There’s something eerily familiar about the Belladonna RV 150. I can’t put my finger on it, but it seems like I’ve seen it somewhere before. From (who else?) M5.
14 thoughts on “Retro Scooter Co. Belladonna”
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When scooter news breaks, we put it under a tarp in the garage.
There’s something eerily familiar about the Belladonna RV 150. I can’t put my finger on it, but it seems like I’ve seen it somewhere before. From (who else?) M5.
Comments are closed.
or white for that matter
They really should have put a space between Bella and donna. Separately they mean “beautiful woman” in Italian. Together, they mean – 1 : an Old World poisonous plant (Atropa belladonna) of the nightshade family. – from Merriam-Webster.
Totally different scooters. Stella isn’t offered in Black.
At least “Belladonna” means *something* recognizable. Who in hell was the marketing genius who came up with “Stella”? Puts me in mind of someone’s maiden auntie.
(Love the scooter, BTW, but if I buy one, I may swap badges with a Kiwi.)
“Stella” is italian for “star” and the bike that was rebadged to make the Stella was the LML Star, so it actually makes perfect sense, just like calling a “restaurant” a “ristorante” so you can charge an extra $2 per bowl of pasta.
Sighted a Belladonna RV150’s this week in mint. Beautiful looking scoots, especially in mint and cheap as chips here in NZ too. The Vespa PX200E was selling for NZ$6,800 brand new but the RV150 is NZ$3,900 + on road costs. HUUUGE $ difference for what I assume are scooters of similar performance (2stroke vs 4stroke) and almost same look.
I have an Italjet Dragster 180 that I’m very very pleased with since I got it (my first bike) but am now also keen to add the Belladonna to what I hope will become a collection – Dragster for days I feel like some raw performance and aggressive riding and the RV150 for days I just want to cruise.
Interesting, and I dig the name etymology, but better derivatives abound: Stellar, Estrella, Astra and so on. But Stella gives me this overwhelming urge to dress up like Brando before I go riding. Heck, it all makes me want to rush over to “Bucca di Beppo” for one of their $12.95 tossed salads.
The plant name means the same thing due to the dilation of pupils accompanying muscarinic acetyl choline receptor blockade by the alkyloid in the plant, atropine (and organismal latin names are just two words). I guess it was/is thought that big black pupils are beautiful and.
Yea, They call it “Stella’s Twin Sister” once you get to the FAQ page. That’s the first and only reference to the Stella on their website. Although I liked what they had to say about the traditional purist scooterist!! I’m all for more control in my riding experience. How about you?
I guess they figured that the U.S. has the neopolitan colors cornered and they need to break out some new colors to avoid having them imported from here!
Damn… can’t get the black belladonna! It will take 3 months for it to arrive from india! Have to settle for the silver. I don’t think I could pull off the look of having a mint green or orange scooter, could get away with red, but red just happens to be the most despised colour in my family (dad supports tottenham hotspur/blue and hates aresenal/red) it all comes down to football. I get the silver one this week, can’t wait.
The black Belladonna is a beautiful thing, I rode it a couple of weeks ago, I take delivery this month.
Hey rkid-nz,
I now have the black Belladonna, and I live in Wellington, no doubt will see you at the Aro cafe on the first Wed of each month at 7pm or the Deluxe cafe on the third Sat of each month at 9am.
Check the tubes in your tyres, I had two flats in a week and it was faulty tube valves so got them all replaced.
apart from that, it is WICKED!
Just bought a black belladonna this week from scootours in wellington NZ. Was looking at a vespa just round the corner from there and that would have set me back over $6000 the belladonna is a great deal! can’t wait to get riding, have to get my motorcycle license first though!
I think this scooter will take off here in Wellington, if the amount of Vespa’s you see walking down Lambton Quay is anything to go by. I hope the retro scooter co will open up a proper shop down here. It will be well worth it.