From Girlbike: Denver Vespa dealer Erico Motorsports is giving away gas to all scooterists this Saturday as part of a radio promotion. If that doesn’t sell a few scooters, I have no idea what will.
Month: June 2007
Midwest rallies abound
Chicago-area scooterists have no one but themselves to blame if they have a boring summer: (let me know if I’m forgetting any)
- June 16-18,2007 The Defilers (no site that we can find, though there are about six bands called the Defilers, and they’re all bitching about each other -ed.) present Beer Bong The Rally in Madison, Wisconsin. Friday night starts at Mickeys Tavern from 8 till 10. Saturday features lunch, then a ride then 7 bands and a BBQ, and Sunday there’s a breakfast if you haven’t been defiled enough. For info contact Andy at (608)446-4026
- July 13-15, 2007 Wisco’s Section 8 SC’s Barn Bash Scooter Rally in Van Dyne Wisconsin on . $15 preregistration (until July 4) covers camping, food, drinks, patch, seven bands (what’s with seven bands?), and more.
- August 3-5, 2007 Knuckledraggers SC is hosting “Barrel O’ Monkeys — Going Ape Shit.” in the Quad Cities (IL/IA border).
- August 16-19, 2007 In the Twin Cities, where No Direction Home has joined Scooter Du in the history books, M5 tells us a new crew “are taking over with a vengeance,” hosting Rattle My Bones 2007. I don’t think that’s a Dylan, ‘Mats, Prince, Huskers, Soul Asylum, or Trashmen reference, but it sounds good anyway.
- August 30-September 2 Labor Day Weekend is, of course, Slaughterhouse 13 in Chicago hosted by a thankfully-still-unnamed coalition of Chicago scooterists and clubs. The site still features last years’ info, but it’ll be updated soon. Can you believe it’s been 13 years? Well, twelve, technically, but 13 calendar years. Don’t make me explain that again.
When someone wants his fanny pack squirrel back
You’d better listen, or else.
Woke up this morning…
I’m really freaking sick of hearing about the Sopranos (even NPR wouldn’t shut up about it this morning). I didn’t watch it and I don’t care what happened, but I noticed this got a lot of hits this morning, so I’m relinking it out of civic duty. Also, remember when James Gandowhatever crashed a Vespa last May? And it was national news for a week? It always amazes me what passes for news, that every media outlet has basically decided to cover American Idol, the Sopranos and P– H– (I won’t say her name) 24/7, when we have this evil lying fascist regime screwing over our country. Oh, by the way, the Lake Erie Loop didn’t go quite as planned, details at 11.
Hyosung prepares for stretchy-pants onslaught
PowerSports Business reports that South Korean manufacturer Hyosung has changed their name to S&T Motors and appointed a new CEO after the S&T Corporation bought a majority of Hyosung stock. Meanwhile, the company has unveiled some new scooters in England, appointed a new president to Hyosung Motors America, and expanded their Spandex production capabilities by 15,000 tons. When the ’80s return, Hyosung will be ready. Hopefully the corporate shakeup wil postively impact Hyosung’s somewhat-promising future in America.
Loopy
48 hours from now, my butt will hurt and I’ll hopefully have some good stories to tell. I was going to write more, but I better get some sleep.
Mods, Trons, Natchos, and Soldiers
Mods, Trons, Natchos, and Soldiers. If you say so, Serpents.
Chinese Scooter Owners Club
“Well, somebody had to do it!” is the perfect motto for the Chinese Scooter Owners Club. We’re glad someone did, the archive of Chinese manuals and tech tips is a welcome addition to the web. We’ll all be begging these guys for advice sooner or later.
2007 Italjet pricing
We’ve been begging DiamoUSA for Italjet details for months, but apparently Guzman has a better connection. He’s got all the pricing for the 2007 models, and says the Torpedo may be available already. (Is it? I wish the Diamo site had a dealer list.) The pricing is interesting, the water-cooled Torpedo 150, at $2995, is $300 less than the air-cooled but otherwise comparable Kymco People 150. The 50cc 2-stroke (and restricted-to-30mph) Roller Craft is the same price, which seems a few hundred bucks high for a restricted 50cc, though still a couple hundred bucks cheaper than a Vespa LX50 and $500 cheaper than the $3495 Dragster 50.
The flagship, the 250cc Dragster 250, is MSRP’ed (is that a verb?) at a whopping $5795, less than a Vespa GTS250, but more than most other 250cc scooters on the market. Like the Vespa, the Dragster is a legendary and stylish machine that (in principle) is a cut above the rest, and demand is certainly high, but this new incarnation (of the Dragster and of Italjet, and to a lesser degree, their importer and dealer network) is unproven. If it can provide anything close to the style and riding experience of the fin-de millenium 2-stroke 180cc Dragster with equal or better quality and better dealer/parts support, it’s probably worth the cash. We’ll see.
Scooter in the foggy sticks
Scooter in the Sticks is always great, but Steve outdid himself today, photo-wise.
Our Way of Thinking 6
6 already!? It sort of snuck up on us this year, but MODchicago’s sixth annual weekender is coming up in a couple days. If you’re not circling a great lake this weekend, check it out.
Vespalizzatevi
A must-see from motoblog.it: A beautiful stop-motion animation of the history of the Vespa featuring toys, illustrations, and vintage posters and photographs.
News bits, June 3, 2007
Some news from the last few weeks, See if you can spot the Bob Balaban reference!
- Despite a high-profile drunk-scootering case involving a local radio personality, Sydney, Australia’s Lord Mayor Clover Moore has vowed to turn the city into “the Rome of the Pacific.” Scooter and motorcycle-specific spaces have doubled to 700 in the last two years, with hundreds more slated to be added soon. (Aside from designated parking, similarities to Chicago abound, including meter confusion and strongly-established support for bicycles.) Perhaps part of Moore’s plan to Rome-ize Sydney will involve particulate cocaine in the atmosphere?
- Budapest, Hungary’s government has teamed up with local scooter dealers to promote scootering in the Józsefváros district. The area hopes to reduce overcrowding and pollution with discounts and free accessories for scooter buyers.
- The Observer reviews the Piaggio MP3: “That’s a big iPod! Where are your headphones mate?”
- In another UK review, Metro.co.uk calls the MP3 “the transsexual of scooters”. (Note: The MP3 prefers to be called the “executive transvestite” of scooters.)
- Davison, Michigan Rite-Aid manager Don Dunklee has covered more than 1,100 miles commuting on an EVT4000 electric scooter that he converted to solar power. Two wing-like solar panels fold out to charge the scooter when parked, and fold in when riding.
- Resort-area cable TV network Plum recommends a Vespa to get around Aspen, where gas prices are expected to reach $6 over the summer and scooter parking is free citywide.
- Scooters are neat-o, and growing in popularity, and save money on gas, and Audrey Hepburn and latte and so on. Boilerplate stories from South Bend, IN, Columbus OH, Austin TX, Salt Lake City, UT, Seattle, WA, and Des Moines, IA
- Vespa Milwaukee cites gas prices as the impetus for a recent 25-percent increase in sales, though their Chicago-area pickup and delivery service probably hasn’t hurt sales from Chicago riders fed up with the local dealers.
- Sales in Miami are also up, to a fault: Scooter backlash is underway, and the scooter market has gone downscale (”I had a woman in here last week; she wanted to finance a $600 used bike”), Lane-splitting, slow, helmet-less scooterists are frustrating Hummer and Escalade drivers on Biscayne Boulevard.
- Any High Rollers Rally-goer will tell you that a scooter is a great way to get around Las Vegas, but renting mobility scooters from hotels is pretty lazy.
Swearing, drink-driving and smoking in public
A stereotyped-but-funny quote from a Times real estate story last week:
Ask the average Briton what he considers the most socially unacceptable forms of behaviour and he will probably answer: swearing, drink-driving and smoking in public. Ask the average Italian man driving home from the bar on his Vespa why neither he nor the eight-year-old on the handlebars are wearing a helmet, and he’ll tell you to mind your own business before stubbing out his Kent Light on your shorts.
The Underpants Thread
Modern Vespa got interesting today, though this is exactly the kind of information I need before next weekend.