Month: June 2006

Organized Drag Racing
at Scooter Weekend Meinerzhagen

A sign of scooter rallies to come in the U.S.?  I could only hope.  Also, I could only hope to not stick out like the creepy old guy hanging out near the playground.

From the Scooter Center scootermatic news letter:

The Whitsun bank holiday weekend is over and so is a superlative Scooter weekend! Despite of two accidents on Saturday morning it was a great weekend with lots of joy for everyone – custom scoots, racing, sprinting and meeting great people! Thanks a lot goes to our customer MCE Sport Matthiesen for the invitation as well as for the properly organised Run. We are looking forward to next year Whitsun – a day off and awesome good scooter meeting!!! What else one can want!?

 Small, grainy, but none the less interesting photos here.

2sb World Cup Contest!

I’ve really dropped the ball on World Cup coverage this year, so rather than try to catch up, I’m going to refer you to John O’Neill’s commentary at 146 Degrees, and throw in a few of my own comments here once in a while. Cy’s putting down £5 on Croatia for me, so if they win, I’m going to England to pick up my money (and then use it to pay for my plane ticket home). If England does well, I imagine we’ll hear from Cy as well. One more note: I’m not bothering with “spoiler alerts” this year, the matches are on at decent hours, if you don’t watch it live, just stay off the internet until you know the score.

Just to keep it interesting for 2sb readers, let’s play a game… Pick a country (while they last) in the comments… first person to call dibs gets that country. (I get Croatia, Cy gets England). I’ll post a list of which reader is representing which country, and the winner will get a cool prize from 2strokebuzz. Ready? GO! Be careful not to pick a country that’s already been picked.

Vespa Chicago reopens in Roselle

2sb reader, Wezul, reports:

I just spoke with Sam [Tomaino]. Vespa Chicago has relocated to Roselle on Lake Street. Phone number is (630) 936-7980. Helpful? I hope so. Enjoy your ride!

Thanks, Wezul! Vespa Chicago‘s website has removed all references to West Suburban Auto Group, and lists only the Boutique address (557 W Diversey Pkwy.) so apparently, Tomaino has parted ways with WSAG but kept his Vespa dealership. Presumably, the boutique will stay open, with service and sales support from the Roselle location. We reported last month that Joliet-based MotoplexUSA and their Chicago location, Old Town Motocycle Shoppe, were to become Vespa dealers, but they have yet to return our emails to confirm or deny the rumor. It’s unclear whether that deal was Tomaino’s backup plan, or if Chicago may yet still have two Vespa franchises.

Field-Tested Absolute Beginners

I wrote a review of my favorite marginally-scooter-related book, Colin MacInnes’ Absolute Beginners, for Coudal Partners’ Field-Tested Books feature, in which famous-ish writers (like me, ha) write reviews of books related to their summer vacation. The good news is, it’s finally back in print, if you’ve never read the book, forget you ever saw the movie and read it! (it’s part of The London Trilogy, which costs $1 more than Absolute Beginners by itself.)

The Wall Street Journal on Piaggio’s “comeback”

After starting out with the obligatory (Jesus, make them stop) “Audrey Hepburn lead,” yesterday’s Wall Street Journal story (syndicated here because the WSJ won’t share) about Piaggio’s “comeback” goes on to say:

[In] 2003, the company, based outside of Pisa, found itself in such dire straits that it teetered on the brink of default. Years of revolving-door management and millions of euros squandered on ill-conceived expansion plans had saddled Piaggio with crushing debts and left it vulnerable to competition from cheaper Asian rivals.

The Journal credits Roberto Colaninno and his staff with turning the company around, and they are making progress. Piaggio’s back in the black, but many of the very changes the WSJ praises are the same actions that caused trouble in the past. How are these new Chinese joint ventures less risky than the ones that fell apart ten years ago? How is the current Asian competition less of a threat? Why is the purchase of Aprilia and Moto Guzzi any more promising than the other dozen mergers and acquisitions Piaggio’s fumbled before? Is Piaggio really leading an Italian manufacturing revival, or are they assembling mostly Asian-made components on an Italian assembly line? Does Piaggio finally have their act together, or are they just riding a lucky wave of nostalgia and high gas prices?

It’s certainly a bit of both. The management, both in the U.S. and worldwide offices, seems to be more focused and Piaggio definitely remains a worldwide technology (and style) leader. Their public offering, even though it’s likely to be delayed, will help stabilize the company, too. Still, they can’t let their guard down, the scooter industry is never smooth sailing, especially in Italy and the United States. Colaninno has been quoted several times lately calling North America Piaggio’s most critical growth market. U.S. sales, support, and supply have improved in the past year, but if they’re serious about conquering the U.S., there’s still a lot more work to do.

Buddies are Go!

POCbuddy2The new Buddy 125 (the US-market version of the PGO Bubu) has arrived at most Genuine Scooter dealers. Phil from Pride of Cleveland Scooters took this photo (click to enlarge) on the interstate today and says:

it’s about 19 miles from my house to the shop when you take the freeway. It’s about 12 Miles of actual 65+ mph traffic. It wasn’t passing anything but the folks in the right lane, but it did do it and with only a handful of miles on the odometer and a long way from being broken in.

(Note that in most states, 125cc scooters are not permitted on the interstate, nor is it a good idea to take a photo from a scooter travelling at interstate speed). The speedo is likely exaggerating quite a bit, but we’ve heard from test-riders that they’re suprisingly fast, and “look cooler in person.” They’re also smaller than most 125cc scooters (Phil calls it “a 125 in a 50cc frame”), so if you’re perhaps slight-of-build and looking for a small-but-fast scooter, the Buddy is worth checking out, especially at $2500 MSRP. If it’s not your bag, the 50cc Buddy and the 50cc Black Cat are coming soon, and Genuine is likely to add new models later this summer.

SHXII is on, needs your help

Screw City Scooter Club will continue the Slaughterhouse Rally tradition this Labor Day weekend with Slaughterhouse XII. There’s a planning meeting tomorrow (Tuesday 6/6/06) at 8pm at the Cobra Lounge, 235 N. Ashland Ave. Stick around to hear the cheery melodic tones of Cealed Kasket, Soul Collector, and Crunch the Clown (Can you tell Kathy planned the meeting?). Note: If you’re new to scootering, nothing can build up your scootering street cred like helping to plan Slaughterhouse.

Super-cheap Michelins

Scott Baxter noticed that Motorcycle Superstore has Michelin scooter tires at ridiculously low prices: Our favorite tires, the S83 and the S1 (usually $40 and $50) are $10 and $12, respectively. Stock up! Nevermind, they’re rejecting orders and saying it was a “pricing error.” Whatever. The truth is that some jerky blog posted about it and they couldn’t keep up with demand.

Rahul Bajaj backed for Indian government seat.

Rahul BajajDNA – India reports that Rajul Bajaj has been backed by a coalition of parties for a vacant seat on the Rajya Sabha, the upper legislative house of the Indian government (roughly parallel to the U.S. Senate). Rahul Bajaj is the grandson of Jamnalal Bajaj, a close friend of Ghandi who was active in the fight for Indian independence. Jamnalal Bajaj founded the Bajaj group of companies in the ’30s. Rahul Bajaj became CEO of Bajaj in 1968, passing the title to his son Rajiv in April 2004. Rahul was ranked the 20th richest person in India in 2005, even after the Bajaj empire was split between Rahul and his brother Shishir Bajaj.