As expected, Piaggio’s Hymotion3 was on display at EICMA.
Oh, and look, Adiva’s jumped on the 3-wheel bandwagon, too!
Category: Scooter News
Vespa at EICMA: a video tour
A video tour of Vespa’s booth at EICMA.
Here’s another general video with peeks of a few scooters and an overall idea of the number of skeezy European models at the event, which pretty much explains why Bradford paid $7000 (and that was just the fuel surcharges) to fly to Milan:
BSA e-scooters
Speaking of England and electric scooters, this should make both mods and rockers cry: BSA Motors has launched a line of e-scooters in India.
Oh, Manchester, so much to answer for…
Meet Salford’s own Wispa electric scooter. Moz prefers the real thing.
Everyone knows there’s only one way to ride around Salford:
Bri-Lon?
Look out, Fred Perry. British nylon is what all smart, WASP-y scooterists are wearing this season. (From Pentagram’s aborted redesign of 02138 magazine.)
$315
The Scooter Scoop on a $315 motorscooter. He’s not clear if it’s wholesale or retail price, but I bet a lot of sub-$1000 scooters cost less than that wholesale, and in any case, keep in mind that’s AFTER manufacturer markup. Snobbishness aside, can you trust a scooter that costs less than a decent* bicycle?
*A similar drop in quality/price has been happening in the bicycle world over the past decade. My local bicycle shop, who easily supplied reasonably-priced parts for a 1960s Sears three-speed Vina found at a garage sale, won’t work on chain-store bikes, even the name brands. You get what you pay for when you spend the extra money at a reliable dealer.
FabMap Buddy giveaway
RandMcNally has been spamming all over the scooter community, but they’ve got an interesting idea and a great offer: They’re giving away a Genuine 50cc Buddy to promote their new FabMaps, maps printed on fabric that can just be wadded up and jammed in a bag, or used to clean your helmet visor or sunglasses, or to hold a hot sparkplug, or whatever else scooterists do with rags (badump bump!) Even better, the FabMaps are on sale for $2 with free shipping, I just ordered a few, the drawback seems to be that they’re limited to the trendy/touristy neighborhoods of trendier cities (Chicago, for instance featured Lakeview and the Magnificent Mile) but still, $2 is a good deal and if they’re not good maps, they’re hopefully good shop towels, or vice versa. Full review when we get ’em.
Zabaiot: Vespa Smallframe transformer
OK, you just pretty much need to watch this…
(Thanks, Brooke, and the New Cafe Racer Society!)
Scooter Skanks of Milan
I hate the whole idea of trade show models, but on the other hand, you 2strokebuzz readers are sad perverts, so here you go. We could use the hits, and angry comments are better than no comments.
Malaguti Blog
Oh, no they didn’t. I know Malaguti didn’t name this scooter the “Blog.” Suddenly “Grand Dink” sounds like a pretty awesome name. What’s up with all the Pottery-Barn-looking ecru ultrasuede seats this year?
Bradford checks in from EICMA
Got home last night to find an answering machine message from VCOA president, Corazzo proprietor, and part-time 2strokebuzz correspondent Bradford Duval, who was very possibly drunk. He didn’t clear up any mysteries about his GTS sidecar photo, but he did paint a colorful image that I’m still trying to erase from my head…
Hi Bryan, it’s Bradford. I’m calling from Italy. I hope you got the photo. Nothing particularly interesting at the Piaggio booth other than the GTS SIDECAAAAAAR which was FUCKING GOOORGeous… GORGeous! I would make that sidecar my matromonial BED if I got married again, and, uhhh, hope you’re doing well, lots of really great stories, and anyone who thinks that Piaggio/Vespa is all about the 2-stroke, you can tell them to FUCK OFF because I saw the prototype engine for the ’46 and IT WAS A 4-STROKE! And I got pictures. (unintelligible)…and VCOA is very strong and doing well over here…(unintelligble)…Eurovespa…(unintelligble)…Later, man, hope you’re doing well.
This is EICMA coverage you’re not going to find anywhere else. Gonzo! Stay tuned.
Nipponia unveiled
Scooter Station sure is excited about Nipponia. (Google translation) The designs are actually pretty novel and interesting (the “Renzo” especially). The Japanese company, now based in Greece, plans to produce these Italian-designed scooters in Greece using Chinese-made parts, and start selling them in Europe in late 2009. Type nerd trivia: Nipponia’s logo features the same godawful Revue typeface as PGO’s logo.
UPDATE: more from Motoblog.it.
Scooterween en Galicia
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.
Vespa GTV Pearl Sidecar?
Our first dispatch from Bradford in Milan is this photo. Bradford didn’t tell us what is is, so we’re going to make it up: This is the 2009 Vespa GTV in pearl iridescent color-move paint with a matching Vespa sidecar. It will be available in the U.S. in one hour, for $379.99. Or, more likely, it’s just a one-off done up for the show, which is more likely because there’s nothing about new colors in the Vespa GTV press release I’m reading right now, nor is there anything about sidecars. The bikes shown in the GTV/LXV press release are all classic Vespa green or 100 Sport beige. A Piaggio-designed matching Vespa sidecar would be big news, maybe Bradford will sober up and send a caption later, or a photo of the hot new Simoncelli Gilera Runner.
UPDATE: This site is calling it a “concept.” They say Piaggio produced sidecars until 1965, I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen a Vespa-branded sidecar… Anyway, OmniMoto have some more cool EICMA photos here. (Thanks Eric!)
The “new Silverwing” is… a Silverwing
EICMA opens today, and the big story was how Honda was going to unveil a new scooter, a replacement for the Silverwing that would put the Yamaha T-Max to shame. The suspense is over, it’s a new 400cc Silverwing. It’s sportier and has some cool features, but I can’t deal with French right now because something more interesting just came up on the 2sb news desk… (and 2sb correspondent Bradford Duval is live in Milan, hopefully we’ll hear from him soon…)