Category: Scooter News

Heinkelfest 2011

Heinkelfest may not be the biggest rally of the year, even if all 350 of the Heinkel Tourists sold in the U.S. were still running. But any rally so carefully targeted deserves a shout, right? Organizer Michael McWilliams (who–you might have guessed–is also behind HeinkelTourist.com and the North American Heinkel Registry is a past-president of the Vespa Club of America and one of the nicest guys in scootering. Even if you find yourself Heinkel-less, or can’t make it to Colorado Springs later this month, you might want to print the handsome event poster for your garage.

Alliance’s SYM Lineup Grows,
Wolf Coming Soon

Mike Hickman from Alliance Powersports let us know that new SYM HD200s, Symba, and Fiddle IIs have arrived in the U.S, and the promising Wolf motorcycle is on the way. This is great news, SYM is a great manufacturer and we’re happy to see them making a comeback. SYM’s distributor network and web presence definitely needs some clarification, but we’ll take any baby steps we can get.

Here’s Hickman’s comment:

So the 2012 HD 200 EVO with the disc brake, powder coated black forks and rims along with stitching in the seat to match the color of the bike, Awesome!!! The 2012 Symba and Fiddle 11 have also arrived, and the much anticipated Wolf Classic 150cc is on the water with an arrival date of just after Labor Day! Let’s get this party started! Ride Safe!

“The Bad Boy Returns”

Did anyone notice the Piaggio Typhoon was gone? Was anyone clamoring for it to come back? Again, nothing wrong with the bike, but Piaggio USA’s “Bad Boy” marketing is just weird.Perhaps they’re trying to position it as a Zuma 125 alternative: the 80s ‘clawmark’ stickers and yellow paint are definitely from the Yamaha playbook. (You never thought you’d long for spirals, didya?) The Typhoon isn’t quite so, um, “distinctive” as the Zuma (which may be a good thing) and it is $500 cheaper, so maybe there’s hope.

Add a Wheel, Subtract $2000

Piaggio’s selling 2008 model year MP3s at discounts exceeding $2000. While its pretty discouraging that 2008 MP3s are still on dealers’ floors in 2011 (wasn’t 2008 the year dealers couldn’t stock scooters fast enough?), if you’ve ever dreamed of riding on three wheels, now is the time, it is a quite great scooter after all. Unspecified discounts are available on more recent models as well.

More Four Stroke Vespa PX Rumblings

SIP Scooter Shop reports that they have a reliable source confirming that Vespa will be showing off their new 4-stroke powered PX series scooter at the upcoming EICMA show in Milan this Fall. The Genuine Scooter Company LML-made Stella 4-Stroke has recently made it to dealers around the country. But will the new PX come back to America? Would current Vespa dealers want it? One thing that many will be interested in is the design of the engine. Will it be unlike the LML and fit into the classic Vespa frame?

File it all under RUMOR until we see it rolling around Rome.

Lambretta LN 125 “Il Arrive”


Scooter Infos (Pictures) and Scooter Station report the new Lambretta LN 125 was unveiled in Paris this morning, and will be on sale in France in August. They confirm it’s built by SYM (with a SYM Fiddle engine and some Italian parts) which is good news, quality-wise, but probably bad news, U.S.-distribution-wise. The European distributor is Mooof in Belgium.

The design is as good as could be hoped for, it’s pretty swoonworthy, to be honest. Let’s hope the quality and service are there to back up the looks, especially for a 125cc bike priced at US$5345. (Note: that’s the EU price converted to dollars, there always seems to be a substantial markup for the U.S. market.)

LML Star 200 4T for (Gasp!) Indian Market

Speaking of the Stella/LML Star, at least one Indian blog is suggesting that the LML Star 200 4T (allegedly available in Europe this month) might be a hit in India. Despite scooters’ raving popularity in India just a decade ago, India has become more affluent and motorcycles dominate the current scene. Bajaj discontinued their Vespa-like Chetak in 2005, and abandoned scooters entirely in 2009. LML currently manufactures the Star only for the export market. But that’s due to change by the end of the year, when they’ll re-introduce it in its homeland.

And if you’re excited about the 200cc Stella (which isn’t due in the U.S. anytime soon, we hear) check this out: PJ found a video of a top-secret new LML model.