“What Goes Through A Biker’s Head”

Everyone and his mom is linking to a pretty dumb Jalopnik “story” about a confrontation between a motorcyclist and a car. I hate to even link it again, I generally enjoy Jalopnik, and this story has its funny moments, but it’s totally off the mark and irresponsible as a commentary on safe riding, and I hate to think any of my riding friends actually emphasize with this wound-up, entitled jagbag.
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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!

Vegas High Rollers Gallery 2012

If 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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MP3, Piaggio Lineup, and Vespa Colors Slashed

A Piaggio/Vespa dealer has told 2strokebuzz that a new 2Q 2012 dealer order form from PiaggioUSA has eliminated a large share of the Piaggio product line from the U.S. market, most notably the full range of MP3s.

According to our source, The Piaggio MP3 250, 400, and 500cc three-wheelers are no longer available to dealers, and the promised MP3 Yourban 300 will not replace them, let alone the endlessly-hyped hybrid that Jay Leno promised dealers in 2008. It appears Piaggio is totally abandoning the MP3 in the United States.

(UPDATE: Other evidence suggests the MP3 Yourban will be available in the U.S. later this year, probably with 350cc displacement. see comments.)

The BV lineup, previously available in 250, 300, and 500cc displacements, is now limited to the new 350 model in black or silver only.

The Vespa line is being desaturated in a more literal way, with a far smaller color palette. The Vespa GTS/Super 300i is no longer available in red, and the Vespa 150 LX S loses its red, orange, and two-tone versions, it will now be available only in Black or Titanium.
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Scootmoto Update

I’m going to shut down our sister shop, Scootmoto for a while and start from scratch, probably integrating it into the 2strokebuzz main site. The shopping cart software was junk to begin with (expensive junk at that) and a couple years later, it’s almost unuseable.

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.

BMW Scooters: Lost in America?

I haven’t talked about the new BMW scooters much here, mainly because I’ve always felt once you hit 350cc or so, there’s not much difference between a scooter and a motorcycle, aside from an automatic transmission.
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Not So Innocenti…

Our first Britney Spears-inspired headline heralds the (maybe? sorta?) return of famed Lambretta maker Innocenti in a story that hasn’t garnered any media coverage, but once we blow it out of proportion here, it may send a few Austrian IP attorneys into a tizzy.
Jeb (of FIDO fame) spotted an interesting badge on the electric car shown at 4:28 in this video collage of electric vehicle photos from EICMA:
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Slaughterhouse 17 Gallery

Well, it’s been a couple weeks since Slaughterhouse and I’ve just about caught up on sleep.
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Lambretta LN 125 “Il Arrive”

Scooter Infos (Pictures) and Scooter Station report the new Lambretta LN 125 was unveiled in Paris this morning, and will be on sale in France in August. They confirm it’s built by SYM (with a SYM Fiddle engine and some Italian parts) which is good news, quality-wise, but probably bad news, U.S.-distribution-wise. The European distributor is Mooof in Belgium.

The design is as good as could be hoped for, it’s pretty swoonworthy, to be honest. Let’s hope the quality and service are there to back up the looks, especially for a 125cc bike priced at US$5345. (Note: that’s the EU price converted to dollars, there always seems to be a substantial markup for the U.S. market.)

Larry Crowne, Scooterist

The motorscooter has appeared in countless films, whether as a star player or as a background prop, and many an internet thread or 2am campfire conversation has been dedicated to cataloging the history of scooters in movies. Only a handful of films, and even fewer major-release commercial ones, have given as much attention to our favorite mode of transportation as the new Tom Hanks film Larry Crowne. Seeing that the marketing team made an effort to target the movie to scooterists, through a marketing partnership with Genuine Scooters and outreach to scooter clubs and websites (including this one) around America, hopefully it’s worth reviewing Larry Crowne from the perspective of a longtime scooterist.
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Win a Larry Crowne prize package
from 2strokebuzz!

Tom Hanks’ film Larry Crowne opens nationwide on July 1, with earlier premieres in some cities (contact your local Genuine dealer for info). What with Hanks being a scooterist, and scooters being prominently featured in the flick, Universal was kind enough to offer a prize package for one lucky 2strokebuzz reader, including a Larry Crowne notebook, a t-shirt and a $25 gasoline gift card. To enter, all you have to do is post a comment below answering the following question: Read more

PVSC Band Camp 2011

Lucky for us, Heather was snapping away at Pittsburgh Vintage Scooter Club’s long-running “Band Camp.” We had a great time last year and were sad to miss it, but it looks like El Coucho and the usual jackassery were back in full force, with the nifty addition of a zipline and a wedding! Read more

Chicago Mods vs Rockers 2011

Ton Up Chicago’s 2011 Mods vs. Rockers rally was just one of several big scooter events over Fathers’ Day Weekend. 2SB couldn’t make it but our pal Jordan sent (a couple hundred) pictures, we narrowed his selection down to 60 (admittedly scooter-heavy) favorites. Read more

Get To Know “Larry Crowne”

If you haven’t heard the name “Larry Crowne” thrown around yet, you will soon. The Tom Hanks film comes out released July 1 (how many times will we see “…scoots into theaters?”) and features motorscooters more prominently than just about any film since Quadrophenia. I know 2strokebuzz readers consider themselves pretty “avant garde” and this is a big-budget mainstream film, but I’m willing to bet a good number of hipster scoooterists will make an exception to their “Julia Roberts rule” for this one.
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Hostile Takeover II

Choosing the (few) rallies I can attend these days tends to be a matter of finding a free weekend, and checking what’s going on. Sadly I missed Cincinnati and Niagara this year, and I know I can’t go to PVSC or Amerivespa, so when the opportunity to go to Hostile Takeover presented itself, I jumped at the chance. Rarely would I be so excited about visiting Des Moines, IA, but when I think of the fun I’ve had in rural Ontario and Ohio, Moline, IL, and even Vegas (I’m not a fan), I knew Des Moines had a lot of potential.
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