Orin test rides the first Taiwanese scooter to be given a (misspelled) Swahili name. It’s a good overview, from a scooterists’ perspective. It appears the first shipment has spread around to dealers nationwide. SYM must have a new midwest sales rep who doesn’t know me, because he’s been in touch, hopefully we’ll have 2SB Symba and CityCom 300i reviews soon. If you think you’re going to need more Symba news than 2strokebuzz can provide, be sure to check out Team Symba.
Category: Mopeds
Flock Yeah 2
Cool video of the Flock Yeah 2 Moped Rally in Los Angeles. Thanks to the narration and editing (and mopedista’s fashion choices), you’d believe it was shot in the ’70s if not for the almost-ubiquitous full-face helmets, though we’re certainly not going to complain about that. (Thanks Imiuswi!)
Polini Cup LIVE Saturday and Sunday
Probably the U.S.’s most exciting scooter race in years, the Polini Cup is happening tomorrow and Sunday in Tom Dash Speedway in Atwater,CA. This exciting event will feature vintage scooters, modern scooters, mopeds, mini-moto and go-peds and almost slipped past 2sb’s attention until Joshua Griffith from Seattle Mopeds let us know that MopedTV and the 1977 Mopeds Blog will feature live coverage all weekend (with emphasis on Mopeds, of course.) Sounds awesome, sorry to not publish this earlier but aaaaarrrrgggh DSL! and now we’re in Cincinnati for WKRP and I should be drinking right now goodbye. But definitely check it out.
Win a sweet Pink Puch!
Dan from Moped Army tells us his shop, 1977 Mopeds, is is raffling off a sweet-looking pink Puch Maxi ZA50 moped custom-built by Graham French. Tickets are $5, or 5 for $20, or get a free ticket with a one-page letter sent via snail mail. A winner will be announced at a party at the shop on March 6, 2009.
Moped upgrades
1977 Mopeds tells Wired how to upgrade a vintage moped. Most of the advice applies to vintage scooters, too, especially the tires. No one should be riding around on 30-year-old CEATs.
Chinese Nuclear Mopeds
NoZone magazine’s 100 Year Forecast is pretty right-on, funny, and well-designed.
Salzman on Scooters
A great general look at scooters and scootering from fellow (maybe ex-?) Blur rider Nathaniel Salzman. Very well written and covers just about everything I’d say.
My only minor quibble: He says (in bold, thankfully), “Riding a scooter is 100% as dangerous as riding a motorcycle. Period.” I agree completely, the similarities of scooters and motorcycles are more important than the differences, so the first section about the differences, while well-written, is given too much prominence in its placement. But as I said, that’s a minor quibble. Definitely bookmark this one to mail to friends looking for their first scooter.
MadAss 500
Brooke mentioned the Sachs MadAss 500 a while back, but I’d never seen a photo. Craaaaazeee. Peirspeed (who import the 50cc and 125cc versions) must have given away 300 t-shirts at Amerivespa. I should probably write something about Amerivespa one of these days, but I’m still waiting for Jordan to send the photos from the pool party.
(Thanks for the photo, Mr. Madddox!)
E-Solex
One of France’s proudest moped marques (how’s that for a backhanded compliment?) is back, in electrical form: The E-Solex. Surely Chinese, but kinda neat looking with a totally boss red saddle.
60 million Cubs
You’d think with 60 million Honda Cubs on the road, they could spare a few for the United States. The good news: Carter is considering bringing in the Sym Sym WoWow Cub clone.
Moped Takeover
OK, I’ve been waiting for this day for years. between Hollywood Holt’s “Throw a Kit” video (featuring Chicago’s Peddy Ca$h club) and Andy Samberg’s Hot Rod movie, mopeds have officially taken over the hipster market and are finally positioned to become ubiquitous in television commercials and otherwise overexposed and boring, allowing scooters to fade back into obscurity so I can buy them for $800 again. Take note, hipsters, there soon will be folks showing up at moped rallies wearing fanny packs. And not Pac-Man fanny packs from Ragstock, either, I mean actual unironic fanny packs.
That said, “Throw a Kit” is awesome, and the first rap song to ever rhyme “Garelli” with “Minarelli”
Oompa Loompa “scooter”
A custom moped ridden by Oompa Loompas in Tim Burton’s Willy Wonka remake sold on eBay yesterday for $2750.
Check your paperwork!
Title fraud, or at least title negligence, seems to be growing as a problem in the scooter world. We’ve recently seen comments from a couple Xkeleton owners that they had serious issues getting paperwork for Xkeleton Tricksters bought on eBay. It appears likely that both bought from the same seller, so it’s probably not a widespread Trickster-specific problem, but be sure any scooter you buy is DOT/EPA/CARB certified and has proper paperwork, title, and documentation, and don’t take delivery without it. The problem isn’t limited to fly-by night eBay sellers, Vespa Philadelphia, which recently closed, allegedly lost their Piaggio/Vespa dealership rights and owner Vincenzo Mercuri is rumored to be under investigation for embezzling deposits, tax and title fees, and charging for service not performed. While there may be more to that story (and we’d appreciate any info), it’s proof that you should be extra-careful regarding paperwork.
No respect for ‘peds
A good Seattle Weekly story about the Moped Army and Craig Doty’s July hit-and-run accident. It’s hard enough commanding respect from cars on a scooter, so it must be a nightmare getting around Seattle on a moped. We’ll be on the lookout for that red Volvo at Amerivespa.
How can you tell a moped from a scooter?
The St. Paul Pioneer Press tells us how to tell a moped from a scooter. In Minnesota, anyway.