Too much racing for one headline

If you’re interested in scooter racing at all, read on! Simply put, there’s a big schload of scooter racing going on this summer, and that is awesome.

Our 2SB Rally Calendar should now be up to date with all events for the following organizations/leagues:

Are we missing anyone? (Probably!) See any errors? (blame Google Calendar!) In either case, please let us know!

You’ll see we’ve added a new series of events, following the success of Twist and Gone in May, the North American Scooter Racing Association is hosting a full season of drag races in Nashville, IN, sponsored by Scooterworks.

One last bad news/good news bit: MWSR’s organizer Seth tells us that the race this weekend at G&J Kartway in Camden, OH has been postponed, but the good news is the track will be open to scooters for only $10.

Kymco racer photo above is courtesy of Alan Spears, MSILSF

Ride to Amerivespa with Kymco

KymcoUSA (once again) seems to be more excited about Amerivespa than VespaUSA, they had the kinda-neat idea to plan a group ride from their South Carolina HQ down to San Antonio, Texas for Amerivespa (May 27 – 31, 2010). They’re even offering to pay for gas for anyone else that comes along. If you’re a Kymco fan, this sounds like a pretty neat opportunity to get some face time with Kymco. On top of that, it’s good to know Kymco’s sales and marketing folks actually ride scooters occasionally, unlike most other brands. Find more info in this ridiculously long Constant Comment link, because I couldn’t find anything about it on Kymco’s site. VespaUSA, likewise, has nothing about Amerivespa on their site, despite being the title sponsor. Even worse, Vespa has not posted any news on their site since December. I don’t expect these guys to be blogging daily, frankly, no one would read it, but when you take the time and effort to plan an event or promotion, put it on your site, if for no other reason than to make it clear you’re still in business! I take all that back, see below, sorry.

Testing your Loyalty?

I know Vespa rudely scheduled their dealer meeting in California the same weekend as Genuine’s dealer retreat in Wisconsin a couple years ago, but it doesn’t seem sporting to schedule the grand opening of the redesigned Scooterworks Chicago space the same day as Motowork’s North Avenue shop opening. I’m not sure who called dibs on the date first, but if I can’t go to both, I’m not going to either. Even if one of them books Jay Leno.

“Live Like an Indy Car Driver” with Kymco

KYMCO is sponsoring the IZOD Indy Car Series again this year, so they’re running a Live Like an Indy Car Driver contest. Grand Prize is a KYMCO 4-wheeler, but with luck, you can win the two runner-up prizes: KYMCO Super-8 scooters signed by IRL racer Ryan Hunter-Reay. Pick up an entry coupon at any KYMCO dealer.

Aside from the Memorial Day limelight, would life really be that great to be an Indy Car driver? I’d imagine it’d be a lot of carefully-budgeted interstate travel, groveling for sponsors, and squeezing performance out of an underfunded car and crew, I dunno, it sounds like the pits, no pun intended. I’ll take graphic design over IRL racing any day. Maybe I’m biased from my uniquely shitty experience at Indianapolis Motor Speedway a couple years ago, and IRL would be loads better than NASCAR, that’s for sure.

Take the Kymco

Toronto’s Kymco dealer ran transit ads on Toronto’s TTC system imploring riders to “Take The Kymco,” (TTK). A clever idea, too bad they flagrantly copied the TTC trademark and TTC removed the ads. Whatever your feelings about scooters’ impact on ecological, economical, and traffic impact, public transportation is surely better, but that said, public transportation riders are probably a wise target market for scooter dealers!

Kymco Yager GT200i: POCphil’s review

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POC Phil from Pride Of Cleveland Scooters test rode the new Kymco Yager GT 200i, here’s his report…

Let’s get the obvious stuff out of the way first.

“Yager GT200i?” Who names these things? Didn’t Vespa recently have a GT200? They should have chosen RT or ST… GT is a Vespa call sign. “Yager?” Spellcheck please: “Jäger,” yep, that’s what I thought, the German word for “Hunter.” Not an entirely bad name for a scooter. The downside: as an homage to the Sym-Phony 125, they printed the word Yager on the side but they stylized the Letter “A” as to include the left arm of the “Y,” so now it looks like it’s an “Ager GT200i.” I’m aging fast enough on my own, no help needed thanks.
Continue reading “Kymco Yager GT200i: POCphil’s review”

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.

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”

Like Kymco?

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Another likely winner from EICMA: The new Kymco Like 125 and 50. 12″ wheels, free matched topbox, spacious floorboards, front-and-rear discs, and it looks like a cross between a Vespa LX and a Yamaha C3. What’s not to “Like?” Some of Kymco’s recent Chinese-import bikes are a bit disappointing compared to the quality of their Taiwan-made product, hopefully the Like reminds us why we like Kymco. If you’re not counting, that was four “Like” puns. This bike is due out in mid-2009, no word on U.S. availability.