Category: Lifestyle

Piaggio integrates Moto Guzzi operations

Piaggio announced today that they’ll be incorporating the operations of wholly-owned subsidary Moto Guzzi into Piaggio’s infrastructure by the end of November, moving Guzzi production to Piaggio or Aprilia facilities, and “rationalising the technical, industrial, design and style operations of the two companies.”

“Forever Vespa”

A review of Pippo Cappellano and Marina Cappabianca’s film Forever Vespa from the 13th Cathay Pacific Italian Film Festival in New Zealand. The reviewer is a Vespisti (and admittedly a bit snobby about it!) with an astute grip on the current scooter craze, he notes that it’s an independent film so well-supported by Piaggio’s archives that it sometimes appears to be a Piaggio promotional video. It’s played at a few festivals, but I can’t find a trailer or any more info… anyone?

Scootmoto stocks up

Less Gas, Less Space, Less is MoreScootmoto, 2strokebuzz’ capitalist sister site, has just introduced a whole slew of new products including three of Robotribe’s popular t-shirts in mens’ and womens’ styles, Karen Giezyng and Steve Talley ‘s great new Bumpstart* scooter ‘zine, emergency preparedness gear from the Scooter Patrol for Annihilation of Zombies, and back issues of the Vespa Club of America’s American Scooterist. More good stuff is on the way, and Scootmoto is always looking for more great DIY scooter apparel, gifts, memorabilia, and such.

UPDATE: We’ve also added Field Notes, great, rugged, vintage-style pocket notebooks perfect for mileage tracking, travel journals, technical notes, or other roadside ramblings.

*More about Bumpstart tomorrow!

The Vespa S 150: a review

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

7859
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.
Continue reading “The Vespa S 150: a review”

Zinesters Talking (Portland)

Karen Giezyng, who started the Oregon Scooter Club’s great ‘zine Kickstart has just released her new ‘zine Bumpstart. More about the new zine soon, but in the meantime, we wanted to give a heads up that she’ll be reading and telling stories from her recent trip to Italy at Zinesters Talking, next Tuesday (September 16, 2008) 6:30–7:45 p.m., in the U.S. Bank Room at Portland’s Central Library.