Category: Featured Stories

Pennsylvania DOT delays Chinese scooter registrations

The Scooter Scoop (welcome back, Steve, where have you been?) reports Pennsylvania’s DOT is holding all registrations of Chinese-made scooters for review. If this initiative covers any scooter with a VIN starting with “L,” it would not only target the fly-by nighters, but many legitimate NHTSA/DOT/EPA-approved importers and even top brands (like Piaggio and Kymco) that make some models in China.

We’re happy to see a state taking a stand against unsafe scooters and fly-by-night importers, but it seems Pennsylvania has cast their net a bit too wide, and is targeting dealers and consumers rather than importers. Hopefully the new system allows speedy processing of legitimate scooter titles, and penalizes the importers rather than the buyers of questionable Chinese scooters. The dealers deserve a big slap on the wrist, but the importers are the real criminals here.

Find more information about scooter VINs at our scooter VIN database and from Dr. Buzz.

Vespa GTV Pearl Sidecar?

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Our first dispatch from Bradford in Milan is this photo. Bradford didn’t tell us what is is, so we’re going to make it up: This is the 2009 Vespa GTV in pearl iridescent color-move paint with a matching Vespa sidecar. It will be available in the U.S. in one hour, for $379.99. Or, more likely, it’s just a one-off done up for the show, which is more likely because there’s nothing about new colors in the Vespa GTV press release I’m reading right now, nor is there anything about sidecars. The bikes shown in the GTV/LXV press release are all classic Vespa green or 100 Sport beige. A Piaggio-designed matching Vespa sidecar would be big news, maybe Bradford will sober up and send a caption later, or a photo of the hot new Simoncelli Gilera Runner.

UPDATE: This site is calling it a “concept.” They say Piaggio produced sidecars until 1965, I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen a Vespa-branded sidecar… Anyway, OmniMoto have some more cool EICMA photos here. (Thanks Eric!)

Jeremy Clarkson on scooters

British journalist, Top Gear host, and well-known motorcycle-hater Jeremy Clarkson got a lot of stick last week when he was sighted riding a Vespa. The experience left him shaken, and his review of the bike is hilarious, insightful, and a must-read for anyone considering the jump from cars to scooters. (Thanks, Ben!)

An excerpt, that will hopefully convince you to read the whole thing:

However, many people are making the switch because they imagine that having a small motorcycle will be cheap. It isn’t. Sure, the 125cc Vespa I tried can be bought for £3,499, but then you will need a helmet (£300), a jacket (£500), some Freddie Mercury trousers (£100), shoes (£130), a pair of Kevlar gloves (£90), a coffin (£1,000), a headstone (£750), a cremation (£380) and flowers in the church (£200).

Genuine 2009 rumors

The Genuine dealer meeting/rodeo in Wisconsin has come and gone, and our usual spies didn’t come through with much info, luckily a few people on Modern Buddy have been doing detective work. Sadly, unless Genuine is keeping some big secrets, there’s no 4-valve Blur 200 (or mayonnaise-cooled Stella 250 2-stroke 5-speed) to report, but there are a few interesting new twists.
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PiaggioUSA 2008 Fall Dealer Meeting

From our spies at Piaggio’s fall dealer meeting:
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Dinner meeting features Jay Leno: 45 minutes of stand up, closing with “when Piaggio called me they said, ‘we don’t have much money,’ and I said ‘I’ll do it free, I’m Italian, I want to support an Italian product, I like Italian bikes,’ then I get here and find out how your sales are up and your dealers aren’t exactly hurtin’.

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Talking ‘Zines: Jeff Lillie’s PDX Scooter Rider

(2sb welcomes Karen Giezyng of Bumpstart magazine talking to Jeff Lillie about his seminal and beloved ’90s zine, PDX Scooter Rider:)

PDX Scooter Rider #3The Pacific Northwest is known for a lot of things, but many of you might not be aware of the region’s rich scooter ‘zine history. During the ‘zine explosion of the ’90s there were three different scooter ‘zines in publication. The Vespa Club of Canada published the region’s first scooter ‘zine, The Indicator in 1992. A few years later, in 1995, Jeff Lillie created PDX Scooter Rider. Susan Goodwin and Danean Mauer followed suit with the rollicking, P-Town Uncensored from 1999-2002 and from 2006-2008, I did Kickstart. (Karen’s new ‘zine, Bumpstart, is available now at Scootmoto.)

I recently chatted with the creator of PDX Scooter Rider, Jeff Lillie about his ‘zine and what it was like being a part of the scooter community back then.
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The Vespa S 150: a review

Dave McCabe’s been riding the Vespa S for a few months now, here’s his perspective:

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Cue the Muppet with the fedora and trench coat: “So you wanna buy a letter ‘S?’” The stylish Vespa S 150 has been on the market since March but many of us remain confused by what it is, and what Piaggio intended to do with this model.

What’s with the fancy red “S” anyway? How many cars these days have an “S” edition? The most well-known is the wildly-successful Mini Copper S. There are also “S”es adorning Toyota Corollas and Acura RSXs. The Volkswagen Beetle and the Porsche Boxster are as shamelessly consistent as the others, using the same racy calligraphic “S”—except in grey or chrome instead of red. This says nothing of similar variants such as the Honda S200, the Suzuki SX, and who knows what else. There’s definitely a trend here and maybe it’s a gotten little out of hand.
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Top Five of the 90s

Thinking about my sad role as the only idiot to have attended all fourteen Slaughterhouse rallies, and having a little free time since I barely lifted a finger to help this year (Thanks Kathy!), i started thinking about how rallies have changed. I don’t want to get all misty-eyed or retro or elitist, and I definitely enjoy the current scene, scooters, and people just the way they are. I just thought it’d be fun to come up with a list of five things I miss from the early 90s, and five things I don’t.
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