A funny site about the misguided and pandering “Gas Tax Holiday” idea proposed by Clinton and McCain. We’ve tried it here in Illinois and it doesn’t work.
Month: May 2008
Mercado Libre Lambretta
A cute commercial featuring a Series II Lambretta. It’s for MercadoLibre, eBay’s latin american site. (Thanks, Matt!)
“Total Cost of Ownership”
Related to the the last story: Justin’s Vespa LX150 Total Cost of Ownership. His situation is perhaps not entirely typical, but if you’re putting a few thousand miles a year on your scooter, you could expect similar expenses. Thanks for sharing, Justin!
Do the scooter math
Based on these sources (1, 2) and a little bit of guesswork, the average American uses about 500 gallons of gas per year. That means the difference between $3/gallon gas and $4/gallon gas is costing the average American roughly $500 this year. I realize $500 is a lot of money to some people, and budgets are tight, and some people have to drive a lot more than others. And I love scooters and think everyone should ride them, for lots of reasons. But is buying a scooter really the best way to save money on gas?
If you’re considering a scooter in place of a second car, or to entirely replace your decaying gas-guzzling SUV, then it probably is. But if you’re thinking of adding a scooter to your existing fleet, please do the math. calculate how much gas you use in a year. calculate the REAL mileage of your car, and the REAL mileage of your proposed scooter, and what percentage of the time you’ll really be using the scooter. Calculate the title and tax fees for the scooter, and financing (if any) and insurance, safety gear, and maintenance. Chances are, your helmet, jacket, and topbox will cost more than than the extra dollar per gallon you’d spend on gas if you just kept driving your car.
Spending money to save money is a popular American pastime (e.g. buying a Kitchen Aid mixer reasoning you’ll eat out less, or the scary trend of “Earth Day Sales”). Numbers can be twisted to make you believe anything, but don’t trust them unless you’re the one doing the math, filling the blanks with your own, honest, real-world, data. Change your lifestyle and your consumption over time and you’ll see savings, but don’t go out and finance a $5000 60mpg Vespa at 28% APR to ride on sunny weekends, because your interest on the loan is going to cost you more than the few hundred bucks you’ll save on gas. If you want it and you can afford it, get it, it’s goodtimes, believe me, but don’t blame the Saudis for your attraction to Italian industrial design.
If you really want to save some money, look at your cable bill. It’s fair to say oil companies are reaming us and the government needs to step in, but no one seems to mind paying $1000 a year for television.
* one source says 464 gallons a year in 2004, the other says 431 in 2003, I added several gallons under the assumption that consumption has risen on the same pace in the past four years.
Vespa GTS 300 Super
More GTS 300 Super photos in the 2sb Gallery. (Photos courtesy of Piaggio)
We’d long heard the rumors a 300cc Vespa GTS was on the way. That was big news in itself, 300cc is the biggest displacement ever offered by Vespa since its inception in 1946. At first glance, the body looks “retro-fied” like the recent LX-Special, but on closer inspection, the only differences appear to be a new (and arguably less retro) “horncast” (what was a light on the GTS is now an “air intake”), a slimmer taillight, grey beaded trim on the seat, and GS-style louvers in the left cowl. The louvers and grey trim alone go a long way toward emulating a vintage Vespa and making the bike stand out from the “run of the mill” 250cc version. Continue reading “Vespa GTS 300 Super”
Scooterfix, née Girlbike
Crystal and the Girlbikers (I saw them at the Apollo once) have rechristened their blog. Welcome to Scooterfix. I thought “Girlbike” was a great name for a blog written by four women posting about pink helmets, but “Scooterfix” is good too. “Fix” is pretty similar to “Buzz” in its thinly-veiled drug reference-ness and multiple entendres, but our team of attorneys is on vacation so I’ll let it slide. Looking good, ladies.
Econo in Windsor
Rover Eric sent us this clipping from Windsor, OT’s “WAMM” magazine, featuring an interview with his clubmate Otto Buj. There’s a lot of stretching of the truth involved in a lot of the ecology, economy, and style arguments out there, but Otto insists that if economy is your chief goal, nothing beats a cheapo fourth-hand Italian postal Vespa.
Huuuugs! Achewood Vespa for sale!
OMG OMG OMG! I heart Achewood. I heart scooters. I’ve been lusting after this Vespa Rally that Chris Onstad painted for years. Now, that very scooter is for sale in the scoot.net classifieds, and it’s going to pretty much take everything I’ve got to not call the dude. Thanks a lot, Matt.
A personal note to dude selling the bike: Please send me more photos, and then tell me it’s already been sold so I can stop thinking about it. Then post it on eBay Platinum Reserve where it belongs.
Ryan rebuilds the “Spindle”
Duluth: “Scooters, it’s just not working out.”
Duluth’s old mayor bought some scooters for the city. Duluth’s new mayor is selling them at auction. (Thanks, M5.)
UPDATE: Here’s a little more info.
P.E.A.C.E. is go!
Alix B. left Scoot Richmond an hour ago, launching into her second P.E.A.C.E. scooter ride, circling the U.S.A. I totally dropped the ball on getting the word out about her raffle,, but we’ll be watching her blog and waiting for her in Chicago. Good luck, Alix, be safe!
Start Seeing Motorboobles
NSFW in NSW! The Aussies step up the humble motorcycle visibilty PSA a notch with this full-frontal masterpiece. Apparently all this time we were wearing yellow reflective vests, when we we would have been much better off wearing much less. Where’s that guy tucking his I-Pass? Ooof! I’m starting to sound like Michael Musto, sorry. (Thanks Ben!)
Lespa patch on eBay
Just found this beauty on eBay. As my coworker Sarah would say, Dub Tiff?
Media frenzy via Girlbike
Crystal at Girlbike compiled a couple hundred recent boilerplate “save gas” scooter news stories. Thanks, Crys! That’s an alcohol-induced-coma-worth of Roman Holiday references and 100mpg promises, right there.