Category: Manufacturers

Piaggio previews 2007 models

Gilera Fire, Vespa GTV, Vespa S

A bit more info on an earlier post (but not much): Tuesday in Rome, Piaggio brass presented their new 2007 vehicles to Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi and other government dignitaries, in advance of the official unveiling at the Milan Salone della Moto in two weeks. The lineup featured some Aprilia sportbikes (including a nifty RSW250 race bike to remind us all that Aprilia won the 2007 MotoGP 125 and 250 “Constructor” titles), the Moto Guzzi 1200 Sport, the 60th-anniversary Vespa GTV, and two never-seen-before scooters. The press release still sheds no light on the Vespa S, but I’m sticking to my theory that it’s an LX50-based tribute to the Vespa 50 Special (Note the square headlight, front fender, and horncast cover). I guess Europeans are sentimental about the 50 Special (what with the Lunapop song and all), but they weren’t Vespa’s prettiest bike. Likewise, there’s no info about the new Gilera three-wheeler, other than the name (“Fire”) and displacement (500cc). The next couple weeks and the Milan show will reveal more, but it’s probably safe to assume it’s based on Piaggio MP3 technology and the 4-valve 4-stroke Piaggio MASTER engine found in the Beverly/BV500.

See more photos in the 2strokebuzz Gallery

New Piaggio/Vespa accessories and clothing

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Rather than manufacturing replacement GTS exhaust manifold gaskets, or telling us more about the Vespa S they’ve teased us with, Piaggio and Vespa have put their combined energy into a new fall line of accessories and clothing. Since it’ll be months before PiaggioUSA posts this on their site — or tells Vespaway about it — I’ve translated it from Itanglish and posted it here, so you can call your dealers and pre-order stuff before they even know about it.

Vespa’s new showpiece is a Dainese-designed Vespa Club jacket and gilet (a fancy word for “really expensive quilted polyester liner that’s sold separately”). The jacket “can be personalised with armour protection,” which apparently means it has pockets for armor (sold separately). (The use of the word “Club” is cute, since the Vespa World Club is entering its seventh month of total inactivity.) On the accessories side, Vespa is releasing a line of leather bags designed to fit inside Vespa topcases, including one designed specifically for laptop computers. if that’s not enough leather, try a leather seat, now available in tobacco for the GTS, and tobacco or red for the LX. Why not throw in some matching grips? And a new Vespa Soft-Touch half-helmet? (why no full-face, guys? It’s 2006!) Rounding out the new line is a full complement of of chrome accessories, and a must-have Vespa-branded chain lock (with matching carrying bag!).

Piaggio further dissects your helmet fraction choices, with new three-eighths (Micro), five eighths (Copter) and seven-eighths (X-Jet) models. The “Micro” features snap-on goggles to cover another small fraction of your face. Continuing Vespa’s “personalizable jacket” theme, they’ve also unleased the “Technocomfort” line, with the unisex GT4 jacket, the Executive for the boys, and for the ladies, the, erm, Lady. The jackets can also be “customized” with armor, liners. or goofy leg covers they’re calling “Flapsâ„¢,” at additional cost, though the adjectives “Revolutionary,” “Elegant,” “Dynamic,” and “Innovative” are yours at no charge.

Photos of all this glorious crap (I kid, some of it is possibly worth looking into) are available for your perusal in the 2strokebuzz Gallery:
Vespa Fall 2006 Accessories
Piaggio Fall 2006 Accessories

New 500cc Gilera 3-wheeler, Vespa S

The ScooterScoop just posted photos of the Gilera 500-cc three wheeler we’d heard about a while ago, presumably built on the Piaggio MP3 platform (yes, another sweet Gilera we will never see in the US) and a total out-of-nowhere surprise, the Vespa S, which looks like a retro-upgrade LX50 with styling based on the original Vespa 50S (square headlight, goofy horncover, boxy front fender). Both will debut at the Milan cycle show later this month. We’ll have more details soon about these scooters, as well as Piaggio’s winter clothing line (seriously).

“Always travel with a chauffeur”

Lewis Lazare on the new Moët ad campaign:

moet.jpgEach execution portrays a rather off-the-wall scenario that still manages to convey a certain charm. In one ad, a fetchingly elegant and beaming woman attired in a smashing evening gown is perched on the back of a Vespa along with a case of Moet. Her date in the scooter’s driving seat is eyeing her with a big smile, as if to suggest “look what I got for the holidays!” The tongue-in-cheek copy reminds readers to “always travel with a chauffeur.”

“Look what I got for the holidays! A drunk debutante bouncing around on the back of my bike.” Great. Moët clearly didn’t get the memo that Vespas are no longer luxury items. It’s 2006! They’re utilitarian eco-friendly transportation for everyone!

Is Italjet back?

“Scooteristi” posted a comment on our interview with P2Motors to let us know that Italjet’s site had a new Dragster on display. Italjet’s site had been down for a while, but lo and behold yesterday when I checked, it was live and totally re-done, with a new Dragster, a new scooter called “Jack,” and a few oogly dirtbikes and ATVs. The link is dead at the moment, but maybe they actually are up to something!

Overzip?

Motoring.co.za reviews Piaggio’s new Zip 100. The Zip 50 is hugely popular in Europe and Piaggio’s most affordable scooter, but is the new 100cc engine too big for the bike? (We’ll have a comment from Brooke within the hour with a resounding “no!,” and some whining about how it’s not available here.)