Month: August 2008

Continental Avoids Complete Take-Over

Continental, the company that makes some of the better scooter tires available has been the target of a take-over by another German automotive component giant, the  Schaeffler Group.   The BBC reports that Conti had resisted the move but has now agreed to allow Schaeffler, also the makers of FAG bearings, to take an all but majority stake in the company.   The question remains whether the new structure will continue to keep scooters rolling smoothly in the future.  Signs suggest the relationship will not call for Continental to be parted out like a GS with a rusted frame and no air box, so lets hope that we’ll still be able to get good Continental Zippy 1s, 3s and Twists (not to be confused with the film) for years to come.  (Maybe I could send a letter to Schaffler suggesting they stop the white wall nonsense.)

Au revoir, Baron

Well, the news isn’t quite what we expected, but Lev Mirman has shut down Baron Scooters to run CFMoto’s U.S. operations.

The Baron site (and tech support forum) are already gone, and the retail and internet sales center in Minnesota has closed and is being cleared out, according to ScooterBBS member “scootindan,” who adds:

The stock of parts and remaining scooter inventory has been sold to Marty at GoMoto in Osseo, Minnesota. GoMoto will be doing local repair and can send parts from the remaining inventory if they have them. Customers are also being referred to partsforscooters.com.

Mirman comically excuses his abandonment of Baron’s warranties, customer/dealer support , and other obligations by more or less admitting Baron’s (non-CF-Moto-made, ha) bikes were cheap pieces of crap and Google searches can help you with your bike more than Baron ever could. Read the thread, it’s typically snarky ScooterBBS dialogue, but it speaks volumes.

2sb meets the Breeders

I alluded to this a few times in the past, but I can finally share it:

Anyone who knows me knows that I’ve been completely infatuated with the Pixies since “Gigantic” came out and I bought “Pod” by the Breeders the morning it was released. Many of you remember my dear departed evil cat Cannonball. Many of you have seen the Vaughan Oliver posters around my various dorm rooms, apartments, and now my house. A few years ago, my company was asked to record, design, and sell the Pixies’ reunion concert CDs, and I even got to design an official t-shirt for the tour and work with Vaughan Oliver a bit on some Dead Can Dance CD packaging. Even better, I got to stand onstage at Lollapalooza to watch the Pixies’ set. I thought it’d never get any sweeter than that.

Well, last year, I met a great designer from Dayton named Chris Glass. We hung out at the ludicrous Creation Museum in Kentucky when I was home for Christmas, and he took his leave saying he had to go meet with “the girls about their website” and said something about “you know how rock stars are.” I didn’t know what he was talking about at the time, but later on, I figured out that he was talking about Kim and Kelley Deal.

Well, to make an already long story a little shorter, Chris finished Breeders Digest and my friend and co-worker Steve Delahoyde, also a big Breeders fan, asked me to ask Chris if the band needed any videos for their new album. Chris talked to them and they said “Sure, as long as we don’t have to be in it.” Chris leaked us a few songs, we picked one, agonized over some ideas, scheduled a shoot, then delayed it so long that we got to shoot some footage when they played here in May. We met Kim, Kelley, Mando, and José, and they were fantastic people who did their cameo perfectly in one (long) take, even though they weren’t actually aware we were rolling (it was a four-minute-long cameo). Steve edited the four separate videos, then we messed with the flash interface for months, then waited a couple more months, and at last, I’m ecstatic to share it with you. I hope the video does justice to the song, and I hope you’ll check out their incredibly great not-so-new-anymore album Mountain Battles (get it on LP, it sounds great and is packaged as beautifully as usual by Vaughan Oliver).

Thanks to the band, Chris, Richard, 4AD, the actors and crew, and especially Steve, who put WAY more work into this than I did. Embed this sucker everywhere you can (a link to the “embed” code is next to the Breeders’ logo), I’d love to see Steve’s phone ringing with more video work.

Oh, to keep it scooter-related, all the “running” scenes were shot by Ryan Taylor from my Genuine Blur 150, he was strapped to me with a tie-down, facing backwards. Luckily no one got hurt. The scooter was parked in the background in one scene that got cut, maybe we can get that up on YouTube sooner or later.

ZNen “Lance” factory video tour

Welcome to Zhejiang Zhongneng Industry Group Co Ltd or “ZNen”. They make (or have made) scooters for many different importers, including the new “Lambretta” sold in Italy, Baron, FlyScooter, ZN, possibly Roketa, TNG, and Peirspeed, and plenty more (it’s hard to tell without looking at the VIN, and even then, it’s confusing). Some of these brands are better than others, and often the dealer and importer you buy from has as much to do with your experience as the manufacturer. The Chinese are plenty capable of making good scooters, it comes down to the ethical and financial choices made by the manufacturer, importer, and their dealers.

At Dealer Expo2008, a ZNen rep spent a half hour trying to convince me to import their scooters. I finally cut her off and asked “don’t you already have many importers here? She said “sure, but you can make more money if you import directly.” I said I wasn’t interested in importing (I didn’t bother telling her I’m not a dealer, either). Only then did she reluctantly staple a Lance Motorsports business card to my brochure.

I talked to a couple other booths selling scooter manufactured by ZNen. When I asked “Aren’t these the ZNen models they’re selling at their booth?,” most admitted they were pretty angry that ZNen had bought a huge booth to try to sell scooters directly to the same customers they were targeting. Then they went on to explain that their quality control and dealer support was better than all the other ZN importers’. Lance didn’t have a booth, and probably were under the impression that ZNen was giving dealers their information, which was hardly the case.

You can’t tell much about ethics or quality from a video. Even if you think this video does prove something, it still leaves 20 importers to choose from. I’ve never ridden a Lance scooter, but there’s plenty of evidence on the internet that they’re not great: Many complaints about quality and service, Many dealers sell them online, they’re indistinguishable from some other brands that friends have had negative experiences with, no experienced dealers that I know and respect sell them, and ZNen’s ethics are questionable, as noted above. Are Lance Scooters OK? I don’t know, but this video tells me nothing.

Righteous Rotenburg Rally

This is the kind of race/rally weekend I can get behind: a DSSC meet in Rotenburg, Germany. Ryan, who sent the video, points out that all scooter rally raffles should be immediately replaced with “throwing shit.” Oh, and DEBASER. (Keep an eye out for some exciting sorta-Pixies/2strokebuzz related news coming Monday.)

U.S. “GTS300” snafu explained

I reported earlier today that Vespa GTS300S scooters were starting to appear in the U.S., which is weird, because they’re not on the site yet, and dealers were strangely insisting they were really 250cc models. Turns out it wasn’t anything sneaky, it was just typical Piaggio weirdness. Piaggio sent over a new U.S.-only model, the GTS 250ie Super, that had been accidentally misbadged as the GTS 300 Super. The 300cc (278, but who’s counting?) engine has not been EPA/DOT approved. This mislabeling occurred on “fewer than 100 scooters” according to a PiaggioUSA letter to dealers. The 250 Super is basically a regular GTS 250 with the louvered right cowl, a different seat, and a new instrument panel. The VINs allegedly confirm that they are in fact 250cc models. 20 years from now, wizened Vespa nerds will cherish the opportunity to warn newbies not to buy an old 1998 2008 Vespa 300 Sport without checking the VIN first.

Oh, and why aren’t they listed on the site? “Don’t get me started on PiaggioUSA,” said one dealer I contacted.

Happy birthday, Motorsport

Motorsport Scooters in San Diego is celebrating their 16th birthday this weekend with a big sale/party on Saturday and a ride and BBQ on Sunday. Alex has been a top-tier shop owner and a very supportive presence on the American scooter scene since well before most of us were riding, it seemed like he’d already been around forever when I became a customer 12 years ago. Congratualations!

MadAss 500

Brooke mentioned the Sachs MadAss 500 a while back, but I’d never seen a photo. Craaaaazeee. Peirspeed (who import the 50cc and 125cc versions) must have given away 300 t-shirts at Amerivespa. I should probably write something about Amerivespa one of these days, but I’m still waiting for Jordan to send the photos from the pool party.
(Thanks for the photo, Mr. Madddox!)

The tide is turning

The August 11th Powersports Business magazine reports the following stats from the Motorcycle Industry Council: Powersports new-unit sales have dropped 8% since mid-year 2007. ATV sales dropped 23.4% in the same period, and off-road bikes dropped 19.7%. Meanwhile, dual-purpose bikes rose 24.3% and scooter sales increased by 65.7%.

What does this all mean? Clearly, people love Euan and Charley, and the hillbillization of America has finally come to an end, and Barack Obama will ride up the steps of the inauguration platform on a Kymco People 150. Sure, it won’t last long, it never does, but if it buys us a few years of education funding and global respect, it’s all worth it.

New PGOs (and future Genuines?)

PGO I\'ME 125The PGO I’ME 125 that we mentioned in June is now listed on PGO’s english site, as well as the Ligero 125, which appears to be a Euro-friendly BuBu 125 in Genuine’s Buddy International colors. (Interestingly, it seems PGO has never offered a 150cc BuBu on their site). Also new: the Black Magic 50, with a Buddy/BuBu rear end and an X2 front end (it’s called the “Young BuBu” on their Taiwanese site, and is also offered in what appears to be an electric version). The Hot 50 isn’t labeled as “new,” but I don’t remember it from before. The G-Max (Genuine Blur) Evo (4-valve version) is now listed on the Taiwanese site as 150 and 200cc models, and the 200cc model gets the fancy new digital speedometer that we’ve all been lusting for at Modern Buddy (Speaking of speedos, check out the the I’ME’s handsome cluster).

I’ve been assembling a long list of questions for Genuine, this news just gave me ten more. The way scooters have been selling, it’s a safe bet we’ll see some new Genuine models soon.