Category: Scooter News

Soundspeed Scooters Outfits Electric Lambretta For Upcoming Tom Hanks Film

I was recently made aware of the handiwork of Jeb from Soundspeed Scooters that will be featured in an upcoming Hollywood film. April from Scoot! Magazine posted a story about a new film starring Hanks and Julia Roberts that features Hanks riding scooters during a midlife crisis. Further intelligence from the horses mouth revealed the handy electric conversion kit to change a classic Lambretta to a zero-emissions-near-you vehicle that will be used in the movie. The Lambretta in the photo was used as a template and the kit was shipped off to the local shop that outfitted a different Lambretta. Maybe you could talk Jeb into making another kit for your Innocenti that hasn’t seen the road in a while or to use while you build up that MB Race-Tour 200 engine.

You can read more about the film in April’s post and links in the comment section of their blog. It sounds like a familiar tale. I’m fairly certain scooter fans will discuss the film on several levels from now until well after release. The question I’m most interested in is what 4-stroke engine recording will they use in the film to represent the running Lambretta?

New Lambretta Oddly Like Old Lambretta

The 2010 Motorcycle Grand Prix season kicked off this afternoon at high noon CST (20:00 local time in Qatar). In Grand Prix racing the competition begins with the lights in front of the riders going from red to off. There were 25 riders lined up for the start of the race. When the lights flicked off, 24 125cc motorcycles pushed off from their starting position to begin the race. Toward the back of the field, history repeats itself. As the case with many scooter rides with your pals, there was a Lambretta that couldn’t quite get started and was being frantically pushed to one side pleading for assistance. Just like any large group ride where the front can’t see the back, the rest moved on and the lonely rider was left behind. All the hard work of the team and rider had gone for not. Poor Louis Salom, a former Red Bull Rookie league front runner, had been left in the lurch by a mechanical problem. Lets just hope that by the next round in Japan they sort out their mechanical gremlins and are rewarded with better luck for their efforts.

(Note: A Piaggio product won the race)

World’s Largest Scooter Ride


Scooter Therapy, Madison, WI’s Genuine/Kymco dealer is attempting to enter the Guinness Book of World Records on April 17 with “The World’s Largest Scooter Ride.” We heard rumors of this a couple weeks ago, and found it curious: Isle of Wight organizers brag that their 2008 Sunday ride was Guinness-verified as the world’s largest parade of scooters with about 5000. Even though there’s no mention of this record on Guinness’ site, European rallies routinely top 1000 scooters.

It turns out, despite the vague name of the event, Scooter Therapy is trying to break a 2005 Dutch record for Largest Parade of Mopeds (motorcycles Under 50cc), which currently stands at 674. All mopeds and scooters are welcome, but only those under 50cc will count towards the record.

I don’t know what kind of moped population Madison has these days (maybe it’s through the roof, unlike most states, WI law clearly specifies 50cc scooters as mopeds, legal to operate with a regular driver’s license, and Madison is a relatively affluent college town) but that still seems like a lot of bikes, considering that the biggest (and more-publicized) midwestern scooter and moped rallies rarely attract half that many. When you limit it to 50cc bikes, and hold it on the same weekend as a big moped rally in Louisville, that just doesn’t seem possible, but maybe they know something I don’t. In any case, it’s a ride, it’ll be a good time, and they’re giving away a Genuine Roughhouse 50, so if you’re in the area you’ll want to check it out. Here’s hoping they pull it off and steal the title from those stinking Nederlanders!

What about “Flyover Country?”

Comparing powersports journalist Guido Ebert to 2strokebuzz is like comparing Roger Ebert to an anonymous YouTube comment. So you’d think Piaggio would jump at the chance to get him on their bandwagon, right? If Piaggio’s going to set up every lawnmower repair shop in the midwest as dealers, you’d think they’d give them a little marketing support. I honestly wondered if this was an April Fools joke, but I don’t think it is.

Testing your Loyalty?

I know Vespa rudely scheduled their dealer meeting in California the same weekend as Genuine’s dealer retreat in Wisconsin a couple years ago, but it doesn’t seem sporting to schedule the grand opening of the redesigned Scooterworks Chicago space the same day as Motowork’s North Avenue shop opening. I’m not sure who called dibs on the date first, but if I can’t go to both, I’m not going to either. Even if one of them books Jay Leno.

“Schoolgirl hit by scooter slams rogue riders”

Aside from the headline, which sounds kinda like a porn video, this story reminds us that as indignant as we get about events like last week’s incident in Arizona, scooterists and motorcyclists can be a threat to pedestrians and cyclists and we’re not always as careful or responsible as we could be. I’m sure the sort of british chavs responsible for this specific incident don’t read this blog (or care about anything but themselves,) but I know plenty of people that read 2strokebuzz have no problem riding after a few drinks, and/or like to show off, and ALL of us get distracted from time to time and make bad decisions. Most of us also drive cars a good share of the time, and fiddle with Pandora, and have screaming kids in the back seat. So (rightfully) say what you will about the driver of that sanitation truck, but never forget that no matter what you ride and how careful you are, you’re capable of inflicting harm on others, too.

“Live Like an Indy Car Driver” with Kymco

KYMCO is sponsoring the IZOD Indy Car Series again this year, so they’re running a Live Like an Indy Car Driver contest. Grand Prize is a KYMCO 4-wheeler, but with luck, you can win the two runner-up prizes: KYMCO Super-8 scooters signed by IRL racer Ryan Hunter-Reay. Pick up an entry coupon at any KYMCO dealer.

Aside from the Memorial Day limelight, would life really be that great to be an Indy Car driver? I’d imagine it’d be a lot of carefully-budgeted interstate travel, groveling for sponsors, and squeezing performance out of an underfunded car and crew, I dunno, it sounds like the pits, no pun intended. I’ll take graphic design over IRL racing any day. Maybe I’m biased from my uniquely shitty experience at Indianapolis Motor Speedway a couple years ago, and IRL would be loads better than NASCAR, that’s for sure.

Scoota Flamethrowa

English plumber Colin Furze has rigged up his commuter scooter to shoot an adjustable 12-foot flame backwards at encroaching drivers. “I’ve been told that if I fire the flames while riding on the road it’s equivalent to using a firearm and I could be in a lot of trouble,” Furze says.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1260047/Wheels-James-Bond-fan-invents-flame-throwing-scooter.html#ixzz0jX4OanJM

(Thanks, Kathy!)

Ducati/Piaggio merger rumors

Businessweek and others are reporting that “McKinsey & Co Inc. is studying a possible merger
between Ducati Motor Holding SpA and Piaggio.” Before you get too excited, note that McKinsey & Co Inc. are regarded as occasionally-dangerous hypemongers. One commenter following up Autoblog’s story notes:

You may recall that McKinsey created the corporate strategy for Enron. Much of their work, which is often highly touted and quoted, is about suggesting mergers and consolidations, both internal and external to companies.

Still, it’s interesting to think about, in the greater scheme of Italian motorsports musical chairs. On one hand, homogenization strips brands of their individuality. On the other hand, Ducati’s credibility (with half of Piaggio’s revenues) couldn’t hurt Piaggio/Vespa/Guzzi/Aprilia in the U.S. market. And we’d all be invited to Ducati Island.

Dealer Expo: New Blurs and Stellas

Ron Arnold (Detroit Scooter Examiner) has shared some Blur220i photos from DealerExpo on ModernBuddy. The two color schemes are “Gunmetal and White” and “White.” Branding is limited to small plastichrome badges, similar to the earlier Charcoal/Black 150 model.

All in all, pretty much what we expected, and great news, though I have a few minor quibbles. As a fan of the distinctive charcoal/orange early Blurs, the colors and branding are a bit boring, but I suppose this is not the time to be brave with colors. The horncovers are fake carbon fiber, which looks good, but I just hate fake carbon fiber. The saddest part is the new DOT front turn signals, which were apparently necessary after all.

Both colors featured gold wheels, which is a strange decision, but they look pretty good. Arnold points out that the front brake caliper was gold on both bikes, and the rear caliper was red, which is also strange, though these are probably preproduction examples. The bikes’ seats were different, one appears the same as the earlier models, the other looks similar but shaved-down a bit. Arnold says they plan to use the lower seat on both versions.

The Stella 4-stroke apparently will not be branded differently than its predecessor, but will feature some new colors. “Creme,” “Dijon Yellow,” and “Slate Blue” will be available in addition to the old “Avocado,” White, and Red. MSRP remains the same as the 2-stroke version, $3599, which is great news. Of course, the big story is that it’s rated at 140 MPG, (though you know how we feel about that.)

Sadly (very sadly, in our opinion) the 2-stroke version will no longer be available once current inventory sells out.

Which is faster? White is 4T, Purple is 2T (these are UK-market LMLs from Eddy Bullet):

A Buddy in Jay Leno’s Garage

I haven’t watched a late-night talk show since Adult Swim’s been on the air, but if I did, Jay Leno would be third on my list behind Conan O’Brien and David Letterman. Maybe eighth if you threw in Craig Ferguson and Chelsea Handler and a few others. I’ve always thought his Tonight Show was about as bland as a show can be, a pale imitation of the already-bland Johnny Carson years.

But, the weird thing is, I like Jay Leno. How can you not? He’s by all accounts an affable guy, and he loves motorcycles. We might all be jealous of his collection, but motorcycle and scooter blogs are full of “Jay sighting” stories, always reporting that he couldn’t be more friendly and down-to-earth. And further proof: he allegedly turned down hosting an American version of Top Gear, admitting that the show would be worthless without Jeremy Clarkson.

Leno’s motoring blog Jay Leno’s Garage will feature a video report on the Genuine Buddy tomorrow (February 12, 2010). I’m really looking forward to it.

You’d think Jay’d be a Vespa guy, it’s a fact he’s got at least one vintage GS in his collection, and he spoke at PiaggioUSA’s 2008 dealer meeting (ah, 2008, those were the days! Rumor has it he was paid with a truckful of bikes, hopefully not recalled RSVs!.)

So it’ll be interesting to hear what he’s got to say about the Buddy, and surely legions of Buddy fans are waiting with bated breath. I agree an Americanized Top Gear would be horrible, but I bet we’d all love to see a Jay Leno motorsport show.

Even the Conan fans.

Thanks, Guido.