Another great life-affirming story from Scooter in the Sticks about a friend who’s getting back in the saddle after a 2007 motorcycle crash that lost him his leg.
Month: March 2009
When it rains, it pours
Illnoise,
We’re serious to imform you below:Illnoise at 2strokebuzz.com is being abusing Yuota company and Its Binqi Logo. Which has been badly damaged Yuota company, BINQI Logo and its market, which brings a big risk to Yuota company.
By phone discussion of Yuota lawyer and Yuota distributor USA, we decide to accuse Illnoise at 2strokebuzz.com and 2strokebuzz web PROVIDER on 2nd April, 2009.
Yuota Lawyer has saved 2strokebuzz contents is to post China Council for the promotion of international Trade (CCPIT) and THE SURPEME PEOPLE’S COURT OF THE PEOPLE REPUBLIC OF CHINA
Yuota Distributor USA is to accuse Illnoise at 2strokebuzz.com and 2strokebuzz web PROVIDER in USA without delay.Claims for the loss of BINQI brand and Yuota company.
Claims 2strokebuzz web PROVIDER to close 2strokebuzz.com without delay.
Accusation will be in action w/o delay on 2nd April, 2009.Illnoise at 2strokebuzz.com must delete this Links:2strokebuzz.com/?p=5012 before Accusation time.
Illnoise at 2strokebuzz.com must recover reputation of YUOTA company and BINQI logo on home page of 2strokebuzz.com for lasting 90days..Daniel Chan at Yuota group
Funny thing is, I just posted a rant on Modern Buddy this morning about how we should all be more understanding about China.
TGB & Cobra: A clarification and apology
In my 2009 Dealer Expo new scooter roundup, and again in my rant about SYM and Steve Guzmán, I reported that TGB had apparently ended their relationship with U.S. importer Cobra Powersports. As it turns out, this is not true at all. In short, Cobra is only one year into a five-year contract with TGB and their relationship is solid. I’d like to apologize for not clarifying the situation sooner, and (at great length) try to explain what happened.
Continue reading “TGB & Cobra: A clarification and apology”
More Vaporware From Pinasco
Things are heating up in Padova. Andrea Pinasco announces another mouth watering item for the scooter racer in all of us. The word “items” would be more appropriate. Pinasco claims to be providing a line of radial slick tires for 10 and 12 inch wheels. It is not just the variety of sizes that is remarkable but that they come in soft and medium hardness as well as a rain tread. Now the average scooter racer has options near equal (in number) to Superbike or MotoGP racers.
These Made-In-Italy tires, along with other Pinasco offerings announced over the last year or so, would be fantastic news for aspiring Nori Hagas riding PX125s. But these amazing new products seem to never become available in the US or even from the large popular German outlets like SIP or Scooter-Center. Maybe someone in Italy can point out where someone may procure these tantalizing supplies.
Vintage Baubles From Viet Nam
Saigon Scooter Centre sent out an email to announce the availability of some new vintage scooter accessories. Mirrors, crashbars and other useless adornments may not be your style. But at least this is not a post about another Maxi-Scooter or clone scooter trend. Mods of the world rejoice. You can now have a nice chrome Pegasus or naked lady on your Series II Lambretta. I’m really just hoping that if I post enough news from SSC that they’ll send me an SS90 repro dummy tank converted to a real fuel tank, to review.
Don’t stop believing
If you’re following James Gandolfini and his Vespa exploits, here’s new video of him flipping off paparazzi as he dismounts (and illegally parks on the sidewalk). Remember his May, 2006 accident? OK, fine, we know why you’re here.
Worse than Worst
We always hear about low-quality Chinese scooters, and how the Chinese scooter industry has little regard for intellectual property. POCphil sent us this email from Binqi, and we’d actually received the same email recently, but ignored it. Dealers and anyone with a scooter website get emails like this several times a week. This one deserves a good look, though, because it’s the perfect storm of absurdity:
Continue reading “Worse than Worst”
Honda: SH150i to U.S. for 2010
It’s not the 300i, but it’s still one of the most popular and in-demand scooters in Europe: Honda has announced their SH150i will be available in the U.S. for 2010. Maybe too little too late to really capitalize on whatever’s left of the scooter boom but still great news for medium-displacement big-wheel fans. (Scooped once again by Guzmán at the ‘Scoop.)
Buddy 1:12
Genuine’s new line of 1:12-scale die-cast Buddies was just unveiled, and those ingrate MB’ers are already finding reasons to nitpick, heh. I saw the samples, and they look great. Not as great as a 1:12 Blur would, mind you, but great. Scooterworks lists them as “backordered” but it’s more like “preordered,” they’re due in very soon. Only a company with a well-organized, enthusiastic community of customers could order a containerload of toys and know damn well they’ll sell like hotcakes. (If Vespa did something like this, they’d be made by Lladro or Limoges, there’d be a huge PR blitz, they’d cost $1200 each, and never end up at dealers anyway… kind of like those Adidas tracksuits).
222,000
The Motorcycle Industry Council estimates a record-setting 222,000 scooters were sold in the United States in 2008. For the sixth year running, over a million motorcycles and scooters were sold in 2008 (slightly fewer than 2007), but nearly a quarter of those were scooters. The last string of five million-selling years was in the early 70s. In 1992, only 278,000 motorcycles and scooters total were sold. These estimates appear to only include MIC-reporting companies, so Genuine and Kymco and several other popular scooter manufacturers’ sales may not even be included in that figure, let alone the thousands of Chinese imports sold. Either way, those numbers are staggering. Especially because next year 90% of these scooters will be on Craigslist with gummed up carbs and 150 miles on the odo.
Mr. Dai’s motorbikes
Proof there might be some decent scooters left in Vietnam: this guy has a nice collection.
Vespa Loves You, Man
Apparently there’s a Vespa in that new Paul Rudd movie. So VespaUSA, finger placed firmly on the pulse of their immature-frat-boy-comedy target market, is running a contest. I’m trying to fit in a Vampire Weekend joke, but it’s not coming.
UPDATE: Did I say “finger on the pulse?” They’ve got a contest on MySpace. too. You might remember MySpace, it’s an old website from back when Vampire Weekend was popular.
The 2-Stroke Dope?
We’re big fans of Cecil Adams’ The Straight Dope, and we’re one of the few scooter-centric media outlets that thinks the ecological hype surrounding scooters is somewhat overstated, but we’re guessing Cecil’s recent “Give a Scooter, Pollute Her” column is somewhat misleading, along the same lines as Willamette Week’s “Polluter Scooters” story from August 2006.
Continue reading “The 2-Stroke Dope?”
Who Cares About Old Italian Stuff?
I can’t say I’m completely enamored with everything to come from the Apennine Peninsula. I am not the kind of guy to throw out Italian phrases with the zest of someone passionate about the culture. I am much more likely to enjoy saying ‘auspuff’ than ‘marmitta’. But something seems consistently inspired about the people of boot-shaped strip of land extending south from the Alps into the Mediterranean Sea. The New Cafe Racer Society noted a small collection of historic images from the Gran Circuito Del Sestriere. The three men pictured in the example shown seem to be surrounded by great products of creativity, if not art for art’s sake. Are we, modern humans in Italy or elsewhere, surrounded in the same way? Do we take it for granted? Will generations to come recognize it where we cannot? At least click on the link and enjoy the old pictures of scooters and cafe racers. They are fun to look at and imagine what it was like to live there, and then.
Pinasco Revisits The “Swinging 70s and 80s”
Several weeks ago the performance tuning house of Andrea Pinasco announced the addition of a throw-back exhaust for smallframe Vespas. The exhaust is of the ET3 ‘banana’ variety with the addition of some special cosmetic touches. The silencer section of the exhaust is painted with an eye-catching, white, high-temp, enamel paint. Additionally the classic Andrea Pinasco logo is applied and is claimed to be able to withstand the test of time. A perfect addition to your ET3 or 50 Special with full UTAH accessory kit.