Reports are popping up that a new “Lambretta” is about to be unveiled in America, allegedly some sort of run-of-the-mill Chinese bike with Lambretta badges. It’s unclear who’s bringing them in, and equally unclear who owns the rights to the name in the United States. If these rumors are true, it’s a shame that CMSI’s L-Series has barely made any progress in more than four years, after several name changes, while someone else is likely to drag Lambretta’s proud name through the dirt. This will be interesting, and probably not in a good way.
Category: Asia
Asian restoration spotters’ guide
Eric from The Rovers SC has posted a handy visual guide to identifying substandard Southeast Asian restorations. Randall from ScootRS also chimes in with some great insight, explaining how (and why) the Asian shops cut corners. A must-read, especially if you’re vintage-Vespa shopping.
Vietbodge photos
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)
Suzuki LC Concept
Speaking of tiny cars, POCphil just posted this Suzuki LC concept car from the 2006 Tokyo Motor Show. For some reason it seems familiar.
SunL Sucks?
Phil’s review of the SunL microcar got a few laughs over on the SunL Sucks bulletin board. It’s funny that many Chinese brands’ hate sites and bad reviews have higher Google rankings than the brands’ official site. As we always say, if you:
- have no problem buying a scooter you can’t see first-hand, and sit on, and test-ride before buying,
- have no problem risking your life on a motor vehicle that costs less than you spend on coffee in a year,
- have no interest in after-sale support, maintenance, or parts availability, and
- trust a Chinese company and a fly-by-night importer to keep your best interests in mind,
then by all means, buy a Chinese scooter on the internet. Also be sure not to do any research beforehand, and ride helmetless, in flip-flops. You also don’t need a license, plates or insurance and you can park and even ride on the sidewalk. Have fun.
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!
Continue reading “2007 Dealer Expo: POCphil’s review”
Only In Jakarta…
Racecar Bob (aka Letterpress Bob, who printed us some fantastic new business cards that I keep forgetting to post about,) found these photos of a Batik-covered low-rider scooterette. Actually, a Bajaj or LML would look pretty sweet covered in that Indian batik fabric they sell in the back room at Moti Mahal, but covering a scooter in fabric seems less-than-practical.
Kinetic details 2007 plans, and Dragster
Following the success of the Blaze, Kinetic announced more specific 2007 plans today. As previously announced, the Indian company will release three scooters this year. The new details:
- The first scooter (due “as soon as April”) will be called the Euro, with a 125-135 cc engine and targeted towards whatever passes as a “luxury” market in India. It will be based on the design of one of the seven designs licensed from Italjet,
though it’s not clear whichthe Italjet Jet Set. - The second scooter will be a four-stroke, sub-100cc, SYM-designed scooterette to be launched in May (SYM–based in Taiwan–owns 11.1% of Kinetic).
- The third scooter (India never ceases to amaze us) will be the Dragster. The Business Standard describes the Dragster as “co-owned by Italjet and KMCL…the only brand that [was] not completely bought out by the two-wheeler manufacturer.” The Kinetic/Italjet Dragster is due out by the end of the year. Feel free to speculate away on whether this will be the same Dragster touted by Italjet and DiamoUSA.
Chinese scooters: made in Connecticut!
The Hartford Courant reports that Chinese/Greek company Eugro (“The leader in Telecommunications, Transportation & Home Confort Airconditioning”) has plans to manufacture Eurospeed scooters in Connecticut. The novelty and excitement of a Chinese company manufacturing in the U.S. is tempered a bit by the fact that up until today, the nominal “scooter experts” at 2SB had never heard of Eugro, or Eurospeed scooters, and the US division is run by a suburban Ford dealer. But we’ll keep an eye out for them at Dealer Expo.
In the News, January 22, 2007
- Honda unveiled their blinged-out Forza “Smart” concept scooter at the Tokyo Auto Salon.
- More on the Bajaj Krystal, announcing the Blade will be back on the market in six months.
- Honda recalled 455,000 scooters made for the Japanese market between 2002 and 2006 at their Sundiro Honda plant in China. It’ll cost Honda $15.8 million to replace faulty speedometers.
- The Wall Street Journal chimes in on the boom in smaller-displacement motorcycles and scooters.(Subscription only… I didn’t actually read it, but Piaggio execs are probably quoted and mirth will ensue.)
- FourWheeler.com’s 2007 Honda Ruckus review.
- The Independent reviews the Piaggio MP3.
“No Same Way”
The news is Ruckus-heavy this week. Here’s an amazingly-silly ad for the Honda Zoomer (the Ruckus’ Japanese-market name), by motion graphics company Le Pivot.
Thailand by scooter
A Belfast Telegraph writer tours Thailand by scooter, and a Telegraph intern horks the title of Peter Moore’s book.
Walking Scooter
Also from Ryan: A clip of a presumably home-made scooter with feet instead of wheels. From the look and sound of it, it’s from the Japanese version of Max-X
“The Wasp and the Beetle”
John Rana explores the shared traits of the Volkswagen and the Vespa, and their unholy union on the streets of Indonesia. He’s also designed the logo for the new Vespa Club of the Philippines, making me wonder if he’s not intent on becoming the Filipino version of me. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.
Lucky Taiwanese student saved by garbage
The China Post reports that a university student thown from the pillion of a crashed scooter was unharmed after tumbling 65 feet down a mountain and landing in a pile of garbage.