Category: Motorcycles

MBI Award winners announced

MBI70.gifThousands of motorcycle and scooter riders in 88 countries voted for the 2007 Motorcycle Bloggers International Riders Choice Awards, and the results were announced today. Scooters, scooterists, and scooter manufacturers took several awards, including:

  • Best motorcycle or scooter blog: Scooter in the Sticks
  • Best new-in-2006 motor scooter: Piaggio MP3
  • Wish we’d thought of that: Piaggio MP3

VespaUSA won second prize for “worst manufacturer website” and the Gilera Fuoco 500 won second for “best concept motorcycle or scooter.”

Congratulations to Steve Williams from Scooter in the Sticks, who beat an amazing amount of competition from motorcycle and scooter blogs to come out on top, he deserved it, SITS is among the most insightful and personal blogs, in any field.

(Complete results)

MBI award voting ends Sunday

MBI70.gifOnly one day left to vote for the 2007 Motorcycle Bloggers International Riders’ Choice Awards. We have no idea who’s winning, but we did find out that 2strokebuzz is among the top referrers to the voting site, and that several other scooter blogs also posted some impressive traffic, so scooters should be well-represented next Wednesday (March 15, 2007) when the winners are announced.

Democracy at work

Here a list of motorcycle/scooter/driving-related laws proposed in the 95th (2007) session of the Illinois House and Senate. Note that none of these are approved, and only a few are likely to be. You can track their progress in the links.

  • HB072 and SB0580 would prohibit “community agencies” from organizing a Regional Cycle Rider Training Center, leaving the right with only State universities and community colleges. It would also allow the State Treasurer to appoint a trustee for the Cycle Rider Training Fund, to oversee how ILDOT uses the fund.
  • HB0262, HB1080, and HB0408, respectively, would require drug testing for first-time drivers/riders under 18 (at their expense), bar juvenile gang offenders from driving until age 21, and require new riders/drivers to display a “Learner” sign, again, at their own expense. SB0032 and SB0172 would further restrict new drivers and add more steps to the licensing process for minors.
  • HB0996 and HB1845, appear to be virtually the same: the “Motorcyclist Public Accommodation Act,” which would prohibit “any person from restricting an individual’s access to, admission to, or use of a place of public accommodation solely because the individual operates a motorcycle.”
  • SB1265 would prohibit both tinted and clear licence plate covers, probably not a bad idea in Saltsville, ours are a mess.
  • HB019 would exempt senior citizens from emissions testing. (Sure! They won’t be around to see the ice cap melt!)
  • HB0946 would authorize NASCAR license plates. Hillbillies run this state.
  • HB1499, HB1768, and SB0724 are related to off-road motorcycles, ATVs, and recreational trails if you’re into that.

Death by Committee

Just checked in on a few state laws I’d been tracking since last spring, all of these were abandoned in January when a new session began. Illinois will NOT:

Yamaha to supply offical scooters for MotoGP in 2007 campaign

Yamaha has been supplying the FIM Grand Prix paddock with BW scooters (a.k.a. old-style zumas to us in the USA) for several years now.  This year they’ll be the official paddock scooter for MotoGP.  The scooter model has changed to the Yamaha Jog RR (a.k.a. a cool scooter that will never grace our shores to us in the USA).  Yamaha will also offer an exclusive special edition replica model at dealers across Europe with MotoGP logos and track maps of each of the Grand Prix stops in the 2007 season.  The Season kicks off in one week at Losail for the Grand Prix of Qatar.

2007 Dealer Expo: POCphil’s review

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Since a week has passed and I still haven’t been able to collect my thoughts on the ginormous mindblowing extravaganza in Indianapolis, here’s POCphil‘s writeup. I’ll add my comments in italics where appropriate. -2SB

We were so excited to get to the Indianapolis Dealer Expo this year, we were running about 2 hours early. We took that time to go visit Speed City Cycles in Indianapolis, only a few minutes from the Show. Mike and Marybeth Tockey have created a fantastic shop with an ingenious use of space and rural/industrial feel that leaves room for a snack bar, lounge and a ton of scooters and accessories. Mike also builds award winning metric cruisers. Just hanging around his IWL Berliner is a treat. After a great tour and some bench racing we were back on our mission to deliver two scooters to the Scoot! Magazine/ Corazzo booth and still arrive early enough at the hotel for some hottubbing before showing up in time for the open bar at 4PM, whew!
Continue reading “2007 Dealer Expo: POCphil’s review”

MP3 faces a growing scooter-car market

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The XY150ZK: A Honda Aero 3-wheeler knockoff with a roof. Available soon from your local Xingyue dealer.

The Kneeslider (and the motorcycling press in general) are paying a lot of attention to commuter-friendly three- and four-wheeled motorcycles and microcars such as the VentureOne Tilting 3 Wheeler, KTM’s X-Bow, and the Bombardier Can-Am Spyder (more on the Spyder). As more car-like motorcycles appear, smaller cars (Mini, Smart, etc.) are also growing in popularity, and the line between cars and motorcycles was further blurred at Dealer Expo with a surprising number of trikes, oversized ATVs, dunebuggies, motorcycle training wheels, enclosed scooters, utility cars, and the like. Piaggio must ensure that their MP3 will remain the focus of, rather than becoming consumed by, this trend.

Word at the Expo was that the MP3’s greatest competition may come from within. PiaggioUSA recently spread the word that the 400cc model will come to America later this year. Dealers, who are still waiting for the 250cc version, found the 400cc announcement poorly-timed (and the shipping date optimistic). Piaggio, obviously, would be happy to sell customers either model, but if 250cc sales are disappointing, the 400cc might arrive too late to keep the public’s interest. The Vespa LXS faces a similar situation: again, dealers say U.S. shipping estimates are too optimistic, and the announcement will hurt sales of the “regular” LX in the meantime.

MBI Riders’ Choice Awards: Vote now!

MBI70.gifNominations have been whittled down to a few choices per category, and it’s now time for you, the public, to vote in the Motorcycle Bloggers International Riders’ Choice Awards. Luckily, 2strokeBuzz didn’t make it past the nomination stage, so I won’t be biting my nails on Awards Night, but a lot of scooters–and scooter blogs–did make the cut. Represent!

Chicago International Motorcycle Show 2007

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Ryan dwarfs the Yamaha C3

You’ll hopefully forgive 2strokebuzz if coverage of the 2007 Cycle World International Motorcycle show is a little scaled back this year. The truth is, very little has changed from year to year. Each year there are fewer surprises, less swag, and fewer perks (the bus service to the CTA parking lot was cancelled this year, brrr.), while parking, concessions, and admission (at least seem to) get more expensive. Probably that’s why Triumph didn’t appear for the second year in a row, and why Kymco, CMSI, and Genuine rarely bother with these shows.

On top of that, we had a head start on new 2007 models, thanks to the Milan EIMCA show, and next weekend I’m attending the Indianapolis Dealer Expo (my first trip), which promises to be a bit more exciting. But out of a sense of duty, and because Ryan was driving, I decided to once again trek through the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL, to see what there was to see. Which wasn’t much, really.
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St. Louis Motomuseum/Motofest

St. Louis’ new Moto Museum is hosting a “History of the Motorcycle” exhibit featuring 100 bikes from 100 years, concurrent with the first St. Louis International Motorcycle Festival, April 26-29, 2007. It appears that the show will be the only public display of the collection, so it’s not a “museum” so much a “Jay Leno’s garage.” (You’d think Lu$ would keep us abreast of StL news, but no, this one came from Matthew, thanks!)

MBI Awards Nominations open

MBI70.gifYou might have noticed the “Motorcycle Bloggers International” logo on my site. MBI is mainly a forum for motorsports bloggers, but the public face of MBI is the annual “MBI Awards,” awarded to people, organizations, websites, and manufacturers related to motorcycling (and scootering, of course.) This year, the nominations have been opened to the public so if you want to give someone props, or rip someone’s head off, please do. You can also sign up for an automatic reminder when it’s time for voting, I’ll post reminders here, too.