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)
Category: Vespa
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.)
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.
It’s official: VCOA in Vespa World Club
Vespa World Club was announced about a year ago, but not much happened since then. Today Vespa Club of America president J.D. Merryweather received confirmation that on Feburary 28, at the VWC Directive Council meeting, VCOA’s membership was officially approved. This announcement signifies a commitment from Piaggio in Italy that thankfully ends a year of confusion about the future of the VCOA. The affiliation should enhance the VCOA’s already-great credibility, stability, and member benefits.
Vanslam’s floormat upgrade
Sure, you could install your Vespa LX floormats the easy way…
2007 Dealer Expo: POCphil’s review
Since a week has passed and I still haven’t been able to collect my thoughts on the ginormous mindblowing extravaganza in Indianapolis, here’s POCphil‘s writeup. I’ll add my comments in italics where appropriate. -2SB
We were so excited to get to the Indianapolis Dealer Expo this year, we were running about 2 hours early. We took that time to go visit Speed City Cycles in Indianapolis, only a few minutes from the Show. Mike and Marybeth Tockey have created a fantastic shop with an ingenious use of space and rural/industrial feel that leaves room for a snack bar, lounge and a ton of scooters and accessories. Mike also builds award winning metric cruisers. Just hanging around his IWL Berliner is a treat. After a great tour and some bench racing we were back on our mission to deliver two scooters to the Scoot! Magazine/ Corazzo booth and still arrive early enough at the hotel for some hottubbing before showing up in time for the open bar at 4PM, whew!
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Colaninno: “We will make a new Vespa for India”
Dave McCabe sent me the following article on New Year’s Eve and, sadly, I’m just getting around to posting it, even though it’s probably the most interesting Piaggio news since EICMA. The story, written by Adil Jal Darukhanawala, appeared in the December, 2006 issue of Bike India. I generally don’t swipe entire magazine stories, but it’s not on the web and most of us don’t have a subscription to Bike India, so here goes: (emphasis is ours, click the thumbnail to enlarge it)
Piaggio Plans new age Indian Vespa along with a slew of other two-wheelers as it prepares to re-enter the Indian bike sphere.
The Vespa, replete with classic style but new age mechanicals could be back in India as parent Piaggio gets ready to increase its presence in India’s booming automotive sphere, according to no less an authority than Roberto Colaninno himself. Speaking exclusively to BIKE INDIA at EICMA in Milan, Colaninno told us that India was too large to ignore and also too vibrant to be tackled with existing models. Having been absent in two-wheelers since its deal with Kanpur-based LML Limited expired a few years ago, Piaggio has concentrated on a range of utility three-wheelers and has done pretty well in that area to date.
At the Milan Show BIKE INDIA caugt up with both Roberto Colaninno and also Ravi Chopra, CEO of Piaggio Vehicles in India and they both confirmed that it was only a matter of time before the company went on to add both two as well as four wheeled vehicles in its portfolio. “We will make a new Vespa for India, classic shape yes but totally new engine and technology to compete with others,� were the actual works of the Piaggio bossman.
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Piaggio targets 1 million units, more foreign production
Allow me to dissect some quotes from this Forbes story:
Piaggio SpA plans to open production sites in Brazil and Vietnam to reach its production target of 1 mln vehicles by 2010, chairman and CEO Roberto Colaninno said…
That means every Farm and Fleet will get a weekly shipment of 48 Piaggio Flys, an LX50, and one top-end Moto Guzzi.
The producer of motorcycles and light commercial vehicles manufactured 650,000 vehicles in 2006,…an additional 200,000 units were produced by Piaggio’s joint venture in China but are not consolidated in the group’s sales…
They’ll be counting Chinese production as part of that one million, I bet.
Colaninno said that Piaggio has superceded its restructuring phase and will now focus on growth.
Scooterists don’t need Forbes to tell us Piaggio is focused on growth, to the detriment of any other attribute.
Colaninno added that the group will have three business areas — Europe, the Americas and Asia/Africa — which will have their own production sites and distribution networks.
HOLD THE PHONE– are they saying that Piaggio products for the Americas will be produced IN THE AMERICAS? (i.e. Brazil?) Very interesting.
The group’s brands — Piaggio, Vespa, Gilera, Guzzi and Aprilia — will be maintained but have similar distribution channels, he said.
How has Derbi stayed out of this mess? And will high-end motorcycle buyers stand for Brazillian product?
The story also reports that production in India is up, with a new diesel engine plant in the works. It’s hard to say these days what’s built where, and where the components come from, but if the Pontedera factory is not already an anachronism for tourists, it looks like it may be within the next decade. We look forward to more corporate chest-banging at Piaggio’s Berlin Conference tomorrow.
2007 Dealer Expo: Photo Gallery
Here are our photos from the 2007 Dealer Expo. If you’re a 2sb member, you can log in with your user ID/password to leave comments and rate photos (it finally works). Enjoy, and look for our story soon!
MP3 faces a growing scooter-car market
The Kneeslider (and the motorcycling press in general) are paying a lot of attention to commuter-friendly three- and four-wheeled motorcycles and microcars such as the VentureOne Tilting 3 Wheeler, KTM’s X-Bow, and the Bombardier Can-Am Spyder (more on the Spyder). As more car-like motorcycles appear, smaller cars (Mini, Smart, etc.) are also growing in popularity, and the line between cars and motorcycles was further blurred at Dealer Expo with a surprising number of trikes, oversized ATVs, dunebuggies, motorcycle training wheels, enclosed scooters, utility cars, and the like. Piaggio must ensure that their MP3 will remain the focus of, rather than becoming consumed by, this trend.
Word at the Expo was that the MP3’s greatest competition may come from within. PiaggioUSA recently spread the word that the 400cc model will come to America later this year. Dealers, who are still waiting for the 250cc version, found the 400cc announcement poorly-timed (and the shipping date optimistic). Piaggio, obviously, would be happy to sell customers either model, but if 250cc sales are disappointing, the 400cc might arrive too late to keep the public’s interest. The Vespa LXS faces a similar situation: again, dealers say U.S. shipping estimates are too optimistic, and the announcement will hurt sales of the “regular” LX in the meantime.
GTS exhaust gasket: A dealer’s view
We got a great email the other day from Victor Voris regarding the GTS exhaust gasket and some of the other issues we’ve been talking about. Victor’s been running Big People Scooters in Seattle since 1989, and was one of America’s most respected Vespa experts during Piaggio’s absence. When Piaggio returned to the U.S., Victor’s Vespa of Seattle was among the first dealerships to open, and one of very few to be run by someone with extensive scooter experience. Since then, both shops have flourished. I respect his opinion greatly, and like others, he feels modern scooter repair is best-left to a factory-trained technician:
There has been a lot of miscommunication and misinformation about the GT/GTS exhaust gasket and packing problems. The first thing to know about the problem is that you are NEVER to take the pipe apart. in all Piaggio shop manuals, as well as at any factory school, you are clearly told this. The reason that the pipe has this graphite one-time-use packing is that the header pipe is made of a different metal than the rest of the exhaust (I believe the header pipe is titanium). Because there is a joint there, and a clamp that can come loose, the torque on the bolt is to be checked as part of the routine service, as it can loosen over time.
In our shop we have seen exhaust systems come in that the customer has beaten apart, which will never go back together and seal, even with a new packing installed. It is by no means a design problem, any problems are coming from incorrect maintenance or repair. PiaggioUSA requires that their dealers have factory trained staff and offers training to their dealers free of charge. It is unfortunate that not every Vespa shop in the country has only factory trained technicians working on their scooters, but that is the case. There are countless other things that home-repair people and non-certified shops are doing that can cause huge damage to a modern Vespa motor. A common mistake we see all the time in the shop is the re-use of the one-time nut on the variator. If this nut fails, one of the many things that can happen is damage to the crankshaft, and installing a new crank is not fun for anyone. All of the factory shop manuals and workshop manuals are posted on Modern Vespa , and anyone working on their scooter at home should download these and read them. I am planning to offer tech classes at Amerivespa this year, and am trying to get Piaggio to send a technical representative as well.
It’s common in scootering (especially on the internet) for a scooterist (often me) to insist he knows more about scooters than the people who make and sell them. Sometimes they (I) do, but there are certain people I’d never dare argue with, and Victor is one of those people. I do, however, look forward to rebuttals.
More Calendars (the old kind)
Chicago International Motorcycle Show 2007
You’ll hopefully forgive 2strokebuzz if coverage of the 2007 Cycle World International Motorcycle show is a little scaled back this year. The truth is, very little has changed from year to year. Each year there are fewer surprises, less swag, and fewer perks (the bus service to the CTA parking lot was cancelled this year, brrr.), while parking, concessions, and admission (at least seem to) get more expensive. Probably that’s why Triumph didn’t appear for the second year in a row, and why Kymco, CMSI, and Genuine rarely bother with these shows.
On top of that, we had a head start on new 2007 models, thanks to the Milan EIMCA show, and next weekend I’m attending the Indianapolis Dealer Expo (my first trip), which promises to be a bit more exciting. But out of a sense of duty, and because Ryan was driving, I decided to once again trek through the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, IL, to see what there was to see. Which wasn’t much, really.
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