When scooter news breaks, we put it under a tarp in the garage.
Bradford Duval tells us Corazzo has something big coming in a few days. In his words:
- It is revolutionary
- It will change the way people will look at their scooter.
- It will turn commuting in to an explosion of pleasure.
- It is not limited to scooterdom, but had applications across most human conditions.
We’re guessing it’s “drugs.”
UPDATE: Lots of funny conjecture in the comments, and on Modern Buddy. We’ll find out tonight! It’s bound to be anticlimactic!
Every February, powersports dealers from around the nation descend on grey, shivery, boring Indianapolis to see what’s new in the industry. It’s a chance for manufacturers, importers, and distributors to wine and dine their dealers and hopefully round up some orders for the upcoming riding season. This was our third year at DealerExpo, though it was our first with actual 2strokebuzz press passes. Continue reading “Dealer Expo 2009, Part I: Overview”
My photos from Dealer Expo 2009 are up, over in the Gallery. Silent Ron posted his, too, but his photo site is down at the moment. I’m still writing furiously, but i’m done for tonight, have a gander at the photos and post any questions in the comments so I can make sure I cover them in this never-ending story.
We posted Chuck Mead’s great new video a few days ago, but it’s since been pulled from YouTube, The same YouTube link appears on Chuck’s MySpace page, so that’s strange, but being a big-shot music video director myself, I’m aware things don’t always happen the way you’d like, ha.
So we’ll get that re-linked ASAP, BUT! There’s good news! There are two other videos on YouTube with outtakes and behind-the-scenes footage from the video shoot, both of which are nearly as entertaining as the real video, especially because Chuck gets hassled by the Man in one of ’em. Check it:
Ryan of Cold Weather Challenge fame just pointed out to us that Yamaha has dropped the Morphous from their U.S. lineup, and it looks like it’s off the menu elsewhere, too. I can’t picture anyone standing around a Yamaha dealership with a big wad of cash and not buying a T-Max, but even the Barcalounger fans weren’t getting excited about the gargantuan penis-shaped 250 when the 400cc Majesty was about the same price. If Ryan will miss it, few others will, Guzman’s review for Motorcycle.com last fall notes that even after three years on the market, no one outside of hardcore scooterists and Jay Leno had heard of it.
Alas, no there were no jaw-dropping surprises at Indianapolis, and I’m sure I’m the only person who even asked Dean about the Blur at the Genuine booth, but just for old times’ sake, here’s a video of our beloved ’06 Blur 150, hopped up and Nicky Hayden’ed, in burnout action, courtesy of Mike at ScootOver in Tuscon. He sent it, what, two months ago, and I just re-found it, hopefully our Indy coverage will come together faster than that.
When we made our “DOT Flip-Flop” t-shirts, we never thought anyone would be dumb enough to sell riding sandals, let alone buy them. Save yourself the experience of having your toes grinded off and stick to the t-shirt instead, we still have some L, XL, and 3XL “Chocolate Brown” shirts and a few “‘Safety Orange” smalls and mediums. We’ve got a few new items over at Scootmoto, too. (Thanks for the tip on the real sandals, Professor.)
If it’s starting to sound like dealer expo is mostly about booze, guilty as charged. We had a great cheap Cajun dinner at this place Yats, too.
Love, In the 2strokebuzz/POC hospitality suite. Happy Valentines Day.
Hey, it’s Jason from Battlescooter.com! Maybe Scootmoto will have a booth next year?
Talked to Paul from Hammerhead quite a bit. It looks pretty good for what it is, and they seem to ‘get it.” It is definitely the talk of the show
I’ll let you speculate about what Ron and I did last night, but in short, we got in with just enough time to register and we haven’t seen anything yet. We’re heading over shortly.
Electric scooter manufacturer Vectrix Vectrix announced yesterday that they’ll offer financing through Sparta Financial. The Vectrix VX-1 seems to be the only currently-available electric bike that can compete with over-50cc gas scooters’ speed and range (A Vectrix is holding the lead in the Cold Weather Challenge, for instance), but its price tag is daunting, apparently they’re banking on financing (and a less expensive, lower-performance VX-1E model) to make the bike more attractive to consumers.
Just when you think you’ve seen every vintage Vespa film there is, YouTube digs up more gold. This 1961 Vespa commercial, presumably produced by ’60s East-coast distributor Vescony, makes a very clear argument for the Vespa as a commuter vehicle, then pushes their luck with exaggerated mileage promises (125mpg?) and oversimplification of the engine to “three moving parts.” (The party line has always been four, which already seems a bit oversimplified, unless you’re counting, for example, the entire transmission consisting of the gearshift linkage, gear cluster, shifting cross, and Christmas tree as “one part.”) A great find. (Thanks to Dave McCabe.)
UPDATE: VCOA historian John Gerber comments:
It’s definitely Vescony, but it’s 1964 NOT 1961. It’s a Carl Alley produced commercial. Several were produced, but Piaggio would not share in any of the costs for airing them. They were never shown nationally, but some of the larger dealers showed them locally during non-primetime. In general, they were way too expensive to be shown even at off times. I saw one only once for my local dealer during a Saturday afternoon movie re-run. If Piaggio had enough sense to underwrite serious advertising in the U.S. things might have gone a lot different for them.