, accommodating revision centers.
From tutorial to missile
You don’t need an expert. A tutorial on YouTube and the right package ordered online is enough. In a short time, a 45 -kilometer -per hour moped turns into a Missile from 80, sometimes even 100. An electric bicycle becomes a disguised scooter. And a weakened moped returns to roar, bypassing speed limits, homologation rules and safety requirements.
Social cars and improvised races
At risk there is not only the safety of the driver, but also that of those who cross these disguised cars. The videos run on social media. And the road turns on the track. There are those with a certain nonchalance show “the most elaborate Vespa in southern Italy”: 180 cc. Who mounted 100 cc on a Piaggio zip. And who, after placing a 94 cc engine on his Aerox Yamaha, also decided to lighten it by completely eliminating the fiberglass hull. Result, he says satisfied during the test on his YouTube channel, well “41 more horses”. On a scooter who presented himself with just over three horses. Now he has almost 45. How much a Kawasaki Ninja 400 or a Honda CB 500. That is, a A2 driving license and at least 18 years of age. But these boys of years often have 14 or 15.
Gatherings and tragedies
The game, in some cases, has been dangerous. On social media the appointment was called #made up/modified. The boys last April met in the industrial area of Casnigo, in the Seriana Valley. Imphnnate, crashed, stuntman maneuvers. All illegal. The Carabinieri of the Compagnia di Clusone arrived without making noise, surrounding the area to avoid escapes. Result: five sanctioned boys, two seized scooters. Four were minors. The parents, warned on the spot, saw children and fines deliver.
At the end of July, in Longiano, 15 minutes from Cesena, the tragedy. Two teenagers were giving up in front of dozens of peers when they collided with the machine driven by a novice driver. One of the two boys ended up in the hospital. The other died after a few days. The area was already known for night illegal competitions (even if this was not the case).
Compliant reviews and “hot” cities
In Bari, a month ago, a regularly reviewed moped has exceeded 66 kilometers per hour to road test. A speed that could not reach by law. But he had just obtained the green light from an authorized center. The local police, suspicious, triggered the checks and in the end the owner of the workshop was reported for false ideological. He had closed an eye.
According to the Euromobility relationship, Livorno is the city with the highest ratio between scooters and inhabitants: 28 per hundred, against a national average of 14.51. Here, Largo Christian Bartoli, sleepy suburbs and gray cement, every evening he turned into an abusive circuit. Residents wrote to Prefecture, Municipality and Police Headquarters By denouncing “improvised speed races”, “assessments of young people” and “modified vehicles that dart until late at night”.
Special checks and record fines
The first acoustic test of Italy came into operation: the municipal police, with a professional foundation, has started a campaign of controls on rigged motor mopes. “The problem is serious – said commander Joselito Orlando – the technical changes make the means not only noisy, but also dangerous”. The prefect Giancarlo Dionisi announced a plan of extraordinary technical checks.
In Capri and Anacapri the makeup has reached paroxysmal levels: modified electric bikes to overcome 25 kilometers per hour without pedaling, with scooter powers and knob accelerators. Too bad they are no longer bike. Nor is it legal.
The carabinieri, thanks to a motorization platform, seized 27 vehicles and imposed over 100 thousand euros of penalties. 61% of electric bikes were irregular.
Milan and the boom of “make-up” e-bikes
In the Neapolitan, between Torre del Greco and Torre Annunziata, and in Calabria in Corigliano-Rossano, same scenes: electric bikes transformed into a scooter, kidnappings and fines up to 90 thousand euros.
In Forte dei Marmi, an electric fa-bike was stopped: illegal accelerator, a fine of 6 thousand euros and kidnapping.
In Milan, Food Delivery riders bikes they splash without pedalingdarting on the cycle paths and the countermean. In July, carabinieri and motorization seized 54 electric bicycles out of 71 checks: 378 thousand euros in sanctions. All means were mopeds disguised as e-bike, without plaque and insurance.
