Author: illnoise

Morley Chaplick

An interesting Globe and Mail interview with Morley Chaplick, the president of Canadian Scooter Corp. (Canadia’s Vespa importer). I like his honesty here:

You know, I wouldn’t even think of buying [a Piaggio MP3]; quite frankly, I like two wheels. But it is selling like hotcakes. That is a reality. So maybe it’s a question that didn’t need to be answered, but people are actually saying yes.

The importing/corporate structure seems somewhat different between PiaggioUSA, which appears to be more or less run by Piaggio HQ, and Canadian Scooter Corp., which seems more independent. I always get the impression that PiaggioUSA is mostly 9-to-5ers with leadership waiting to go back to Italy (or Harley) when their ‘tour of duty’ was over, whereas Chaplick apparently has a very large personal stake in the long-term success of Canadian Scooter Corp.

(I’d love to hear some better-informed opinions on that topic)

Slaughterhouse XV

sh15poster
Slaughterhouse XV is this weekend in Chicago, a fact so obvious to me that I didn’t bother posting it until now, which is sort of irresponsible of me, sorry. Who’d have known back when we joked about never making it to “Slaughterhouse 5” that the rally would endure and grow for 15 years. It’s changed hands a few times, but it’s always fantastic, and there’s always something for everyone. This year shuffles up the usual schedule a bit with Roller Derby on Saturday night and a bigger-than-ever party on Thursday, and still features a few great rides, one of the best gymkhanas around, and more. If you’re into the whole social networking thing, there’s a ning site.
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“The Vespa Experiment” results

Here’s a video recap of “The Vespa Experiment,” a Pacific-coast tour by three musicians on Vespa scooters. One of the musicans, Amber Rubarth sums it up:

I feel like this whole tour was all about getting to the core of life and purity and innocence. And, just getting back to the musical part and not in the business of it.

Sure, apart from the fact that it was PiaggioUSA marketing scheme, business didn’t enter into it at all, ha. The music’s not my thing (noodly earnest mellow acoustic pop) but they seem like nice kids. As far as PiaggioUSA marketing schemes go, it seemed pretty successful, and if nothing else, three musicians had a good time and a once-in-a-lifetime experience, so Vespa FTW!

Kymco Yager GT200i: POCphil’s review

yagerrr
POC Phil from Pride Of Cleveland Scooters test rode the new Kymco Yager GT 200i, here’s his report…

Let’s get the obvious stuff out of the way first.

“Yager GT200i?” Who names these things? Didn’t Vespa recently have a GT200? They should have chosen RT or ST… GT is a Vespa call sign. “Yager?” Spellcheck please: “Jäger,” yep, that’s what I thought, the German word for “Hunter.” Not an entirely bad name for a scooter. The downside: as an homage to the Sym-Phony 125, they printed the word Yager on the side but they stylized the Letter “A” as to include the left arm of the “Y,” so now it looks like it’s an “Ager GT200i.” I’m aging fast enough on my own, no help needed thanks.
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CBP seizes 1400 scooters at Texas border

Another Chinese scooter grey-marketer busted, this time by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. CBP’s press release doesn’t name the importer, but the scooter in the photo appears to be a CF Moto “E-Charm” CF150. It seems unlikely that CF Moto would risk importing illegal scooters, chances are this was another company buying CF-Moto scooters (or knockoffs) from a third party behind CF Moto’s back, possibly similar to the Lance/SYM controversy last month, (Though Lance presumably would have ensured their bikes were at least EPA-legal.)
(Thanks, bermshot!)

UPDATE: About 400 of the scooters were CF Motos, according to this story. Lev Mirman of CPI insists the bikes meet specs, and the government “grasping at straws to halt any shipment from China.” Also in our comments below, POCphil reports the seizure also included Aprilia Sport City 250s.

“Demystifying the Piaggio MP3”

Scooter in the Sticks borrowed a Piaggio MP3 for the weekend.

From the first time I read about the Piaggio MP3 I began collecting a series of misperceptions. Until I finally had a chance to take it for a long ride last weekend I didn’t realize how completely I misunderstood this machine. I was wrong about how it worked, about why someone might choose one, and most of all about the stability of the MP3.

I’d argue that most of his misperceptions were stoked by Piaggio’s marketing of the scooter, where they constantly implied it was somehow easier to ride (and safer) than a regular scooter. I concur with Steve’s conclusion that it’s an amazing bike that’s fun to ride, but absolutely not a good bike for first-time riders.

As always, the writing and photos are great. It must be foggy in Pennsylvania about 80% of the time.

Cash for Small Clunkers

Genuine Scooter Co. has repackaged NoHo Mike’s obvious-but-good idea, and unleashed their own “Cash for Small Clunkers” video and trade-in plan:

Participating dealers will offer $300 credit towards a Genuine scooter for any titled scooter (or, if the video is to believed, even vintage mopeds without titles).

As far as the video, it’s clearly supposed to be “laugh-with” funny but it veers towards “laugh-at” funny, which is allright, too. Modern Buddy members have already pointed out the porn-quality acting/editing, the needless repetition, the logical fallacies, and the gawkers at 3:20, but I’m still wondering how a German tech inspector ended up at a Chicago company selling Taiwanese and Indian scooters with Italian, Spanish, and French affectations. I guess they’re a truly international company, after all.

As far as Chicago-area porn-quality scooter commercials go, it’s not bad…

Scooter Wallpapers

Scooter Wallpapers Collection features 1600 x 1200 photos of scooters, mostly high-quality press photos with a white background. The selection is a little strange (no Vespas, lots of Derbi and several defunct brands) and the blog format maybe isn’t the best way to organize the photos, but it’s a neat resource.

Team S Equipe

Neville Frost

(Isle of Man) regulations stated that “works” teams weren’t allowed, so the guys formed their own team christened “Team S Equipe.” Unknown at the time was the fact that “Equipe” in French means “Team…”

A must-read account of the Arthur Francis S-Type Lambrettas and the men who raced them, with loads of truly awesome photos and memorabilia.
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