Author: illnoise

Three bands, (two featuring local scooterists), will play a free show this Saturday (February 21) at Gallery Cabaret, 2020 N. Oakley, Chicago. I haven’t seen Jeff Tudor’s band The Shifties yet, but they’re called “pop geniuses” by those in the know, and I’ve seen Jeff wearing little round sunglasses, which everyone knows means “Pop Genius.” We DO know what Brown can do for us: Abe Villalobos and Waxon Seven have added Ryetronics’ Ryan Bastianelli for more electric power, and they’ve added a new scooter-specific song to their set. Demilos, sorry, I know nothing about you. Check out Jeff’s flyer for the show. 2strokebuzz might be making a rare live appearance, we don’t want to miss this show. Did I mention FREE?

For all you d-i-y scooter electricians, here’s a nifty guide about making regulators, and the same principles applied to a Vespa.

Vespa has collaberated with totem-of-suburban-affluence Coach leather goods to create seven custom scooters. A pink ET with Coach’s “Poppy” pattern appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres Show. Another one with a teal “C” pattern has been popping up in PR blurbs. I haven’t seen the rest, and neither Coach nor Vespa has much info on their sites. Meanwhile, it’s fun to see how many papers run the same press release as “news.” Did I ever tell you about the time I worked at Lazarus and spilled a bottle of Windex on a $1100 purse?

Geegaw’s ten reasons. I can think of a lot more.

Mike Hardcore’s Nitro 180 Riva story from squidlys.com. Thanks for the link, Big Rye.

Here’s a great story from the Orlando Sentinel about the High Endurance SC at Daytona Bike Week.

All this talk of Dream 50Rs and NSR50s led to my discovery of Beginner Bikes, a webpage dedicated to smaller, saner bikes. It’s a must-read for new motorcyclists, and they even have some scooter test rides and reviews. Well done!

Here’s a Kinks parody I helped my friend Dave write. If you don’t live in Chicago, it might not make much sense, though.

I don’t know if the Defilers didn’t notice that Sept 4-5-6 was Labor Day Weekend, or they’re trying to be “cute,” or what, but this year is Slaughterhouse’s tenth anniversary, and it’s been on Labor Day weekend for several years, and I’ll sure as hell be there and I hope all of you are too. I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt and assume they didn’t look at the calendar when they picked the date. I don’t know any of the Defilers very well, but if you do, you might consider respectfully asking them to reconsider their plans. They’re welcome to have their rally any weekend they wish, but I think holding a rally 40 miles from Chicago on Labor Day Weekend is disrespectful to all the people that have worked so hard to run ten years of Slaughterhouse rallies.

I’ve been goofing around with VoiceXML, hopefully I can figure out how to post news and rally listings via an 800-number, plus Song of the Day and some other gimmicks. To check out my first stab at VXML programming:
1.**Call 1-800-555-TELL
2.**At the “Menu” prompt, dial 1-45243
Let me know what you think, and if you’d be interested in this feature if it was less stupid and more useful.

From Motorcycle Daily via NewsGome, Aprilia and Piaggio have signed an agreement to work together to procure motorcycle and scooter components. While they’ve bought parts from each other and common sources in the past, this move will possibly reduce costs and pave the way for some shared R&D and standardization between Europe’s largest two-wheeled vehicle manufacturers.

The Chicago Fire announced yesterday that Peter Nowak has retired and will return to the Fire in a management capacity. I know most Fire fans were sad to see him traded last month, but he’d been an expensive benchwarmer the last couple seasons, and his real role was teambuilding and motivation. It’s rare to see such a great athlete who shows loyalty to his team and knows when to quit.

We’re getting early reports on the first shipment of Bajaj Chetaks and the word on the street is very good. We’ll have more details soon, but for now, here’s our friend Matthew from Chicago:
Continue reading “First Chetaks are here!”

Well, the war is on. As a blogger, I guess I should say something about it. I don’t know why my opinion would matter to anyone, but it will make me feel better if I write this all out:
Continue reading “The obligatory war rant”

Roger Brown’s new site, Scooterpatcharchive.com, catalogs his large collection scooter club and rally patches. In addition to the archive itself, it features reviews of and links to patch manufacturers, a monthly raffle, and more. Roger is seeking more patch donations and is hoping to exhibit the collection at rallies and events.