Category: Manufacturers

The new new new new new new “Lambretta”

These are due out the same day as the CMSI “L”series “Lambretta” and the Khurana/SIP metal-bodied 4-speed Lambretta GP. And they will all have an anti-gravity device that will allow you to fly them to your unicorn farm at 300 miles an hour, in time for your date with Scarlett Johanssen. The domain is registered to someone in the Netherlands. Someone with a vivid imagination and a pirated copy of Lightwave 3D. Go ahead, anyone, prove me wrong.

Fuoco500 to U.S.

Just as I posted about the impossibilty of the Gilera GP800 ever being available in the U.S., The Scooter Scoop posted that Gilera’s Fuoco 500 3-wheeler will be sold here as the Piaggio MP3 500. Amazing news, though with the current MP3 250 priced over $5K, the Fuoco will likely be pushing $10K. I don’t know why it took Piaggio so long to come up with the idea to put a Piaggio sticker over the Gilera sticker, but I sure hope this means the Gilera GP800 and (dare to dream) Runner may appear here, too.

Kymco MyRoad 700 press photos

Lots of official press photos of the Kymco MyRoad 700 on motoblog.it. Like I said the other day, it’s no Gilera GP 800 in the looks department, but way more likely to come to the U.S., and if the price is right, I could see it doing very well here. Scooterists know Kymco makes a great product, but this bike might finally get them some attention outside the scooter/ATV ghetto. In 20 years. when Kymco’s outselling Suzuki and Yamaha, historians may cite this bike as the catalyst for that growth. Which is why they really need a much better name for it, ha.

ScootRSS

Say what you will about ScootRS (please don’t, actually, I’ve heard it all), Randall’s always been kind to me (though, to be honest, I wouldn’t buy a scooter from anyone without seeing it in person first). They’ve recently expanded their facility in Ho Chi Minh City (a funny story in that post, though “Where do some people get their hatred of Asia from?” is an easy question to answer). But the real point of this post is that ScootRS now has an “item of the day” RSS feed and whether you’re down with the eastern hemisphere or not, it’s a neat way to familiarize yourself with random vintage scooter parts, I look forward to playing “Identify that Part” every morning.

Vespanomics Go Green videos

What VespaUSA is calling “your chance to show and tell the world what Vespanomics is through your creative lens” is what the advertising industry calls “spec work,” doing work for free in the hopes of accceptance or a prize. I’m not knocking the entrants, and there are some pretty decent entries, but contests like these always come off as the last gasp of a company with no ideas, and the inequal footing of entrants (some amateur, and some professional enough to know better) and the corporate overview that’s necessary usually strips out most of the fun. With video editing capabilities in the hands of more and more consumers, and the “rise” of “viral” video, it’s not surprising to see contests like this popping up all over, and they are. PiaggioUSA surely borrowed the idea from recent well-publicized Heinz or Doritos contests. While it’s tempting to think they’re doing it to save a few bucks (Heinz’ $57,000 prize was far less than the creative cost of a “real” national advertising campaign), it’s funny to think they also had to spend lots of money and time advertising the contest, which makes it seem even sillier. To be fair, Vespa’s contest isn’t really a “make us a commercial” deal, I think they’re just looking for some viral love (and more mailing list names to whom they’ll never send anything), and the prize (a $5000 scooter) reflects that, though also makes it that much less enticing. Again, the entries themselves are pretty decent and worth checking out, it’s the contest itself that pushes all my wrong buttons. Judging by the fact that no “end date” is posted anywhere, I’m guessing this will be yet another promotional media-bandwagon-jump that will succeed despite PiaggioUSA’s instant abandonment of the project, thanks to the devotion of scooterists and the scooter community. (See also: Vespa Blogs),

Kymco MyRoad 700

Kymco’s long-rumored 700cc maxiscooter is unveiled and given an appropriately Kymcoesque name. Is it almost EICMA again already? Where did this year go? Anyway, it’s not bad-looking for a maxiscooter, and Kymcos are generally awesome, so start saving your pennies, it’s hella more likely to come to the US than that Gilera GP 800 and it’s surely half the price, if only three-quarters as cool.

Honda 2008: Changes, finally?

There are a lot of ways to interpret The Scooter Scoop’s report on Honda’s 2008 U.S. lineup. While it’s sad to say goodbye to old friends, the Helix and Elite were both well past their sell-by date and it is certainly time for Honda to shake things up. (Besides, killing them off only paves the way for their triumphant ‘retro’ return, later). If losing the Big Ruckus (not a big seller anyway) makes way for the SH series, then I’m all for it. I’m betting the good news will eclipse the bad before the end of the year, and it’s about time.

Bajaj to close main Pune plant?

Facing a 15% drop in first-quarter two-wheeler sales after a major demerger and a very public emphasis on the budget automotive market (possibly with Renault), Bajaj Auto announced Thursday that production of their only current scooter model, the Crystal, would move from Bajaj’s main Akurdi plant in Pune to a three-wheeler plant in Waluj. 2SB reader/Bajaj fan Dave McCabe suggests this move is similar to Ford announcing they’re no longer making cars in Flint, MI. (Or Piaggio moving Vespa production out of Pontedera). The work week has been cut to four days in Akurdi, and union leaders and workers fear more layoffs or even the possibility of the historic Akurdi plant closing permanently. Despite several revamped motorcycles and talk of an electric bike, scooters don’t seem to be a priority at Bajaj these days.

Yamaha’s EC-02 hits Japanese market

Photos of the Superman-logo-shaped Yamaha EC-02 electric bike have been circulating since 2005, but InventorSpot reports that it’s finally available (at about US$2000) in Japan. Unlike the Vectrix, it doesn’t come close to the performance of even a 50cc gas-powered scooter. But it has several pluses over the many ho-hum electric cycles on the market: an iPod dock with speakers, an original and distinctive design, the Yamaha name (and dealer network), and some sort of mysterious 3-D glow-in-the-dark coating. (Thanks, Kevan!)

Thanks, woman on cell phone in Lincoln Navigator.

rallycrush1.jpg

Lowrider scooters are cool and all, but a month after picking up his restored and kitted Vespa Rally 200 from POC Scooters, Kyle Rose would probably have preferred not being smashed between two SUVs. Sorry Kyle. Here’s a video of Phil riding the bike, which would be uproariously funny had Phil and Kyle wanted the bike to look that way.

LML Vespa? Doubt it.

IndiaTimes reports that after relaunching international shipments in the last couple months, LML is back in the (Indian) domestic market, with their “Vespa brand” scooters. I’m assuming this is sloppy journalism and not some sort of LML-Piaggio joint venture where the LML NV SPL and Select II (on which the Genuine Stella is based) are actually being sold under the Vespa name, but in the unlikely event that Piaggio is involved, that would likely bring a quick death to the Stella.