Cool video of the Flock Yeah 2 Moped Rally in Los Angeles. Thanks to the narration and editing (and mopedista’s fashion choices), you’d believe it was shot in the ’70s if not for the almost-ubiquitous full-face helmets, though we’re certainly not going to complain about that. (Thanks Imiuswi!)
Piaggio targets Continental Airlines
No, Roberto Colannino isn’t looking to acquire another airline,* Piaggio USA is marketing directly to Continental employees in Newark, NJ as part of a Continental Airlines alternative-transportation program featuring designated scooter parking and giveaways. It’s actually a pretty neat idea, though it might be tough to implement on a wider scale.
*It’s easy to forget that the Vespa’s roots are in aviation. Piaggio Aero (an entirely separate company, but still bearing the Piaggio name) still makes airplanes. It’s odd that with all of the news about Colannino’s acquisition of Alitalia, that factoid never came up.
Miami to LA
Photographer Scott Branch is riding from Miami to LA on a Kymco People 50. He expects to take 30 days and spend $65 in gas. It does not appear Scott took the weight and aerodynamics of his giant backpack into account when calculating his speed or fuel consumption, but good luck to him! You can follow Scott’s journey on his blog.
Happy Earth Day! (2-Stroke Dope revisited)
A couple days ago, we got some great feedback about our story refuting press reports about scooter emissions, notably Cecil Adams’ syndicatedThe Straight Dope column“Give a Scooter, Pollute Her.” The way Cecil framed the question left us doubting his conclusions, but we admitted there was something to his findings, and wondered about specific emissions figures.
Well, 2SB reader “JSH” tracked down some real numbers, and his comment was so thorough and insightful, we’ll just reprint the whole thing here:
Continue reading “Happy Earth Day! (2-Stroke Dope revisited)”
Tuka Tukanji
Three “Wacky Races”-style ads for Tucano Urbano scooter accessories featuring TU mascot Tuka Tukanji. They’re at least a couple years old, but we’d never seen ’em before. Too bad Tucano Urbano isn’t available in the U.S., they make some great stuff, but it’s expensive, and even moreso when you have to pay shipping from Italy. (Thanks for digging these up, Ryan!)
Win stuff from Vespa Lexington
Win some Vespa promotional items from Vespa Lexington. That flag is quite sweet and we’ve had an empty flag bracket ever since the pirate flag was stolen from 2SB HQ. Thanks, Michael! Hopefully this post will create a trackback link and it’ll count as my entry.
The BWS Goes NBA
Yamaha officially announced their partnership with the National Basketball Association and the availability of a Yamaha BWS adorned with an NBA look. The scooter comes with some special paint and a fairly sharp looking seat as well as a sticker pack to customize the ride in line with one of a handful of NBA teams. The news was originally reported several months ago by Motoblog.it but I hadn’t gotten around to posting about it until today’s email from Yamaha Motor Europe. Don’t worry about this product catching you off guard, Americans. It is a new promotion of a U.S.-based sports league using a great scooter that is no longer available in the US. It just makes me feel a bit odd as well as wish they still sold the old-style Zuma in The States. Anyone interested in importing one I’ll promise I’ll post any photo of it that you’d like to send in.
Drink Kris Pinot Grigio, Ride a Vespa…
…but please, not at the same time. Kris is giving away customized orange Vespa S 50s around the U.S.
T-Max 750 due in ’10
Yamaha has announced that the 3-cylinder T-Max 750 scooter will be available in 2010. Luckily, if the original T-Max-to-U.S. timeline is in effect, it will be several years before I’m cut off on I-290 by a douchebag lane-splitter that doesn’t even know how to shift.
Tom Finney signs Tom Finney scooter
A heartwarming story for all you Preston North End fans out there.
KYMCO T-shirt giveaway
KYMCO is giving away free T-shirts. Sure, there’s no privacy policy, but I’ve got no problem with Kymco sending me stuff (they allow you to opt out of off-road/ATV info). I guess they could sell my name to other companies, but… FREE SHIRT!
Not Hacked
We were down for a few hours this morning, with some symptoms that led us to believe we might have been hacked. Once we fixed it, to our relief, it was clear that The People’s Republic of China had nothing to do with it, it was just an SQL glitch. Props to our beloved hosting co. Tilted for their help, and to Chandler for notifying me so quickly.
“Stop Slandering Scooters!”
More reaction to the “Straight Dope” story and U.S. News’ followup from TreeHugger. The arguments get more convincing that even 4-stroke scooters aren’t as “green” as we’d like to think, but there’s a lot of speculation and comparing apples to oranges in all these stories. Our fingers are crossed that someone (better-equipped and less biased than 2strokebuzz or PiaggioUSA) can find and crunch some real numbers, find a fair metric by which to compare a variety of scooters, cars, and SUVs, and settle this debate. (Thanks for the link, Kathy!)
Tuk Tuk USA lineup features… Ape Calessino?
Jeremy Korzeniewski of Autoblog reported today that Tuk Tuk USA has “officially been granted both DOT and EPA approval for its line of Mitsubishi-powered three-wheelers.” Jeremy’s clearly a big tuk-tuk fan, he’s been following Tuk Tuk USA for about year, and he also posted an elegy for BajajUSA’s three-wheeer.
Continue reading “Tuk Tuk USA lineup features… Ape Calessino?”
POC’s morning-show charm
POCphil and POCmerritt on Cleveland’s That’s Life with Robin Swoboda. Could two people be more charismatic ambassadors of scooterdom? Throw in POCrenee and you’ve got a hit reality show, one that I get to watch live, every time he’s around. People accuse me of being a Phil Waters groupie, but Phil’s met African-American preachers, racist skinheads, models, racing superstars, cops, soccer moms, hillbilly gun nuts, Tom Jones, and even my parents, and charmed the pants off of all of them, often literally. Who could blame me for loving the guy, his wife, and everything they stand for?
Note that even the best scooter dealers tend to bend the truth a little (Genuine Buddies start around $1999, but that’s a top-of-the-line Black Jack) but props to Phil for drilling home the safe-and-legal message right from the start.