Category: Rallies and Rides

FabMap Buddy giveaway

RandMcNally has been spamming all over the scooter community, but they’ve got an interesting idea and a great offer: They’re giving away a Genuine 50cc Buddy to promote their new FabMaps, maps printed on fabric that can just be wadded up and jammed in a bag, or used to clean your helmet visor or sunglasses, or to hold a hot sparkplug, or whatever else scooterists do with rags (badump bump!) Even better, the FabMaps are on sale for $2 with free shipping, I just ordered a few, the drawback seems to be that they’re limited to the trendy/touristy neighborhoods of trendier cities (Chicago, for instance featured Lakeview and the Magnificent Mile) but still, $2 is a good deal and if they’re not good maps, they’re hopefully good shop towels, or vice versa. Full review when we get ’em.

Cold Weather Challenge 08-09 kickoff ride

Ryetronics’ Cold Weather Challenge kicks off with a ride leaving the Kat Klub at noon on Sunday, November 16, 2008. Rules and more info will come soon when Ryan gets back from his mud bath in China. Here are three scoot.net galleries of CWC rides of years past: 2003 (Chad’s photos), 2004 (Chad’s photos), and 2005 (PJ’s photos). Ryan has promised that no live poultry will be abandoned over the course of this years’ kickoff ride.

The “T-Max Killer?”

Honda is promising to unveil a mind-blowing Silverwing replacement at EICMA that will knock the socks off potential T-Max buyers. Scooter Station thinks it’s based on this concept from a couple years back. I can guarantee it won’t be that crazy-looking, but they’ve piqued my interest. Also: aren’t high-powered touring scooters supposed to have comfy seats and passenger/storage space? I can see a market for big-displacement sports scooters, but it’s not replacing the Silverwing market.

Decemberists’ Halloween scooter?

The Decemberists are playing in Wheaton? On Halloween night? And there’s a scooter on the poster? Did Carson Ellis actually paint that? What’s up with her website? Is a liberal alt-whine anachronism-gimmick oboe band playing to creationists at a christian college in a dry suburb on halloween night funny, cool, or sad? I can’t tell anymore, but if anyone can steal me one of those posters, please do. (Photo via Mike Marusin, thanks!)

“Art of the Ride” at Motoworks

Hey, sorry about the last-minuteness, but our local Vespa/MC dealer Motoworks Chicago is having an art show with a reception thingy after work today (Friday). The show will be around for a couple months, if you can’t make the opening:

Friday 10/10 5pm-10:30pm Motoworks presents: “Art of the Ride” Show runs October 10, 2008- December 10, 2008

Art and motorcycles, is that possible? Well, thanks to local artist Mark Nelson, it is! Motoworks Chicago is proud to host this event.

The purpose of this show, according to Nelson, “is to expose the public to more art in neighborhood establishments – and since this business is motorcycles, it was the perfect opportunity to create a site-specific art show about motorcycles. From an artist’s angle, I wanted to communicate to the general public the feeling behind the exhilaration of the ride. To fellow riders, I wanted to communicate the universal understanding and appreciation of the ride.”

The project started out with drawings in pastel chalk. Mark then came here to Motoworks and photographed the mechanics at work. He, wanted to follow in the footsteps of Diego Rivera – a world-renown, historical Mexican muralist, focusing on the actual laborer working his trade.

So please join us at Motoworks Chicago as we present: “Art of the Ride,” a one person show of etchings, pastel drawings, and paintings by an artist who has been living and working in the city of Chicago for 25 years. The art presented here both celebrates the act of riding as well as Nelson’s use of social sarcasm.

An Opening Reception with English Ale is scheduled for: October 10, 2008, 5:00PM – 10:30PM at Motoworks Chicago, 1901 South Western Ave, Chicago, IL 60608. For more info: call Motoworks at 312-738-4269.

gringolandiastudio.com
motoworkschicago.com

(Thanks for the info, Mike!)

Speaking of jumps…

Let me walk you through my run [Thanks to the Hell’s Fairies for the video]:

  • Ramp: It’s a testament to the Blur’s awesomeness that a 255-lb idiot can jump that high without breaking anything.
  • Flag Joust: I knew I’d never pull that off, so I didn’t even try, in the interest of time.
  • Beercan Slalom: I practiced this seven hundred times when no one was around and had it down. Under pressure, not so good.
  • The Gauntlet: The plan: having screwed up royally, I decided to ignore the boards and ride directly into the crowd, as fast as possible, in the hope of scaring everyone so much they forgot to throw their sponges. The reality: I was closer to them, so they were able to hit me head-on, with more force.
  • Follow-up: So it turns out the Blur has a lot of sponge-friendly nooks and crannies, so I was able to loop around and throw all the sponges back at everybody. Later, I took the Eisenhower expressway home and flipped my visor down at 65mph and it was so spotted up with soap spots that I couldn’t see. That was fun.

BTW, Jordan and Rawc are more or less OK, thankfully. Aside from that, it was a great rally, more photos and commentary soon. Thanks, everyone.

Top Five of the 90s

Thinking about my sad role as the only idiot to have attended all fourteen Slaughterhouse rallies, and having a little free time since I barely lifted a finger to help this year (Thanks Kathy!), i started thinking about how rallies have changed. I don’t want to get all misty-eyed or retro or elitist, and I definitely enjoy the current scene, scooters, and people just the way they are. I just thought it’d be fun to come up with a list of five things I miss from the early 90s, and five things I don’t.
Continue reading “Top Five of the 90s”

Slaughterhouse on Fox News Chicago

Here’s one of David Viggiano’s Slaughterhouse bits from Fox News this morning. There were more gags and adventures, hopefully someone can convert Tivo to Youtube. All in all it was fun, and loads better than this. As I was leaving, I heard MadTV’s Michael McDonald was on his way over to try out the Gymkhana. Thanks to Johnny of Motoworks for putting it together. Slaughterhouse starts tonight, of course. Be there!

UPDATE: Thanks to Thanks to Fox, Gapers Block, Time Out Chicago, and Love, Chicago for hyping the rally!

Slaughterhouse Thursday

Slaughterhouse is once again, almost upon us, and for the first time since Slaughterhouse 1, I had nothing to do with planning it. If you’re in the rally mood early (very early), come to Motoworks at 7am Thursday for a live gymkhana telecast on FOX News Chicago, who will be the first television news outlet to cover Slaughterhouse before it happens, which makes a lot more sense than running a story afterwards, when you think about it. Here’s some video of last year’s gymkhana for reference. Thursday night, the official Slaughterhouse party is Delilah’s 15th anniversary party* with DJ Chuck Wren of Jump Up! Records, or check out The Organization’s “Hard Mod” night at Holiday Club**.

* Oh, Crash Palace, how I still miss you, but Delilah’s has certainly grown on me, especially after Mike let me DJ once, back when he was desperate for customers, an unforgettable night when some wag asked me “Do you have anything good?” Sure, I brought a dude nearly to tears by playing the long version of Throwing Muses’ “Soul Soldier,” so you win some and you lose some. Anyway, congrats on 15 years Mike and Delilahs, and good luck with the new Bottom Lounge, which I haven’t checked out yet but it sounds like a great venue.

** Once at Holiday (well, at the old location, ten years ago, ha) a waitress snidely refused to take my friend’s ten dimes as a tip on a $1.50 glass of soda. Sure, he may have been short on paper currency at the moment, but a 66% tip is is a 66% tip. I liked the DJs (Kristine DJed my wedding!) and some of my friends were bartenders there, but that was lame and I kinda stopped going there after that.

UPDATE! Ryan will be shuttling people (on his BV200) between the two bars for the low price of one british pound sterling. Phil has offered a rival service priced at 15oz of any liquid. That name again is Mr. Plow.