Congrats to VespaRex. There were some pretty great entries, and even though the winners were announced a little later than promised, it’s good to see decision-making and/or closure from PiaggioUSA.
Category: Video
Hulamina
A little treat for your weekend.
Triumph Rocket III
I’ve been drooling over Triumph motorcycles since they were reintroduced several years back, but the new Rocket III behemoth was of little interest to me until I learned how they’re made. Very funny. (thanks for the link, Kathy the Great!)
Porn for gearheads
A 2000-frame-per-second video of the inside of a 4-stroke cylinder. See the valves open and close, the plug spark, and the combustion spread around the piston head. Amazing! (Thanks to Kib on Modern Vespa for the link.)
Burgerville’s Vespa bear
Feel Good Anyway’s television commercial for Burgerville, a Pacific Northwest burger chain. Man, that is one mellow, milkshake-lovin’, Vespa-riding bear. (Via Mrs. McCabe, via Cassie at ScooterSwag)
“Scooters In the City”
Here’s Natalie Martinez’ full report from NBC5 Chicago last Tuesday. (Thanks to Lalo at the 2sb IT helpdesk.) Here are the links referred to in the story, thanks to Natalie for including 2strokebuzz in that list, and for including some legal and safety advice in her story.
“Scooters in the City” (promo)
Here’s the promo for Natalie Martinez’ scooter story “Scooters in the City” from NBC5 Chicago News last Tuesday.
“Scooters in the City” on Chicago NBC5 tonight
Natalie Martinez’ feature segment on scooters, “Scooters in the City,” will air on Chicago’s NBC5 10:00 news tonight (Tuesday, September 4, 2007). Here’s the promo clip, (WMV, right-click to download), hopefully I can post the full piece later.
Thanks, woman on cell phone in Lincoln Navigator.
Lowrider scooters are cool and all, but a month after picking up his restored and kitted Vespa Rally 200 from POC Scooters, Kyle Rose would probably have preferred not being smashed between two SUVs. Sorry Kyle. Here’s a video of Phil riding the bike, which would be uproariously funny had Phil and Kyle wanted the bike to look that way.
Vintage Lambretta Service films
Amazing vintage scooter videos continue to surface on YouTube. This time, scootr99 deserves the credit for unleashing two English-dubbed films released by Innocenti in the sixties. The first is a complete Lambretta Li150 Series III stripdown (parts 1, 2, 3, and 4). The second is even more interesting, a guide to opening and setting up an offical Lambretta sales and service facility (parts 1, 2, and 3). Most scooter dealers could learn a thing or two from both videos. (Thanks for the links, ajuda.scooterpt.com)
“Das ist soo doof”
German scooter racer Ronny Mengel on a bad day. (Thanks, Rye)
Moped Takeover
OK, I’ve been waiting for this day for years. between Hollywood Holt’s “Throw a Kit” video (featuring Chicago’s Peddy Ca$h club) and Andy Samberg’s Hot Rod movie, mopeds have officially taken over the hipster market and are finally positioned to become ubiquitous in television commercials and otherwise overexposed and boring, allowing scooters to fade back into obscurity so I can buy them for $800 again. Take note, hipsters, there soon will be folks showing up at moped rallies wearing fanny packs. And not Pac-Man fanny packs from Ragstock, either, I mean actual unironic fanny packs.
That said, “Throw a Kit” is awesome, and the first rap song to ever rhyme “Garelli” with “Minarelli”
Hoodibaba!
Just for old times’ sake: Hoodibaba. Bajaj could sure teach Triumph a thing or two.
Look out for Donny Osmond’s milkshake.
Donny Osmond’s dreams come true. Yes, it’s second-rate fake Jackass with Jimmy Kimmel, but stick it out until the end.
Lambretta Series 1 Flamebreather
A Lambretta in flames by the side of the road. Not for the faint of scooter heart. (Thanks for the link, Casey)