When scooter news breaks, we put it under a tarp in the garage.
The Ride The Machine blog, formerly known as The New Cafe Racer Society, posted this photo worth sharing. I think the views of scooters in the US would be very different if such applications were reality. But instead, I think something like this Vespa TAP that Steve from The Scooter Scoop posted about on Facebook would be more highly admired.
Via The Velobanjogent, another good site to watch.
If you’re truly obsessed with scooters, you’ll spot the unmistakeable corner of a legshield from a mile away. I was scanning through thumbnails of photos of the Egyptian celebrations on Flickr and this great photo by Joel Carillet jumped right out at me. It was taken on the 6th of October Bridge on Friday night, after Hosni Mubarak stepped down. This photo of an Egyptian family waving the peace sign as they cross the bridge four-up on an LML scooter is suddenly and permanently locked in place as my mental picture of the celebrations.
February 11, 2011 — Cairo, Egypt, originally uploaded by Joel Carillet.
UPDATE: Another great one!
On a cool Northampton afternoon a small pack of thieves armed with sledge hammers attack a jewelry store with their accomplices awaiting their bounty on get-away scooters. Enter a fine citizen with her shopping bag loaded with what must have been bricks. The woman, seen in the video, charges down the street and scares off the criminals who clumsily try to make tracks. During their exit one of the gang was knocked off their scooter and was able to be pinned down until police arrived. Video shows that the rider who didn’t get a way was riding a Vespa LXV. A sad end for a fine scooter. The hero of the day remained un-named by news reports. Modesty prevails.
The 2010-11 Cold Weather Challenge is still underway, though you wouldn’t know it from our total lack of hype. See the current entries below, including very impressive entries from Alan, Luigi, and Gavin, and be sure to track and post your 10-mile-plus scooter rides at or below freezing temperatures. We recommend staying off snowy/icy roads, but when the roads and the sky are clear, get out there and ride! We’ll have this all a bit more organized ASAP. Thanks!
We’ve always loved WebBikeWorld’s great reviews, Larry Gebraski points out they have a good writeup on the Piaggio Museum with some solid advice for travelers.
(When you visit, ask how the extravagant new Massimiliano-Fuksas-designed museum that was scheduled to open in 2007 is coming along. Be sure to remind your tour guide that the museum hype came a month before Piaggio’s stock offering, then was never mentioned again.)
USA Today reports several states are considering revising moped laws. Some states have ambiguous laws that confuse scooters with mopeds, don’t adequately address safety concerns, and in some cases encourage drunk riding. Other states are looking at helmet laws, at least for younger riders.
Thanks, Patrick!
After photos surfaced of a huge motorcycle graveyard in western New York a few months ago, DC Classic Cycles’ Dynamite Dave went to check it out. It’s a great story to go with the amazing photos. (Thanks, Matt!)
As if Americans need further proof that scootering is far more evolved in Europe, stunt riding has been growing in popularity across the Continent. Originally featured in exhibitions at other motorsports events, stunt riding apparently has its own competitions now, and one of the leading stars is Rok Bagoros, a 21-year-old Slovene who grew up idolizing German sportbike stunter Chris Pfieffer and has been practicing since he turned 15. Rok performs astounding stunts, all on his customized automatic Yamaha Aerox. He’s got sponsors, a flashy website, autographed photos, magazine features, and a growing fan base. We’ve all seen our share of ill-advised scooter jackassery, but wouldn’t it be great to see Americans take stunt scootering (and racing, and customization) to such a professional level?
The long-awaited first MSILSF scooter speed trial took place last Sunday (November 21, 2010). The event faced a late change of venue from El Mirage Dry Lake (which turned out to be not-so-Dry-Lake) to a (slightly hilly) half-mile stretch of Route 66 near Devore, CA. The new shorter and hillier course perhaps wasn’t ideal for speed testing, but attendance was good and at the very least, a bar has been set in the various classes for future events. Overall winner was Patrick Owens at 90mph (Yamaha TMAX 500), all winners are listed here. The California Scooter Company posted a good overview and some great photos. Two MSILSF events are already planned for 2011, a Salton Sea Endurance Rally in March and a trip to IMOLA in July, as they work towards getting scooters officially sanctioned for AMA/BUB events at the Bonneville Salt Flats.
Veloce Books is a British publisher focused mostly on vintage cars and motorcycles. They’ve released several scooter books, some reviewed here in the past, and all worth checking out. Their newest scooter-related endeavor is The Essential Buyer’s Guide: Vespa Scooters (subtitled “Classic two-stroke models 1960 to 2008“) by Mark Paxton. The word “Essential” in the title is not hyperbole, this book is truly a “must-own” for anyone considering the purchase of a vintage Vespa.
Continue reading “Book Review:
Vespa Scooters Essential Buyer’s Guide”
Kawasaki’s bringing back their vintage-styled vertical twin “W” motorcycle back, this time as the Kawasaki W800. No news on the US market.
Thanks, Eric/Scooterism.
The MV Agusta motorcycle, like the Vespa, was born from the remnants of an Italian aircraft manufacturer after World War II. But did you know the Agusta and Vespa very nearly had a lot more in common?
MV Agusta produced their first prototype, called “Vespa 98”, in 1945. After learning that the name had already been registered by Piaggio for its Vespa motorscooter, it was referred to simply by the number “98”.
Agusta went on to build a few scooters, such as the CGT, the Ovunque, and the Chicco. So if it was not for some paperwork, we could all be riding Ovunques today!
Thanks to our Belgian friend David V.
This is a great video. You may want to turn up the brightness on the monitor but that may take away some of the appeal. The music is so good you’d think Mr. Illnoise had posted this. The event isn’t quite the closed-road TT, though the pilots just show their mettle by mixing it up with lorry traffic. Now you’ll excuse me while I go look for a petrol can in the carport.
Via the SIP Facebook page
Today’s rather than answering a specific reader question, let’s rebuke a common misperception that comes up every few days on every scooter forum:
My (dealer and/or manual) told me to use premium gas in my Asian scooter.
As posted earlier, LML Italia has promoted the arrival of an electric scooter. The German scooter shop SIP has delivered the goods with four snapshots of the literally green Star Electric. The scooter is an electric conversion of the popular LML Star (aka Genuine Stella). Electric conversions of largeframe Vespa scooters has been available as custom work from Soundspeed Scooters in Seattle. I’m betting a Stella Electric may come in at a similar price as the conversion plus an old project someone has never finished. We’ll wait and see. How much would you pay for an electric Stella?
