Oasis Triumph On The Block. Or Is It?


Journallive.co.uk is reporting of a sale of the Triumph Tina scooter used in photos for the Oasis interview CD “Be Somewhere Else Now”. The photo included in the story shows something close, but not quite exactly like one in a photo retrieved from an online sale of the CD in question. There is different letter placement and a horn in the ‘O’ on the bike pictured for auction. Who cares? Maybe someone buying for the purposes of provenance. I was just disappointed to find it wasn’t a Velocifero (see page 18/19).

Update 7/7/11:

The winner of the auction, Mark Watson, contacted us to explain:

I bought the Oasis Triumph at the Boldon auction. It came with various documents, including the certificate of authenticity. The letters on the fairing where put on the cd case using a computer. The actual stickers on the bike were put on later while the bike was displayed as an exhibit.

Ah, that all makes sense (and digital color adjustment would explain the color. Mark also explains the horn in the comments below.

Larry Crowne Electric Scooter, Photo.

As you may have noticed around scooter blogs, it’s Larry Crowne mania. You may recall the 2SB post about the Lambretta outfitted by Route 66 Scooters with an electronic conversion kit from Soundspeed Scooters. The person behind that kit is also behind the Fido electric scooter concept also reported on earlier. Now we have photographic evidence of the machine in action. The photo shows the clearly un-two stroke drive train. For some continuity, they even throw in a kick start lever! While I haven’t seen the film yet, I’ll likely check it out while it’s in first run. In the mean time, can anyone chime in with a description of how this scooter plays a role in the film? Is it really passed off as a stink wheel with a sound effect? Or is it embraced for the Lithium Ion powered machine that it is?

(photo from Zimbio)

Major Lambretta Parts Distro Merger

Besides the hot topic in the Facebook world asking Lambretta owners where they buy their goods, there was an announcement today of a merger between two of the major Lambretta outlets in America. Jet200.com and Casa Lambretta USA have merged and will soon be operating under the Jet200 name. The same services of both companies will continue as before. So don’t fret, DCD. The shop will still be serving you at it’s Mile High location, though it will now be a purely Innocenti snob shop, excluding Vespa work for the benefit of focusing on, to put it politely, those who need the most help. (My words, not theirs!) Hopefully this will benefit all involved and make owning a beautiful scooter all the more tolerable.

Ciao, Paris. Avec une Primavera

SIP-Scootershop posted this video on Facebook that makes vintage scootering en Paris look almost as cool as Bryan’s photos. It’s an advert for a scooter rental shop in Paris, called Ciao Paris. Modern Vespas are offered but the option of the tried and true smallframe makes this a unique opportunity. If only the Bedells had known, some clutch repair tips could have been forthcoming.

Scooter Art of Takashi Harako

I came across an image on the Ride The Machine blog that caught my eye. A Japanese scooterist and apparent Lambretta rider had made some wonderful commercial art for a place in Tokyo called Jungle Scooters. It looks like a neat shop and what’s more is that I’d really like to see where the Harako artwork ended up. Scroll down and check out a few examples. And someone email him and beg him to do more!

Pinasco Slider Clutch Innovation

This morning, the email inbox of many vintage Vespa aficionados contained a message from the Italian aftermarket scooter company Pinasco. The email describes something akin to reinventing the wheel but a bit more intriguing. The new offering from Andrea Pinasco is a replacement for the brass bushing found in the clutch of Largeframe Vespas (#30 in this diagram). The ersatzenbushing isn’t just another sleeve but rather a caged roller bearing. The company claims it will reduce problems in gear changes and fit worn clutches. One wonders if it will fit a non-worn clutch. Anyone have one of those? I’d be interested to see what gear changes are like with this bearing in conjunction with a a multi-spring clutch. It’s uncertain if this fits all models. If anyone knows if the same bushing is used in all of these clutches chime in.

Fremont Motors Electric Scooter Concept Show In Seattle

In the past I have posted a few items on the electric conversion offerings from Soundspeed Scooters in Seattle. Now the man behind those efforts, Jeb Gast, has designed a new electric scooter to be unveiled this Friday, March 4th at Motore Coffee in Seattle, WA. The party begins at 5:30 and the designer/builder will be on hand to show off his work and talk about the process and plans for the future.

The new venture is called Fremont Motors and the scooter has been named “Fido”. The goal was to make a new, clean design that would allow user access for maintenance, but simple enough to minimize the need. Jeb has shared some preliminary ideas and specifications that sound exciting. He’s promised to send photos of the event but if anyone from the gray, damp city can attend, please take some snaps and send them to brookespeed at that google email service.

Fido Release Party
Friday, March 4th, 5:30pm
Motore Coffee
1904 9th Ave, Seattle

Scooters and Guns:
A Match Made Somewhere In Europe

The Ride The Machine blog, formerly known as The New Cafe Racer Society, posted this photo worth sharing. I think the views of scooters in the US would be very different if such applications were reality. But instead, I think something like this Vespa TAP that Steve from The Scooter Scoop posted about on Facebook would be more highly admired.

Via The Velobanjogent, another good site to watch.

Scooter Riding Thieves Thwarted By Nora Batty

On a cool Northampton afternoon a small pack of thieves armed with sledge hammers attack a jewelry store with their accomplices awaiting their bounty on get-away scooters. Enter a fine citizen with her shopping bag loaded with what must have been bricks. The woman, seen in the video, charges down the street and scares off the criminals who clumsily try to make tracks. During their exit one of the gang was knocked off their scooter and was able to be pinned down until police arrived. Video shows that the rider who didn’t get a way was riding a Vespa LXV. A sad end for a fine scooter. The hero of the day remained un-named by news reports. Modesty prevails.

The New York Post report

Another Disc Brake Option For Classic Vespas

Sam from The Scooter Republic wrote to tell me about a new disc brake they have available for Sprint style front ends. I wrote about their smallframe disc brake back in May of 2009. Now they have an alternative to putting in a more modern P-series or PK-style front end to add modern front stopping power. Until now, the only option for adding a disc brake to this variety of Vespa front end was from Worb5 Scooter Parts in Germany. The TSR version claims anti-dive properties and the requirement for a small bracket to be welded to the fork tube. The part is not for the average Vespa rider, but looks like a nice addition to the scoot that otherwise has it all. Estimated price is 320 GBP and promises of photos of a fitted model were made and will be shared when we get them.

Isle Of Man Lambretta Racing c. 1970

This is a great video. You may want to turn up the brightness on the monitor but that may take away some of the appeal. The music is so good you’d think Mr. Illnoise had posted this. The event isn’t quite the closed-road TT, though the pilots just show their mettle by mixing it up with lorry traffic. Now you’ll excuse me while I go look for a petrol can in the carport.

Via the SIP Facebook page

LML Electric Scooter Revealed At EICMA

As posted earlier, LML Italia has promoted the arrival of an electric scooter. The German scooter shop SIP has delivered the goods with four snapshots of the literally green Star Electric. The scooter is an electric conversion of the popular LML Star (aka Genuine Stella). Electric conversions of largeframe Vespa scooters has been available as custom work from Soundspeed Scooters in Seattle. I’m betting a Stella Electric may come in at a similar price as the conversion plus an old project someone has never finished. We’ll wait and see. How much would you pay for an electric Stella?

Mods Surely To Find New Pride From Film, Brighton Rock

Mark from Minneapolis passed on to us this trailer for the film Brighton Rock and it’s pretty Mod-tastic with more mirrors than a…place with a lot of mirrors. It shows off a pack of Vespa and Lambretta scooters looking for trouble. Was the Tokyo Film Festival a do-not-miss for the jet-set international Modernist? A quick search turns up the basis for the film. The cast includes the hard-working Helen Mirren. But will it be better than Quadrophenia?

A Scooter Culture

This morning I was alerted by Facebook to a collection of photos from a trip to France posted on Flickr by April from Scoot Magazine. One photo in particular of a child on a very realistic modern scooter coin operated ride struck me as a significant demonstration how France has very different take on scooters than America. I found it interesting that while most American kids I’ve come across love scooters, on average they grow up to join a society that loves Harleys and freely uses the term ‘Crotch Rocket’. Maybe if we had a few more coin operated scooters outside Walmart, as a nation, we too could appreciate sensible personal transportation choices or riot in the streets when they cut benefits or raise the retirement age.