Category: Scooter News

Fremont Motors Electric Scooter Concept Show In Seattle

In the past I have posted a few items on the electric conversion offerings from Soundspeed Scooters in Seattle. Now the man behind those efforts, Jeb Gast, has designed a new electric scooter to be unveiled this Friday, March 4th at Motore Coffee in Seattle, WA. The party begins at 5:30 and the designer/builder will be on hand to show off his work and talk about the process and plans for the future.

The new venture is called Fremont Motors and the scooter has been named “Fido”. The goal was to make a new, clean design that would allow user access for maintenance, but simple enough to minimize the need. Jeb has shared some preliminary ideas and specifications that sound exciting. He’s promised to send photos of the event but if anyone from the gray, damp city can attend, please take some snaps and send them to brookespeed at that google email service.

Fido Release Party
Friday, March 4th, 5:30pm
Motore Coffee
1904 9th Ave, Seattle

Scooters and Guns:
A Match Made Somewhere In Europe

The Ride The Machine blog, formerly known as The New Cafe Racer Society, posted this photo worth sharing. I think the views of scooters in the US would be very different if such applications were reality. But instead, I think something like this Vespa TAP that Steve from The Scooter Scoop posted about on Facebook would be more highly admired.

Via The Velobanjogent, another good site to watch.

LML, Cairo, February 11, 2011

If you’re truly obsessed with scooters, you’ll spot the unmistakeable corner of a legshield from a mile away. I was scanning through thumbnails of photos of the Egyptian celebrations on Flickr and this great photo by Joel Carillet jumped right out at me. It was taken on the 6th of October Bridge on Friday night, after Hosni Mubarak stepped down. This photo of an Egyptian family waving the peace sign as they cross the bridge four-up on an LML scooter is suddenly and permanently locked in place as my mental picture of the celebrations.

February 11, 2011 — Cairo, Egypt, originally uploaded by Joel Carillet.

UPDATE: Another great one!

Scooter Riding Thieves Thwarted By Nora Batty

On a cool Northampton afternoon a small pack of thieves armed with sledge hammers attack a jewelry store with their accomplices awaiting their bounty on get-away scooters. Enter a fine citizen with her shopping bag loaded with what must have been bricks. The woman, seen in the video, charges down the street and scares off the criminals who clumsily try to make tracks. During their exit one of the gang was knocked off their scooter and was able to be pinned down until police arrived. Video shows that the rider who didn’t get a way was riding a Vespa LXV. A sad end for a fine scooter. The hero of the day remained un-named by news reports. Modesty prevails.

The New York Post report

Andretti Family sues Power Sports Factory

This Dealernews article sheds light on Power Sports Factory’s dealings with the Andretti family, and PSF’s optimistic hopes of using the Andretti brand to sell Italian-designed, Qianjiang-built Benelli scooters in the U.S. PSF introduced three Benelli models in 2008 and ceased operations in October 2010. Plans to add more Benelli models and less-expensive “Yamati”-branded scooters to the Andretti line never materialized.
Continue reading “Andretti Family sues Power Sports Factory”

Scooter Superstores Closed

We reported a few months ago that Florida/Georgia scooter dealer chain Scooter Superstore of America (SSTAM) had filed for bankruptcy. Several sources tell us SSTAM’s shops officially closed at the end of January. These court documents call for SSTAM’s collateral and inventory to be returned to GE Commercial Distribution Finance Corporation. Mechanics from the Hollywood, FL location have opened a new service center, Vespariva.

Lance/SYM deal confirmed

After last month’s rumors, we’ve received a copy of an email Lance Powersports is apparently distributing to dealers announcing they’re SYM’s new distributor in the western United States. It’s unclear if eastern states will continue with Carter Brothers or move to a new distributor, but either way, Lance clearly isn’t making any efforts to be Carter’s BFFs…

You will see a renewed passion for this wonderful line of scooters, supported with wonderful customer service including parts support, tech support, and an attention to detail that we believe was missing from the previous distributor, Carter Bros.

The memo promises Lance will stock “a limited amount of scooters/parts” “very early in 2011” and will build up their inventory going into the spring and summer.

Piaggio/Vespa and other distributors have tried regional distributors in the past with mixed results. If memory serves, Derbi and Kinetic had regional U.S. importers as late as the early 2000s. A regional approach seems a bit anachronistic and overcomplicated today, but we look forward to seeing what Lance can do to get SYM back on track in the U.S.

Genuine Buddy 170 for 2011,
Electric IDEP coming to Europe


Bosco on Modern Buddy beats us to the scoop: 161cc fuel-injected Genuine Buddy in three new colors for 2011. If they can keep the price reasonably close to the carbureted models, these will rule the scooter market.

In other PGO Buddy news, PGO’s promisingly redesigned eBuBu is called “IDEP”, it’s a “Buddy” with electric motors mounted within both wheels, It’s due in Europe soon.

Rok Bagoros, Slovenian Stunt Rider

As if Americans need further proof that scootering is far more evolved in Europe, stunt riding has been growing in popularity across the Continent. Originally featured in exhibitions at other motorsports events, stunt riding apparently has its own competitions now, and one of the leading stars is Rok Bagoros, a 21-year-old Slovene who grew up idolizing German sportbike stunter Chris Pfieffer and has been practicing since he turned 15. Rok performs astounding stunts, all on his customized automatic Yamaha Aerox. He’s got sponsors, a flashy website, autographed photos, magazine features, and a growing fan base. We’ve all seen our share of ill-advised scooter jackassery, but wouldn’t it be great to see Americans take stunt scootering (and racing, and customization) to such a professional level?

2010 Land Speed Trials

The long-awaited first MSILSF scooter speed trial took place last Sunday (November 21, 2010). The event faced a late change of venue from El Mirage Dry Lake (which turned out to be not-so-Dry-Lake) to a (slightly hilly) half-mile stretch of Route 66 near Devore, CA. The new shorter and hillier course perhaps wasn’t ideal for speed testing, but attendance was good and at the very least, a bar has been set in the various classes for future events. Overall winner was Patrick Owens at 90mph (Yamaha TMAX 500), all winners are listed here. The California Scooter Company posted a good overview and some great photos. Two MSILSF events are already planned for 2011, a Salton Sea Endurance Rally in March and a trip to IMOLA in July, as they work towards getting scooters officially sanctioned for AMA/BUB events at the Bonneville Salt Flats.

Isle Of Man Lambretta Racing c. 1970

This is a great video. You may want to turn up the brightness on the monitor but that may take away some of the appeal. The music is so good you’d think Mr. Illnoise had posted this. The event isn’t quite the closed-road TT, though the pilots just show their mettle by mixing it up with lorry traffic. Now you’ll excuse me while I go look for a petrol can in the carport.

Via the SIP Facebook page