Innovative Honda for U.S.—sans innovation

01The whiz-bang new Thailand-made Honda PCX 125 is a pretty good-looking scooter, and features new technology that actually stops the engine at idle to save gas. The story mentions a 2010 U.S. model, but only to say it won’t feature the “stop-and-start” idle technology. It will feature fuel injection and linked brakes.

Will new Chinese tire tariff affect scooters?

The Obama administration has approved a 35% tariff on Chinese-made tires, effective in two weeks. The tariff will decrease to 25% over the next two years. Before you start stockpiling Cheng Shin and Maxxis tires, note that the tariff appears to only target automobile and light truck tires, and it’s unclear if it will include Taiwanese tires. So even if it does include scooter tires, it may turn out to be good news, because it’ll probably only hurt the cheapo importers.

The Chinese tire industry has ballooned in recent years, and U.S. tire industry officials blame China for lost jobs and sales. But as of 2008, only two U.S. tire companies were among the world’s top ten (#2 Goodyear and #9 Cooper) so it seems strange to single out China when Bridgestone, Michelin, Continental, Hankook, Kumho, Pirelli, and Yokohama are all more direct competitors, and sell OEM tires for cars sold in the U.S. (Perhaps they’re all manufacturing in China, but if that’s the case, it seems impossible that Goodyear and Cooper aren’t.) Now’s your chance, Coker, how about some scooter-size gumwalls?

(Thanks for the link, Eric.)

VVV: David Bowie “Absolute Beginners”

Did we just post two videos? and did we just miss two weeks of Vespa Video Vednesday? Never fear, we didn’t forget you. Today we have another clip from David’s list that just so happens to be one of my favorite songs:

Artist: David Bowie
Song: “Absolute Beginners”
Album: Absolute Beginners film soundtrack (1986)
Scooter(s): Vespa GS
Scooter content: 5 seconds
Jump to the good parts: 2:19, 2:22, 2:36

David Bowie, of course, is a genius. As Jon Langford would put it, he’s the “Chameleon of Rock.” And Colin MacInnes’ Absolute Beginners, is definitely one of my favorite books. So what could be better than a film version directed by Great Rock and Roll Swindle director Julien Temple, featuring David Bowie AND Ray Davies (AND Edward Tudor-Pole)!?

Well, the film turned out to be nothing but a marginally entertaining (at best) musical (no!) love story that nearly ignored the book’s rich drama of gentrification, race relations, and the rise of the English teenager. The Fifties setting was overwhelmed by the Eighties set design, and today it looks dated and campy. The soundtrack holds up a little better, featuring songs from Jerry Dammers (of the Specials), the Style Council*, and rare proof that Sade was a promising talent back when she had a last name. Even Ray Davies’ subtle nostalgic song is pretty good. But the gem was this David Bowie track.

Julien Temple directed Bowie’s epic “Jazzin’ for Blue Jean” video in 1984, and Bowie was chosen to appear in the film as shady advertising magnate Vendice Partners. The single was recorded in June 1985 but delayed to wait for the film’s release. The video is nothing special, a Duran Duran-inspired parody of British “Strand” cigarette commercials with awkwardly-chromakeyed film footage worked in. The scooter footage is minimal, and all from the film (a Vespa GS graces the soundtrack album cover and makes a few appearances in the film).

But, oh, the song is so great. It strikes me as the anti-“Uptown Girl,” showing Billy Joel that Eighties arena pop could actually be fused with doo-wop without disastrous results, and thus proving David Bowie is actually capable of anything. The lyrics are beautifully vague and can make me cry if I’ve had a couple beers and I pretend it’s about whatever dramatic situation is troubling me at the moment. Even the obligatory Eighties sax solo is magnificent. It’s perhaps a bit long, though it’s available in several remixes of varying lengths across CD, CD3(!) LP, 7″, 12″ releases. The film was massively hyped before release, then panned by critics and fans, but the single reached #2 in England and nearly cracked the top 50 in the U.S.

There, it’s ten minutes until midnight, and VVV lives. All that for five seconds of secondhand scooter footage. See you next Vednesday.

*Speaking of Paul Weller, The Jam’s “Absolute Beginners,” (#4 UK charts in 1981) is surely also inspired (though equally subtly) by MacInnes’ book. It’s really a must-read novel, and in this age of remakes and re-hashed ideas, hopefully another filmmaker has a go at it, but it’s going to be hard to top the two great songs it’s already inspired.

Wisconsin’s Majesty

2SB reader Mark Neustadt shot and edited a series of road-trip videos on his Yamaha Majesty 400. You’d think nine-minute clips of a dude riding a scooter might get boring, but it’s shot pretty well and his Wisconsin roads sure look like a lot more fun than my Chicago commute. In fact, these might really help us all get through the winter.

Thanks Mark! Now stop fidgeting with the camera and mind the road, we don’t want to watch you lowside on YouTube!

Corazzo’s “Ramp Test”

Corazzo has released a technical/snuff film showing some very unscientific tests of their jackets. Surely, it’s mostly for entertainment value (it’s listed as “comedy” on YouTube), but there’s probably something educational buried in there. Corazzo’s “Shop” is my usual riding jacket, so in the sequel, I wanna see how the “Shop/UnderHoody” combo compares to the “Transparent Vinyl Raincoat/Naked Bradford Duval” combo.

Morley Chaplick

An interesting Globe and Mail interview with Morley Chaplick, the president of Canadian Scooter Corp. (Canadia’s Vespa importer). I like his honesty here:

You know, I wouldn’t even think of buying [a Piaggio MP3]; quite frankly, I like two wheels. But it is selling like hotcakes. That is a reality. So maybe it’s a question that didn’t need to be answered, but people are actually saying yes.

The importing/corporate structure seems somewhat different between PiaggioUSA, which appears to be more or less run by Piaggio HQ, and Canadian Scooter Corp., which seems more independent. I always get the impression that PiaggioUSA is mostly 9-to-5ers with leadership waiting to go back to Italy (or Harley) when their ‘tour of duty’ was over, whereas Chaplick apparently has a very large personal stake in the long-term success of Canadian Scooter Corp.

(I’d love to hear some better-informed opinions on that topic)

Slaughterhouse XV

sh15poster
Slaughterhouse XV is this weekend in Chicago, a fact so obvious to me that I didn’t bother posting it until now, which is sort of irresponsible of me, sorry. Who’d have known back when we joked about never making it to “Slaughterhouse 5” that the rally would endure and grow for 15 years. It’s changed hands a few times, but it’s always fantastic, and there’s always something for everyone. This year shuffles up the usual schedule a bit with Roller Derby on Saturday night and a bigger-than-ever party on Thursday, and still features a few great rides, one of the best gymkhanas around, and more. If you’re into the whole social networking thing, there’s a ning site.
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“The Vespa Experiment” results

Here’s a video recap of “The Vespa Experiment,” a Pacific-coast tour by three musicians on Vespa scooters. One of the musicans, Amber Rubarth sums it up:

I feel like this whole tour was all about getting to the core of life and purity and innocence. And, just getting back to the musical part and not in the business of it.

Sure, apart from the fact that it was PiaggioUSA marketing scheme, business didn’t enter into it at all, ha. The music’s not my thing (noodly earnest mellow acoustic pop) but they seem like nice kids. As far as PiaggioUSA marketing schemes go, it seemed pretty successful, and if nothing else, three musicians had a good time and a once-in-a-lifetime experience, so Vespa FTW!

Kymco Yager GT200i: POCphil’s review

yagerrr
POC Phil from Pride Of Cleveland Scooters test rode the new Kymco Yager GT 200i, here’s his report…

Let’s get the obvious stuff out of the way first.

“Yager GT200i?” Who names these things? Didn’t Vespa recently have a GT200? They should have chosen RT or ST… GT is a Vespa call sign. “Yager?” Spellcheck please: “Jäger,” yep, that’s what I thought, the German word for “Hunter.” Not an entirely bad name for a scooter. The downside: as an homage to the Sym-Phony 125, they printed the word Yager on the side but they stylized the Letter “A” as to include the left arm of the “Y,” so now it looks like it’s an “Ager GT200i.” I’m aging fast enough on my own, no help needed thanks.
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