I’ll leave it open for a couple days, so if you’ve been eyeing a 2strokebuzz “Beat Happening” t-shirt or any of our other wares made by scooterists, for scooterists, act fast. I’d offer a storewide discount, if the cart software would allow me to. Sorry. Free scootmoto decals with all orders, how ’bout that? (Yes, we always did that anyway.)

Stock levels are subject to inaccuracy, but I’ll let you know right away if we’re out of something.

While we’re talking site news, I apologize for the lack of posts lately. You may have noticed Brooke and now Matt have been posting occasionally, which is great, and hopefully they’ll keep them coming. Honestly, I haven’t ridden a scooter for months, though I have been working on my Vespa 150 and hope to have it running reliably for Amerivespa in Lake Geneva, WI in June, I’m really looking forward to that. I also recently (finally) finished designing a special issue of American Scooterist celebrating the life of one of America’s most outspoken devotees of the Vespa and scootering in general, John Gerber, who passed away in 2010. It’s on press now and will ship to VCOA members soon.

SIP Scooter Shop shared a video on their Facebook page today. It is a National Geographic program clip about the Piaggio factory in Pontedera. The video has a few shots of vintage machines in their museum. But one of the views that appealed to me was the factory building tucked in the Tuscan hills shown in the background of the test ride shots. I don’t know if the buildings are the same, but it was reminiscent of those old aerial photos of the factory from the 1950s. Other parts show the processes involved in the building of their larger engines (What are they doing tossing crankshaft halves into big vats of rocks?!) and the assembly of the MP3 hybrid scooter. Not a 2-stroke in sight. I wonder where they build those? I focus on the visual aspects of the video because it’s all in Italian, a language I do not understand. If anyone wants to translate any remarkable points of what looks to be a standard factory tour for the kind of shows that used to make the Discovery Channel great before they jumped the shark, feel free to post below.

Thanks to Scooterville in Minneapolis for sharing the post on facebook. The owner, Bob, once designed sets and trade show displays and now sells Vespas. Full circle.

From the Lambretta Motorcycles Facebook page, here is a video that even the exclusive vintage Lambretta lover could enjoy. Maybe a common enemy can be the tie that binds? Doubtful.

It appears that rumors are true (but are secrets really lies?). LML has shoehorned an automatic into a PK body. They are showing it off at the big bike show EICMA, in Italy. I noticed the photo posted in Scooter Mercato‘s facebook feed. Thanks, Dave.

Discuss. (Likely more analysis to follow.)

Mahindra Motors acquired the Italian firm Engines Engineering prior to the 2011 season in an effort to go racing. Engines Engineering had be entering machines in Grand Prix racing before, but it was under the Lambretta name in 2010 with Marco Ravailoli and a raft of temporary guest riders. While the young Italian and his teammates made valiant efforts under the Lambretta Reparto Corse banner, the switch to Mahindra racing colors and new riders, Danny Webb and Marcel Schrotter, has resulted in a better points placement this season. German and British hands seem to be able to get old Lambrettas going a bit quicker.

The Lambretta to Mahindra conversion also mirrors an Indian continuation of the Lambretta efforts. Interestingly, Scooters India Limited (SIL), the company that took over producing Lambretta models in the subcontinent, is up for sale. Piaggio, Atul Auto and Mahindra have all thought about acquiring the state-run factory, but have reconsidered in recent months. If they had bought the currently money losing company it would have made for a very tidy story!

The saddest and most important part of this event is that it is the last time two-stroke machines will compete at the top level of World-Class racing. It’s not that four-stroke 125s haven’t raced before and been magnificent. But for the last 40 years two stroke machines have dominated at least one class of Grand Prix racing and now it comes to an end. Not by lack of competitiveness, but by simple rule change. Manufacturer goals have changed and that sweet 2 Stroke Buzz plays no role in these aims. The new class will be single-cylinder four-stroke engines and Mahindra and others including Honda and KTM will field machines. But it certainly won’t be the same. Not the same noise, the same smell, the same simple beauty of the two-stroke steeds.

If you’d like to see the event, you can watch live from MotoGP.com for a price. The race starts at 4:00 AM CST on Sunday (tomorrow) morning. Less than an hour later will be a distinct end of an era.

File it all under RUMOR until we see it rolling around Rome.

I emailed my buddy, Alfredo, the first scooterist I met back in 1994 (we met on Usenet!) and we put a plan together. Alfredo doesn’t ride much anymore (his P200′s been on blocks in my garage for more than a decade) but I’ve got extra bikes and like me, he can use a weekend away from the family once in a while. Even with some setbacks, our experience preparing for rallies put us unbelievably right on time for a noon departure on Friday. The six hour drive (with a stop to pick up Alex in Iowa City) landed us in The Moines with time to check into the hotel and race over to the opening BBQ just as it was wrapping up. We just had time to register and wolf down a pork chop and the biggest baked potato I’ve ever seen, then we left Alex with Dean and the Knuckledraggers and raced back to the hotel, found Silent Ron, who’d just arrived from Chicago on his Aprila CityCom, and met the group ride at the Capitol building a few blocks from our hotel. We arrived at the Capitol just at sunset for a great view of the city.

From the Capitol, it was a short trip to the Fremont bar for the night’s entertainment. We enjoyed some beer and a burger in the beergarden with some Minneapolis folks (Hi to all the dozens of people I met this weekend, I forgot all your names, I suck), then another beer, then another beer, then the music started. First off was a fine twangy garage-y punk band called Look Out Loretta, then reunited Nebraska ska legends The Bishops played, followed by Brooklyn reggae upstarts The Forthrights. The Forthrights were joined for half their set by the super-friendly New Orleans rocksteady singer Maddie Ruthless, and that chemistry was right-on with some great keyboards, aggro guitar, and Maddie’s boasting and screeching. Eventually we hit the road back to the hotel for a good nights’ sleep.

Sadly, Saturday morning, the weather did not cooperate. The ride/scavenger/gymkhana gauntlet was cancelled and most rallygoers ended up at organizer Shawn Corporation’s backyard, aka “Corporate Headquarters” for a late breakfast. It was a great opportunity to make some more new friends, though, as I bored a few Nebraskan 2strokebuzz fans out of their gourds with my standard Piaggio rant and tried to break up OKC David and Sara Jane. The party broke up with plans of meeting at an arcade/bar, Alex, Alfredo, Silent Ron, and I decided to grab lunch at what turned out to be a great VIetnamese Pho place and convinced the owners to turn off NASCAR to watch the Champions’ League final between Barcelona and Manchester United. With Barça in the lead at the half, we headed to the arcade to learn that the group had moved on to a bar called Mullets near the Iowa Cubs’ stadium.

Mullets turned out to be pretty fun, with a “Mulletin Board” and framed photos of bemulleted celebrities such as Martina Navratilova and Randy Johnson. They turned on the second half of the match and we cheered Barça to victory in one of the most enjoyable soccer matches in recent times (unless you’re a Red Manc). As the match ended and the skies cleared, an impromptu ride left, and Alfredo and I headed back to the hotel for a swim, soon joined by the Kansas City guys. After a bracing dip in the cool waters, we cleaned up and rode over to the Beechwood Lounge for Pressure Drop, DJ Eight Ten’s monthly ska/soul dance night.

It was cool to see an amazing turnout of mods, scooterists, and pretty much every other sort of hipster Des Moines has to offer, all unabashedly shaking their butts to some great music, with zero attitude. We noted that unlike many rally DJs that take pride in spinning only the most obscure music, Eight Ten had no problem mixing in a few well-placed Motown blockbusters and such, to keep everybody on their feet. Alfredo, Ron, and I managed to stay sober, then did a few laps of the downtown area before heading back to the hotel and drinking ourselves to sleep.

After some thunderstorms overnight, the sun wasn’t exactly shining Sunday morning, but the rain had stopped and the day looked promising. Ron left early for his long ride back to Chicago, and Alfredo and I calculated a complicated plan to deposit the trailer at the afternoon venue for a quick escape, then we dropped the bikes and rode back to the Fremont for breakfast with the gang. The crowd had thinned a bit as many folks wanted to hit the road early, but there was still a good number of bikes on the ride to the Bombay Bicycle Club across town. By our arrival, the sun was shining and it was getting downright hot.

Alf and I set up a table of 2strokebuzz and Scootmoto mersh and watched the raffle, then I decided to try my luck at the slow race. I’ve never been much of a slow-racer, so I was surprised to find myself on my Primavera in the final heat against a P200. I edged ahead at first, but managed to hold back at the midway point until the P passed me. Just as I was congratulating myself for getting back into whatever the opposite of “the lead” is, i heard the crowd groan and I realized I’d put my foot down without even thinking about it (or needing to). Second City, second place. Later, I ran my gymkhana lap and was surprised to successfully complete all the tasks and stay 6 seconds ahead of my nearest competitor. I went back to work the merchandise table thinking I’d never hold my lead. As it turned out, I was still in first place when someone convinced Luke Healey to run the course, he smashed my time by another six seconds. At least in both feats I was beat by a manual transmission, I hate getting beat by automatics.

As the club started to set up for the ten (TEN!) bands playing the “Corporate Retreat” and the P125 raffle scheduled for later in the evening, we loaded up the truck, gave a heartfelt thanks to our new friends Shawn, Jordan, and Jason of the Corporation, and headed east into the cornfields. Thanks again guys, we had a fantastic time!

Photos below, these and lots more on flickr.

[Show as slideshow]

2013: Scooter Sharing. Licensing and insurance issues would make this seem highly unlikely. Car-sharers in urban areas borrow cars to pick up groceries or other bulky parcels, or for short road trips with a group of friends. You can’t round up four friends and rent a scooter to visit IKEA. Also, despite Piaggio’s continued insistence that a 50cc scooter is a moped and doesn’t require a drivers license, most municipalities treat it as a full-fledged scooter, and even if a motorcycle license isn’t a necessity, certainly some training is. Most urban areas offer scooter and motorcyle rentals of some sort, only in a handful of resort communities does it seem like a lucrative business. I’d much rather see Paris’ Velib system installed in Chicago.

2014: Smartphone interface. This is perhaps Timoni’s most intriguing and realistic suggestion, and something we’ve thought about a lot. Is Piaggio perhaps working on this? With EFI standard on most motorcycles and scooters, it’s very technologically feasible, imagine snapping your iPhone into your headset and tracking performance and mileage all while using it as a GPS, music player, and intercom! The only issue would be the infinite variety of phone sizes and connections and the different varieties of software and data from different manufacturers. Even if Piaggio (for instance) was working on an app/mount for the iPhone, what happens when the iPhone design and software changes in six months? Still, this is a ridiculously great idea and can be implemented to some degree, even without standardized hardware or software. (Never mind the distracted rider using it).

2015: Gas tax doubles gas prices. First, HOPING for higher gas prices to sell scooters is a bit sick. Second, until the motorcycle industry starts funnelling more money into lobbyists and PACs than the oil industry, this is never going to happen. What’s MORE likely to happen is that the cost of gas slowly doubles on its own, without generating revenue for the government. And as in the past, it happens so gradually that we all just complain about it incrementally but never get outraged enough to reduce demand.

2016: Smaller Displacement/Electric outsells larger displacement. This one actually made me laugh out loud. This is America, people want hawgs. There’s a growing market for small and ecologically friendly bikes, but it’s not going to be the majority in five years. An e-Bike revolution very well may happen, but it’s going to be a whole new market segment, like the original Vespa, lovingly designed from scratch from the ground up, not a traditional scooter or motorcycles with an electric motor stuffed inside.

2017: Motorcycle travel incentives. This isn’t anything that couldn’t happen right now, and it wouldn’t shake the industry at all, unless maybe millions of dollars of advertising were put behind it. Plus, could booking travel really get that much easier than it is now? PAYING for it is the hard part!

2018: Improved motorcycle media. I’m with Timoni 100% on this one, the problem is that print magazines survive on ad revenue, which is based on hyping products. A better motorcycle magazine might appear any day, but it won’t last long without sucking up to the manufacturers. So it’s up to the manufacturers to stop hyping speed and artificial penises and go back to “You meet the nicest people on a Honda.” Most motorsports ads (even most of the ones in an arguably everyman-friendly publication like Scoot! Magazine) make typical consumers laugh out loud, they’d be even more out of place in a consumer magazine (which is where manufacturers SHOULD BE advertising). Such information does exist in a handful of great British magazines and (far more so, for free) on the internet, which is why dumb blogs like this are often more valuable resources than long-established print publications.

2019: Serious 3-and-4 wheeler growth. This seems so ludicrous, I wouldn’t even bother commenting, but recently seeing the MP4′s popularity in Paris brings it into the realm of possibility. Still, I don’t think the American market is particularly interested in three-wheelers, and I don’t see that changing. I could write for days about the MP3, so I’ll leave it at that.

I should say I really think Timoni is on the right track on a few of these, but he’s just totally unrealistic, maybe because he (and, it should be noted, his successor) is using the European industry as a model, or because he vastly overestimates the political and marketing clout of the American industry. I have no doubt we will see some huge and surprising changes over the next 25 years, but the future becomes predictable only via looking at history, and I don’t think Timoni (and maybe I’m being unfair to Timoni on all counts, perhaps we can blame his superiors in Italy) learned much from Piaggio’s 50-some years embracing and abandoning America, and it shows, both in Piaggio’s sales numbers and in these predictions.

(I’m just stealing all my links from Scooterism these days, you should follow Eric on Twitter (or RSS if you’re a Twitter hater). Or I should “hire” him.)