We got an email the other day from Jessica Herreman, who’s looking for some local Mod Girls for a music video shoot in Evanston in early November. The video’s for a two-girl band collaborating between Mexico and Chicago. It’s a low-budget affair, but they’re offering Mexican earrings, coffee, and a French new wave film DVD as incentive. If you’ve got two X chromosomes, an A-line skirt, and a vintage Vespa (P-series or older, Stella, or Lambretta), email Jessica for more info.
Month: September 2007
Come on
Come on, “Ben,” Africa didn’t become the world leader in internet chicanery with lackluster emails like this, you could have at least BCCed the other 89 recipients.
Disc bragging rights: Laverda 1, Lambretta 0
It has been claimed that the Lambretta motorscooter was a pioneering machine by having been the first production two-wheeled vehicle to have a disc brake. While I believe the Lambretta model C to be the distilled essence of what a scooter is all about, the typical Lambrettista has very high smugness-to-running-scooter ratio. It is possible that Lambretta’s reputation for pushing boundaries lends some fuel to this imbalanced view of the vintage small displacement world. So to help bring balance to the world, we present evidence to refute this oft-repeated claim to a technological first. Continue reading “Disc bragging rights: Laverda 1, Lambretta 0”
New U.S. distro for PM Tuning?
As I read yet another PM-Tuning/CMSI-bashing post on Modern Vespa, I was surprised to see performance parts manufacturer PM Tuning’s Paul Melici post a follow-up, implying the end of their relationship with CMSI, or at least a major overhaul of their distribution system:
Since 9/11 it has become commercially un-viable to obtain product liability cover for the USA on all PM Tuning produced parts hence we are unable to supply USA customers direct, sorry.
We appointed CMSI as our outlet for the USA to provide the necessary insurance cover and technical backup for PM tuning related parts, but things have not gone according to plan as I freely admit and for this I apologise most sincerely. Any orders or enquiries sent to PM Tuning UK were routed to CMSI, as i now understand, without joy.
We are currently working towards resolving the situation by considering alternative options. Details will be posted at our official PM Tuning UK web site. In the meantime, all enquiries should be sent to info@pmtuning.co.uk, I will personally make sure you get a reply
Customers may always whine about prices, but quality, performance, and liability cost good money, and there will always be a market for high-quality tuning products. That said, supply, shipping, and pricing should not be a mystery to customers, and it’s good to see PM addressing the lack of communication.
The Mods
A nicely-done Mod history site, there’s even a “retro porn” section. My only gripe is the consistant and huge misuse of the apostrophe in the dates (“1960’s”). To make it worse, it’s not even typgraphically correct apostrophe. Why can’t I just enjoy anything without being so hypercrytical?
Silverwing envy: 750cc for 2008
2008 is shaping up to be the year that displacement kills the fun of scootering. If the Kymco 700 is too puny and Taiwanese for you, and the Gilera 800 is too big and Italian, Honda’s got a new 750cc Silverwing with your name on it. And it’s got an airbag. Have fun, everyone knows more is better.
Mounting a parking permit sticker on a scooter
Justinsomnia sent this story about a great way to mount a permit sticker on your scooter. Another nifty bit of motorcycle know-how that rarely gets passed on to scooterists. Thanks, Justin, and thanks for pointing out that 2sb’s email isn’t listed anywhere on the site, I’ll fix that ASAP. When I said “Submissions Welcome” under the logo over to the left, I was talking about more artwork to shuffle behind the logo, but we’re always happy to get other links and story ideas, too, and especially insider scooter industry gossip. Without you, dear readers, we’re nothing. Even with you, we’re not much.
Get bobbly on a scooter
Another reason I’m kicking myself for not checking ScooterSwag more often: Your own personalized bobblehead riding a scooter. It’s totally worth $130 to have your head sculpted in minature by an Asian child, and it’ll keep them busy so they don’t try to restore any scooters. Cassie describes it as “creepy,” but I really don’t think it holds a candle to a bobblehead of you sitting on the toilet clenching your fists with two giant poops on the floor next to you. Geez, when did Jeff Koons start making bobbleheads?
Burgerville’s Vespa bear
Feel Good Anyway’s television commercial for Burgerville, a Pacific Northwest burger chain. Man, that is one mellow, milkshake-lovin’, Vespa-riding bear. (Via Mrs. McCabe, via Cassie at ScooterSwag)
The new new new new new new “Lambretta”
These are due out the same day as the CMSI “L”series “Lambretta” and the Khurana/SIP metal-bodied 4-speed Lambretta GP. And they will all have an anti-gravity device that will allow you to fly them to your unicorn farm at 300 miles an hour, in time for your date with Scarlett Johanssen. The domain is registered to someone in the Netherlands. Someone with a vivid imagination and a pirated copy of Lightwave 3D. Go ahead, anyone, prove me wrong.
Merciless Tigers: Good and bad news
The good news: after a UPS snafu, we got our Merciless Tigers FC/2strokebuzz jersey patches yesterday, and we’re in the process of sewing them on the jerseys, so jerseys will ship this weekend. And they look really, really, great. The team (and you) will love them.
The bad news: They’re sold out. Our pre-order pricing was so successful, the slackers who waited to pay full price won’t get one. There may be a few left after I sort through the orders again, check back early next week, I’ll post if/when they’re available, which is a good reason as any to subscribe to 2sb RSS. And next time, order quickly! (new 2sb merchandise coming very soon). Thanks again to everyone who ordered, more news about the team soon.
Mark Knopfler: Mod or not?
From Matt: “Who knew Mark Knopfler was a Mod?”
Well, pre-mod, maybe. From the ex-Dire-Straits guitarist’s bio:
The artwork for “Kill To Get Crimson” evokes one of the periods in Knopfler’s own palette for the album. “For the cover, I’ve chosen a picture painted in 1958, it has a West Indian girl who wants to buy a red scooter,â€? he continues. “This is pre-mod, and the L-plate hasn’t changed to this day. I’ve got a red scooter, and it’s amazing, it looks pretty much exactly the same. That time was very interesting from the point of view of a musician, a kid at that time.
I seem to remember seeing him lumped in with Rod Stewart, Marc Bolan, and David Bowie as an “ex-Mod” somewhere, but can’t find any reference now as to if he actually ran with the Mod crowd as a teenager, and if so, what his old friends have to say about the entire decade he spent wearing a terrycloth headband.
Champion crowned at MASRA season finale
The final round of the 2007 Mid-America Scooter Racing Association was filled with the action and excitement one would expect of the premier scooter racing league in the region. The Iowa International Raceway was once again the venue for 10-inch-wheel-to-10-inch-wheel action. The weather was mild and track conditions declared dry for the race start. With several bikes testing their mettle on the track it came down to Team Brookespeed scooter racing veteran “Crafty Matt” DeVries versus the Canadian upstart, Dayn “Sparks” Longlade. North American bragging rights were at stake and the competitors were up to the challenge. For the first time in nearly a year, Team Brookespeed did not field two machines on the grid so there was no chance of team orders coming into play during the track clash. Continue reading “Champion crowned at MASRA season finale”
Fuoco500 to U.S.
Just as I posted about the impossibilty of the Gilera GP800 ever being available in the U.S., The Scooter Scoop posted that Gilera’s Fuoco 500 3-wheeler will be sold here as the Piaggio MP3 500. Amazing news, though with the current MP3 250 priced over $5K, the Fuoco will likely be pushing $10K. I don’t know why it took Piaggio so long to come up with the idea to put a Piaggio sticker over the Gilera sticker, but I sure hope this means the Gilera GP800 and (dare to dream) Runner may appear here, too.
Girlbike supports P.E.A.C.E.
Crystal at Girlbike/ScooterSeatCovers, who just finished a big charity ride herself, is offering a limited-edition peace-sign seat cover to help raise money for Alix Bryan’s cross-up-down-and-around-country P.E.A.C.E Scooter Ride. And Steve from the Scooter Scoop just bought a 2sb jersey. I feel like I should be giving more back to the scooter community, or at least giving scooter-relief.org the $200 I collected for them at Slaughterhouse two years ago that’s still hiding under my mattress. I’m an idiot. At least I didn’t spend it.