When scooter news breaks, we put it under a tarp in the garage.
With rumors swirling that the 4-stroke LML Star/Genuine Stella sales are sparking a P-series competitor from Vespa, our pals at French site Scooter-Station asked Jean-Philippe Dauviau, Marketing Director of Piaggio France “Will the PX be produced again?”
Genuine dealers finally got an official update today on the status of the 4-stroke Stella. In short, the first batch was not manufactured to the specifications approved for import. Genuine explains that the fault lays with the manufacturer (LML) and that the variation was “easily corrected,” non-mechanical and not emissions- or safety-related. Plans are underway … Continue reading “Dealers get a Stella 4T Update”
Pinasco sent out an email announcement last week describing their new exhaust for the 4-stroke LML Star (AKA, the Genuine Stella 4-stroke. It is described as made from special INOX steel. That must make it fast. The dyno charts included in the email showed an increase in power from about 7.5 to 8 HP, but … Continue reading “Pinasco Gears Up For New Stella”
Ron Arnold (Detroit Scooter Examiner) has shared some Blur220i photos from DealerExpo on ModernBuddy. The two color schemes are “Gunmetal and White” and “White.” Branding is limited to small plastichrome badges, similar to the earlier Charcoal/Black 150 model. All in all, pretty much what we expected, and great news, though I have a few minor … Continue reading “Dealer Expo: New Blurs and Stellas”
Modern Buddy moderator Eric Almedral has posted the California Air Resources Board approval certificate for the Genuine Stella 150 4T, and confirms that it’ll be available in the U.S. in 2010. My bet is that it’ll be here sooner than later, and probably the Stella and it’s claimed 130MPG will be one of the few … Continue reading “CARB approves Stella 150 4T”
Rediff and The Hindu look at the Bajaj Chetak and its importance to India. It’s interesting that all this nostalgia is spilling now, a few years after the Chetak was discontinued, simply because Rajiv Bajaj chose to make a big deal about the demise of the uninspired Kristal. It almost seems like the whole brouhaha … Continue reading “Indian media looks back at the Chetak”
Despite the 2005 demise of the mighty Bajaj Chetak, with Rahul Bajaj stating “Holding on to anything from the past is a sign of weakness,” we were almost certain there’d be a full-on retro Bajaj Chetak out by now. Sadly, Bajaj’s only scooter over the past few years has been the disappointing-selling Krystal, and there … Continue reading “Bajaj considers new “sport” scooter.”
Speaking of the new LML 4-stroke “Vespa,” Bradford Duval from Corazzo points out that Corradino D’Ascanio’s first prototype powerplant for the original Vespa was actually a 2-valve 4-stroke engine. Fascinating, and how much different would Vespa’s history have been if Enrico Piaggio hadn’t demanded he return to the drawing board to make a simpler and … Continue reading “Vespa: originally a 4-stroke?”
For more than a year, rumors have been circulating about a new 4-stroke version of Genuine Scooter Company’s Stella motorscooter. Genuine confirmed the model a few months ago, but has otherwise been very quiet about the project. This week, Genuine allowed 2strokebuzz a quick look at a “New Stella” prototype (and a ride!) just before … Continue reading “The New Stella, unveiled”
“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 … Continue reading “Venti 150: The impossible dream”
Every few months, there’s an “End of the Vespa PX” story, even though I’ve read that Piaggio officially ceased production in December, 2006. They’ve offered a few “limited editions” since then, and the standard PX has been available from European shops, so who knows? In any case, this story isn’t winning any awards for implying … Continue reading “The End of the PX?”
Sify’s story about Royal Enfield‘s modest success, which can been seen as somewhat analogous to LML’s story. It’s a good model for business; targeting a small-but-fanatical market that’s totally ignored by bigger corporations.
RedOrbit reports that LML, Bajaj, Honda, and Kinetic are all working on natural-gas powered concept bikes, possibly including dual-fuel options. Just thought we’d throw that in there with all the 210cc nuclear-powered rotary-engine automatic time-travelling Stella rumors floating around.
This table lists World Manufacturer Identification (WMI) codes for various scooter manufacturers. The WMI is the first three digits of a Vehicle Identification Number (VIN). The first digit indicates the country of manufacture, and all countries are listed here. The second and third digits are a unique identifier for a specific manufacturer. Manufacturers who build … Continue reading “Scooter VINs”
Stephen Heller of Scooterville MN commented on our Open House post to let us know that Stellas have arrived (and posted some photos of the uncrating): It was pretty good timing as we got 15 Stellas in today. The green and the blue look great, actually the paint on all of the new Stellas is … Continue reading “Stella: back on the showroom floor at last”