Author: illnoise

I’ll take a break from Piaggio-bashing just long enough to pick on Genuine Scooters. From a letter to dealers encouraging them to invite Stella owners on a lunch ride, a wonderful idea, with otherwise reasonable stipulations:

…You have to send a digital photo of your gathering with all those happy riders. It must come with a photo of your local newspaper’s front page so we can see the date. This is just to discourage creative photo-shop experts!!!…

I’d think the restaurant receipt would have the date on it, but allright. I’m gonna go to Scooterworks ride just to see how they get a digital photo of a couple dozen people with a legible date on the Sun Times.

Bajaj is planning to sell two- and three-wheeler kits to the Saigol family of Pakistan, to be assembled in Pakistani factories for the domesic market. Three side notes:

• The story says Bajaj is “[India’s] second-largest two-wheeler maker.” Did I miss something, I thought they were by far the largest?
• The story adds new Indian counting vocabulary to the 2sb glossary; “lakh,” which means 100,000, not to be confused with “crore” which is 10 million.
• The story also asserts that “Pakistan does not have any indigenous vehicle brand,” but we happen to know it’s home to the Sitara City Cart.

Most people could tell within seconds that Vespa’s Cool Brandleaders award was just a contrived public relations backrub, but Paul Smith and several other British brands spoke out against the “awards” last week, announcing that they’d refused to pay the organziers £6,250 to appear on the list after being notified they’d won awards.

Dunno who Halo Labs is, or if they have anything to do with motorcycle safety, but they have three “Demo Videos” of a motorcycle airbag vest that are fun to watch.

I heard from a prospective dealer that has seen the the new Lambretta prototype. He was unable to give me details, but he confirmed that it’s pretty much what we’ve been hearing/guessing, (Tube frame, bodywork based on Lambretta Laboratory’s series IV, honkin’ 250cc Piaggio engine) and it sounds pretty exciting. It’s still unclear if the body panels will be metal, carbon fiber, or fiberglass, or a combination. LambrettaUSA is currently talking to a limited number of dealers preparing for the launch.

“In 1988, photo-journalist Alberto Venzago crosses West Africa on an aged Vespa. It breaks down in the town of Ouidah, right in front of a Voodoo cloister. A man appears and offers to help. His name is Mahounon.
He is one of the most powerful Voodoo priests in Africa.”

Macca’s daughter rides a GT200. And that’s what passes for news in Wales.

This Is London rehashed the history of Vespa last week in honor of the scooter’s Cool BrandLeaders
Award.

Adding to charges that undercover NYC police used scooters (Piaggio BV200s!) recklessly to round up protesting bicyclists at the RNC convention in August, the New York Civil Liberties Union has criticized an undercover scooter cop’s helmet sticker reading “Loud Wives Lose Lives.” NYPD offered an apology and promised to get to the bottom of the matter, then later responded that the officer was “adopting a persona” to fit in (because the average maxiscooter rider wears a pudding bowl with biker slogans and a white polo shirt) and thanked the NYCLU for blowing his cover. Amazing.

Almost forgot: The Midwest’s Greasiest Hot Rod Show is Saturday at Grundy County Speedway in Morris, IL. Only pre-’65 scooters will be allowed into the competition area and judged, but all are welcome. A group of Chicago scooterists are meeting at 11am at the Krispy Kreme at I-55 and Harlem, and riding out 171 to Route 6 to 47 South. Since it’s a fairly long trip (55 miles), they ask that only scooters capable of 45mph+ join the ride.

This might be old news, but I just noticed it: Kudos to Geely for following TN’Gs game plan. Maybe your scooters are ho-hum Vino knockoffs and maybe you’re not so well regarded by the scooter community, but a well-organized site with parts sales, a discussion board, dealer info, and support goes a long way towards separating you from the faceless bastards selling scooters on street corners and at Pep Boys. Instant Karma may have already taken its toll, but hopefully if they stay on the high road, Geely will someday garner some actual respect.

Along the lines of LookAtMyScooter, the new site UK.ScooterZoom features nothing but scooter photos, and is searchable by make and model. It’s a great reference, especially if you all go post your own photos there right now. Thanks, Bill!

Durso tipped us off that tonight, Howl At The Moon (26 w. Hubbard) is giving away a Tn’g Venice. There’s no cover with scooter keys or helmet (Durso: “as opposed to a m/c helmet”). Forget the scooter, how often do you get to hang out with Durso and Markley at a tourist chain dueling piano bar?

Nordstrom’s even upitty-er boutique Fa?onnable is giving away two new Vespas of unspecified vintage and displacement, while E! Online is giving away a Vespa GT with a paint job trying to aproximate Jude Law’s Vespa SS from the current “reimagining” of ’60s Michael Caine classic Alfie. Why can’t they just make NEW movies? Michael Caine’s still alive, why not put HIM in a movie? Or just rerelease the old Alfie in theatres! How cheap would that be? Reissue the old, and make the new “new,” not “fake old.” The same advice goes for you, Vespa.

Also from Bill, and also from India: The worlds widest press release from Bajaj, something about Hoodibabaa. Make sense of it if you can. All I can figure out is that it costs about 4 crone rupees. Or is that .4 crone?