Author: illnoise

In response to the Chicago Parking Letter, Ryan sent this site listing Moped Laws by state. No idea how accurate or up-to-date it is, but it’s a nice quick reference.

Mototek/Butler Racing team members Van and Cathy Butler set three new production class speed records at Bonneville this season. (MPS-G 82.55mph, MPS-F 83.98mph and APS-G 84.36mph) Their next goal is breaking 100mph on their custom RS50s in race conditions. Landracing.com lists all motorcycle records for Bonneville. 2sb is setting its sights on beating NSU/Happy Mueller’s 1956 50cc record: 121.7mph.

This is a letter I sent to Chicago Chamber of Commerce President/CEO Gerald J. Roper. Matt Siegel informed us that Mr. Roper will soon be meeting with the regional sales manager for Aprilia Scooters and the Chief of the City of Chicago Department of Transportation. 2sb assumes Aprilia is investigating the matter as they plan their boutique at Marshall Fields.
Continue reading “Open Letter regarding Chicago Parking”

Anyone that’s ever been to a rally in the midwest knows and loves Chris Winters of Rockford IL. Chris is making his stand-up comedy debut Halloween night between bands at Club 505, 505 East State Street in Rockford. Egans Rats, a great band who played at the most recent Rockford rally, will also appear. Chris will do a few shows in Chicago and Madison soon, we’ll keep you posted. Please email Chris for booking info. Mr. Winters also tells us that Screw City SC will host a rally for his CD release party in April in addition to the annual Scooter Piracy rally in July. Be afraid.

Crain’s Chicago Business reports: “Continuing its mission to attract urban shoppers who have strayed from traditional department stores, Marshall Fieldis has opened a boutique selling Italian motor scooters on the ground level of its massive State Street flagship.” Thanks Phil Pace for the link. Coming soon, a Malaguti Boutique in NikeTown.

At the Scoot Quarterly bag-stuffing party on Monday, Barry and Casey announced that the current issue would be the last. I remember getting an email from them in 1997 or so asking for advice for their new scooter magazine. I wrote them back a short stupid note, then a couple weeks later I got a glossy sales kit from them, they were way ahead of me from the start. SQ had its detractors (and its flaws) but overall, it was a great magazine, the best magazine any of us could have hoped for, and it will be sorely missed, even if it somehow continues without Barry and Casey. NOTE! The post to the BBS was removed, it’s unclear to us what’s going on, this might be some sort of hoax or prankOe more to comeOe

Elliot Smith is dead. Calvin’s in the hospital. Incriminators, you keep an eye on Mac and we’ll protect Albini. Stranglers, you’re in charge of Lou Barlow. Someone track down Malkmus and Kim Deal. Agents, you need to make a road trip to Dayton, quick. Oh no! Kim and Thurston aren’t answering their phone! IT’S HAPPENING! RED ALERT!

In other ass news, a little Rye-bird tells us he’s heard rumors that the ultra-modern-looking Sachs MadAss moped might be coming to America. Not sure if they’ll be keeping the name, but I sure hope so. Here’s a nice big photo you can print out and frame.

My nearly-77-year-old father sent
this photo to Vina today. Normally I’d simply be disturbed that my dad is sending my wife porn, but since nearly every post this week has been about butts (sorry, Evel) it seemed to fit the theme. From what I can tell, it’s an ad for some sort of unholy Czech contest where you send in photos of naked amateur “Warsaw Pact-ion” chicks on bikes. How you use this information is up to you.

As referenced in the comments the other day, from Italy, via Baxter, dozens of great photos of Shitman’s scooter collection. The last couple photos on page three explain his name, I guess.

Scoot Free or Die has posted Malaguti USA president Joel Martin’s photos from the Milan show. You can tell they’re great scooters because scantily- and comically-dressed Eurotrash girls are rubbing all over them. Some interesting stuff, hopefully some of it makes it to the USA.

Fom Chad: Unveiled at the Milan show, the Aprilia Leonardo SR 500 DiTech. “…96mpg at 70mph! And it’ll meet the Euro 3 emission law…” Whooooa.

Joe Grant of NYC shot this great Super-8 movie at the Gotham Rally a couple months ago. (it’s on scoot.net, thanks to Cathy for pointing it out!) Joe’s starting a magazine for NYC scooterists, mostly focusing on twist-and-gos, it’s expected to debut in February.

I missed another hot Waxon Seven show last night. I guess Abe is a corazon negro now. Daaang! Chad: “I feel like a 17-year-old scantily clad girl whenever I see ’em.” They’re playing Kathy’s birthday party on November 1st at Memories (Montrose and Cicero) with another band called “Kathy Anderson’s Little Sister with Bob Barker’s Neutered Cat”. Look out.

From Jim-Bob: the most hilarious ebay auction since Ryan’s can of corn. “I was told this was a Harley-Davidson scooter. I donit know if this was some unusual manufacturer collaboration, or if some individual just customized this bike.” Heh. At least Jim-Bob and Chrissy could agree on this one.