Ian “Iggy” Grainger reviews the Kymco Like for a Scottish newspaper. Sure it’s similar to (but slightly better-looking than) the SYM Fiddle II, but we’d like to see it in Kymco’s U.S. lineup.
Category: International
VVV: David Bowie “Absolute Beginners”
Did we just post two videos? and did we just miss two weeks of Vespa Video Vednesday? Never fear, we didn’t forget you. Today we have another clip from David’s list that just so happens to be one of my favorite songs:
Artist: David Bowie
Song: “Absolute Beginners”
Album: Absolute Beginners film soundtrack (1986)
Scooter(s): Vespa GS
Scooter content: 5 seconds
Jump to the good parts: 2:19, 2:22, 2:36
David Bowie, of course, is a genius. As Jon Langford would put it, he’s the “Chameleon of Rock.” And Colin MacInnes’ Absolute Beginners, is definitely one of my favorite books. So what could be better than a film version directed by Great Rock and Roll Swindle director Julien Temple, featuring David Bowie AND Ray Davies (AND Edward Tudor-Pole)!?
Well, the film turned out to be nothing but a marginally entertaining (at best) musical (no!) love story that nearly ignored the book’s rich drama of gentrification, race relations, and the rise of the English teenager. The Fifties setting was overwhelmed by the Eighties set design, and today it looks dated and campy. The soundtrack holds up a little better, featuring songs from Jerry Dammers (of the Specials), the Style Council*, and rare proof that Sade was a promising talent back when she had a last name. Even Ray Davies’ subtle nostalgic song is pretty good. But the gem was this David Bowie track.
Julien Temple directed Bowie’s epic “Jazzin’ for Blue Jean” video in 1984, and Bowie was chosen to appear in the film as shady advertising magnate Vendice Partners. The single was recorded in June 1985 but delayed to wait for the film’s release. The video is nothing special, a Duran Duran-inspired parody of British “Strand” cigarette commercials with awkwardly-chromakeyed film footage worked in. The scooter footage is minimal, and all from the film (a Vespa GS graces the soundtrack album cover and makes a few appearances in the film).
But, oh, the song is so great. It strikes me as the anti-“Uptown Girl,” showing Billy Joel that Eighties arena pop could actually be fused with doo-wop without disastrous results, and thus proving David Bowie is actually capable of anything. The lyrics are beautifully vague and can make me cry if I’ve had a couple beers and I pretend it’s about whatever dramatic situation is troubling me at the moment. Even the obligatory Eighties sax solo is magnificent. It’s perhaps a bit long, though it’s available in several remixes of varying lengths across CD, CD3(!) LP, 7″, 12″ releases. The film was massively hyped before release, then panned by critics and fans, but the single reached #2 in England and nearly cracked the top 50 in the U.S.
There, it’s ten minutes until midnight, and VVV lives. All that for five seconds of secondhand scooter footage. See you next Vednesday.
*Speaking of Paul Weller, The Jam’s “Absolute Beginners,” (#4 UK charts in 1981) is surely also inspired (though equally subtly) by MacInnes’ book. It’s really a must-read novel, and in this age of remakes and re-hashed ideas, hopefully another filmmaker has a go at it, but it’s going to be hard to top the two great songs it’s already inspired.
Morley Chaplick
An interesting Globe and Mail interview with Morley Chaplick, the president of Canadian Scooter Corp. (Canadia’s Vespa importer). I like his honesty here:
You know, I wouldn’t even think of buying [a Piaggio MP3]; quite frankly, I like two wheels. But it is selling like hotcakes. That is a reality. So maybe it’s a question that didn’t need to be answered, but people are actually saying yes.
The importing/corporate structure seems somewhat different between PiaggioUSA, which appears to be more or less run by Piaggio HQ, and Canadian Scooter Corp., which seems more independent. I always get the impression that PiaggioUSA is mostly 9-to-5ers with leadership waiting to go back to Italy (or Harley) when their ‘tour of duty’ was over, whereas Chaplick apparently has a very large personal stake in the long-term success of Canadian Scooter Corp.
(I’d love to hear some better-informed opinions on that topic)
CBP seizes 1400 scooters at Texas border
Another Chinese scooter grey-marketer busted, this time by U.S. Customs and Border Protection. CBP’s press release doesn’t name the importer, but the scooter in the photo appears to be a CF Moto “E-Charm” CF150. It seems unlikely that CF Moto would risk importing illegal scooters, chances are this was another company buying CF-Moto scooters (or knockoffs) from a third party behind CF Moto’s back, possibly similar to the Lance/SYM controversy last month, (Though Lance presumably would have ensured their bikes were at least EPA-legal.)
(Thanks, bermshot!)
UPDATE: About 400 of the scooters were CF Motos, according to this story. Lev Mirman of CPI insists the bikes meet specs, and the government “grasping at straws to halt any shipment from China.” Also in our comments below, POCphil reports the seizure also included Aprilia Sport City 250s.
Scooter Flu (Taiwan Typhoon)
A news report about a typhoon in southern Taiwan comically mistranslated into a report of a ‘scooter flu’ killing scooters the typhoon later turned deadly, but the video’s still pretty funny.
(Thanks, Ryan! Ryan’s a big fan of “13mordeth” and suggests you check out his other videos. Oh, damn, i forgot VVV yesterday, didn’t I?)
Saigon Scooter Centre Going Out Of Business Sale?
I received an email advertisement from Saigon Scooter Centre that notified of a 20% off, “Closing Down” sale. I thought that maybe the export business had dried up and the folks at SSC had decided to move on to greener pastures. When checking the website I only noticed the small mention of the sale but the no other explanation or signs that they were shutting shop. They still have some interesting new products out like the PX long-range seat/tank combo and their automatic Lambretta which looks to have a Buddy 125 motor in it. Anyone with other news on the topic feel free to chime in (note: “news” does not include general Vietnam bashing. I’m indifferent but it just gets tiring). I’ll update if I hear anything back from SSC directly.
Dumba Dumba Dumba: Madness’ “City”
Madness’ awesome TV commercials for the Honda City, The City was a compact hatchback with a matching folding scooter that tucked into the back, a concept that deserves to be revisited with the Fit. The jingle was later reworked as the “In the City” single, and “Honda Honda Honda” was replaced with “Doomba Doomba Doomba.”
(Thanks, Heather, awesome find!)
The “American Girl in Italy” Lambrettista
Surely you’ve seen the poster, it has graced countless dorm rooms, and hangs in every other Italian restaurant in Chicago. Ruth Orkin’s photo “American Girl in Italy” has been a popular symbol of Italy for decades, but the first thing any scooterist sees is the early Lambretta to the right of the frame. Corriere della Sera recently tracked down the Lambrettista (now 79 and living in America) and interviewed him,. From what little sense the Google translation makes (he’s a Clint Eastwood lookalike? What?), it sounds like a fascinating story.
CARB fines Viva $1.875 million
The California Air Resources Board has fined Viva Motor Sports and some Viva dealers $1.875 million for importing and selling motorcycles, scooters, and ATVs that didn’t meet CARB requirements. CARB chairman Mary D. Nichols summed up the case:
There are plenty of great motorcycles that meet clean air standards. Most dealers know this and carry only bikes that have their California smog certificate. Those who try to cut corners put themselves in a lose-lose situation. Violators pay penalties and damage their reputations while putting public health at risk.”
Only $268,000 of the fine will be collected if the companies follow CARB regulations in the future. Importers complain that CARB regulations are too strict and the approval process is overcomplicated, but CARB is one of few agencies that have the power to regulate scooter imports and punish violations, so it’s good to see them actually going after some flagrant violations.
Owners can return the bikes, if the bikes are not returned, they will be barred from future registration.
(Thanks to NoHo Scooters and Scooterism for the story!)
Soviet Scooters
Here’s a good brief rundown of the Soviet-era scooter industry, featuring some good photos of the Tula Turist and T-200, and a 1974 Vyatka “3,” which I’d never seen before. If that’s not enough Warsaw Pact-ion for you, Autosoviet has lots more info and photos of Tula scooters and Vyatka’s better-known Vespa knockoff plus more than you ever wanted to know about Vostok, Dnepr Minsk, Voskhod, CZ, and more.
Bajaj considers new “sport” scooter.
Despite the 2005 demise of the mighty Bajaj Chetak, with Rahul Bajaj stating “Holding on to anything from the past is a sign of weakness,” we were almost certain there’d be a full-on retro Bajaj Chetak out by now. Sadly, Bajaj’s only scooter over the past few years has been the disappointing-selling Krystal, and there are no signs of a return to metal-bodied scooters, even with LML’s marginal success. But Bajaj is finally admitting they bailed out of scooters too soon, and is currently developing a “powerful sport scooter” to regain some scooter market share.
New French Cabinet Minister Shows True Leadership
In some delayed spring cleaning, French president Nicolas Sarkozy has made some changes in his cabinet and the nephew of former president Francois Mitterrand is now the new Minister of Culture and Communication. From what I gather of the French that’s probably a pretty big deal for domestic policy. Relevance here lies in that the Frédéric Mitterrand is a Scooterist. In both the BBC story and this video from Le Parisien the mode of transport is prominently noted. Good for you Mr. Mitterrand. Any Francophone readers are welcome to add any relevant translation from the video.
Vespa’s Vietnam plant starts production
Piaggio’s Vespa manufacturing plant in Vietnam started production yesterday. Vietnamese-built Vespas will be sold in Vietnam and exported to the Asian market, at about $1500 less than the Italian-made version.
SYM vs. Lance
Last week, Carter Brothers, SYM’s US importer accused Lance Powersports of buying SYM’s Fiddle II scooters from SYM’s Chinese supplier via a third party with the intention of selling them in the USA as the “Vienna” 50 and 125. (Are there any European-sounding “V” words left to name a scooter? Yes! But that’s another story!) Of course SYM demanded they not sell the scooters here and… well… let’s try something new. Instead of posting snarky commentary in which 2sb takes sides and gets in trouble and has to apologize profusely for being right, let’s just post their dueling press releases, which are far more entertaining than anything we could come up with, anyway. Enjoy:
Continue reading “SYM vs. Lance”
Benelli in trouble?
According to motoblog.it, Benelli sales have been lower than expected worldwide ((Google machine translation). Qiang Jiang, who bought the marque a few years ago, is threatening to close what’s left of Benelli’s Italian-based production and assembly facilities. American Benelli importer Power Sports Factory gave 2strokebuzz an Andretti 150XT (“Velvet” in Europe) to test, you may remember I crashed it in the snow on its maiden voyage, but I’ve put some miles on it lately and it’s a good bike, look for a review (finally!) soon. Surely a good review on a rinky-dink American scooter blog will immediately turn things around for QJ and Benelli.