Any products that I spot, performance or otherwise, and also anything I 've tried on my own Runner.

Technigas Exhaust. Now first I have to say that this is not a final vertict as I'm going to try it on my Runner again. I bought it second hand while on holidays in Greece. It had been used for 10 days on a highly tuned Piaggio Typhoon 172 and I bought it from the Piaggio/Gilera centre who owned the Typhoon. In typical Irish style as soon as I put the exhaust on it began to bucket rain and 3 days later there were several spots of rust already. Then the sun came out and the exhaust got very noisy(not that it was ever quiet you understand) and blew one of the welds on the down pipe section. So after just 5 days its on the bench in work. The reason I say I won't judge the exhaust yet is that its likley that it had the nuts driven off it while being tested in greece and I didn't get time to change the rollers or jets to try to get any power gains. I had noticed when I bought it that the welds looked pityful so I've decided to re-weld all the seams and get it coated in something rust proof so stay tuned for the Technigas exhaust MK2.

This isn't a Runner I know, but the Italjet Dragster uses Gilera's 125 and 180cc engines so when Italjet anounced they were teaming up with race exhaust manufacturer Blue Flame to make a performance pipe it was always going to be of interest to Runners owners too. The end product is, I think you'll agree, the best looking exhaust available for any scooter ever!! It has a stainless steel down pipe and polished titanium can making it look like it should be bolted to an R1 or a CBR. There haven't been any power figures released yet but its been around Donnington park with Steve Hisslop at the helm and is said to sound awsome. It will cost £299, the guts of 550 Euro,  which is fairly close to the most expensive PM pipes but it will only be available from Italjet dealers. It will fit the Runner engine but the bodywork on the lower right side looks as if it will need some modifying for the exhaust to fit. If you've got money to throw away , buy it just for how good it looks!! :)

Stoffis garage are selling Runner trophy body kits for all Runner models. The kit is EUR360( £200 approx) and replaces every painted panel on your Runner. The full kit costs only a little more then 1 original painted Gilera side panel so is ideal if you've had a fall or if your just making tour own race rep although it doesn't have any sponsor stickers on it. Click on the pics abouve for a 'very' large picture.

The 4-stroke Runners are finally getting some meaty tuning kits made for them. This is Malossi's offering, A 209cc kit which Malossi are claiming makes 24hp at the crank! This will give the thumper Runner the legs its lacking in standard form and will certainly make the 2-strokes stand up and take note. The kit is available online from Stoffis garage in Austria

I've mentioned the new Scorpion Runner/Dragster 125/172/180 exhaust before but there were alot of grumbles about the quality and reliability of the system. Scorpion (unlike many companys) seem to have listened to their customers and have redesigned the exhaust and moved production to England and the exhaust is now a top system. Still fully stainless steel making it rust proof, very important in our climate, the scorpion will be available from jasscooters in May/June and will be a very compeditive £199 Sterling. (EUR330 approx). Looks the dogs danglies if you ask me.

This here is the new Malossi Delta clutch for the runner 125/172/180. I'm waiting for some stats and a price at the moment but I can garentee I'm getting one..

Doppler Gas rear shock. Is, I think, excellent value for money. It costs £64.99GBP from PM Tuning and, despite being classed as a budget shock it is adjustable for preload and the gas pressure is also adjustable. Its also well  finished in anodised blue with a yellow spring. When riding alone it improves the handling immensly as the back end doesn't squat so much under hard cornering. However riding with a pilion becomes very rough especially over poor road surfaces. I do, however, have mine set quite hard as I mostly ride alone so it could be set much softer. All in all a good improvement in handling and looks for a reasonable price.

This beauty is the new performance exhaust system by Scorpion. Built for the Runner/Dragster 125/172/180. I'll be ordering one soon so keep an eye for more info here. It will be  available from Jasscooters at www.jasscooters.co.uk as soon as they've finished rolling road tests to get exact power figures.

These things are great! Cartoon versions of almost any vehicle you could want, Including the Runner. The Runner pic they have is a red 125/180cc and you can get in normal A3 or A4 print, framed print or printed on to a  mug, t-shirt, cap, mouse mat, polo-shirt, sweatshirt, keyring, teddy bear, and even Nokia phone covers. I ordered the Runner print on a polo shirt. The polo shirt only comes in white but the quality of the print on the shirt is excellent. The shirt features the Runner in a small print on the front and a large size print on the back. If you don't want a red runner you can even send them a couple of photos of your own runner and they will make a personalised print for you, at a cost, of course. The t-shirt was decent value at £19.99. Check out their site at www.koolart.co.uk

The Doppler Air System filter! Well what can I say about this! It arrived from PM Tuning on Wenesday afternoon, was fitted Wednesday evening and was gone by Thursday evening. Gone because it fell off! Not because it was fitted wrong but because the main body fell away from the rubber inlet tube. Basiclly the bit with the silver strip on the right in the pic above broke away from the main body. Now I have to admit I was impressed at first-It Didn't loose any performance over the Malossi filter I was running before and it was certainly quieter, in fact it sounded strangly like a 4-stroke runner!! I think I'll stick to Malossi in future. Oh and PM Tuning have said they're not going to replace it because they can't prove there was anything wrong with it! HELLO!!

What PM Tuning incorrectly call the Doppler Boost bottle is, in fact, an Air System chamber. Wheras a boost bottle connects to the inlet rubber of the carb this chamber connects to the vacume pipe between the fuel tap and the carb giving a more efficiant fuel flow to the carb. I would be lying if I said I noticed any difference in power(PM quote 0.5hp increase) however the attention that the billet alluminum bottle attracts when people peer into the engine is massive with questions about how I fitted NITROS to a scooter being some of the more amusing comments. So at just £20 quid its almost worth it for the reaction.

PM Tuning offer a massive range of tuning and styling parts for almost every scooter. Many of the parts they provide come from other manufacturers such as Malossi and Doppler however they do produce a range of their own parts. Performance exhausts is their specialty but they also produce a massive range of real carbon fibre parts for scooters and motorcycles. Almost a year ago now I got a carbon rear hugger, flywheel cover and front mudguard for my Runner. The parts required some patiance to fit due to the holes for the screws being all slightly off. Since fitting, however, they have lasted very well. At almost a yeay old the only damage is a small piece of the laqer has come off the side of the front mudguard and a small crack in the rear seemingly caused by a stone. Other then that give the parts a good clean and they shine up like new. So despite a fairly hefty price tag they do appear to be high quality and long lasting parts and they certainly add individuality to your bike. www.pmtuning.co.uk

I fitted the new Stand Secure lock to my Runner about during last summer. It was very easy to fit to the Runner(you have to drill a small hole for most classic scooters) although it does need the side stand to be removed. The lock is extremely easy and convenient to use as, when stopping for a short time, you don't have to bother opening the seat or looking for keys to lock your bike, you simply push or kick the button and your bike cannot be pushed(accidently or otherwise) off its stand. The only time I have had to do anything with the lock after fitting is to give a squirt of oil every now and again and once when the nut securing the lock to the base of the stand came off, However I had been using my Runner off road for 2 days prior to that so it is safe to say it was caused by excessive vibration. The Stand secure lock definatly gets my thumbs up. See full advertisment here.