Vespa Lexington covers some upcoming Vespa promotions and advertising, including Pandora radio stations.
Month: April 2009
Plug in, 2006-style!
We’ve been asked several times this week why we haven’t fallen all over ourselves to join the media bandwagon hyping Piaggio’s revolutionary MP3 plug-in hybrid, due to the U.S. in 2010. Here’s why:
Continue reading “Plug in, 2006-style!”
Merciless Tigers FTW!
After several seasons in multiple leagues (summer, winter, indoor, outdoor, mens, co-ed, over-40m etc.) and sometimes several games a week, our beloved Cincinnati Merciless Tigers have finally won the highest honor of the Soccer City Men’s Open Blue Division, top of the table after a 7-1-0 season. They’re also holding steady at .500 (1-1-3) in their current outdoor league. Congratulations to our men in black, Soccer City Men’s Open Blue Division Champions!
| TEAM | W | L | D | G | PF (AVG) | PA (AVG) | DIFF |
| Merciless Tigers | 7 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 3(6.63) | 27(3.38) | +26 |
White PowerSound
Another sweet-looking new pipe from Pinasco, but as Matt points out, they really might want to re-think the name.
LML Star Deluxe for Italy
LML launched their Star Deluxe 125 and 150 in Italy this week (Google translation). As we all know, the Genuine Stella is based on the LML Star, and a “new” California-legal Stella 150 is expected to arrive in U. S. soon, but these appear to be more or less the same models available in Europe for some time (though has the Star always been Euro3 compliant?) Still, there might be a few colors and options within that story to fuel the rumor mill.
Philip McCaleb has confirmed the new Stellas will feature 150cc 4-stroke engines, and despite the wacky predictions we’ve heard (and spread), we suspect they won’t be otherwise wildly distinctive from the currently-available Stella 150. Still, that’s good news for Californians (and the environment,) and California compliance will likely allow Genuine to import and market the Stella on a larger scale.
Flock Yeah 2
Cool video of the Flock Yeah 2 Moped Rally in Los Angeles. Thanks to the narration and editing (and mopedista’s fashion choices), you’d believe it was shot in the ’70s if not for the almost-ubiquitous full-face helmets, though we’re certainly not going to complain about that. (Thanks Imiuswi!)
Piaggio targets Continental Airlines
No, Roberto Colannino isn’t looking to acquire another airline,* Piaggio USA is marketing directly to Continental employees in Newark, NJ as part of a Continental Airlines alternative-transportation program featuring designated scooter parking and giveaways. It’s actually a pretty neat idea, though it might be tough to implement on a wider scale.
*It’s easy to forget that the Vespa’s roots are in aviation. Piaggio Aero (an entirely separate company, but still bearing the Piaggio name) still makes airplanes. It’s odd that with all of the news about Colannino’s acquisition of Alitalia, that factoid never came up.
Miami to LA
Photographer Scott Branch is riding from Miami to LA on a Kymco People 50. He expects to take 30 days and spend $65 in gas. It does not appear Scott took the weight and aerodynamics of his giant backpack into account when calculating his speed or fuel consumption, but good luck to him! You can follow Scott’s journey on his blog.
Happy Earth Day! (2-Stroke Dope revisited)
A couple days ago, we got some great feedback about our story refuting press reports about scooter emissions, notably Cecil Adams’ syndicatedThe Straight Dope column“Give a Scooter, Pollute Her.” The way Cecil framed the question left us doubting his conclusions, but we admitted there was something to his findings, and wondered about specific emissions figures.
Well, 2SB reader “JSH” tracked down some real numbers, and his comment was so thorough and insightful, we’ll just reprint the whole thing here:
Continue reading “Happy Earth Day! (2-Stroke Dope revisited)”
Tuka Tukanji
Three “Wacky Races”-style ads for Tucano Urbano scooter accessories featuring TU mascot Tuka Tukanji. They’re at least a couple years old, but we’d never seen ’em before. Too bad Tucano Urbano isn’t available in the U.S., they make some great stuff, but it’s expensive, and even moreso when you have to pay shipping from Italy. (Thanks for digging these up, Ryan!)
Win stuff from Vespa Lexington
Win some Vespa promotional items from Vespa Lexington. That flag is quite sweet and we’ve had an empty flag bracket ever since the pirate flag was stolen from 2SB HQ. Thanks, Michael! Hopefully this post will create a trackback link and it’ll count as my entry.
The BWS Goes NBA
Yamaha officially announced their partnership with the National Basketball Association and the availability of a Yamaha BWS adorned with an NBA look. The scooter comes with some special paint and a fairly sharp looking seat as well as a sticker pack to customize the ride in line with one of a handful of NBA teams. The news was originally reported several months ago by Motoblog.it but I hadn’t gotten around to posting about it until today’s email from Yamaha Motor Europe. Don’t worry about this product catching you off guard, Americans. It is a new promotion of a U.S.-based sports league using a great scooter that is no longer available in the US. It just makes me feel a bit odd as well as wish they still sold the old-style Zuma in The States. Anyone interested in importing one I’ll promise I’ll post any photo of it that you’d like to send in.
Drink Kris Pinot Grigio, Ride a Vespa…
…but please, not at the same time. Kris is giving away customized orange Vespa S 50s around the U.S.
T-Max 750 due in ’10
Yamaha has announced that the 3-cylinder T-Max 750 scooter will be available in 2010. Luckily, if the original T-Max-to-U.S. timeline is in effect, it will be several years before I’m cut off on I-290 by a douchebag lane-splitter that doesn’t even know how to shift.
Tom Finney signs Tom Finney scooter
A heartwarming story for all you Preston North End fans out there.