Month: September 2004

In totally unrelated news, Piaggio has announced they’re making their Indian facility the hub for their three-wheeler manufacturing.

Exciting news, from a newsletter sent to Piaggio dealers September 17, 2004:

Vespa PX150 “SERIE AMERICA” (Limited Edition): Yes, you read correctly—it’s finally on its
way! Twelve months of work from our engineering team has paid off and the PX 150 has now passed U.S. homologation. After a 20 year absence, the PX is back, practically unchanged (few aesthetics and
a disk brake) with its timeless design and unique riding feel. This is sure to be a winner.

To celebrate this historic event, we will be numbering the first 500 units of the “American”
production run. No orders will be taken for this vehicle until after our formal announcement
expected around late October. Availability will be extremely limited and supply will be subject to
allocation, however, 2 units from the first production run will be guaranteed to all dealerships. Expect deliveries to start in late November. Availability of the “standard” version will commence first quarter 2005. Full details will follow the day after the production start in October.

The newsletter also announces the Piaggio Typhoon 50 will arrive in late October, replacing the LT50 and LT150 in the lineup.

This week’s Zits storyline features Pierce’s new scooter. Pierce is sort of like a high-school-comics version of Matthew Wysocki, so I figure the series will end on Friday when he gets paint chips in his carb. Thanks for the tip, chad.

I am going to, Matt-Drudge-style, say that Piaggio will announce soon that they will be importing P-series scooters to the U.S. Then I will not give you any more info, or cite a source. I’m expecting more details tomorrow. I will, however go out on a limb and say that if they’d done this five years ago, they wouldn’t have any competition in the metal-framed, geared scooter market today.

The custom Coach Vespa autographed by 50 Ellen De Generes show guests that was auctioned off earlier this year was bought by Sutter Home Family Vineyards and is now back up for auction for their charity, Sutter Home for Hope. This could go on forever, until the Vespa is worth hundreds of millions of dollars, and it still won’t top 70mph.

Coming up: the Parka Run between New London and New Brighton, MN, is October 8-11. I was originally against the “vintage scooter/suits and parkas” plan, but then I thought “How often do you get to do a long ride in a suit?” and now I wish I could make it. I’d rather be dead than Mod, but pretending for a day or two would be fun.

Matt and Trish were in town for the Renegade Craft Fair and we went to Binny’s to get some beer Saturday night. Lo and behold, we found Three Floyds’ Gumballhead Wheat Beer, named after Skin Graft comic artist Rob Syers’ character Gumballhead The Cat, whom you may remember from the cover of 2strokebuzz #3. We got a couple bottles, but it wasn’t chilled, so we downed the Oberon and saved the Gumballhead for next time, but I’m assured that like other Three Floyds’ products, it’s good stuff. Matt and I are already working on 2strokeBeer, look out.

I’ve done some work to the Archives page. it’s a little more organized now and features category and monthly links. I’m still trudging through organizing the individual stories and assigning them categories, so some of the archives are still in the wrong place or not showing up, but now at least I have a place to put them. In other news, I printed up a very limited number of what will definitely be the last of the old “Ricambi” shirts (the screen clogged), so email me if you’re interested. Next up: improved “Links” page.

Jeremy reviews the Piaggio BV200 over at Minnescoota.

From Patrick:

When I was a kid and Durso was a teenager, burnouts in denim and lambswool jackets and Robin Hood boots used to hang this shitty art in their
lockers. David Mann was the Norman Rockwell of methed-out bikers.

We’ve lost another Ramone. Johnny lost his battle with cancer yesterday.

Grace pointed out this BBS thread which links to a bicycle list claim that an empty Bic pen tube can open many Kryptonite locks with round keys. There’s been no response from Kryptonite on their site. IMPORTANT: Take note that the pen can jam your lock open or closed, so don’t try it if it’s currently wrapped around a bike. If this story is true, Kryptonite is in deep doo-doo.

If Google Language Tools is to be believed, twenty members of VespaOnline, an Italian organization, will be riding together across the Mohave Desert next month. Their president will be riding a Vespa Rally wired with computer goodies that seems fairly overdesigned and unprotected, a laptop in the glovebox would do the trick, though the touchscreen is a nice, uh, touch. They plan to hook up with the Cannonball Run riders, though it appears the Cannonballers are due in California a week before the Italians arive. We look forward to the stories of both groups.

Rumor has it that Chris Winters, who told me seven days ago that he’d never leave Rockford, is moving to Cleveland (in four days!) and working at Pride of Cleveland Scooters. Congratulations, and best of luck, you sexy thing. Rockford will miss you, and so will I.

While we sleep, Victoria’s Secret has been training an army of campus reps to hawk their new line of “bras, panties and sleepwear for college-aged women.” As we all know, college-aged women have vastly different panty needs than the rest of us. Anyway, Team Pink (Pink! Hello! Larry Flynt!) fulfilled their first mission today: hiding thousands of plush dogs (wouldn’t, ahem, cats be more appropriate?) on 20 campuses, which can be redeemed at the mall for a chance to win a custom Vespa Scooter. This puts Vic’s Sct. in compliance with House Bill 04-234-6, commonly known as the “Every single marketing campaign in the US must feature a custom Vespa giveaway.” law.