BMW 800 follow-up

Since the BMW 800 story got more attention than anything I’ve posted lately, and provoked some controversy in several ways, I thought it’d be smart to follow up. First, I apologize for my confusion regarding the drawing on Scooter-station and about the true status of the project. I blame Google language tools and myself for not being more careful, but on the other hand, I was never sure about the origin of the photo (which is why I didn’t post it again, without permission.) Charles from Scooter-station wrote me last week to help clear things up:

I’m Charles from www.scooter-station.com, one of the leading French
scooter online magazines, on which you recently found the Vectrix VX-2 picture.

We also have written a little news about the SCT800 as the CEO of BMW-Motorrad France confirmed us that the German company was looking closely at the scooter market in Europe. He also told us that BMW will not make its comeback with a 125cc. As they are [established as a] premium brand, it would be too difficult for them to compete in that category. So, of course,
it will be a large displacement one.

But, the pictures we both put online is a sketch of Oberdan Bezzi. It seems not to be the actual style of the next BMW as it’s not an official unveiling. Our source [for the image] was Oberdan’s own blog.

Best regards,
Charles Gaurier
Rédacteur / Junior Editor

Charles, like many, points out that Oberdan Bezzi’s sketch was done for fun (Bezzi is a professional illustrator and does work for motorcycle manufacturers, but also does many concept drawings just for fun). So the drawing with the story (which I mistook for a photo despite being a professional designer, Oberdan is good) is certainly not a real product, or even a concept drawing for BMW. I suppose I just took a few BMW-scooter-related stories (the French admission that a scooter was in the works, the Kymco deal, and the Rotax deal) and read a bit too much into them. In my defense, most other American scooter blogs made similar conclusions (aside from not being fooled by the drawing).

The second issue that came up is my personal opinion about maxi-scooters and a new market segment that could be described as “luxury sports scooters.” As I’ve said many times in the past, I feel these bikes have every reason to exist, there’s a growing market for them, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with an expensive high-performance scooter. They just don’t interest me much, and since 2strokebuzz is mostly a dictatorship run by me, I don’t talk about them much. I said I just posted the story out of obligation to my many readers that might care about such a bike, but it doesn’t really interest me, and I don’t see how maxiscooterists would take offense to that statement.

I was a bit rude and judgemental about BMW riders (though others were moreso in the comments, iirc,) and for that, I offer a tempered apology. BMW makes (generally) fantastic motorcycles and BMW riders are (generally) a model for all motorcyclists in their dedication to careful maintenance, training, and safety. That probably sounds sarcastic, but it’s not, I think many people (self-included) poke fun at BMW riders because they’re jealous of their dedication, riding skills, and machines. Of course positive stereotypes are just as fallible as negative ones, so take all that with a grain of salt. Also, it’s a fact that BMW motorcycles are usually among the more expensive bikes in their class, and let’s face it, money is not an object to many Rondel junkies. There’s nothing inherently wrong with that in itself, but again, it doesn’t correspond with what I (and maybe I alone) see as the attraction of scootering: economical, friendly transport for the masses. I’m clearly no fan of the no-name fly-by-night scooters on the market these days, but I’ve also made it clear many times that it hurts me to see the Vespa abandoning its humble origins. Some scooterists want scooters to be more like motorcycles, I say “We have motorcycles for that, let’s make scooters that anyone can afford, let’s support fun, economical, and reasonably safe transportation.” Again, that’s my opinion, but it’s the same opinion that’s fueled this site for 8+ years, and the ‘zine before that.

Hope that clears things up a bit on all fronts, I look forward to more comments.

Lambretta Maxi-Scooter: The L-Ong 150

The New Cafe Racer Society brings us another gem from the past. The re-revelation is this long and low, two-seat, feet-forward steed that looks far ahead of it’s time. The “Centauro” is stated to be Spanish built and appears to be a nice cruising machine with handlebars not unlike a Lambretta Vega. For me, finding evidence of a proto-maxi-scooter dating back so far is like the first time I realized poor, misguided Apple Computer enthusiasts don’t have any ground on which to stand to shout “first!” after I learned about Xerox PARC inventing the GUI as we know it. Take that Lambrettista! Your brethren invented the Helix

I’m still standing

Scrambler17 asks “We had a bit of a warm spell over the weekend. Is the Razz still hanging in there?” It sure is. I went over last night and took this photo. I would have never believed on January 9 that the same snow would still be covering the floorboards of Ryan’s Razz, with a few new layers on top of it, all frozen as hard as a rock. But there it is. This weekend is supposed to be rainy and above freezing, but I bet that just adds a thick ice bridge that holds it up for another couple weeks. This winter will never end.

Out of respect for the pessimists that guessed (a month ago) that it’d fall over this week, we’re only accepting new bets for dates after Valentines’ Day.

Small Displacement Hybrid Racing Revealed

MotoGPmatters.com (aka KropotinThinks) reported on the efforts of KTM (warning: poor, resource-burdening flash site) to implement a Kinetic Energy Recovery System on their 125 cc Grand Prix machines. Kropotkin cites a report by the Spanish motorcycle website Motosolo describing a system used last fall in the race at Valencia and again during testing this winter at the same circuit. The system uses a capacitor rather than a battery to store energy during braking and can reintroduce approximately 2.5 HP for use when needed. It may be surprising to find efficiency enhancing technology applied to a class of machines that is already known for being relatively more fuel efficient efficient than other forms of transport but that 2.5 HP could really come in handy when tenths of seconds count.

While exciting new hybrid and electric scooters and concept vehicles have been reported here in the past, they have their challenges and barriers to widespread implementation. One of the biggest problems for both all electric plug-ins and hybrids like the Toyota Prius is the cost, weight and disposal of large toxic chemical-laden batteries. The use of a smaller energy storage unit like a capacitor could be a strategy to not store so much energy where one could drive for extended periods of time without combustion, but to assist a motor at specific points in vehicle use. The energy that normally would be wasted as heat during braking could be harnessed to turn near useless engine applications such as a small four-stroke engine that can’t get out of it’s own way in traffic into a useful machine. Where tenths of seconds count in racing, they may be even more important when that cab driver decides his lane position is more important than your life. The increase in efficiency may allow internal combustion engines to be designed smaller and less powerful knowing that some other stored energy could be used on-demand. One could even envision a 25cc four stroke with a capacitive KERS system that could navigate urban traffic and get 150 mpg!

Consumer Reports on scooters

A disappointing Consumer Reports’ video comparison of scooters accompanies a review in their February issue. Consumer Reports is a trustworthy source, and their findings are accurate, but you just can’t sum up the wide variety of scooters available right now in a 3:45 video. (Thanks for the tip, Matt.)

If you’re looking for a more detailed report, Nathaniel Salzman just updated his Buyers’ Guide, which features very good basic advice. 2sb’s “So You’re buying a Scooter?” doesn’t compare models at all, but there’s some good advice there. ScooterDiva has a good Buyers’ Guide with specs for current models from the top makers, but no hands-on info. Also: POC’s Phil Waters sent us a great writeup comparing many highway-legal scooters, we’ll post that soon.

Pre-1914?

Some folks get really worked up about “vintage-only” events. I’m not a fan of elitism in the rally scene, but looking at these fantastic photos of a ride from Epsom to Brighton on pre-1914 motorcycles, it’s easy to understand the desire to experience this group of vintage machines on the road or on display without a bunch of off-the-shelf metric cruisers mucking it up. Modern scooters have plenty of merits, but there’s nothing like vintage, and with all the rallies and rides going on these days, a few all-vintage events would be refreshing. (Thanks for the link, Andrew)

Vespa versus Venti

Don’t say it was unexpected (1, 2) but 2sb has learned that Piaggio has taken some sort of legal action against Hammerhead, the importer of the Venti 150 vintage Vespa lookalike. Our source tells us “Piaggio sent Hammerhead a cease-and-desist order in regards to the Venti yesterday.” We suspect it was actually a C&D letter rather than an order“ (there’s a difference) or if it’s based on the design of the Venti or the marketing language used in their flyer, but either way, domestic legal action against importers is usually a safer bet than an international legal contest, especially when China is involved. The good news for Hammerhead is that they’re raking in publicity leading into Dealer Expo (just a couple weeks away), so we applaud their market savviness , if not their design and engineering.

Venti 150: more details!

Way, WAY more Venti 150 info and photos on the Dallas/Fort Worth Scooterist board. Apparently it is a plastic body and the photos show a real prototype that was made to spec in China. The photos look pretty impressive, and the importer is candid about its possible shortcomings. I have to admit that I’m excited about this, somewhat because it’s so Vespalike, but moreso because it appears it’s actually the result of a U.S. importer working with a Chinese manufacturer to design a scooter (at least the bodywork) rather than buying a containerload of off-the-shelf Vino knockoffs. In any case, it appears there’s a real scooterist behind it and not a fly-by-night opportunist, and you gotta love that. An interesting tidbit: it sounds like Adly is working on a similar project, probably with a Lambretta twist. Back to the Venti, wouldn’t there be intellectual property issues with Piaggio? I’m of the opinion that if Piaggio has a problem with it, they could just shut the hell up and make a vintage-styled Vespa themselves, for crying out loud, but lawyers don’t think like I do. (Thanks for the link, bbehanna.)

When you fail the CWC, at least document it thoroughly

0° is pretty darn cold for Lexington, KY, so Whit and Michael of Vespa Lexington decided to give the Cold Weather Challenge a shot. Despite exceptional video, photo, and text documentation, Michael only did 7 miles and Whit just rode around the block in shorts and a t-shirt like, in his own words, “an idiot.” Nice work anyway, guys, and I believe Michael’s still leading the CWC Kentucky division.

Venti 150: The impossible dream

“It’s simple,” we always say. “Why can’t someone just slap a modern engine in a Vespa frame already? Why can’t Vespa just put the 160GS back on the assembly line? Why can’t LML/Stella make a California-legal 250cc Vespa? Everyone would buy it, no matter what they charged!”

Well, here’s proof, straight from an ad in Dealer News that it’s not so easy to make a truly-vintage-looking scooter in this day and age: Ladies and Gentlemen of the scooter buying public, witness the Venti 150 (click on photo to enlarge).
Continue reading “Venti 150: The impossible dream”