From The Scooter Scoop: Japanese city Matsuyama is offering cloud-shaped license plates for scooters. Aside from a few states (Rhode Island is a favorite) the U.S. has some lame license plates, maybe these will inspire someone.
Category: Scooter News
Adly’s comedy routine
Speaking of Adly, here’s a funny thread from the BBS. I don’t think these people are involved in the new Lambretta deal, but it’s a good chuckle. Again, for all we know, Adly may be a good marque, they are fairly successful in Britain, but a marque is only as good as the people selling it.
The new new Lambretta?
Reports are popping up that a new “Lambretta” is about to be unveiled in America, allegedly some sort of run-of-the-mill Chinese bike with Lambretta badges. It’s unclear who’s bringing them in, and equally unclear who owns the rights to the name in the United States. If these rumors are true, it’s a shame that CMSI’s L-Series has barely made any progress in more than four years, after several name changes, while someone else is likely to drag Lambretta’s proud name through the dirt. This will be interesting, and probably not in a good way.
Julie Plug’s “Blue Sky Propeller”
Once again, YouTube (via John Rana) serves up a great music video that slipped by unnoticed (to us anyway) a few years ago. Julie Plug (on MySpace) is a Bay Area band influenced by Britpop and the Sundays. Their 2003 “Blue Sky Propeller” video is pretty much the Filipino-American “Lloyd, I’m ready to be Heartbroken”, only a few years older and more scooter-ific. Read John’s post for more about the band.
Vespa “Transformers” open house
Vespa’s planning a dealer Open House June 14-24, 2007, featuring a “Transformers” cross-promotion. Something about “Transforming Transportation”? Yeah, we’re not really getting the connection either. That said, I guess Spiderman and 7-Eleven don’t have anything to do with each other, but that hasn’t stopped us from drinking a schload of Spiderman Slurpees.
Here comes another wave of scooter “news.”
Vespa PR (literally). This is the genesis of all the news stories you’ll see over the next few weeks. It’s fun to watch. There’s nothing wrong with Piaggio and Cooper Katz taking advantage of a lazy media (and no one’s lazier than 2sb), that’s how things work in PR and advertising, but it’s always sort of a bummer to see Piaggio’s PR information rehashed — without fact-checking or additional research — as “news.”
Vicious Cycles
Dave McCabe has long been searching for a short film he remembers seeing before Star Wars or Indiana Jones at the Polar Theater in Anchorage. He finally found it on good ol’ YouTube. Despite a resurgence in popularity in the 80s, Vicious Cycles was actually made in 1969. It’s a goofy live-action stop-motion animated film featuring the grungy Vicious Cycles MC facing off against the bowler-hat-clad Mild Ones Scooter Club. If nothing else, it proves the go-to newspaper headline “Mild Ones” (drink!) was already an old joke in 1969. It’s fantastic and authentic, right down to the squeaky Vespa drum brake sound. Stick around ’til the end for a Coke ad featuring vintage motorcycles and a public service announcement about loud pipes.
Vespa exhaust gasket update
Two new developments in the Vespa GT/GTS exhaust gasket recall story:
- VespaUSA CEO Paolo Timoni vaguely addressed the exhaust problem in a story naming him “Powersports Business’ 2007 Executive of the Year”: “‘We have made some really good improvements in parts availability and our capability to serve dealers,’ he said, ‘although we cannot claim the job has been completed. We’re still working on, for example, the manifold casting.'” While not quite public, (the magazine is targeted at dealers), and not very specific, this was the closest we’ve seen PiaggioUSA come to addressing the problem publicly. (The rest of the story is enlightening, too.)
- An Australian reader reports that Australian importer Peter Stevens Motorcycles has sent letters to GT/GTS owners advising them to visit their dealer for a free 35-minute service to replace the “exhaust leader pipe.”
Asian restoration spotters’ guide
Eric from The Rovers SC has posted a handy visual guide to identifying substandard Southeast Asian restorations. Randall from ScootRS also chimes in with some great insight, explaining how (and why) the Asian shops cut corners. A must-read, especially if you’re vintage-Vespa shopping.
DOT/Slaughterhouse Meeting
There’s a Slaughterhouse planning meeting tomorrow (Wednesday) night at The Globe Pub in Chicago at 8pm. All are welcome. If you’re coming to/interested in the Chicago Scooterist Roundtable, try to come to this meeting. I met with Charles Roesner from the Chicago DOT on Monday and got a lot of insight into what they’re hoping to accomplish, and I’d like to share the good news and talk about it in a group before the meeting on May 4. As I’ve said, this is the best opportunity we’ll ever get to have our voices heard by the city, they’ve asked us for our thoughts on ecology, traffic, parking, and other scooter-related issues, let’s make the most of it.
If you’re on the email list, sorry to not contact you directly, I seem to have misplaced the list. Please spread the word.)
LML: soon?
India Infoline and Moneycontrol India are reporting that LML has signed an agreement with workers and production will resume “shortly,” focusing on scooters for the export market (Stellas!).
A few rashers more? Think again, Galewood
The folks over at Gizmodo reported on some ‘scientists’ in the UK that have come up with an equation for the perfect bacon sandwich. Further research revealed that my lab rat brethren at Leeds University have defined what is the perfect “Bacon Butty”. I’ve been eating bacon sandwiches with pleasure for the last thirty plus years, but these little pleasures are more akin to what Americans would call a fried ham sandwich (Here is where I give a shout out to my pals in Seattle, Joe and Euan, for introducing me to the bacon butty at a bar down the street from Soundspeed Scooters in the Fremont neighborhood). Being that 2strokebuzz is primarily a scooter ‘blog’, I’ll apologize for going off topic but I know that the subject is close the heart of many of it’s loyal readers. Read on and decide for yourself and let the derision of ‘merican bacon commence (p.s. I like both kinds, but not too crispy).
Vietbodge photos
From Australia (via Nitro), more photos of what you’re likely to find under the paint and inside the engine of a poorly-restored Vespa from southeast Asia (or anywhere, for that matter)
Suzuki LC Concept
Speaking of tiny cars, POCphil just posted this Suzuki LC concept car from the 2006 Tokyo Motor Show. For some reason it seems familiar.
Return of the Fiat 500
Manufacturers and marketers have sucked the efficiency and economy out of the Vespa, Beetle, and Mini, by repositioning them as upscale nostalgia items, so you just knew the Fiat Cinquecento would be next. It’s weird that you have to dig around the site to find actual photos of the car itself. The interior is handsome, but the body is not mind-blowing, nor does it evoke the original as successfully as the other retro-vehicles on the market.
Update In the five minutes since I posted this I learned that the car will be built in Poland and will be fairly inexpensive compared to the Beetle and Mini. Plus, the design is growing on me, I didn’t notice the rolltop at first. I just think the appeal of the Mini and 500 was in the paint and chrome and that’s all gone.