Honda Elite Returns for 2010

It’s Honda News day: The venerable Honda Elite will return for 2010, but in name only, it appears to be a rebadged Honda Lead 110. I never thought I’d be saying this, but as out-of-date as the original Elite design was, it’s 25 years old and thus ripe for nostalgia. As Eric points out at Modern Buddy (thanks for the tip, Eric!), the least they could do is give it a pop-up headlight. Devo has a new album coming out and Lou Reed’s playing Lollapalooza this year. Grace Jones, Adam Ant, and Jim McMahon aren’t too busy lately, let’s get the old gang together!

Honda: SH150i to U.S. for 2010

It’s not the 300i, but it’s still one of the most popular and in-demand scooters in Europe: Honda has announced their SH150i will be available in the U.S. for 2010. Maybe too little too late to really capitalize on whatever’s left of the scooter boom but still great news for medium-displacement big-wheel fans. (Scooped once again by Guzmán at the ‘Scoop.)

Chuck Mead’s scooterrific new video (is back!)

This might be the most scooterific video ever, and would you believe it’s a country song? Check out the new video from BR-549 frontman Chuck Mead: “I Wish It Was Friday,” featuring a Honda Cub, Vespas new and old, Genuine Buddys*, and more, plus lots of footage from East Side Scooters in Nashville.

As far as country songs about weekends, It’s hard to beat Robbie Fulks,’ but Robbie, sadly, doesn’t have a video full of scooters. I wandered into a BR-549 show at Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge several years ago, and that alone made Nashville my favorite city south of the Ohio and east of the Mississipi. (Thanks to Louie from Modern Vespa for the link!)

UPDATE: It’s back on YouTube!, thanks to KymCoJones for his behind the scenes videos and keeping us up to date on the progress).

* “Buddies” just never looks right in print.

Originally posted 2/15/09, updated on 2/25/09 when video was re-posted on YouTube

Dealer Expo 2009, Part I: Overview

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Every February, powersports dealers from around the nation descend on grey, shivery, boring Indianapolis to see what’s new in the industry. It’s a chance for manufacturers, importers, and distributors to wine and dine their dealers and hopefully round up some orders for the upcoming riding season. This was our third year at DealerExpo, though it was our first with actual 2strokebuzz press passes. Continue reading “Dealer Expo 2009, Part I: Overview”

The “new Silverwing” is… a Silverwing

EICMA opens today, and the big story was how Honda was going to unveil a new scooter, a replacement for the Silverwing that would put the Yamaha T-Max to shame. The suspense is over, it’s a new 400cc Silverwing. It’s sportier and has some cool features, but I can’t deal with French right now because something more interesting just came up on the 2sb news desk… (and 2sb correspondent Bradford Duval is live in Milan, hopefully we’ll hear from him soon…)

The “T-Max Killer?”

Honda is promising to unveil a mind-blowing Silverwing replacement at EICMA that will knock the socks off potential T-Max buyers. Scooter Station thinks it’s based on this concept from a couple years back. I can guarantee it won’t be that crazy-looking, but they’ve piqued my interest. Also: aren’t high-powered touring scooters supposed to have comfy seats and passenger/storage space? I can see a market for big-displacement sports scooters, but it’s not replacing the Silverwing market.

RIP, Reg Dunlop

Reg Dunlop on a Honda Elite A sad farewell to hockey player/coach, pool hustler, old-west outlaw, parking-meter scofflaw, philanthropist, motorsports fan and team owner, and scooterist, Paul Newman. On top of all that, he made the best damn pretzel sticks known to mankind, and I’m not being glib. He was a great actor, and a great human being.

With all his superlative accomplishments in film, “Slap Shot” might not have been his most critically acclaimed movie, but what other film is so crass, funny, and ridiculous while being so well-acted, gritty and poignant? Hard times demand comedy, do yourself a favor and watch it soon.