Perhaps I should have waited and found a real Sx200 and shelled out a few more thousand but... would I have locked it away in the garage instead of riding it on a regular basis as I intended to do? Dunno and probably never will know because I decided on getting an Li150 frame and having it built as an Sx200.

Birtoni Scooters of Colchester did the job on the basis of a telephone conversation with the owner, Tony Wright. I knew nothing except what I wanted and he knew everything but took the time to talk me through the options without talking down to me. I told him I was coming over to spec out the scooter and pay a deposit. Which I did in mid February 2008.

The idea was, being a manic Chelsea fan, that it would be in their blue and white colours except that I wanted a predominantly white scooter so it would be in the Chelsea third kit of blue on white.Simple really. I could have found out the exact Pantone reference number for the Chelsea blue but didn't instead opting for a metalic blue that looked close enough. In the flesh its a bit lighter but a blind man would be pleased to see the difference.