Author: illnoise

OMG WTF a scooter, golly!

I often wonder what kind of freak, in this day and age, writes to “Personality Parade” and then waits three months to maybe find out “what Catherine Oxenburg has been up to lately.” It’s even more bizarre when a newspaper columnist, presumably writing his story on a computer with internet access, rants on a subject without bothering to do any research at all, imploring his readers to “help him out,” rather than do ten seconds of clicking and typing. I guess that trick helped Bob Greene spew out five columns a week for one hundred years without ever once saying anything interesting.

Vectrix to debut in Milan, manufacture in Poland

It seems like ages (and it has) since we last heard about the Vectrix, the electric scooter with the power of a 400cc gas scooter. Now, Treehugger reports Vectrix’ first production model will be on display at the Milan show and available soon. Vectrix has built 50 units at their Massachussets plant (capacity 12,000 units/year) and is preparing their facility in Wroclaw, Poland (capacity 38,000 units/year) to start production before the end of the year. (Thanks to Mr. Maddox.)

Questionable Content’s VespAvenger

The VespAvenger

Aside from the glorious Achewood, to which you should surely be addicted, I’ve never become too engrossed in web comics. But Cy just hepped me to Questionable Content, in which the current plotline features robots, the VespAvenger, librarian jokes, Death Cab for Cutie references, and assorted cute indie rock lesbians. I think the hook is set.

Motorsport Scooters’ new site

Back when you could count U.S. scooter shops on your fingers, Vespa Supershop was one of the best. They always helped out with 2strokebuzz (when we were a ‘zine) and supported loads of rallies in the mid-90s. Somewhere along the way, they changed their name to Motorsport Scooters and a hundred new scooter shops popped up around the country, so we sort of lost touch, though their tech pages were still always in my bookmarks. Whatever happened, they’re making a comeback attempt with a handsome new site and online ordering. Hopefully, their great customer service and knowledgeable staff remains from the old days, I might have to place an order and see. (thanks, Matty for sending this our way.)

Why customize?

This may be a no-brainer for most folks, but I’ve always wondered why scooter and motorcycle people have always had the compulsion to add accessories and/or custom paint jobs to their vehicles. I’ve always gone along with it because I’m a creative-minded person and it appealed to me, but that didn’t answer why it was so commonly done in the first place. The current scooter boom, and my first new scooter, have answered the question for me. Ten years ago, it was nearly impossible to find two similar bikes at a rally. Perhaps there would be three silver P200s, but their states of repair and accessories would generally set them apart. These days, there’s an ever-increasing number of similar scooters at any rally, there were maybe a dozen or more orange Stellas at Amerivespa, for instance. Minneapolis was three-quarters comprised of more-or-less stock Stellas. When you show up to a rally or ride on a new scooter, there are very good odds someone else will be there on the EXACT SAME scooter in the SAME color. And that pretty much explains it all. Obvious to anyone thats ever bought a new vehicle, but funny that in ten years of riding vintage bikes, I’d never figured that out.

Piaggio previews 2007 models

Gilera Fire, Vespa GTV, Vespa S

A bit more info on an earlier post (but not much): Tuesday in Rome, Piaggio brass presented their new 2007 vehicles to Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi and other government dignitaries, in advance of the official unveiling at the Milan Salone della Moto in two weeks. The lineup featured some Aprilia sportbikes (including a nifty RSW250 race bike to remind us all that Aprilia won the 2007 MotoGP 125 and 250 “Constructor” titles), the Moto Guzzi 1200 Sport, the 60th-anniversary Vespa GTV, and two never-seen-before scooters. The press release still sheds no light on the Vespa S, but I’m sticking to my theory that it’s an LX50-based tribute to the Vespa 50 Special (Note the square headlight, front fender, and horncast cover). I guess Europeans are sentimental about the 50 Special (what with the Lunapop song and all), but they weren’t Vespa’s prettiest bike. Likewise, there’s no info about the new Gilera three-wheeler, other than the name (“Fire”) and displacement (500cc). The next couple weeks and the Milan show will reveal more, but it’s probably safe to assume it’s based on Piaggio MP3 technology and the 4-valve 4-stroke Piaggio MASTER engine found in the Beverly/BV500.

See more photos in the 2strokebuzz Gallery