Category: Books & Magazines

Spider Man and more scooter comics

Eric tweets that the new issue of Amazing Spider-Man (#602) features Mary Jane on a Lambretta. Is that computer-generated art or a gouache painting? And why is Mary Jane so huge? I avoid comic book stores because I’ve chosen to waste all my disposable income on scooters and records, but I might have to pick that up.

Eric runs Modern Buddy, and even if you hate Twitter, follow his “Scooterism” on RSS, it’s always great stuff.

Speaking of comics, Eric (OTHER Eric) at Chicago Scooter Club recently posted a roundup of scooter comics, including Chynna Clugston-Major’s “Blue Monday” and “Scooter Girl” series and a new “Mods and Rockers” comic. And don’t forget Ed Brubaker’s Deadenders and The Originals by Dave Gibbons of Watchmen fame.

Vespa Vintage 2009 catalog

Piaggio’s latest Vespa Vintage catalog is available online. The PDF download doesn’t seem to work, but you can peruse it in Flash. The first “Vespa Vintage” catalog came out around the same time Piaggio returned to the U.S., and sent many Vespaphiles running to their local VVRS (remember those?) expecting to find some of the lovingly depicted reproductions of rare bits actually in stock. The new catalog (have there been any in between? Is this a once-a-decade thing?) seems a little less, well, imaginary, and VespaUSA’s parts department has improved (a bit) since 2000, so now’s your chance to score that Piaggio-approved GS spare tire gas tank.

What’s your zip code?

Help out Mau Spencer of Classic Scooterist Scene. Mau’s looking to supply his distributor with a list of cities and zip codes with a high concentration of scooterists (especially vintage, I presume) Any suggestions? Just list “City, State, Zip(s),” e.g. “Chicago, IL 60707 60642, 60622, 60647, 60657.” I’ll compile the list and pass it on to him, but I’m also curious to see for myself.

Smallpressapalooza

2SB pal and publisher of the Bumpstart zine, Karen Giezyng, will read tonight at Powell’s Books Smallpressapalooza in Portland, OR. The event starts at 5pm, she’s scheduled to read at 7:15pm. Issue 2 of Bumpstart will hopefully go on sale tonight at Scootmoto, if my internet at home is fixed (it’s been out for a week, sorry about the lack of posts and followup on the TGB story). Issue 1 is back in stock, too, both are great.

UPDATE Bumpstart #2 is now available at Scootmoto!

Haynes’ “Chinese scooter” book

Scooter-Station notes that Haynes has released one of their famous service manuals targeted to Chinese/Taiwanese/Korean scooters. Probably handy, but it can’t be too specific, even though half the scooters made in Asia are Yamaha Vino knockoffs, there’s a lot of variety there, too, and surely a wide variety of tolerances and torques and such, which is where the Haynes manuals usually shine. Still, knowledge is power, and even if it just covers GY6-style engines in depth, it’d be useful.

Scooter books for the holidays

Sorry for the lack of posts, we’ve had an eventful couple weeks, both good and bad, and we’ll catch up soon, but in the meantime, here’s a post from last year about great scooter book gifts. I’ll write a new post about books that came out this year, but this should give you a headstart on your Christmas shopping:
Continue reading “Scooter books for the holidays”

FabMap Buddy giveaway

RandMcNally has been spamming all over the scooter community, but they’ve got an interesting idea and a great offer: They’re giving away a Genuine 50cc Buddy to promote their new FabMaps, maps printed on fabric that can just be wadded up and jammed in a bag, or used to clean your helmet visor or sunglasses, or to hold a hot sparkplug, or whatever else scooterists do with rags (badump bump!) Even better, the FabMaps are on sale for $2 with free shipping, I just ordered a few, the drawback seems to be that they’re limited to the trendy/touristy neighborhoods of trendier cities (Chicago, for instance featured Lakeview and the Magnificent Mile) but still, $2 is a good deal and if they’re not good maps, they’re hopefully good shop towels, or vice versa. Full review when we get ’em.

Talking ‘Zines: Jeff Lillie’s PDX Scooter Rider

(2sb welcomes Karen Giezyng of Bumpstart magazine talking to Jeff Lillie about his seminal and beloved ’90s zine, PDX Scooter Rider:)

PDX Scooter Rider #3The Pacific Northwest is known for a lot of things, but many of you might not be aware of the region’s rich scooter ‘zine history. During the ‘zine explosion of the ’90s there were three different scooter ‘zines in publication. The Vespa Club of Canada published the region’s first scooter ‘zine, The Indicator in 1992. A few years later, in 1995, Jeff Lillie created PDX Scooter Rider. Susan Goodwin and Danean Mauer followed suit with the rollicking, P-Town Uncensored from 1999-2002 and from 2006-2008, I did Kickstart. (Karen’s new ‘zine, Bumpstart, is available now at Scootmoto.)

I recently chatted with the creator of PDX Scooter Rider, Jeff Lillie about his ‘zine and what it was like being a part of the scooter community back then.
Continue reading “Talking ‘Zines: Jeff Lillie’s PDX Scooter Rider”

Scootmoto stocks up

Less Gas, Less Space, Less is MoreScootmoto, 2strokebuzz’ capitalist sister site, has just introduced a whole slew of new products including three of Robotribe’s popular t-shirts in mens’ and womens’ styles, Karen Giezyng and Steve Talley ‘s great new Bumpstart* scooter ‘zine, emergency preparedness gear from the Scooter Patrol for Annihilation of Zombies, and back issues of the Vespa Club of America’s American Scooterist. More good stuff is on the way, and Scootmoto is always looking for more great DIY scooter apparel, gifts, memorabilia, and such.

UPDATE: We’ve also added Field Notes, great, rugged, vintage-style pocket notebooks perfect for mileage tracking, travel journals, technical notes, or other roadside ramblings.

*More about Bumpstart tomorrow!