Category: Lifestyle

Denver hit-and-run rider identified

Colin from Sportique has identified the Buddy 125 rider that was injured in a hit-and-run accident in Denver this weekend:

The girl who was a victim of the hit-and-run in Denver on her Buddy 125 was Paula Barlow. She is a sweetheart and rides every day in all weather. She is banged up bad and the dude that hit her is still on the loose.

Paula has been a Sportique regular for many many years. She is a trip. Her first scooter was one of those Puegeot big-wheel scoots from the late nineties. She has had several others of the past ten or so years including a Kymco Cobra, a Kymco People and a Buddy 50. Her Buddy 125 was the bike she finally settled on and she loved the thing to pieces. Her scooter had virtually become her identity. Every time Paula came into the Scooter shop she flirted with all the guys there up one side and down the other. She’s hilarious.

Please her send well-wishes from ALL OVER THE PLACE! Paula will really appreciate it. She has not got many friends or family to show her support right now….let’s be her scooter family. In fact, when I called her house her neighbor was tending to her affairs. Send postcards or whatever to:

Paula Barlow
c/o Denver Health
777 Bannock St
Pavilion A, room 202
Denver, Co 80204

Thanks, Colin. It looks like Modern Buddy is collecting donations to buy her some scooter magazines and flowers. Get well soon, Paula.

Blog Review: The New Cafe Racer Society

Back when people rode new bikes that looked like what people today call a cafe-racer, did they refer to themselves as cafe-racers with pride and machismo? Or was that a jibe that would come from others poking fun at groups of wannabe Grand Prix heroes? I don’t know. But I came across a blog called The New Cafe Racer Society that has some great material. It has many stories about vintage and modern motorcycles and culture as well as an ample amount of digital ink devoted to scooters. It’s good to be reminded that there are people out there with great passion for motorbikes for the sake of art, technology, performance, style and down right sensibility. I have yet to see a comment listed in the posts so I fear it may not be getting the exposure it deserves. Take a spin on over and check it out. It’s now on my daily list of sites to check with new content nearly every day. Alternatively, you could just keep tabs on it over here at 2SB for when I re-post some of the more sweet morsels I find there.

Scooter hit-and-run in Denver

We see a lot of scooter accident reports, but this one’s particularly disturbing: A Denver scooterist was struck by a Chevrolet Tracker on Colfax Ave. last night. She was thrown from the bike while the driver continued to drive another block with her scooter trapped under his vehicle. He eventually pulled over, removed evidence from his car, and fled the scene. One report claimed the fleeing driver took the woman’s purse from the scooter and stuffed it in a storm drain.

Archive: Alfredo, 1996

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Alfredo Mar, Niagara Rally, 1996

I did an interview the other day with Karen for the awesome Kickstart magazine, and it got me thinking about how long i’ve been doing this (12+ years!), and all the great people I’ve met through 2strokebuzz and scootering. I started digging through some old shoeboxes tonight and thought it might be fun to start posting some photos and stories from the old days.

There’s no better person to start with than Alfredo Mar. When I bought my first scooter in 1995, Alf was the first person I met on Usenet, and a few days later, the first scooterist I met in person. I remember seeing him in front of Arturo’s Tacos on his mirrored-out P200 in pressed slacks and a tennis sweater with a weird laurel where the alligator should be, and feeling entirely inadequate with my rusty Primavera, dirty jeans and biker jacket, but within seconds of talking to him, I knew we’d be friends. We’re still best friends, and our daughters are, too. This photo is from Niagara 1996, our first major road trip. (Check out Rich Easton lying down in the background.) Alf bought that burgundy P200 from Vespa of Chicago when he went away to college, but it’s been in my garage so long (I’ve moved with it twice!) I think I might have common-law ownership.