Eric from The Rovers SC has posted a handy visual guide to identifying substandard Southeast Asian restorations. Randall from ScootRS also chimes in with some great insight, explaining how (and why) the Asian shops cut corners. A must-read, especially if you’re vintage-Vespa shopping.
Category: Manufacturers
Three vintage Vespa commercials
Three fantastic old Vespa commercials in one YouTube video. The “beefeater” spot (first) is so Austin Powers that it seems like it couldn’t really be from that era, but actually a 90s parody of Swinging London. It’s amazing that in 15 years of Vespa nerdery, I’ve never seen the first two commercials, YouTube never gets boring.
LML: soon?
India Infoline and Moneycontrol India are reporting that LML has signed an agreement with workers and production will resume “shortly,” focusing on scooters for the export market (Stellas!).
Amerivespa, not Vespa American Days
If Gianluca is to be believed, the Italians as surprised/upset/suspicious/confused about FIV/VWC/Piaggio/”World Vespa Days” as we are.
RIP Eurovespa 1954-2006
Since 1954, (with a decade-long break in the 1970s), Vespa lovers gathered at Eurovespa for the grandest, largest, proudest rally known to scooterkind. John Gerber points out that the Vespa World Club has abandoned the Eurovespa name to call the 2007 event “Vespa World Days.” The “expected date of the event” (what?) is June 14-17 in San Marino. Piaggio continues to somehow exploit and butcher their proud history simultaneously. Here’s hoping they don’t ruin their one failure-proof event.
Piaggio: thinking without the box
Two recent examples of Piaggio’s dedication to customer service have surfaced on ModernVespa.com: First, customers who bought Vespa and Piaggio scooters last year are just now getting their “roadside assistance” cards, some with mere weeks left in their plan. Sure, the plan was active all along, but if you promise a card, send the card, quickly, it’s good business. (Visitors to VespaUSA.com have reported months-long delays in getting brochures, you’d think it’d be in Piaggio’s interest to respond to sales inquiries quickly!
Far worse, some GT60 buyers (who paid $1500 extra for the limited edition) have been waiting over four months for the box of gifts that was promised with the scooter. Dealers claim the boxes weren’t sent with the scooters, or that Piaggio sent the wrong quantity of boxes. Some customers that did get their box complain that their box number doesn’t match their scooter number (a valid complaint, as they were designed to be collectors’ items). Some errant boxes have been sold recently on eBay, adding to the confusion and ire.
UPDATE: read Andrea’s comment below, explaining the timing of the roadside assistance cards.
Vietbodge photos
From Australia (via Nitro), more photos of what you’re likely to find under the paint and inside the engine of a poorly-restored Vespa from southeast Asia (or anywhere, for that matter)
Suzuki LC Concept
Speaking of tiny cars, POCphil just posted this Suzuki LC concept car from the 2006 Tokyo Motor Show. For some reason it seems familiar.
Catalog Critique: Revving Up
PJ Chmiel is one of the best designers I know, and the Scooterworks USA catalog is one of the most daunting design projects known to mankind, so I was floored when I got my copy (what was it, two years ago?). When I bought my first Vespa in 1995, the Scooterworks catalog was a typed price list. It’s been redesigned several times since, but even design icon Carlos Segura’s take (circa 1996) didn’t hold a candle to P.J’s version. (P.J. also designed the Stella, Blur, Rattler, and Buddy identities for Genuine Scooters, but left Scooterworks/Genuine last fall.) Today, Trish came across a design critique of the catalog written by a couple catalog design “experts”. While they make some valid points, it’s clear they (and the catalog industry in general) have no idea about how much impact a catalog can make when it’s actually looked forward-to, enjoyed, talked-about, and kept on-hand for years by a carefully-targeted audience, rather than a by-the-numbers book full of cranberry duvet covers cluttering up the mailboxes of millions of people that didn’t even request it.
Daggit, Muff!
I prefer my Battlestar Galactica as a vague, distant memory involving Lorne Greene and some second-rate action figures, but if you’re into the new version, apparently these chicks posing on these Vespas are what the kids call “hot.” Also, it is awesome that whenever someone posts a photo of attractive celebrity women on a scooter forum, someone starts digging into how unauthentic the bike is. We rule.
Shortest parade… ever
Vespa dealers: never, never, lend a bike to your advertising agency for their mini-St. Patrick’s day parade, especially if it’s co-sponsored by the brewery next door. (Thanks David, via Modern Vespa.)
MP3 125 parts diagram
Easyparts.nl has a Piaggio MP3 parts diagram online, in case you’re crazy enough to try to fix one yourself. Careful with that Achterschokbreker assembly, Pieter. (Thanks, Lu$.)
Kymco Backs Experienced Duo With “No Factory Support”
Kymco USA has bumped up their motorsports profile by sponsoring the “No Factory Support” AMA Superbike team. The team will be running CBR1000RR sport bikes with very experienced pilots in the seats. Motorcycle legend Doug Chandler and experienced former MotoGP rider Kurtis Roberts are going to have a shot at taking on the full factory supported AMA superbike teams.  Kymco Super9 scooters will be used by the team in the pits as well as by the crew of a reality show on the SPEED Channel network. (In other related news, Kymco is sponsoring a NASCAR team as well). Hopefully this mainstream injection of scooters into the public arena will reduce the likelihood of Roman Holiday references in craptastic newspaper pieces by at least a small amount. Thanks to the good folks at Road Racing World Magazine for passing along this Kymco PR information.
This month’s Piaggio news
We haven’t done a news roundup in about a month, so we’re breaking it down by company. Here are some late-February/early-March news stories about Piaggio and Vespa:
- Vespa’s anime-porn-styled pre-Valentines-Day ad on Yahoo is red-flagged by personal security experts. (Little do they know PiaggioUSA have never figured out how to spam.)
- In Mid-February, a PiaggioUSA press release explains that a new study (financed by Piaggio) has solved New York’s traffic and environmental woes. The press takes their word for it (the study isn’t included in the press release) and the story makes news nationwide.
- On February 22, Piaggio announced big plans for foreign plants and 1 million vehicles annualy by 2010. The plan includes regional manufacturing and distribution to facilitate the growth (from 2006’s 850,000 vehicles).
- Vespa and Piaggio scooters are now available down the street from the Bluth’s Banana Stand.
- “All I could think as I rode the Vespa GTV250 in unseasonable rain along Cape Town’s Atlantic coast was: ‘Who on earth will lay out [$9400] for a scooter?'” Motoring.za test-rides the Vespa GTV250.
- The PR-fluff-boilerplate “Police on scooters” story meets the MP3 era as Savannah cops test the three-wheeler on St. Patrick’s day. Intrepid!
- On Friday, March 16, Piaggio announced 2006 profits were up 10.4% over 2005. A 0.03-euro dividend to investors has been proposed.
Piaggio targets Indian scooter market
You read it here a week ago (and should have read it here three months ago), but it just hit the Indian business press today: Vespa and Aprilia are launching a subsidary in India, and will manufacture scooters there for the Indian market, including more fuel-efficent versions of Aprilia’s larger-displacement models.