Stella, in the flesh

Last Friday, 2SB finally got a chance to see the Stella firsthand and talk to Colin Shattuck of Genuine Scooters. We even got some pictures [front view] [legshield] [back view] [front wheel] Saturday at Slaughterhouse.

According to Colin, this is a final prototype, with only a couple minor cosmetic changes to be made for production. As rumored, it is basically an Indian-made 2-stroke LML Star, which is a nearly exact copy of a Vespa P-series. The Genuine Stella has been upgraded with Indian-licensed Bitubo shocks and an Indian-licensed Grimeca front disk brake. To pass emissions, a large catalysed exhaust has been added. The exhaust mounts appear identical to a P-series, but as Colin points out, removing the exhaust would be a federal offense. To be honest, it’s a good-looking bike, nearly indistinguishable from a Vespa P-series. Clearly, Genuine went out of their way to appeal to classic scooter fans, with a good chunk of chrome bits and nice metal badges. Close up, the paintwork and castings look similar in quality to Bajaj. Competition drove Piaggio and Innocenti to constantly improve their products through the 50s and 60s, and 2SB is keeping our fingers crossed that Bajaj USA and Genuine can also both succeed and push each other to keep improving.