Author: illnoise

SYM vs. Lance

This whole thing might have worked out if Lance hadn't NOT EVEN BOTHERED TO TAKE THEIR OWN PHOTO of the damn thing.
Last week, Carter Brothers, SYM’s US importer accused Lance Powersports of buying SYM’s Fiddle II scooters from SYM’s Chinese supplier via a third party with the intention of selling them in the USA as the “Vienna” 50 and 125. (Are there any European-sounding “V” words left to name a scooter? Yes! But that’s another story!) Of course SYM demanded they not sell the scooters here and… well… let’s try something new. Instead of posting snarky commentary in which 2sb takes sides and gets in trouble and has to apologize profusely for being right, let’s just post their dueling press releases, which are far more entertaining than anything we could come up with, anyway. Enjoy:
Continue reading “SYM vs. Lance”

State of the Buzz

Hi all, As you might have figured out, I was out of town for two weeks and it’s been slow around here. We’ve got a lot coming up soon though:

  • NEXX X30 helmet review
  • I’ve actually been riding the Andretti! I might even write a review eventually!
  • Prima Pullman jacket giveaway!
  • Signed Chuck Mead CD giveaways!
  • New products at Scootmoto!
  • Scooter news! Lance vs. SYM, Schwinn’s new distributor, MRP and CPI, SYM accessories, a “Venti” update, and more!
  • Vacation pictures!

Flag Day Run

Chicagoans: Hang out with some Shriners on Sunday and do some good for the community: The Medinah Motor Corps is hosting a Flag Day Open House and Hospital Tour Sunday at the Medinah Shrine Center, 550 Shriners Drive, Addison IL. The ride starts at 10:30, tours start at 11:00.

It’s about TIME…

Chad Schaefer (months ago) passed along five great stories from TIME Magazine’s newly-available-online archives. They were decades-old to begin with, so you’ll forgive the delay. Here are some excerpts, click the title to see the full stories.

Speed

TIME, October 17, 1955
…Italian motor-scooter enthusiasts, often harshly criticized for their desire to dominate the road, were still glowing at [79-year-old Pius XII’s] understanding words to a group of Vespa riders: “Those who complain of your noise, do they ever think that your speed may take you to church in time for Mass, or that you may be rushing a sick person to the hospital? Be patient with those who abuse you.”…

Rocks Round the Clock

TIME, August 14, 1964
… Suddenly, the kids began ranging through town in packs, stopping traffic, banging on cars, chanting (“Up the Mods”), looking for trouble. They raided cafes for dishes and glasses to throw, knives and forks to brandish, chased each other up the beaches and down the streets under a hail of rocks and crockery. On the promenade, herds of noisy Rocker motorcycles roared incessantly; buzzing them in hand-to-handlebar combat were enough Mod motor scooters to hold mass Vespa services.…

Fuzz with a Buzz

TIME, January 13, 1967
…the New York police have found a way to let one man cover the ground of five: the motor scooter. Police Commissioner Howard R. Leary has already checked out 575 cops on 80 Vespas and Lambrettas. And he has just asked for funds to buy 300 more. Eventually, he wants all 2,000 patrolmen to mount up…

Drunk astronauts and cosmonauts on scooters in Paris

(no original title) TIME, June 13, 1969
…the next morning [U.S. Astronaut] McDivitt hustled out to the Air Show, where he and fellow Apollo 9 Crewmen David Scott and Russell Schweiclcart showed Cosmonauts Vladimir Shakalov and Alexei Yeliseyev around the American exhibit. The proceedings started somewhat stiffly; then a bottle of bonded bourbon was broken out and things began to loosen up. By the time the revelers reached the Russian exhibit with its plentiful stock of vodka, they were saluting everything from Snoopy to space medicine. Toasted to a light crisp, the space travelers finally piled onto their Vespas and scooted back to the American pavilion—two hours late for their ensuing engagement.…

Victim of Affluence

TIME, February 7, 1972
…In 1970. only 55,000 Lambrettas were sold compared with 180,000 a decade earlier. Faced with the realities of a stronger economy, the late Innocenti’s son and nephew, who now run his company, have stopped production of the Lambretta in Italy but will keep a parts depot. They are arranging a deal with the Indian government and a Bombay company to move Lambretta production to India beginning in 1974…

Benelli in trouble?

According to motoblog.it, Benelli sales have been lower than expected worldwide ((Google machine translation). Qiang Jiang, who bought the marque a few years ago, is threatening to close what’s left of Benelli’s Italian-based production and assembly facilities. American Benelli importer Power Sports Factory gave 2strokebuzz an Andretti 150XT (“Velvet” in Europe) to test, you may remember I crashed it in the snow on its maiden voyage, but I’ve put some miles on it lately and it’s a good bike, look for a review (finally!) soon. Surely a good review on a rinky-dink American scooter blog will immediately turn things around for QJ and Benelli.

Vespa rumors: Pink? Adidas?

Even if that lovely Fred Perry Vespa never makes it over here, we’ve recently heard about two other limited edition Vespas that are due to the US soon. Adidas/Vespa co-branded clothes and shoes were unveiled in Europe months ago, and may finally make it to the U.S. along with the “Adidas Originals” Vespa LX (probably like these). We’ve also heard a pink Vespa LX is in the works, possibly with a breast-cancer-awareness tie-in. Pink scooters are always popular, let’s just hope it’s not as over-the-top as the Swarovski crystal pink Vespa auctioned off for a breast cancer charity a few years ago in the U.K.

Dealer Prep

Lots of people buying a new scooter complain about “Dealer Prep” charges that (along with transportation fees, taxes and title fees, insurance, and gear) usually end up costing them more than they expected to pay for their scooter. Genuine Scooter Co. produced these videos about dealer prep. The videos are intended for dealers, not consumers, but they’re worth watching to see that dealer prep is much more than rolling a scooter off a truck and filling it up with gas. (Thanks, Ericalm!)

Polini Cup continues Saturday

Late notice again (sorry!) but check out Polini Cup Moped, Scooter, Pocketbike, Goped and Gokart racing live this Saturday and Sunday on MopedTV. The live coverage from Tom Dash Memorial Speedway, Atwater CA, starts at 1pm local time and features interviews, race coverage, and giveaways from Corazzo. Corazzo’s also offering a free t-shirt with all jacket orders placed on June 6th and 7th, just mention Polini Cup when you order.

PiaggioUSA’s “Test Ride”

PiaggioUSA is targeting scooter-curious customers with a 12-month “test ride” on Piaggio and Vespa scooters. While the deal isn’t entirely unreasonable, the name and description of the promotion are a bit of a stretch, especially “your dealer will buy it back,” which implies that the dealer will refund the cost of the scooter.

Here’s how it works: You buy the scooter with 10% down and a three-year loan from Sheffield Financial. After 12 months, if you’re current on the loan and don’t like the bike, the dealer will take over your loan and take back the scooter. As 2SB reader Pete Selkowe points out, you’re paying 43% of the MSRP, and none of that is being refunded to you. So you pay almost half the MSRP of a scooter to ride it for a year, if you don’t like it, the dealer’s stuck making your payments until they can sell it used. If the dealer can sell it used for more than what you owe, they make some cash.

There’s nothing reprehensible about it, it’s basically the same thinking as any automobile lease. It’s just not a good deal for most consumers, or the dealer (but good for PiaggioUSA and their financing company). If you have the resources to buy a new Vespa with cash (instead of with an expensive loan), and decide not to keep it, you could almost surely sell it privately a year later and get a better deal. If you can’t buy with cash, you could certainly secure a better loan elsewhere. The line “Customer is responsible for excess wear and mileage over 4,000 miles at $0.10 /mile” is also troubling, and if comprehensive insurance isn’t required for loan approval, you’d certainly want it, as with any financing deal (lest you’re still making payments three years after your scooter is stolen).

I’m very interested what dealers think about this. When I saw it, my first thought was “PIaggioUSA finally realizes they’ve oversaturated a shrinking market, and they’re trying to unload as many bikes as possible before they bail out of the U.S. in 11 months.” If I’m not mistaken, dealers do not get a cut of financing, so they’re just making their regular dealer margin, with the added risk of having to take it back and sell it at enough of a profit to cover two years of loan payments (probably at a reduced rate, but still…). Hopefully there are some sort of incentives to make it worth the dealers’ trouble, or maybe dealers hope it will lure customers to their shops, whom they can then talk out of the “test ride” deal.

¡Barça!

Haven’t had a soccer post in a while, and this one involves soccer, booze, and a ridiculously large Chupa Chup, so it’s got 2SB written all over it. We’re not big Barcelona fans or anything, though we love their jerseys for various reasons. We also generally dislike Argentinean soccer stars. But hey, this Messi character scored the second Champions’ League final goal against stupid Man United and tried to copulate with a lollipop, so he’s allright.

(Thanks for the link, Alfredo! Angry comments coming from Berwyn in 3… 2… 1…)