Category: Manufacturers

Smoky two-strokes clobbered by SUV in emissions test

We overlooked this story from Portland, OR’s Williamette Week, assuming it was just another rehash of the “Vespanomics” story. But the Scooter Scoop read it and brought it back to our attention. Suspicious of all the pro-scooter hype out there, they did their own tests, comparing a “Piaggio-made” (ha) Stella, a 1968 Vespa, and a Subaru Tribeca. The results weren’t pretty for rotary-valve 2-strokes, but it should also be noted that the Tribeca is hardly the worst offender in the SUV kingdom. A 4-stroke Vespa LX or a Bajaj Chetak vs. a Ford Expedition or Hummer would have been an entirely different story, we demand a rematch!

Another new Genuine: The Rattler

While we guessed right yesterday about the new Genuine Blur being based on the PGO G-Max, The Scooter Scoop reports that Genuine has another scooter on the way! The new Rattler will be available in 50cc and 110cc 2-stroke versions, and appears to be a Genuine-ified PGO PMS (once again, a big improvement, name-wise). If you like the style of the Genuine Black Cat, based on the PMX, but were turned off by the graphics, the rattler would be the bike for you. Going by the specs, though, we remain much more excited about the Blur, and look forward to seeing it in Minneapolis this weekend. The Rattler is the fourth of PGO’s eight current scooter models (ignoring the trike) Genuine will bring to the U.S.

Vespatude

Jonathan Pait’s blog, Vespatude, started about a year ago when he bought a Vespa on eBay. Surely he planned to write about his travels and adventures, but unfortunately he’s spent the year learning why you should never buy an Asian restoration on eBay. Currently, he’s trying to raise some money for a new engine (“Million Dollar Homepage”-style), if you’re in the market for a vintage scooter, throw a few bucks his way to thank him for saving you the trouble of finding out the hard way.

Vespa saturates Ohio

VespaUSA seems to be continuing their abandonment of the boutique, and minimizing their once-strict dealer requirements, as more and more Vespa shops appear in unlikely places. The Cincinnati Enquirer reports that a Vespa dealership has opened within a print-shop in northern Kentucky, across the Ohio River from downtown Cincinnati. The new store currently has no dealer license, so sales and service are handled through an Ohio motorcycle dealer, Midwest Power Sports, in Batavia, an eastern suburb of Cincinnati.

Neither shop is listed on VespaUSA’s site, nor do they appear to be part of the Vespa Ohio franchise that includes Vespa Cincinnati (in Blue Ash, northeast of town), Vespa Cleveland, and Vespa Akron. The Kentucky and Batavia shops, as well as a new dealer in Medina (south of Cleveland) seem awfully close to Vespa Ohio’s turf. Vespa Cincinnati, less than 20 miles away, must be excited to read in the paper that, “There must be a need in the intercity area. There are only one or two scooter stores in town, and they only sell Japanese scooters.”

Elsewhere in Ohio, dealers can be found in Columbus and rural New Philadelphia. While this expansion trend is likely infuriating some dealers who have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on real estate and advertising, it’s good to see PiaggioUSA finally treating the Vespa as a motor vehicle rather than jewelry.

Blaze in Japan, Blasé in U.S.

After the initial (positive) response to the Kinetic Blaze in the Indian press, and reports in May that Kinetic’s version of the Italjet Velocifero would (“soon”) be coming (exclusively) to America, Kinetic has been pretty quiet. Now they’ve announced the Blaze is going to be exported to Japan, but still no official word on Velociferos or America, not to mention the one word we all want to hear: “Dragster.”

Taming of the Shrewd

The Boston Phoenix’s review of the Commonwealth Shakespeare Company’s “Taming of the Shrew” succumbed to a Vespa marketing gimmick even as they acknowledged it:

Paul Farwell’s Baptista is a smooth old-country operator, and there is a spry, athletic turn by Antonio Edwards Suarez as Petruchio’s hyperactive manservant, Grumio, who arrives with his master on a leopard-skin-seated Vespa. (Nice product placement for corporate sponsor Herb Chambers Vespa.)

Oops, we fell for it too. Damn you, Herb Chambers and your wily marketing department!

The Trautwein-Roller: MP3 in 1984?

The Trautwein-Roller

Check out Marcus Kabst’s fantastic history of the Trautwein-Roller: Is this proof that Piaggio’s groundbreaking MP3 three-wheeler is actually based on a design tested and patented 22 years ago? Here’s a very rough — and condensed — translation:

“Are scooters steered with two front wheels conceivable? If you subscribe to the ideas of inventor Wolfgang Trautwein, vehicles of this kind may soon appear on the streetscape. […] Dr. Wolfgang Trautwein, 53, engineer from Meersburg at the Bodensee, received two original Vespa scooters in the middle of 1984 from Piaggio from Genova, in order to build prototypes. [This concept was] suggested by [Trautwein,] using the Vespa platform, exactly three decades after the first Motorcycle was equipped with a double-front chassis. Under their hoods, the Vespa tricycles hide the newest variant of the Trautwein front axle for motorcycles, a parallelogram axle […] Thus, the scooter effectively avoids wheel-flutter. […] The suspension is arranged so that the wheels do not only turn when rolling, but also tilt. The floorboards of the Vespa are firmly connected to the lower parallelogram, and follow its movements. […] Trautwein stresses that this changed style of driving comes relatively easily to the driver. And according to Trautwein’s statements, the chassis offers some safety advantages: Decreased hazard of front end slip on wet pavement, rails, etc. Safer braking, and improved cornering. Better handling. […] Space for a trunk over the front axle. […] Also, the comfort is quite convincing.”

So if the translation is marginally close, it appears Piaggio assisted in the development of, but did not produce, an MP3-like version of the Vespa PK 125 and a PX 200 more than two decades ago. They even filed patents for the design. Judging by the photos, at least one working prototype of each version was made. The PX200 model sported hydraulic disc brakes — twelve years before they became standard on the PX200. Amazing. (Thanks for another great link, POCphil. Note that there’s also some great info on Marcus’ page about other three-wheelers and similar concept scooters.)