If you saw the scooter pictured above parked on a city street or chic cafe, you’d probably mistake it for a Vespa or an old Lambretta. Maybe even a PX from the seventies that's been meticulously resto-modded, the kind your dad or uncle might’ve ridden back in the day. That’s the charm of the Royal Alloy JPS 350. It looks old, even though it isn’t. And that’s exactly the point.
Royal Alloy is a British brand built on nostalgia, and it doesn’t hide its inspiration. The design cues are straight from the golden era of Italian scooters, with curvy panels, chrome accents, and a shape that feels like it rolled out of a time capsule. But where Vespa and Lambretta have decades of history to lean on, Royal Alloy has something else: an obsession with recreating that vintage feel while quietly rewriting the rulebook underneath.
Unlike most lookalikes, the JPS 350 isn’t a cheap tribute act. The company insists on using pressed steel bodywork instead of plastic, just like the classics. It’s heavier because of it, tipping the scales at around 320 pounds (145 kilograms), but that weight gives it a sense of authenticity you don’t get from modern plastic injection-molded scooters. It’s built to feel solid, substantial, and unapologetically retro.
Underneath, though, it’s all modern. The JPS 350 packs a 310cc, liquid-cooled, four-valve, double overhead cam engine that puts out roughly 27 horsepower at 8,000 rpm. That’s about as much as a Vespa GTS 300, only with the retro aesthetic dialed up to eleven. You also get disc brakes front and rear, dual-channel ABS, traction control, and a 10.5-liter tank, which is plenty for weekend rides or urban adventures.
Then there’s the style. The “JPS” name and black and gold livery are borrowed from the legendary John Player Special Formula 1 race cars, which gives it a fairly obscure motorsport edge that no other scooter really has. It's one of those if-you-know-you-know things that can serve as a conversation-starter at your local bike meet.
Royal Alloy also sneaks in plenty of modern touches. The scooter features a full TFT display with smartphone connectivity, LED lighting, and a stitched seat that feels more cafe than commuter. It’s old-school charm with new-school hardware, and it looks surprisingly good. Not at all like the cheap knock-offs you'd find from bargain Chinese scooters. And that's the thing: Royal Alloy's scooters aren't exactly cheap. For example, the JPS 350 retails for £5,699, which translates to about $7,600. Quite a chunk of change even for a retro scooter.
Now, it’s worth noting that while Royal Alloy is British in identity, its scooters aren’t actually built in the UK. Like many brands today, production and assembly take place in factories in China and Thailand. That might sound disappointing to purists, but it’s also what makes the JPS 350 possible at a fairly competitive price point while maintaining decent build quality. Personally, I've had several encounters with the brand, as they're gaining quite a bit of popularity here in the Philippines. I have a couple of friends who've bought one for themselves. And indeed, everything on these scooters is metal, with hardly any plastic components.
So why does this matter? After all, it's just a scooter, right? Because in a sea of high-tech, silent, and sometimes soulless urban commuters, the JPS 350 wants to make you feel alive every time you ride it. It celebrates where scooters came from while proving there’s still room for heart and character in two-wheeled mobility. It may not have Vespa’s decades of pedigree, but it captures the same magic that made the originals icons in the first place.
So yeah, you could mistake it for a classic Italian scooter, but maybe that’s the best compliment Royal Alloy could ever get.
Source: Royal Alloy
