In a surprise last-minute announcement–days before the rally–Motoplex/Old Town Motocycle Shoppe has told us they’ll be giving away a Piaggio Typhoon in the Slaughterhouse raffle this Saturday night at the Cobra Lounge. Big thanks to Dan and Derrick at Motoplex for the scooter!
Category: Rallies and Rides
Slaughterhouse countdown!
Only a few days left until Chicago’s oldest, biggest and best scooter rally; Slaughterhouse 12. We’ll be at Los Corazones Negros’ pre-party (Thursday night at Liar’s Club) running a Crapraffleâ„¢ to raise some money for scooterrelief.org, please bring along a few extra bucks to help scooterists in need. And be sure to try the pulled pork on Saturday!
Amerivespa, No Direction Home Photos
G-MP, Nelly, and Biddle devo-lve at Amerivespa
I finally uploaded some photos: 2sb’s Amerivespa Gallery, Jordan’s Amerivespa Gallery, and 2sb’s Minneapolis gallery. Scoot.net, of course, has many more.
Around Australia
Australian scooterist Julio Languiller is a quarter of the way into his 15-day, 10,000-mile trip around Australia for at-risk and homeless Australian youth. Languilller holds world endurance records on Honda 50, 125, and 150cc scooters and is a veteran of many long-distance charity rides. The Cannonball Run starts in less than a month, their ride is less than a quarter the distance in two-thirds the time, but they’re mostly riding vintage scooters, not 600cc Honda Silverwings, so we’ll cut them some slack.
MSF’s group riding video
From Scooter Diva: The MSF has produced a Group Riding Safety Video (right-click to download, it streams poorly). It’s definitely worth watching for some good tips (hand signals!) and Lindsay Buckingham-esque guitar riffs.
Tukker update
Jo and Ants, tuk-tuking across the eastern hemisphere, are still rolling and still blogging. They’re off to the Ukraine today after an unintended 4-day stop in Volgograd, Russia. They seem to be under the impression it’ll be easier once they get through the Ukraine, but we’ll see!
Microcar & Minicar Club National Meet
If you can’t make it to Minneapolis this weekend, the next best thing is in Crystal Lake, IL: The 2006 Microcar and Minicar National Meet.
A real Roman holiday
We usually cringe when a Vespa story starts with a reference to Roman Holiday, but this travelogue, by a young journalist that saw Rome from the pillion seat of a Vespa, is aptly titled and worth a read.
“A Scooter Friendly Town”
Denver CBS Channel 4’s coverage of Amerivespa. I’d concur, I saw more scooters around Denver than in any other American city I’ve visited, and the local turnout for the rally was astounding.
Back from Denver
I’m back from Amerivespa with a head full of stories and a camera full of photos. Here are the front-page story and feature story from the Sunday Denver Post, which was somehow printed and on our hotel room doorstep at least five hours before we went to bed “Saturday” night.
Horse Power with HASC
Heck’s Angels Scooter Club (Warning: MySpace page) has organized a ride next weekend to Arlington Park for some horse racing (and presumably betting). The ride is Saturday, August 5th, and leaves Dunlay’s in Logan Square at 10:30am. The first race is at 1:00pm.
(Note: The ride to Pierogifest in Whiting, IN scheduled for this weekend has been canceled.)
Farewell, P.J.!
Our friend P.J. Chmiel, the man responsible for Genuine Scooter Co. and Scooterworks’ fantastic graphic design for the past few years, is hitting the road for the next few months to see America on his custom Stella “Ramblin’ Man” (above). This Saturday (7-29-2006) 9:30-on, wish Peej good luck at Sally’s Lounge (3759 N. Western, at Grace).
Piaggio X9 tour for pet charity
Steve Basford of Tenerife, Canary Islands, is touring 6,500 kms through Europe on a Piaggio X9 125, for a charity promoting veterinary care. How do all these people get so much time off work to ride scooters for weeks on end for charity? Best of luck, Steve.
Ride to Work Day: July 19th
Wednesday, July 19th is the annual Ride to Work Day. This year marks the 15th anniversary of the event. It’s a nice way to get out and ride while proving that bikers (and their bikes) come in all shapes and sizes.
“If I make it to Toledo, I’ll be happy”
A documentary about the 2006 Lake Erie Loop (watch trailer) will debut in August at the Overlook Park Short Film Festival. (See also: POCphil’s story about doing the Lake Erie Loop on a pink Genuine Buddy 125.)