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New Tools Save Nuts, Destroy Lucrative Used Nut Market
April 17, 2012
I have been hoarding good condition used castellated nuts that retain the rear hub bearing on Vespas. I figured they won’t be made forever and every year many are destroyed forever with a hammer and a large screwdriver. This cache was part of my retirement strategy. Now Scooters Originali is offering a handsome tool that may dash my hopes of indoor plumbing throughout my golden years. At 59.99 it’s not cheap. But if you work on Vespa engines on a regular basis or know that you could be the star of your local club for having one to loan it’s not a bad price at all.
I now have two questions:
1) Are these nuts reverse threaded?
2) Will this increase or decrease the value of my stash of 6204 bearings?
A nod to Pistol Pete from Piston Ported for the nudge to spread the word.
Vintagelectric: A Split Mind For A Modern World
March 15, 2012
Good design is timeless. Even though some talentless hacks think that the creator of the Fido electric scooter is a bit ‘hung up on vintage scooters’, I think this electric conversion kit for Vespa Smallframe scooters is the best choice for someone wanting an scooter that doesn’t have a carbon footprint (at least not anywhere near your back yard!).
Jeb has put together a kit that has all the speed with less of the range. Now it’s not cost effective in terms of being all inclusive or as cheap as a competitive performing scooter. But there isn’t design on the market that can rival a PK in terms of ergonomics or a Primavera in terms of aesthetic. None.
Wanting a retro design isn’t something that’s dated in itself. The drive for anything NEW is what fuels our disposable society. There is no shame in saying someone got it right 40 years ago and no one has done better since. You’re likely not in that contest so don’t worry about looking bad.
Bikini Buddies
March 15, 2012
You can’t buy publicity like this, but if you could, you’d be sure they cited the right brand of scooter in the caption. Between this photo, gas price paranoia, and the weather, I bet it’s been a busy coupl’a days at Genuine dealers nationwide.
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Even More Lambretta Elitism
March 11, 2012
The 2012 Lambretta Jamboree put on by the Lambretta Club USA will be held in lovely Colorado Springs, Colorado this summer, just one week after Amerivespa. While Amerivespa is open to any type of scooter and has even been sponsored by the likes of Kymco in the past, the Lambretta Jamboree is 100% vintage – 100% Lambretta. You have an all original 1963 Vespa GS160? Well that’s cute but you aren’t getting in the LamJam with it. 2SB will be reporting at both rallies.
Vespa/Lambretta Cable Lengths
March 11, 2012
One of the most super-helpful pages on the internet, SCOMO’s table of vintage scooter cable lengths.. Most cables you buy these days aren’t the right length, Confirming and adjusting the lengths can save big headaches and make your scooter work more smoothly.
Watch The Evolution Of German Badness
February 21, 2012
No, I will not be recapitulating Godwin’s Law. But instead I will offer forth this pictorial display of complete bad-ass-a-licious-ness that is the process of turning a raw smallframe project into a sweet custom ‘racer’.
For Scooter Center’s 20th anniversary, GP One Tuning has participated in the build of a celebratory machine. You may know this Austrian tuning house for their CNC engine cases. Look them up on Facebook and they have plenty of eye candy in their galleries (as well as being where I picked up the main link).
I would criticize the use of the larger than 10″ wheels. That’s normally a deal-breaker for me. But overall this is shaping up to be a scoot that’s jam packed with goodies. Check back on the GP One or SCK sites for updates. They already have progress from that first raw material page.
Scooter Examiner at Dealer Expo
February 18, 2012
Despite Dealer Expo’s best efforts to actually invite 2strokebuzz (after years of sneaking in as “POC employee” “Michelle Rodriguez”) we couldn’t make it this year. If they’re courting us, you know attendance is down, but there are still things to see, and Ron “Detroit Scooter Examiner” Arnold is at the show posting daily roundups. He’s a little disappointed that the indoor electric motorcycle demo area was cancelled, but he did get to see the Genuine Psycho and the new 2-tone Stellas.
They Forge The Chains They Wear In Life
February 16, 2012
Forgive me, Charles Dickens. But finding a witty title is a deadly game of one-upsmanship here in the 2StrokeBuzz boiler room.
Motoblog.it shared a video they came across showing some industrious Italians making their Honda SH150 a bit more adherent to the road. That is, at least the rear wheel.
Much of the country has experience a strange winter this season. But I’m sure someone, somewhere, could have used these tidily assembled chains to be a hardcore commuter.
Vespa Sprint Desk
February 15, 2012
Like you, I’ve seen that neato red Vespa Sprint desk all over the web for a couple months now, but unlike you, I just now finally got around to reading the actual blog post. Well done, but not something I’d want to sit on for eight hours a day, ha.
Lambretta Elitism Extends to New Levels
at Jet 200
February 14, 2012
Once again I’m drinking alone and reading Facebook. I just read about the new service offered by Jet 200 to re-magnetize Lambretta flywheels. I inquired if it was open to Vespa flywheel re-magnetization. The reply of ‘no’ was soon delivered. So I guess if you are one of the ‘cool kids’ with a Lambretta you are set for getting back good spark and bright lights before the next season starts. If not, you’ll have to rely on Motorsport Scooters (aka ScooterWest). How about everyone get on this before Memorial Day weekend when you call your buddy who’s a crack scooter wrench to try and get your scooter running for the first time in 8 months. It’ll probably help.
Any other scooter shops out there have one of these magic magnetizers?
Ahhwwwwoooooooo?
February 14, 2012
Well, so much for any chance of the SYM Wolf being marketed properly. Ugh. UUUGH. Never thought I’d say this, but Carter Brothers coulda done better. (via Eric, who’s now writing for our new competitor but I’m going to steal his tweets anyway.)
Put on a Trojan
February 7, 2012
Jen points out that Heritage Helmets now offers Trojan Records helmets to go along with their Consortium-approved Lambretta helmets. They even offer one with both Trojan and Lambretta logos, which is kind of surreal. Beautiful stuff, but, once again, they totally forgot the part that covers your chin and face. If you can afford an extra helmet for parades and photo shoots, pony up!
“The Lambretta is back…”
February 1, 2012
…so says lambrettaweb.com (via scooter-infos.) Sorry to get your hopes up, ha. I’ve stopped guessing (and caring) which of the dozen fighting parties is behind which models or which hype, or if any of it will ever see the light of day, but maybe you’re still holding out hope that something good will come of all this.
Bamako By Vespa
January 22, 2012
Three Norwegians are taking part in an overland rally event called Budapest-Bamako on Vespa scooters. The rally is described as a poor-man’s Dakar and is not unlike the early days of the most famous desert rally, now run in South America for security reasons. The trio are just taking part in the African leg of the journey ending in Guinea Bissau (Yes, I just linked to the CIA World FactBook. Just want to remind people that there is information on the interwebs other than on Wikipedia!), but still no easy task as it appears to be the most challenging part. Their web site and their facebook page detail their progress and challenges. When you think making a trip across a few States in the US for Amerivespa is going to be too difficult, read up here an get motivated to put your big boy pants on and ride.
New Series I-esqe Lambretta Design
January 21, 2012
Scootermercato shared an Italian language article about a new Lambretta design. I like the color and the headlight has been moved to the front of the leg-shield. The angle of the headset and light position likely taunt those passionate Lambrettisti who adore the the first series of LI model scooters that followed the LD with enclosed bodywork. The photo looks great because the scale would be perfect if those would be 10″ wheels. But they are 12″ and if placed alongside other models it’s lack of proper proportion would be more apparent.
If you are interested in the Lambretta Saga, check out the Lambretta.com site. It is now mostly a posting of legal actions the supposed true copyright holders are taking against everyone involved in anything tangentially related. Tartarini the younger designed this new bike. They should have just done these bikes under a name of a different Lombardy river or maybe just the Italjet founder surname.
