Even if that lovely Fred Perry Vespa never makes it over here, we’ve recently heard about two other limited edition Vespas that are due to the US soon. Adidas/Vespa co-branded clothes and shoes were unveiled in Europe months ago, and may finally make it to the U.S. along with the “Adidas Originals” Vespa LX (probably like these). We’ve also heard a pink Vespa LX is in the works, possibly with a breast-cancer-awareness tie-in. Pink scooters are always popular, let’s just hope it’s not as over-the-top as the Swarovski crystal pink Vespa auctioned off for a breast cancer charity a few years ago in the U.K.
Category: Lifestyle
Dealer Prep
Lots of people buying a new scooter complain about “Dealer Prep” charges that (along with transportation fees, taxes and title fees, insurance, and gear) usually end up costing them more than they expected to pay for their scooter. Genuine Scooter Co. produced these videos about dealer prep. The videos are intended for dealers, not consumers, but they’re worth watching to see that dealer prep is much more than rolling a scooter off a truck and filling it up with gas. (Thanks, Ericalm!)
Polini Cup continues Saturday
Late notice again (sorry!) but check out Polini Cup Moped, Scooter, Pocketbike, Goped and Gokart racing live this Saturday and Sunday on MopedTV. The live coverage from Tom Dash Memorial Speedway, Atwater CA, starts at 1pm local time and features interviews, race coverage, and giveaways from Corazzo. Corazzo’s also offering a free t-shirt with all jacket orders placed on June 6th and 7th, just mention Polini Cup when you order.
Stuff White People Like #126
As fans of the blog Stuff White People Like, we knew it was just a matter of time. Like usual, it’s dead-on accurate. Thanks, Michael!
¡Barça!
Haven’t had a soccer post in a while, and this one involves soccer, booze, and a ridiculously large Chupa Chup, so it’s got 2SB written all over it. We’re not big Barcelona fans or anything, though we love their jerseys for various reasons. We also generally dislike Argentinean soccer stars. But hey, this Messi character scored the second Champions’ League final goal against stupid Man United and tried to copulate with a lollipop, so he’s allright.
(Thanks for the link, Alfredo! Angry comments coming from Berwyn in 3… 2… 1…)
Blythe gets a Sito Plus
Any time you feel your scooter obsession is way out of control, just be thankful you’re not into Blythe dolls. Or, like our friend Ana, way too into both.
ScooterworksUSA and Scooterworks Chicago
There’s been some confusion and angst lately on the Chicago lists about changes at Scooterworks and parts availability. Until recently, both the local dealership (and its service department) AND the catalog internet/mail-order business were located on Damen Avenue and called “Scooterworks USA.” Starting last month, the parts business, Scooterworks USA has moved to a new location on the West Side, and the dealership, still on Damen, has been separated from the parts business and christened Scooterworks Chicago (note the separate websites, as well).
Scooterworks Chicago will stock the general supply of parts, gear, and accessories typical to any good scooter shop, but will no longer sell the full lineup of items available from Scooterworks USA.
Sadly, Scooterworks USA is not accessible to retail customers, so local scooterists will not be able to order in person, or pick up orders placed by phone or online. This was very disappointing news to Chicago scooterists spoiled with 6-day-a-week access to just about any imaginable scooter part. To lessen the blow, ScooterworksUSA is temporarily offering free shipping for all Chicago orders over $35 until September 31, 2009:
Attention: Chicagoland Scooterworks customers
As many of you know, we have moved our warehouse across town from our dealership, Scooterworks Chicago. We are in the process of making Scooterworks Chicago one of the greatest scooter shops in the country.
We are unfortunately not able to stock all of our parts at our dealership. We know this is an inconvenience to our local customers, and for that we apologize. So to help everyone get through the 2009 riding season we are offering all Chicagoland customers FREE SHIPPING on all orders over $35 through September 31, 2009.
Thanks,
Scooterworks Staff
As always, orders placed before 2pm ship same day, and Scooterworks generally offers free shipping on orders over $100.
Vespa Vintage 2009 catalog
Piaggio’s latest Vespa Vintage catalog is available online. The PDF download doesn’t seem to work, but you can peruse it in Flash. The first “Vespa Vintage” catalog came out around the same time Piaggio returned to the U.S., and sent many Vespaphiles running to their local VVRS (remember those?) expecting to find some of the lovingly depicted reproductions of rare bits actually in stock. The new catalog (have there been any in between? Is this a once-a-decade thing?) seems a little less, well, imaginary, and VespaUSA’s parts department has improved (a bit) since 2000, so now’s your chance to score that Piaggio-approved GS spare tire gas tank.
Powersports Mail-Order Mega-Warehouse Condescends To Scooterists *UPDATED*
While perusing the local craigslist today I came across a post (which I dutifully tagged as spam) announcing the new scooter oriented online shop by traditional powersports mail-order powerhouse Dennis Kirk. Their new site is called dkscooters.com and offers accessories and gear for the scooter owner. For many years the Rush City, MN based retailer has had excellent catalogs aimed at several powersports divisions from off-road to metric cruisers. Now in the digital age they’ve made a separate website to group the items that would be more likely purchased by scooterists. They have covers, locks, jackets and even one token brand of 2 stroke oil. But when looking in the top category on their left-hand menu, helmets, I found it lacking. Not that they didn’t have my preferred brand or that they didn’t have a Valentino Rossi replica lid, but that of the 163 options there wasn’t a full-face helmet to be found. Do scooterists not deserve the same protection offered to other power-two-wheel enthusiasts? Do they really think that scooters are so harmless that no one needs the protection available to a cruiser pilot? Or is this completely sensible and the only question is why the website isn’t entirely pink with bunnies around the border?
Write this post off as a narrow minded rant if you’d like. Dennis Kirk will probably have no problem with the free advertisement (normally I’m a big fan and until now shopped their at least once a year). And it could be said that you shouldn’t even buy a helmet online without trying it on first, and you should buy it from the local shop where you tried it on. The behavior of embracing and marginalizing scooters at the same time just seems a bit insulting.
UPDATE: Dealer News reports on the news of the DK online store for scooters. The article gets some interesting comments from a few of the prime movers in the scooter commerce arena. LINK
In Memory of Marshall Tito: A Scooter Contest
To celebrate the upcoming officially recognized birthday of Josip Broz Tito I would like to offer the opportunity for one lucky trainspotter to win a fantastic Scootmoto decal. The first person to identify the model scooter displayed at 1:07 of this BBC video will win this prize. Don’t put links in your response below just the make and model and I’ll ‘fact check’. (If the feed goes dead here’s the direct link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8032132.stm )
Disclaimer: Not an official contest. Subject to Bb pulling the post and replacing it with a helmet review. But I swear I’ll send one to the first lucky winner, as soon as I get around to it. -bgk
Fred Perry Anniversary Vespa
A limited edition Fred Perry Vespa LX due in August, only 100 to be produced, with some (i.e. “2”) allegedly coming to the U.S. The bikes celebrate the tennis legend’s clothing brand’s hundredth anniversary. (Thanks, Dawson.)
Symba, unleashed
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.
Vespa: originally a 4-stroke?
Speaking of the new LML 4-stroke “Vespa,” Bradford Duval from Corazzo points out that Corradino D’Ascanio’s first prototype powerplant for the original Vespa was actually a 2-valve 4-stroke engine. Fascinating, and how much different would Vespa’s history have been if Enrico Piaggio hadn’t demanded he return to the drawing board to make a simpler and cheaper 2-stroke?
Mods: still causing trouble
This is both the saddest and funniest story ever, for too many reasons to count.
Seattle’s All-City Scooter Community Day
I love the idea of Seattle’s All-City Scooter Community Day. There are always a lot of rides and rallies in any major city, but we’re usually just enjoying ourselves and we rarely think of ways to engage the greater community. I keep thinking of ways it could be expanded: transportation forums, local government involvement, riding classes or demonstrations, rider education, and maybe even some community service… with a lot of planning and publicity, it seems like a terriffic way to promote scootering.