A bit late, but here’s a great collection of Halloween-related scooter images from Spanish site Vespa & Lambretta Culleredo, the only scooter site we know of with a Galician version.
Category: Europe
Finally, a Greek scooter.
Motoblog.it reports that Greece-based scooter concern Nipponia is hoping to make a splash at EICMA with a new line of scooters designed by the designer of the Toyota Yaris and Lexus SC430. I’m not creating a “Nipponia” category in the archives just yet.
“Casque décoré par 19 cristaux Swarovski”
I’ll give it props for being anti-Troy-Lee, but this has to be one of the ugliest helmets ever. Yes, those are rhinestones. Swarovski rhinestones. Come on, helmet people. Also, their logo looks like “CPA,” so this helmet will identify you as a tasteless certified public accountant.
“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 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.
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
E-Solex
One of France’s proudest moped marques (how’s that for a backhanded compliment?) is back, in electrical form: The E-Solex. Surely Chinese, but kinda neat looking with a totally boss red saddle.
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.
Synchronized Scootering?
OK, motorcycles, not scooters, but let’s see if we can pull this off at Amerivespa! Judging by the trouble we had keeping six or eight people together through Chicago Columbus Day parades, I doubt it. Awesome.
Joey, do you like Gladiator movies?
Sfidatela? WTF?
Lambretta Pato commercial
A TV commercial for the European-market “Lambretta” Pato (aka the Lance Milan, ZNen ZN151T-F, Flyscooter LaVie, etc.), not to be confused with the Lambretta International Uno and Due sold in the U.S., or an actual Lambretta. The only thing sadder than a Chinese Lambretta is putting end credits on a commercial on YouTube. (Via motoblog.it.)
New Vespa Museum opens in Ravenna
If you’re headed to Italy this summer, and you’ve seen the Piaggio Museum three times already, check out Mauro Pascoli’s recently-opened Vespa Museum in Ravenna. Apparently the Massimiliano Fuksas-designed “cloud” museum hovering over the Pontedera assembly line (that was supposed to be finished last year) was just 60th-anniversary P.R. bullshit.
(See also: Machine-translated story from Repubblica.it via Motoblog.it.)
Operation Vectrix
Vectrix has been lending out 100 electric scooters in European cities (more than they’ve sold to date, by some accounts) to celebrate the third anniversary of the Kyoto treaty. Riders can reserve a bike to test for a limited period, and are then offered incentives to purchase (EU “green” credits and discounts make the bike much more accessible in Europe, Vectrix is lobbying for a similar program in the U.S.). The program started in Rome, is currently running in Bologna, and will visit Milan, Turin, Madrid, and Paris in coming months. Vectrix has also started taking pre-orders for its three-wheeled electric scooter based on the Piaggio MP3 system.
Scooter Rider Punched
Another good reason to wear a full-face.
Peugeot RCup and Speedfight Ultimate
Peugeot unveiled two new scooters last week, the Speedfight Ultimate Edition and the RCup. The RCup features a mismatched double-round-headlight look that seems to be popular these days (Sym Mio, Adly Panther, etc). It’s hard to believe no one’s been able to convince Peugeot to enter the U.S. market, they’re great scooters, very popular in Europe, and sold in many small markets. A few Peugeots were grey-marketed through a Florida company a few years ago, and their story is unclear, they were never listed as an official distributor on Peugeot’s site, and they folded shortly after distributing one small shipment.