In another example of how the British motorcycle industry kicks the American motorcycle industry’s ass, Honda UK is offering “license classes”? for 5-11-year olds at local bike shows. The licenses aren’t valid, of course, but the program delivers a message about safety and responsibility to british kids (along with Honda’s sales message) at an age when their American counterparts are riding dirt bikes without helmets on their uncle’s farm.
RetroThing Hybrid Vespa GTS prank
2sb may not be the brightest or most knowlegeable scooter blog out there, but we like to think that with our Google News subscriptions and unhealthy amount of scooter site surfing, we more or less have our finger on the pulse of scootering. So imagine my surprise when i noticed out of the corner of my eye a tiny blurb in the corner of Finkbuilt (of all places) that Vespa had announced a hybrid Diesel/Electric GTS for 2007. The link took me to the Vespa GTS site in italian, on which I couldn’t make out anything about a hybrid model. I excitedly drooled all over my keyboard looking for info, but sadly eventually figured out it was a cruel April Fools’ joke from RetroThing that many other blogs had picked up. Reading the actual story, it’s clear it’s a joke (3-stroke!?) but that link sure had me going for a while.
Vespa giveaway under the Wigshpere
Metro Pulse, “Knoxville’s Weekly Voice,” is giving away a Vespa LX, which begs the question… “Knoxville has a pulse?”
Good News and Bad News
I finally got ALL the old entries imported and posted last night. The problem is that almost all the old posts have “from_the_archives” in the title (oops) so I’m going to try to delete those and reimport them correctly tonight. Also, since the archive and category lists are so long now, I’m going to move them to their own pages. Thanks for putting up with all the changes here, we’re very close to ‘getting back to normal.’
Honda UK’s “My First License”
In another example of how the British motorcycle industry kicks the American motorcycle industry’s ass, Honda UK is offering “license classesâ€? for 5-11-year olds at local bike shows. The licenses aren’t valid, of course, but the program delivers a message about safety and responsibility to british kids (along with Honda’s sales message) at an age when their American counterparts are riding dirt bikes without helmets on their uncle’s farm.
Yamaha UK offers free insurance with two scooter models
Yamaha Motor UK is offering free liability insurance on its Aerox 50 and Cygnus-X 125 scooters. The insurance covers up to three family members and comprehensive insurance is available for a very reasonable upgrade fee. The scooters also include 1 year of RAC coverage (the UK’s AAA equivalent) and Datatag anti-theft markings installed.
MetroSpecial Stella
In the spirit and tradition of 1960s dealer specials like Andre Baldet’s “Arc-en-Cielâ€? and Eddy Grimstead’s “Hurricaneâ€? Vespas (both very well-documented in issue 48-49 of American Scooterist), Cincinnati’s Metro Scooters has revealed their “MetroSpecial.â€? Strangely, there’s nothing on their site about it, but the one they gave away in the WKRP raffle appeared to be a stock silver Stella with custom rims, racing stripes, and a windscreen. The brochure from the rally says it’s available in tangerine, red, and mint as well.
GRO’s Electroscoot
Electric scooters, usually a heavy battery and a rubber belt jammed into a Chinese faux-Vino frame, don’t generally wow us here at 2sb, but GRO Design’s Electroscoot is an amazing design, even if it is just a concept and its specs don’t really set it apart from other electric bikes. But one can dream. (link courtesy Motoblog, where you can see photos without waiting for Flash.)
Scoot Commute 2006
Scooter Rider Magazine is celebrating their second anniversary, and its editor, BJ Strass, is taking his second transcontinental “Scoot Commute” to promote scooter travel and safety. The ride will include several stops to meet with media and scooterists.
V-Twin Battery Tender
I was going to make fun of this until I realized if they made a scooter version, i’d probably buy it. Link courtesy of the official yarn merchant of 2sb.
Schwinn & TNG links linked?
We’re still getting a lot of hits from Schwinn’s link, and we just noticed that they’ve borrowed more than design cues from TNG:
Schwinn Scooters’ “Extras” Page
TNG Motor Scooters’ “Extras” page
Which got us thinking “maybe they’re actually related somehow” but Whois records and Google searches provide no indication that CMSI (TNG’s parent company in Washington state) is involved in Schwinn Scooters (a division of Pacific Cycle who own Schwinn, Mongoose and GT, based near the Pacific in Madison, WI). I’ve emailed TNG to hopefully find out more.
(UPDATE: 4-18-06: It turns out there’s much more to the story.)
Ride for Engerland
Piaggio UK is offering a special Piaggio NRG Power 50 done up in England colors. If you plan to ride it to Germany for the World Cup, you might want to invest in a good, opaque cover. In other news, the new “Italia” model Bonneville is now available on triumph.it.
Motorist Shoots, Kills Biker
A motorist in Connecticut shot at a group of Hell’s Angels bikers on Sunday, striking one and killing another. Police are investigating motives, including road rage.
Cincinnati Enquirer on WKRP
“Gay. Straight. We’ve got it all!” Here’s the fairly-decent-for-major-news-media local story on the WKRP rally. I’ll post some photos and anecdotes tonight. We managed to miss most of it, but we had a great time Saturday night. Thanks Leslie, Casey, and all you other XYLs.
Revealed: Excerpt from Quadrophenia the Musical
Jimmy:What the bloody hell you doin’?
Postman:We could’ve killed you!
Jimmy: (Singing) Ah, fuckin’ heellllll!
Look what you’ve doooone!
You cuuuunts!
Postman: (chanting) Why didn’t you stop? Why didn’t you stop!
Jimmy: (Singing) You’ve killed me scooter!
Look what you’ve doooone!
Fuck off! Leave it alone!
Get off it! Why don’t you kiiiiilll me?
All of ya! Fuck off! (jazz hands)
(etc.)