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2strokebuzz Zines: Past and Future?

illnoise — Tue, 04 May 2010 21:11:13 +0000

A handful of you may remember that 2strokebuzz started life as a ‘zine. It would probably help if I kept the old issues linked up. There.*

I’ve been thinking for a while, with the advent of print-on-demand sites like MagCloud and Hulu that it’d be so much easier to print/distribute a zine these days. I focused most of my magazine energy into American Scooterist for the last several years, but that required months of work per issue and as great as it is, it doesn’t have that 2SB vibe. I’d thought about ‘2SB Greatest Hits’ compilations, or compiling the old issues, but I’d rather try something new, and something fast and collaborative and less open-ended.

Today I heard about the 48 Hour Magazine Project, and that’s inspired me to try something similar. I’ll look into it and figure out some details, but if you’re interested in helping out, drop us an email or comment!

*Someday hopefully someone will find a USB SyQuest drive so I can finish issue 4… and send Nikki a copy of the great long-lost cover photo.

Bajaj: Marketing Myopia?

illnoise — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 06:36:24 +0000

Arvind Sahay, writing for Financial Express, agrees that Bajaj has made a poor decision in abandoning the scooter market.

(I think Brooke sent me this story, last week, so thanks, Brooke!)

The Pacific Gears Up For 2010 Scooter Racing

Brooke — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 03:44:01 +0000

Scooter racing efforts begin to churn for a second successive season in the land of Sasquatch, kind bud and perpetual rain. The organization formerly known as the Pacific North West Scooter Racing Association has begun anew as the Pacific Scooter Racing Association. The name change must be in deference to our Canadian brothers and sisters that are rightfully proud southerners. As a reminder to get going on preparing for post winter scootering, the PSRA has launched a new website to let the world know about their endeavors. So get that race bike prepped and find an old set of leathers. Visit the site and click on the photo in the ‘Forum’ tab (it may not be obvious) to get in touch with other racers in the area.

Lest we forget La Vita…

illnoise — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 15:34:00 +0000

On the heels of the EICMA Pato Lambretta unveiling, Scootin’ Old Skool says Scoot About says Hammerhead’s “La Vita” faux-Vespa scooter will be available in the spring. Of course last spring, Scootin’ Old Skool said that Scoot About said it’d be out last summer, for what that’s worth. That said, Orin has a few good photos, and some more details about colors and seats. Like we said in our 2009 Dealer Expo Story, the Venti (as it was known then) really has the proportions and look of a vintage Vespa nailed down, if the engineering and quality are solid, it should be a popular bike.

Jordan’s CWC party photos!

illnoise — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 22:43:01 +0000

How’s this look?

[Show as slideshow]

Doing some more gallery testing, got my favorite gallery (NextGen Gallery for WordpPress) to work (thanks, Tilted.net support!) so now it’s a matter of testing and getting everything dialed in.

Sadly, I had to deactivate the other gallery software I was using, but I’ll get back in there and convert those galleries to this one. If it keeps working.

The Scooter Continental Circus

Brooke — Thu, 27 Aug 2009 02:56:32 +0000

As Two-Stroke Grand Prix Motorcycle Racing descends on Indianapolis this weekend, major scooter events are on the horizon for those in Europe. First up, if you don’t have plans for this weekend and happen to be in Deutschland you should check out the big Scooter Weekend celebration at the Lausitzring (aka Eurospeedway). I recently returned from the German Grand Prix and can say visiting the region was a lot of fun. I hope to make this Scooter Weekend one of these years and giving a live report to 2SB readers. Check out the site and photos of past years events. Truly a remarkable event.

Also, JR from Retro Racing pointed out a more vintage scooter-oriented version of the Continental Circus taking place on September 19th. He directs us to the upcoming Fourth Annual Scootentole at Magny-cours. The vintage scooter racing looks to take place on the kart track at the famed race circuit in the heart of France. We will await a report on the competition at the end of September.

These events would be analogous to having North American scooter rallies at locations like Laguna Seca and Daytona. Congratulations to the participants and organizers!

Cash for Small Clunkers

illnoise — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 18:07:43 +0000

Genuine Scooter Co. has repackaged NoHo Mike’s obvious-but-good idea, and unleashed their own “Cash for Small Clunkers” video and trade-in plan:

Participating dealers will offer $300 credit towards a Genuine scooter for any titled scooter (or, if the video is to believed, even vintage mopeds without titles).

As far as the video, it’s clearly supposed to be “laugh-with” funny but it veers towards “laugh-at” funny, which is allright, too. Modern Buddy members have already pointed out the porn-quality acting/editing, the needless repetition, the logical fallacies, and the gawkers at 3:20, but I’m still wondering how a German tech inspector ended up at a Chicago company selling Taiwanese and Indian scooters with Italian, Spanish, and French affectations. I guess they’re a truly international company, after all.

As far as Chicago-area porn-quality scooter commercials go, it’s not bad…

Retro Racing En Francaise

Brooke — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:07:15 +0000

The New Cafe Racer Society once again posted an interesting photo of some vintage scooter action. This time it was of some ancient GS150 racers and originated at the French vintage machine racing blog, Retro Racing. The site has a distinctive streamlined scooter slant and well worthy of a notation for future reading. A scan down the left side of the page reveals a treasure trove of links, some of which may seem familiar from your own list of bookmarked sites. I immediately felt like there was a long lost frere out there. If you start getting all misty-eyed with nostalgia of a bygone era, keep your grip on your MODern sensibilities with a visit to the other Franco-Scooter blog, Scooter Station. Vive la France.

Saigon Scooter Centre Going Out Of Business Sale?

Brooke — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 18:42:06 +0000

I received an email advertisement from Saigon Scooter Centre that notified of a 20% off, “Closing Down” sale. I thought that maybe the export business had dried up and the folks at SSC had decided to move on to greener pastures. When checking the website I only noticed the small mention of the sale but the no other explanation or signs that they were shutting shop. They still have some interesting new products out like the PX long-range seat/tank combo and their automatic Lambretta which looks to have a Buddy 125 motor in it. Anyone with other news on the topic feel free to chime in (note: “news” does not include general Vietnam bashing. I’m indifferent but it just gets tiring). I’ll update if I hear anything back from SSC directly.

Get Smart, Anne

illnoise — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 20:38:52 +0000

The latest celebrity scooterist is Anne Hathaway, riding what appears to be a Chinese Yamaha Vino knockoff for Garry Marshall’s film Valentine’s Day, which will hopefully be called something else by the time it comes out in 2010, because there are, like, ten feature films already called that.

Miss Hathaway is a favorite around here, but this film’s scooter choice is a bit ironic, since her recent movie “Get Smart” was involved in a big marketing blitz with Vespa and Subway, and I don’t remember even seeing a scooter in that film.

If those aren’t enough photos of Anne with a scooter, here’s a photo of Anne with a photo of a scooter, probably from the Subway/Vespa promotion. The girl-to-scooter proportions there balance out the Amazon Mary Jane Watson Lambretta Spider-Man comic cover we posted this morning.

Maybe A Nice Chesterfield?

Brooke — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 17:22:16 +0000

Aprilia, an arm of the Piaggio group, has released a pair of two stroke race replicas to honor their re-entry into World Superbike competition and the rider that brought them glory in Grand Prix racing in the 1990s, Max Biaggi. The RS125 motorcycle and the SR50 scooter have been decked out in race replica bodywork. The Italian factory has produced replicas in the past to honor Tetsuya Harada, Valentino Rossi, Marco Melandri, Manuel Poggiali and Jorge Lorenzo. The best part is just that this shows they are continuing to make the two stroke one-two-five. Thanks, again, to Motoblog.it.

New French Cabinet Minister Shows True Leadership

Brooke — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 19:35:09 +0000

In some delayed spring cleaning, French president Nicolas Sarkozy has made some changes in his cabinet and the nephew of former president Francois Mitterrand is now the new Minister of Culture and Communication. From what I gather of the French that’s probably a pretty big deal for domestic policy. Relevance here lies in that the Frédéric Mitterrand is a Scooterist. In both the BBC story and this video from Le Parisien the mode of transport is prominently noted. Good for you Mr. Mitterrand. Any Francophone readers are welcome to add any relevant translation from the video.

Los Vesparados, Minneapolis, Tomorrow 6/13/09

Brooke — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 00:59:41 +0000

In the fine 2StrokeBuzz tradition of hiding news under a tarp in the garage, check it out: Los Vesparados Art Show.

Thanks, Matt.

VespaUSA ramps up product placement

illnoise — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 11:52:32 +0000

Paolo Timoni is has lost track of how many films are featuring the Vespa this summer.

Powersports Mail-Order Mega-Warehouse Condescends To Scooterists UPDATED

Brooke — Thu, 28 May 2009 18:38:08 +0000

While perusing the local craigslist today I came across a post (which I dutifully tagged as spam) announcing the new scooter oriented online shop by traditional powersports mail-order powerhouse Dennis Kirk. Their new site is called dkscooters.com and offers accessories and gear for the scooter owner. For many years the Rush City, MN based retailer has had excellent catalogs aimed at several powersports divisions from off-road to metric cruisers. Now in the digital age they’ve made a separate website to group the items that would be more likely purchased by scooterists. They have covers, locks, jackets and even one token brand of 2 stroke oil. But when looking in the top category on their left-hand menu, helmets, I found it lacking. Not that they didn’t have my preferred brand or that they didn’t have a Valentino Rossi replica lid, but that of the 163 options there wasn’t a full-face helmet to be found. Do scooterists not deserve the same protection offered to other power-two-wheel enthusiasts? Do they really think that scooters are so harmless that no one needs the protection available to a cruiser pilot? Or is this completely sensible and the only question is why the website isn’t entirely pink with bunnies around the border?

Write this post off as a narrow minded rant if you’d like. Dennis Kirk will probably have no problem with the free advertisement (normally I’m a big fan and until now shopped their at least once a year). And it could be said that you shouldn’t even buy a helmet online without trying it on first, and you should buy it from the local shop where you tried it on. The behavior of embracing and marginalizing scooters at the same time just seems a bit insulting.

UPDATE: Dealer News reports on the news of the DK online store for scooters. The article gets some interesting comments from a few of the prime movers in the scooter commerce arena. LINK