Category: Rallies and Rides

Testing your Loyalty?

I know Vespa rudely scheduled their dealer meeting in California the same weekend as Genuine’s dealer retreat in Wisconsin a couple years ago, but it doesn’t seem sporting to schedule the grand opening of the redesigned Scooterworks Chicago space the same day as Motowork’s North Avenue shop opening. I’m not sure who called dibs on the date first, but if I can’t go to both, I’m not going to either. Even if one of them books Jay Leno.

Another Adidas/Vespa event

Johnny at Motoworks let us know there’s another Vespa party at the Adidas Original store (923 N. Rush Street) this Thursday (4-1-10) from 5-9pm. Last year, they had similar parties all over the country, so if your town has an Adidas Original store, you might want to give them a call. They promise “first dibs on new Adidas gear” and a 15% discount at the party.

(Note: Motoworks’ new location at 1710 North Avenue is having a grand opening party on April 17, so save that date, and we’ll post more about that later!)

Now, I’ve been wearing Sambas since Pelé played for the Cosmos (Hmm, “Pelé” is in the Mac spellcheck dictionary, nice!). I love Adidas, I love Vespa, but I gotta say, the party last year was a disappointment. I had the impression that the Adidas Originals boutique threw a party at least once a week (Missy Elliot Line! El Salvador Line! etc…) without much thought into pleasing the specific target market. They had a generic trip-hop DJ, and a few chicken salad sandwiches, but (even after being asked a week early) couldn’t wrangle a scooter parking zone for the evening. A respectable dozen or so scooterists showed up, pretty excited about what we’d seen online, only to discover that a tiny fraction of the line was actually available in-store (two shoe styles, a couple t-shirts, and a “meh” tracksuit). No one wanted to stay long, with meter maids hungrily eyeing the assortment of semi-legally-parked scooters outside, and even though the 15% discount was extended to online orders placed through the store, no one bought much. So it may be worth checking out, but I’m betting the Motoworks store opening party will be a lot more fun.

2009-10 Cold Weather Challenge Wrap-Up

Mad Man Maddox sent another ski-scooter link, which reminds us that our Cold Weather Challenge officially ended at midnight on Feb. 28. So here are the final standings: Third Place is Luigi G at 2.5°F; Second Place is Alan Van Tol at 0°F, and first place is Colin Doyle at -13°. Colin led the CWC for a month last year, so we’re glad to see him seal the deal this year. Last year’s winner, Scootervillan Bob didn’t enter, probably because we never sent him his Malört. (Mailing liquor is tricky!) So now we owe two bottles of Malört to Minnesota, and it’s nice to see two New Englanders on the podium, too! Good work everyone! If you entered the CWC and would like a sticker, send your snail-mail address to illnoise@2strokebuzz.com. (Luigi, I’ve got yours!)

Genuine’s “Studly” ICE Race

You may remember our trip to watch some ICE Speedway motorcycle racing last year (a long story loosely centered around “Doc” from the Love Boat. Our main takeaway from that adventure was that anyone who shows up a couple hours early with durable boots, a box of tire studs, and a few hundred bucks will get a chance on the ice.

Genuine Scooter Company and/or Scooterworks apparently saw an excuse for a fun night out/cheap marketing stunt and grabbed it by the horns, staging a race between three 50cc Genuine Buddies and a Roughhouse at the recent ICE races in Danville IL. Hard to say who’s who out there, but we’re betting it’s Ryan Jeffries tearing it up on the Roughhouse. Sadly, the video ends before the race does, but we think the Roughhouse had it sealed up.

Sure looks like fun, and it sounds like the crowd enjoyed it… Plus, if they did enough laps, they may be winning the Cold Weather Challenge.

Here’s another video from a different angle:

Thanks (Which may be Ryan?)

Amerivespa, High Rollers updates

The Amerivespa 2010 website is up. It’s earlier than usual this year, May 27-31, in San Antonio, TX. , One new feature I’m kind of excited about is a scooter art show that will include great Amerivespa artwork from this year’s designer Robert Tatum, plus Shag, Shepard Fairey, R. Black, Glen Reid and some poseur named Bryan. Rally registration is open now, as usual, it is CRITICAL to pre-register if you want to participate in all events and get a fully-packed goodie bag.

The Vegas Rally is February 25-28, and returns to Fremont Street, which should be goodtimes. The Inciters are playing the Saturday Allnighter, with the usual load of great DJs. Pregistration closes February 12

Corazzo behind New USTT Foundation

Our friend and Corazzo owner Bradford Duval stepped down from the presidency of the VCOA a couple months ago (Mike Bobadilla of Vespa Club Los Gatos took his place, btw) but he’s putting his time into another great two-wheeled organization. The new United States Tourist Trophy Foundation is looking to send Alaskan Jimmy Moore to the Isle of Man TT in May/June. The backers of the USTTF feel Moore is the man destined to be the first American on the podium in the races’ history, and they need your help getting him (and his bikes) there. Read more at RoadRacerX.com.

When that’s done, Bradford, Eric Almendral and I need your help getting Silent Ron to Dakar on a Blur 220EFI next winter. Eric and I have a new years’ resolution to make Ron the first American to not kill himself in the desert of South America on a Taiwanese moped.

Chicago Tiki ride Sunday

Darren’s taking advantage of Sunday’s expected 40° heat wave and clear skies:

The weather forecast calls for slightly warmer temps and little to no precipitation until early next week, so let’s take advantage of it! The streets should be clear, and you know your scooter is asking to be ridden.

Meet at Orbit Room (Wellington/California) at 1:30pm Sunday 1/17, ride leaves at 2pm. Get there earlier if you want to eat. We will head up to Paradise Pup (1724 S River Rd, Des Plaines; #24 in Chicago Magazine’s 30 Best Burgers), planning to get there around 3pm. from Paradise Pup we will head down to Hala Kahiki (2834 River Rd, River Grove), planning to get there at 4-4:30pm.

Please join us for any or all of it. All bikes welcome! Or just meet us for food and/or drinks; you know January is the best time for tiki drinks, anyway. Hope to see you there!

I’ll try to make it, Hala Kahiki’s near my ‘hood and I haven’t been there in ages.

Swedish Army Huskies

We try to only talk about motorcycles when it’s absolutely necessary, but with Cold Weather Challenge fever heating up and a few threads going about the snowmobilification of scooters, Mad Man Maddox posits an alternate scheme based on Sweden’s late-seventies military Husqvarna. Even motorcycle-haters can love a 250 automatic, but it’s the ‘winter package’ that will send gonzo CWC would-bes on an errand to the welding supply shop. These Huskies feature spring-mounted outrigger skis! On roads, they pop up out of the way and you put your feet on the pegs. On snow, you rest your feet on the skis, which automatically adjust themselves for cornering and snow height. Brilliant! If that doesn’t sound like fun, check out this video:

Yesterday I demanded Brooke procure some video of Bob and Colin racing ski-scooters across Lake Minnetonka with “Take Me With U” playing in the background. But scratch that, now I demand footage of you psychotic Minnesotans tearing up Michele Bachmann’s front yard on dual-ski outriggers. Get on it!

Oh, if 2SB only had Top Gear’s budget.

Cold Weather Challenge 2009-10

    CWC Leaderboard

  1. Colin Doyle: -13°F, 17.7 mi, 01/09/10, Collegeville, Minnesota, Honda Ruckus
    “…#6 x 3/4″ self-tapping screws in the treads of both front and rear tires..”
  2. Alan Van Tol: 0°F, 17.05 mi, 01/14/10
    Bridgton, ME, Yamaha Vino 125
  3. Luigi G.: 2.5° F, 10.1 mi, 01/30/10
    Dover, MA, 1970 Vespa GTr
  4. Ryan Bastianelli: 5°F, 10.2 mi, 12/16/09
    Chicago, IL, Piaggio BV250
  5. Jen Stich: 7°F, 10.3 mi, 1/30/10
    Westerly, RI/Pawcatuck, CT, 1963 Vespa 150 VBB

CWC09LEADERS:

  1. Colin Doyle: -13°F, 17.7 mi, 01/09/10, Collegeville, Minnesota, Honda Ruckus
    “…#6 x 3/4″ self-tapping screws in the treads of both front and rear tires..”
  2. Alan Van Tol: 0°F, 17.05 mi, 01/14/10
    Bridgton, ME, Yamaha Vino 125
  3. Luigi G.: 2.5° F, 10.1 mi, 01/30/10
    Dover, MA, 1970 Vespa GTr
  4. Ryan Bastianelli: 5°F, 10.2 mi, 12/16/09
    Chicago, IL, Piaggio BV250
  5. Jen Stich: 7°F, 10.3 mi, 1/30/10
    Westerly, RI/Pawcatuck, CT, 1963 Vespa 150 VBB

More details from each rider in the comments!

Continue reading “Cold Weather Challenge 2009-10”

#18: Indoor winter scooter storage?

Today’s question for Dr. Buzz comes from From Phil T. from Chicago, IL:

I have a scooter that I plan to keep in storage for this winter. My plan is to keep it in the basement of our 9-unit building, but I want to be sure that I do everything necessary to both 1, avoid the scooter becoming a fire hazard and 2, ensure that the scooter operates well for the spring unveiling.
Continue reading “#18: Indoor winter scooter storage?”