Category: Scooter News

Kinetic, Ducati electrical units form joint venture

The Business Standard of India reports a joint venture has been formed by Kinetic Communication and Ducati Energia to manufacture “flywheel magnetos, CDI, ignition system, regulators and ECU for two and three-wheelers.” The venture will be called “Ducati Energia India,” and will be based in Pune. Kinetic is currently developing and manufacturing the former Italjet line of scooters. If only they could work Lucas into this deal, they’d pretty much dominate motorcycle electrics for a thousand years.

LML: Rhymes with “What the Hell?”

From HindustanTimes.com:

MEMBERS OF the All-India Central Council of Trade Union (AICCTU) have warned that the responsibility for any attempt of group self-immolation by the employees of the closed LML Limited would lie on the Chief Minister, Labour Ministry and owners of the LML Limited.  The warning was issued in a letter written by AICCTU state president Hari Singh to the Chief Minister and Secretary, Labour Ministry. He said about 5,000 employees and their family members were in deep financial trouble due to the lockout declared by the LML Limited from March 7, 2006.

“Self-Immolation?” As in this? Is that properly translated? Are LML workers seriously threatining suicide-by-fire if the plant doesn’t reopen? I’m no expert in Indian culture or Indian business methods, but that sounds bad.

Around Australia

Australian scooterist Julio Languiller is a quarter of the way into his 15-day, 10,000-mile trip around Australia for at-risk and homeless Australian youth. Languilller holds world endurance records on Honda 50, 125, and 150cc scooters and is a veteran of many long-distance charity rides. The Cannonball Run starts in less than a month, their ride is less than a quarter the distance in two-thirds the time, but they’re mostly riding vintage scooters, not 600cc Honda Silverwings, so we’ll cut them some slack.

Smoky two-strokes clobbered by SUV in emissions test

We overlooked this story from Portland, OR’s Williamette Week, assuming it was just another rehash of the “Vespanomics” story. But the Scooter Scoop read it and brought it back to our attention. Suspicious of all the pro-scooter hype out there, they did their own tests, comparing a “Piaggio-made” (ha) Stella, a 1968 Vespa, and a Subaru Tribeca. The results weren’t pretty for rotary-valve 2-strokes, but it should also be noted that the Tribeca is hardly the worst offender in the SUV kingdom. A 4-stroke Vespa LX or a Bajaj Chetak vs. a Ford Expedition or Hummer would have been an entirely different story, we demand a rematch!

Ballet Kelowna Vespa

For our readers in the Okanagan Valley, here’s your chance to win a Vespa by supporting rural Canadian ballet. Help out Ballet Kelowna as they face division rival Kamloops for the WHL conference title!

Scooternista does the math

Scooternista, a new scooter blog, follows “Modelcarguy” and his quest for two (or three) wheels. The perspective is interesting as he’s not really sure what he wants (he’s leaning towards an Ape or Bajaj threewheeler at the moment) and he’s not entirely sold on the scooter concept to begin with, so his indecision is our gain. Like us, he was dubious of the “scooter economy” promised by Piaggio’s Vespanomics site (and every other scooter company, dealer, and newspaper article). He did the math related to his situation and found what we suspected– in most cases, there are better reasons than economics to buy a scooter.

We’re working on a story outlining the successes (we’re happy to report there are some!) and shortcomings of Piaggio’s “Vespanomics” and “Open Letter to Mayors” PR campaigns, look for it later this week. Please get in touch if you have any insight.