Category: Scooter News

The Dragster Scoop?

Steve Guzmán spills all the beans he can on the Dragster over at the Scooter Scoop. He’s working for ItaljetUSA, of course, but it seems like a pretty honest piece, he answers a few questions, and includes a couple photos of a prototype that’s newer than the one on display at Dealer Expo that I haven’t bothered to write about yet. Hopefully, bringing Steve on board wasn’t the only thing LS Motorsports is going to get right.

MSNBC nails it

Just as I start mocking the rehashed press releases that pop up every spring, MSBNBC posts what just might be the most honest and realistic mass-media scooter story ever written, or at least one of the few to feature real-world advice along with real experience and research, some culled from the ScooterBBS. Bravo! This is the one to send to your scooter-curious friends.

Christian Science Monitor on the scooter craze

It’s always tempting to make fun of The Christian Science Monitor, just because they’re Christian and all, but aside from a handsome-but silly illustration showing a Vespa S leaving a wake of natural goodness*, their obligatory scooter-craze story is pretty decent, rating a mere 12 drinks on the 2sb scale.

* I wish that was the true proportion of a Vespa S to a human being, that would be rad.

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.

Celebrities are just like us!

They sweet-talk their way out of scooter DUIs! So after you’re pulled over for weaving around Miami Beach at 4:11 AM, try telling the arresting officer “F**k you, I’m not drunk,” then later bragging “I’m friends with most cops in the city and they told me the guy who got me isn’t even liked by his colleagues. He’s a 400-pound f**k unfit for duty” Oh, wait, that only works for Mickey Rourke.

Oh, goody, more from fashion.ie:

Mickey had a passenger with him on the Vespa, but there’s no way anyone was getting a hold of her to testify. He doesn’t even know who the hell she was: Rourke said the mysterious blond riding on the back of the Vespa at the time of his arrest couldn’t have been used as a witness at a trial. “Don’t ask me her name,” Rourke says. “I have no idea who she was. I met her in a bar and never saw her again.”

And he’s looking good in the NY Post.

Can your bike’s “face” improve visibility?

Neat story on how some motorcycles are designed to resemble a human face:

[Honda’s tests] found that motorcycles that resemble a human face – especially an angry one evoked with diagonal headlights – are “significantly” more visible to other drivers. Measurements taken with functional magnetic resonance imaging confirm that a more lifelike front-end design “elicits a response similar to that when a human face is seen,”

So, in conclusion, The Blur rules, and Andretti’s “Happy Cyclops” just isn’t going to cut it. (Thanks for the great link, Chandler!)

New Piaggio models next week

From Motoblog: Piaggio plans to launch new Beverly and Carnaby models next week. The Beverly Tourer is a new version of the scooter known as the “BV” in the U.S. The new line will feature 125, 250, and 400cc versions. The Carnaby (unavailable in the U.S.) will feature new colors with 125 and 200cc engines. While we’re on the topic, I don’t think we’ve mentioned their new-ish X7, yet, by the way. It’s getting a lot of press in Europe lately.

Quad mod rods on display in UK

Gordon “Sting” “Ace Face” Sumner’s Vespa “GS” and Phil “Jimmy” “Parklife” Daniels’ Lambretta are the highlights of a Quadrophenia exhibition at Littledean Jail in near Gloucester, England. Quadrophenia director Franc Roddam is calling it: “This is the best collection of Quadrophenia memorabilia I have ever seen.” Book your flight now, and cue ten angry comments questioning the authenticity of the bikes and/or reminding us that there were six GSes made for the movie and none of them were GSes.

Leggo my eGo

Off-topic a bit: just saw a blurb about the “new” eGo electric bicycle, we’ve had an older model sitting in our office for a few years. It’s pretty neat, and well-made, but the caliper brakes were a bit dodgy, it’s ridiculously heavy, and it has no suspension (our neighborhood is an industrial pothole warzone). I see the newer version has a small disk brake, so if you live somewhere with little traffic, no stairs, and nice roads (summer house, retirement castle) it’d be a pretty good choice for short trips. Then again, a regular bicycle is probably faster and definitely cheaper, and you’d get some exercise.

German Custom Scooter Shows (March ’08)

This past weekend Scooter-Attack hosted a custom scooter show in Saarbruecken, Germany. If you missed out on seeing the show you can catch up with a few Youtube videos. Some wild stuff was shown off and even if bling isn’t your bag, you’ve got to be impressed with the level of professionalism in the event. Another custom show is in a few weeks and hosted by Scooter-Center in Cologne.

New LMLs: The Scootering story

Most of this thread is proof that Modern Vespa has eclipsed the stupidity of the BBS, but it includes scans of Scootering’s story about LML’s 4-stroke geared scooters, presumably someday to be known as the “Stella 250.” Great info there, and nice to see Scootering’stypesetting hasn’t improved in the several years since I’ve bought an issue. Peignot? Come on! England’s hatred of the French apparently doesn’t extend to shitty French typefaces.