Merchandise

The following is a list of the merchandise and promotional stuff 2strokeBuzz has put out over the years. None of it is currently available. Some of this was originally available from scootmoto.com, but that’s gone now, too.

2sb hexagon shirt Hexagon T-shirt
January 1996
1 made
This is an olive Gap pocket-t printed with the 2strokebuzz logo, using the screen from issue one. I made it while screenprinting the magazine covers in the kitchen on Walton St. Being one-of-a-kind, it is the most valuable of all 2strokebuzz collectibles and resides in a private collection (and it doesn’t fit anymore).
Scooter Monster shirt Scooter Monster T-Shirt
Spring 1996
About 24 made
This was the first mass-produced (but hand-crafted) 2sb t-shirt. It was printed in Bogdan’s basement on Oakley with shirts we bought cheap in bulk at a thrift store on Milwaukee Ave. The front features a drawing by one of the greatest artists, I’ve been lucky enough to know, Jason Bell, who worked with me at the mining magazine and now lives in NYC. The back featured the “Kicking Ass” patch design (same screen).
2sbpatch1.jpg “Kicking Ass…” patch
Summer 1996
About 100-125 made
These were printed (if i remember correctly) in my kitchen on Walton, using the screens we originally used for the back of the “Scooter Monster” t-shirts. We mixed a few different colors of ink and fabric, most were as seen here, but some were on forest green fabric and the scooter varied between light green and white. These were included in issue 2 for subscribers, and a handful were sold separately.
Photo TK GS Pin
Spring 1996
200 made (100 black, 100 white)
These were made to give away at rallies, and almost immediately after i got them,the email address was moot. The sloppy photocopy of a GS has turned up many times in designs i’ve done, most famously in the artwork for Amerivespa 2005.
2sbpress.jpg Press Pass
Summer 1996
5 made
These were laminated passes i made for some friends of 2strokebuzz in the hope of getting them to write more stories. If you have one, you know who you are, and how useless it is.
Photo TK Scooter Madness Patch
September 1996
about 150
these were professionally printed by a friend’s girlfriend whose name i don’t remember. Scooter Madness was the second 2strokebuzz rally (there were no patches for “Around the World in a Day”) and shortly following Madness, Second to Last SC was formed, and I got involved in planning Slaughterhouse 3. This art was also by Jason Bell, who did the “Scooter Monster” shirt, and a comic in Issue 3.
business cards Business Card
1997
1500 made
Quantity
These business cards were whipped together to fill space on a big sheet of four-color business cards I was printing for work. The artwork is blatantly lifted from the Playmates’ album which i thought was obscure enough to get away with, but it turned up everywhere around this time and i sort of felt embarrassed for using it and never used the cards much. I also changed emails and moved shortly after this, rendering them useless anyway.
2sbcard.jpg Postcard
1997
1500 made
Here’s the photocopy GS again, from the same print run as the business cards. Not sure why the business cards and this have nothing in common. Again, they were barely used because i moved shortly after printing them. I still use them to write notes with mail order shipments, just to get rid of them.
2sb logo pins 2sb Logo pins
2000
200 made, in various combinations of black, white, yellow, and blue
This were the first merchandise to feature the new website logo, they were mostly given away at rallies to promote the website.
Photo TK “Ricambi” Toolbags
2000-2004
about 40 sold
This was my favorite piece ever, a bastardization of the Piaggio/Gilera/Puch parts logo printed on a bank deposit bag. I always feared the ink would wear off with use, hopefully it didn’t, i never actually used one. I basically printed them on demand as i got orders, though i still want to bulk-order them sometime to make them cheaper and better. These were sold between 2000 and 2004, when i gummed up the screen and retired the artwork.
Ricambi shirt “Ricambi” T-shirts
2004-2004
about 60 made
These were t-shirts printed with the toolbag screen. They were mostly printed on demand as friends asked for them, or as orders came in, or we wanted something to sell at rallies. There were many color variations, the most popular being white on black, navy, or dark green shirts. I couldn’t do double hits of white on the dark shirts, so the white tended to be somewhat translucent.
2sb Patch Skoot and Destroy Patch
2001
about 50 sold, rest destroyed (see below)
These were the infamous patches created to promote the short-lived 2sb race team. I believe the great C.R. Stecyk III did the artwork originally, I’ve never been sure whether the artwork or The Faction’s song came first, but a couple months after I posted these for sale on the site, I got a bizarre angry email from Ed Riggins of Thrasher. The email, judging by grammar and content, seemed to have been written by a six-year old, so I wrote back an equally nasty immature email only to find Mr. Riggins was Thrasher’s publisher. A few volleys went back and forth threatening lawsuits and discussing the culture of appropriation in the skateboarding world and such, and Riggins cc’ed Stecyk (whom I respect, and whom I apologized to, though i continue to refuse to apologize to Thrasher.) Long story short, I agreed to destroy the unsold patches, so only about 50 of them got sold, and it was a big loss column in the 2sb budget that year. Six months later, on Thrasher’s site, i saw they were selling faux-Budweiser and Jack Daniels shirts, and pointed out to a bemused Riggins that at least i had the taste to rip off something that hadn’t been ripped off a thousand times already by Gang Green, Van Halen, and every t-shirt shop on every third-rate boardwalk in America. The boycott of Thrasher continues, not like I’ve bought it since I was 15 anyway. So if you have one of these, treasure it and hand it down to your kids. The Moped Army came out with “Swarm and Destroy” patches shortly after this ordeal, but they had the common sense to not use Thrasher’s artwork.
Photo TK Phrenology Helmet patch
2004
72 made/sold
Sort of a “Phrenology” diagram of what’s on our minds, inspired by an illustration in “Proficient Motorcycling” that showed the most common zones of impact on a motorcycle helmet. none sold, all were given out at Galewood 2003, printed in black on white fabric.
phrenology helmet shirt Phrenology Helmet T-shirt
2004
72 made/sold
Based on the 2sb patch for the Galewood rally, we made 72 shirts with the helmet design printed in dark blue and white on olive, burgundy, and royal blue t-shirts. They were printed by Britt and Remey of Project Porkchop. They sold out within a couple months of aggressive marketing on the site.
MTFCjersey.jpg Merciless Tigers soccer jersey
2007
51 made
A limited edition of 51 high-quality high-tech jerseys with a silkscreened 2sb logo on the front, silkscreened number on the back, and an embroidered MTFC patch lovingly sewn on by Vina’s mom. Included a numbered certificate of authenticity and an extra patch. SOLD OUT, sorry! More Merciless Tiger info here. The last unsold jersey (#31) was sold in a March, 2008 auction on modernvespa.com to benefit Josh Rogers of Scoot! Magazine. The jersey (#31) was sold for $150!

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