Month: March 2012

Go! Go! Shark Tank

The women behind Go Go Gear will be appearing Friday night (March 23, 2012) on ABC’s Shark Tank. ScooterGirls, Inc. out in L.A. make safe AND fashionable (at the same time!) women’s (and men’s) riding gear and we can’t imagine the investors on the show won’t jump at the chance to get involved in their plans for world domination.

I generally run screaming from “reality TV,” but Shark Tank is a fun, well-done show, and I’ve been hooked on it since friend-of-a-friend Steve Gadlin talked Mark Cuban into investing $25,000 towards his internet-based cat-drawing business. Things are looking great for Steve, and we hope Arlene and her cohorts can score an equally attractive deal. The 2SB HQ Tivo is set and fingers are crossed, ladies!

London to Woolacombe

After 16 years of scootering and 2strokebuzz, it’s easy to forget what attracted me to the machines and people that make up this dumb subbacultcha. If the first third of this video doesn’t make you want to stay up all night prepping your bike for a 5am, 250-mile rideout with some friends, there’s something wrong with you.

To our newish friend Bo and our oldish friend Bart, who shared the link on the facebooks, thanks for the reminder!

You Gotta Have Your Dip-Tet, Honey.

It’s that time of year again. Time to figure out why your scooter doesn’t start. Time to start harassing scooter shops for being out of parts you knew you needed for the last six months. And it’s time to start cutting fingers, smashing knuckles and otherwise breaking the wonderful barrier between your insides and the outside world.

Modern or vintage, metal or plastic covered, your scooter probably has a rusty screw somewhere, ready to strike. There is a small risk of great consequence related to these sorts of events. Check with your personal physician to see if you are up to date on your Tetanus vaccination. (Who has a personal physician?!) If you are one of the millions of people in this wealthy land of ours without health care coverage, it may be a wise investment to pop on down to your local CVS and get protected.

Because you don’t want lock-jaw and night vision.

Art Imitates Life, In Portland, In The 1890s, And Today

The Pacific North West is an interesting place. I hated it when I lived in Seattle. Someone could have easily walked up to me and said, “You’re doing it wrong!”. Regardless of my misery I wouldn’t trade the experience, good friends and some good times. One weekend I visited Portland for Spring Scoot made me think that if I had maybe picked the smaller city to the south I would have enjoyed my time in the region more. They were living the dream. The unwashed and not-pumping-your-own-gas dream, but a dream nonetheless.

P-Town Scooters just posted on Facebook some sweet artwork for this years Spring Scoot rally, held March 30th through April 1st. A poster or shirt with this art would be worth the trip if my social calendar was clear, not to mention the likely destination for breakfast on Sunday morning. Good times…good times.

Now Here’s Something You Don’t See Everyday..

Not wanting blend in with the crowd? Looking for something that makes a Heinkel look pedestrian? Well check out this scoot.net ad for the rarest of the rare in the scooter world – a Bastert Einspurauto. Compared to the utilitarian offerings from Vespa and Lambretta in 1952, the outrageous German Bastert looks like it came from another world with an amazing attention to detail and unheard of luxury for a two wheeled vehicle. We would love to know who ends up this!

Vintagelectric: A Split Mind For A Modern World

Good design is timeless. Even though some talentless hacks think that the creator of the Fido electric scooter is a bit ‘hung up on vintage scooters’, I think this electric conversion kit for Vespa Smallframe scooters is the best choice for someone wanting an scooter that doesn’t have a carbon footprint (at least not anywhere near your back yard!).

Jeb has put together a kit that has all the speed with less of the range. Now it’s not cost effective in terms of being all inclusive or as cheap as a competitive performing scooter. But there isn’t design on the market that can rival a PK in terms of ergonomics or a Primavera in terms of aesthetic. None.

Wanting a retro design isn’t something that’s dated in itself. The drive for anything NEW is what fuels our disposable society. There is no shame in saying someone got it right 40 years ago and no one has done better since. You’re likely not in that contest so don’t worry about looking bad.

Bikini Buddies

You can’t buy publicity like this, but if you could, you’d be sure they cited the right brand of scooter in the caption. Between this photo, gas price paranoia, and the weather, I bet it’s been a busy coupl’a days at Genuine dealers nationwide.
Continue reading “Bikini Buddies”

Vegas High Rollers Gallery 2012

Jordan's High Rollers PhotosIf you’re like me, you hate the idea of the city of Las Vegas on principle, but it’s worth the trip every few years to remind yourself, “anywhere is incredibly fun, with enough scooterists.” I skipped the rally this year, but our pal Jordan from the Mayday SC was there with the mob of British and U.S. scooterists, and brought back a bunch of great photos. Thanks, Jordan!
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Scooter Poetry!

My pal Jamie just came across an epic poem about a 1984 Honda Elite for sale. No idea what the backstory is, and I can’t backtrack on the site to learn more about author Paul Ruby, but I’d like to think it started life as a Craigslist ad. “Max’s Scooter Page” of Scooter Quotations & Poetry dates it to 2005, and features lots more scooter poems and humorous quotes, some from a few familiar names of the Usenet days, and the early ScooterBBS. Crazy!

More Scootsafely

Just wanted to remind you that scootsafely.com continues to kick ass, posting long, well-researched, must-read posts, far more frequently than our scattershot sentence or two of blather here. If you’re not RSSing it and watching for new posts, get on it. We’ve been around the block and seen a lot of scooter sites come and go, and if history is any indication, the sites that burn the brightest burn the quickest, so here’s hoping Alan doesn’t burn out and keeps his great site going.

Even More Lambretta Elitism

The 2012 Lambretta Jamboree put on by the Lambretta Club USA will be held in lovely Colorado Springs, Colorado this summer, just one week after Amerivespa. While Amerivespa is open to any type of scooter and has even been sponsored by the likes of Kymco in the past, the Lambretta Jamboree is 100% vintage – 100% Lambretta. You have an all original 1963 Vespa GS160? Well that’s cute but you aren’t getting in the LamJam with it. 2SB will be reporting at both rallies.