Category: Vespa

5 stages of grief: Blur edition

As anyone who has lost a scooter can tell you, it’s not easy on your mental health. Luckily, I had comprehensive insurance (if you don’t have comprehensive coverage, get it, right now), and at least it was a replaceable modern bike that was stolen and not one of my treasured and irreplaceable vintage scooters. So, after 30 days pass (in case it turns up) I’ll be shopping for a new scooter. In the meantime, I’m following the five stages of grief, trying to decide what will fill the sad emptiness in my garage left by my beloved Genuine Blur 150.

  • Denial: The answer is obvious, I want another Blur. Another orange 2006 Blur. They’re long-gone from dealers, but I can find one somewhere. I loved that bike at first sight, it was just right for me, it had amazing brakes and handling, I like Genuine Scooter Company, and nothing but another Blur can replace it, at least nothing within my budget.
  • Anger: But that won’t be MY Blur. It’ll never be the same. And if I’m resigned to a used bike without a warranty, maybe I can find something better. Something even weirder and faster. Good morning Craigslist. What’s that? A 2-stroke Gilera Runner for 3 grand? With a title!? Dangit, that’ll sell WAY before I get my check. Let’s check eBay. A Peugeot Speedfight 100cc 2-stroke? With WRC graphics? for $1800? Damnit, mykrrr bought it.
  • Bargaining: I know Phil hates the Vespa S. And it’s got plastic chrome and I know PiaggioUSA is hopeless. But man, that’s a great-looking bike, I’ve been coveting one since the moment I saw it. And maybe I could even find an orange one! Sure, it’ll be at least $1500 more than I’ll get from the insurance company, and that doesn’t even include racing stripes. but Vespas have good resale value, right?
  • Depression: There’s no way I can spend an extra $1500. Especially since I need a new helmet, too. Everyone loves that Sym HD200. It’s ugly, but the price is right. I don’t deserve to be happy. I shouldn’t even buy another scooter, I have two other ones I neglect as it is. I should just spend the money paying off our equity loan or something.
  • Acceptance: I’m not there yet. We’ll see.

PiaggioUSA 2008 Fall Dealer Meeting

From our spies at Piaggio’s fall dealer meeting:
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Dinner meeting features Jay Leno: 45 minutes of stand up, closing with “when Piaggio called me they said, ‘we don’t have much money,’ and I said ‘I’ll do it free, I’m Italian, I want to support an Italian product, I like Italian bikes,’ then I get here and find out how your sales are up and your dealers aren’t exactly hurtin’.

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Piaggio integrates Moto Guzzi operations

Piaggio announced today that they’ll be incorporating the operations of wholly-owned subsidary Moto Guzzi into Piaggio’s infrastructure by the end of November, moving Guzzi production to Piaggio or Aprilia facilities, and “rationalising the technical, industrial, design and style operations of the two companies.”

“Forever Vespa”

A review of Pippo Cappellano and Marina Cappabianca’s film Forever Vespa from the 13th Cathay Pacific Italian Film Festival in New Zealand. The reviewer is a Vespisti (and admittedly a bit snobby about it!) with an astute grip on the current scooter craze, he notes that it’s an independent film so well-supported by Piaggio’s archives that it sometimes appears to be a Piaggio promotional video. It’s played at a few festivals, but I can’t find a trailer or any more info… anyone?

The Vespa S 150: a review

Dave McCabe’s been riding the Vespa S for a few months now, here’s his perspective:

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Cue the Muppet with the fedora and trench coat: “So you wanna buy a letter ‘S?’” The stylish Vespa S 150 has been on the market since March but many of us remain confused by what it is, and what Piaggio intended to do with this model.

What’s with the fancy red “S” anyway? How many cars these days have an “S” edition? The most well-known is the wildly-successful Mini Copper S. There are also “S”es adorning Toyota Corollas and Acura RSXs. The Volkswagen Beetle and the Porsche Boxster are as shamelessly consistent as the others, using the same racy calligraphic “S”—except in grey or chrome instead of red. This says nothing of similar variants such as the Honda S200, the Suzuki SX, and who knows what else. There’s definitely a trend here and maybe it’s a gotten little out of hand.
Continue reading “The Vespa S 150: a review”

Colaninno to helm Alitalia

Piaggio SpA chairman Roberto Colaninno, will head a new privatized Alitalia, and the weird Italian business cycle of salvation, success, abandonment, failure, government intervention, more failure, more government intervention and more salvation begins anew. Since Piaggio went public, press announcements from Pontadera have slowed considerably, this new pet project will likely divert even more of Colaninno’s attention away from Piaggio.

The End of the PX?

Every few months, there’s an “End of the Vespa PX” story, even though I’ve read that Piaggio officially ceased production in December, 2006. They’ve offered a few “limited editions” since then, and the standard PX has been available from European shops, so who knows? In any case, this story isn’t winning any awards for implying that manual-transmission scooters are illegal in Europe, or for ignoring the fact that Eddy Bullet and other importers sell a fair number of PX-clone LML Stars in Europe, though perhaps that will come to an end, too. Which may be why LML is perpetually rumored to be working on a 4-stroke automatic helium-powered 8000cc PX-style scooter.

U.S. “GTS300” snafu explained

I reported earlier today that Vespa GTS300S scooters were starting to appear in the U.S., which is weird, because they’re not on the site yet, and dealers were strangely insisting they were really 250cc models. Turns out it wasn’t anything sneaky, it was just typical Piaggio weirdness. Piaggio sent over a new U.S.-only model, the GTS 250ie Super, that had been accidentally misbadged as the GTS 300 Super. The 300cc (278, but who’s counting?) engine has not been EPA/DOT approved. This mislabeling occurred on “fewer than 100 scooters” according to a PiaggioUSA letter to dealers. The 250 Super is basically a regular GTS 250 with the louvered right cowl, a different seat, and a new instrument panel. The VINs allegedly confirm that they are in fact 250cc models. 20 years from now, wizened Vespa nerds will cherish the opportunity to warn newbies not to buy an old 1998 2008 Vespa 300 Sport without checking the VIN first.

Oh, and why aren’t they listed on the site? “Don’t get me started on PiaggioUSA,” said one dealer I contacted.

Pininfarina CEO killed in Vespa accident

Andrea Pininfarina, the 51-year-old CEO of Italian car design company Pininfarina, died this morning when his Vespa collided with a car near Turin. Pininfarina was the grandson of legendary car designer Battista “Pinin” Farina. The company was famous for their designs for Ferrari and many other carmakers.

Thanks for the links, AxeYrCat and Ericalm

AGI on U.S. Boom and Piaggio/Vespa hybrids

I’ve long stopped linking to most stories about the scooter “boom,” gas savings, and supply shortage, every small-town paper in America has covered it to death already, but now we’re making news overseas. Italian news agency AGI posted their story today, with some details about Piaggio’s sales (up over 100% in May!), their plans for U.S. hybrid models, and some glaring errors about U.S. motorcycling laws.