The Hartford Courant reports that Chinese/Greek company Eugro (“The leader in Telecommunications, Transportation & Home Confort Airconditioning”) has plans to manufacture Eurospeed scooters in Connecticut. The novelty and excitement of a Chinese company manufacturing in the U.S. is tempered a bit by the fact that up until today, the nominal “scooter experts” at 2SB had never heard of Eugro, or Eurospeed scooters, and the US division is run by a suburban Ford dealer. But we’ll keep an eye out for them at Dealer Expo.
Category: Scooter News
It’s not over until the scooter sings
Lately it seems you can’t stage an opera without a vintage scooter: The Gotham Chamber Opera’s Il Signor Bruschino features “Felliniesque touches, like a Vespa…”, while the Grand Theatre Leeds’ presentation of The Elixir of Love includes a “Lambretta or two” on the stage set. Pietro Tonsenda’s Quattrofini can’t be far behind.
Greetings from POC Phil
Our buddy POC Phil has struck fame again, wearing what appears to be some sort of Jedi tunic and a Los Corazones Negros shirt on a red Stella with an unidentified woman, on an American Greetings card due on shelves in June. They look so happy! (Click on photo to enlarge.)
BBC America goes mod
BBC America unveiled a new identity this week, designed by mOcean. The new logo is a modified “mod target,” aka “Royal Air Force rondel,” let’s hope they have better luck with that than Lambretta Clothing. A new series of channel IDs include this one, featuring a euro-spec Vespa P200E (right-click to download) parked at a biker bar. (Thanks, Steve. Video and still: mOcean.)
Bohemian Brewery
E*rock tells us the Bohemian Brewery in Salt Lake City, UT is decorated with several vintage scooters. Are any of our SLC friends/Scoot.net people involved in that?
In the News, January 22, 2007
- Honda unveiled their blinged-out Forza “Smart” concept scooter at the Tokyo Auto Salon.
- More on the Bajaj Krystal, announcing the Blade will be back on the market in six months.
- Honda recalled 455,000 scooters made for the Japanese market between 2002 and 2006 at their Sundiro Honda plant in China. It’ll cost Honda $15.8 million to replace faulty speedometers.
- The Wall Street Journal chimes in on the boom in smaller-displacement motorcycles and scooters.(Subscription only… I didn’t actually read it, but Piaggio execs are probably quoted and mirth will ensue.)
- FourWheeler.com’s 2007 Honda Ruckus review.
- The Independent reviews the Piaggio MP3.
“No Same Way”
The news is Ruckus-heavy this week. Here’s an amazingly-silly ad for the Honda Zoomer (the Ruckus’ Japanese-market name), by motion graphics company Le Pivot.
Seaside dumpster diving in Devon
Shipwreck = seaside dumpster heaven for residents of Branscombe, England. Intrepid scavengers walked away with nearly 50 BMW motorbikes as well as exhaust pipes, steering wheels and beauty cream.
Kyle visits SIP
If you’re reading this site, you’re probably the type of person that happily gives up a day of your European vacation to hunt down the local scooter shops. Chicago scooterist Kyle Hart is too, but he was lucky enough to visit Augsburg, Germany, where the “local shop” is S.I.P.. Instead of the usual modern Piaggio dealer who hasn’t seen a GS in twenty years, or repairman’s shed full of rotting scooter corpses, S.I.P. is a huge, modern shop catering to an international crowd of vintage and modern scooter racers and customizers, and judging by Kyle’s great photos, it’s an exciting place to visit.
Patricia Piccinini’s “Nest”
Australian artist Patricia Piccinini has created a family of mutated fiberglass scooters for her 2006 “Nest” exhibition. 2SB pal Christine describes it best as “Surreal, oddly endearing, and sentimental like Bambi” and we can’t top that. If your taste for art extends beyond the scooter-related, see more at Patricia Piccinini’s site. Her first U.S. exhibition opens tomorrow at the Des Moines Art Center, with a later stop in Seattle. (Thanks, Chandler.)
Thailand by scooter
A Belfast Telegraph writer tours Thailand by scooter, and a Telegraph intern horks the title of Peter Moore’s book.
Wired on the Indian Autorickshaw Challenge
Wired‘s report on the Indian Autorickshaw Challenge. If anyone’d like to sponsor a 2strokebuzz team next year, you know where to find us. (Thanks again, Dave.)
Walking Scooter
Also from Ryan: A clip of a presumably home-made scooter with feet instead of wheels. From the look and sound of it, it’s from the Japanese version of Max-X
Beckham to L.A., Burgman on CNN
Amazing, David Beckham signed to the L.A. Galaxy. Good news because it will raise the profile of U.S. Soccer and give me more reason to hate the Galaxy. But that’s not the amazing part, the amazing part is that Suzuki is buying Burgman banner ads on CNN.com. (Thanks, Alex)
“The Wasp and the Beetle”
John Rana explores the shared traits of the Volkswagen and the Vespa, and their unholy union on the streets of Indonesia. He’s also designed the logo for the new Vespa Club of the Philippines, making me wonder if he’s not intent on becoming the Filipino version of me. I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.