The Scooter Scoop!

Korea by scooter

2009-11-04T11:14:00.004-06:00

If you ever wanted to know what it would be like to be Canadian and ride a scooter through Korea then you'll enjoy this educational, lighthearted glance through Martina's HD Camcorder. Thanks for sharing EatYourKimchi!

'Tis the season! TO HUNT ZOMBIES!

2009-10-31T15:33:00.001-05:00

It's that time of year again... The Zombies rise from the graves to celebrate, pop a bottle of veintage and nibble on brain Pâté and crackers only to be hassled by that buzzing swarm of zombie-haters... at least that's how their press release would describe it, but we really know it's the time of the year where the SPAZZ SAVES THE WORLD!

Fueled only by petrol, pints and a predisposition for bashing in zombie heads, look for them on their zombie blood colored scoots and wearing the official SPAZZ patch on their jackets.

Oh and HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

I think I've found a new career

2009-10-31T09:00:00.000-05:00

Rolling Gelato-monger! Think of the simplicity of life! You charge the batteries, load the 8 buckets, fill up your Ape and get to scoopin'! You can click on the image to enlarge or visit the flickr page of HM Ratboy to see more of his Piaggio Ape brochure scans.

Now... how to come up with the $20k to find a new one and have it crated up and shipped to the US, get it registered, converted to run on 110 volt charging, insured and stocked. It's not looking so simple any more.

Thanks for sharing HM Ratboy!

Where are gas prices headed?

2009-10-30T10:58:00.010-05:00

(Click to enlarge)

Here you see a chart of Average Retail Gas Prices over the last 72 months. The red hands are pointing to gas prices for December 30th over the last 6 years. It's already gone up $1.08 US per gallon since January of this year. My unscientific guess is that we pass the $3.00 per gallon mark in July 2010. I'm not hoping here, I'm projecting. What do you think?

A BIG "Thank You!" to GasBuddy for the data!

Oh and if you are the sadistic type, you might enjoy this graph of the US Trade Deficit. OH 1991! What HAPPENED!? Where did we go wrong?! What does the future hold?

Photo of the day - Jewlian on Magnum

2009-10-30T10:03:00.004-05:00

Here's a shot from djangokill's flickr collection titled Jewlian on Magnum, uploaded yesterday. I'm not sure where it was taken, but it caught my eye... that's why it's today's "Photo of the Day".

Paper mache helmet?

2009-10-30T09:23:00.002-05:00

That's what I thought when I first saw it. It seems every European helmet manufacturer has at least one helmet that illustrates their sense of humor. This piece from the Andrea Cardone collezione, is just one of an assortment of new ski and motorcycle helmets made to match their leather bags.

Looks like the themes are flags, pool balls and girl print clippings. Could this mean the return of 8-Ball jackets?

Greek Islands Scooter Rally - 7 Months away

2009-10-29T11:55:00.007-05:00

I'm posting this now so you'll have plenty of time to think about it (and book tickets). If the idea of scooting with a bunch of great people in the beautiful Greek Isles with fabulous architecture and wonderful food sounds at all alluring then you should make plans for May 24th, 2010.

Check out the ScoterGiro Cyclades website for rally, lodging and rental information.

Be sure to book your scooter early! You don't wanna end up riding like the Greek god of wine do you? Sounds romantic, but it's not.

Thanks for the invite Al! I hope I can make it some day! More images of last year's even can be found on Scoot.net. Maria's collages are especially enticing. Oh, you can also visit Modern Vespa for a great little write up on this year's event.

Rally Announcement - Austin Texas - Go To Hell ]|[

2009-10-29T11:16:00.008-05:00

We're just 8 days away from the "Go to Hell 3" rally here in Austin, TX. The event is organized by the oldest surviving scooter club in Austin, Piston Broke. So, if you've got a bike with a manual transmission bring it on down! Click on the title link for more info. If you want a t-shirt you've got 'til tomorrow to register.

A write up on last year's event can be found on Lee's Scooter Blog.
And here's some pictures from the year before on Scoot.net.

My one piece of advice this year is the same advice I gave in 2007... New riders, use caution on the long ride. Make sure you've boned up on your steep hill riding skills. Practice your down shift... Keep good spacing... ride single file... Wear your gear. Enough nagging! Get to it.

(no word on whether or not H1N1 scare has canceled the kissin' booth this year or not... more news as it comes in.)

Is this how the speeder bike started out?

2009-10-12T17:55:00.002-05:00

Minuses: Uncomfortable, no storage space, poor fuel efficiency for a scooter, burns through rear tires.
Pluses: Would stand a good chance of smokin' a Porsche 911 Turbo in a drag race.

MCN, mostly known for Motorcycle News, couldn't help themselves when they heard about this scooter of eeeeviiil. The 2Evil is a custom tweaked dragster that sorta started life out as a Gilera with twin Malossi 86cc cylinders... you know, I don't think that's even an accurate way to describe this thing. All I know is at the end of the day you've got one mean 172cc 2-stroker. Lots more cool photos and a breakdown of the parts can be found on MCN.

The coolest way to keep your pants up

2009-10-07T15:11:00.005-05:00

As long as we're on the subject of tires, 1MinD1 has a selection of reuse belts made from an assortment of bicycle tires. You may disagree, but I think they are way chic! 1MinD1 also makes necklaces and earrings out of tires and inner tubes. If it looks like something you'd like go check out their site over HERE> and let me know if you figure out how to place an order.

Oh... and whatever you do, don't get caught with your pants down like THIS sad sap (off topic, relatively safe for work, and damn embarrassing for the loud mouth thug).

White tires?

2009-10-07T12:25:00.005-05:00

I have been daydreaming about customizing a "ghost" scooter... white EVERYthing that can possibly be white. I realize there are some things that can't be white, but I could powder coat the engine... maybe the pipe. Here's my problem, I can't find all white tires.

I'm looking for some 16"s. The Innova / Desser distributor in the USA isn't carrying them any more. They had a bunch of colors. Schwalbe makes the Fat Frank in white, but only for bicycles. Same thing with Zaffiro and a few others at this store. Pirelli had some off roads.

Do you have any suggestions? Maybe someone who can do a short run of white tires?

The BMW C1 is back... TO THE FUTURE!

2009-10-07T10:08:00.002-05:00

We've been getting LOTS of excited emails on this HOT scoop from green.AutoBlog's Jeremy Korzeniewski. He's got a full line of pretty images and some details on the possible return of the BMW C1 in the form of the C1-E concept. My first response is "PLEASE be more than just a concept!" followed shortly by a "PLEASE come to the USA!".

I'm pretty sure BMW is going to hold this card until we see some battery tech improvements coupled with a couple of years of skyrocketing gas prices. The C1 was a GREAT, proven feat of engineering from a safety standpoint. There were only few minor flaws with the old design; slightly poky performance, a tad bit top-heavy & wind prone and a hefty sticker price. The only MAJOR flaw from BMW was hoping that UK safety departments would bend the rules to allow C1 commuters to ride without a helmet... that never passed, so charging people the extra loot and not offering a solution for helmet hair proved fatal to the C1, living only two years before vanishing from showroom floors.

Thanks to Grant and Fred for being the first two to serve up that fresh scoop!

I'd love to experience the return of the dream (as seen below)

I may end up having to settle for THIS instead.

Vote for Whiskey!

2009-10-05T22:53:00.007-05:00

Scooter vixen and girlfriend of Casey, Emily Strange, comes to you as Princess Leia comes to Obi Wan... except, I guess, in this case I play the role of R2D2. I present you with this plea:

Hello scooter friends!

Ms. Whiskey is in a contest to be the National Spokesdog for The Dog Whisperer. If you donate $5 or more Whiskey could appear with Cesar in a public service campaign and also win lots of cool prizes. All donations support the rescue, rehabilitation and re-homing of dogs nationwide. Whiskey has a good chance of winning her category, so we would really appreciate your support in making her a celebrity. (Help me Scoopers, you're my only hope!)

Well! What are you going to do?! Sit around some dusty moisture farm putting up with your grumpy old uncle and scrubbin' droids for the rest of your life? HECK NO! You need to get out there and become a Jedi like your father! Or at least get out there and vote for Whiskey, for the love of Dogs and the scootergirls who love em. Last day to vote is quickly approaching! (just 10 days to go).

Oh, and once there was this guy who had EVERYTHING; a nice scooter collection, girlfriend / gourmet chef / masseuse, bartender best friend and he didn't vote for Whiskey... you know what happen to him? Jar Jar Binks... I'm not sayin' it could happen to you, it's just something to think about. Thanks for the consideration!

MadAss makes the halfway mark

2009-10-05T17:17:00.003-05:00

Just in case you haven't been following along, here's the update on the coast-to-coast MadAss journey. Phil & James have just past the halfway mark; that's about 1600 miles since they started just 4 days ago. The Dr. MadAss crew have braved frosty temps and high altitudes to make it this far, they really deserve a round of applause.

I know they've got their sights set on a Chicago arrival tonight. Will they pull it off? Stay tuned to the DrMadAss site to find out!

Oh, here's a pretty extreme little Madass mod I found in Thailand.

Motocompos in their natural habitat

2009-10-05T15:36:00.002-05:00

For an eye-full of compo-pr0n (like you see above) go to Honda's fan site HERE.

Polini Cup highlights

2009-10-05T14:26:00.004-05:00

I'm digging my way out of an email avalanche, so I'll be posting a few scoops that aren't their freshest, but still tasty. Thanks to Graham, a loyal soldier of the Moped Army, for this video scoop from the April and May Polini Cup races! Be sure to check out MopedTV for updates and live moped racing action!

That's another thing I like about tiny bikes... wrecks usually result in broken egos and hurt feelings.

***UPDATE***

Hey! This is out 2,000th post!

You must be MAD!

2009-10-02T16:20:00.006-05:00

(That's Phil in the rear view and James in the driver's seat)

Well by "World" we mean the USA and by "Mad, Mad" we mean madmen taking the Sach Madass across the whole freaking thing. Phil "POC Phil" Waters is no stranger to the scene. He's been riding scooters as long as I've been shaving (my back) and also owns one of the most successful scooter shops in the country... so, what would possess him to take Cobra Powersport's latest 125cc import scooter (or is it a motorcycle?) from San Diego to Annapolis in 10 days (or less)?

Because he can.

While the MadAss 125 may be a newcomer in the USA, the MadAss design has been around a while. We first caught wind of the MadAss back in 2005 , when Sachs reentered the US market with their solidly built but sadly underpowered MadAss 50 (our first video scooter review). Now that they've brought us something with a little extra kick, Phil wanted to be the first to see how she stands up to 2800+ mile journey.

As of publishing this story, the POC team has completed day 2 of their journey. You can keep up with their progress by visiting the website of Dr. Madass. There you will find photos, satellite tracking of their journey and stories from the road.

(Dr. Madass says "Deez guys eez more kooky dan me, yah?")

People are tricking them out all over the world!

Germany

Thailand

Japan

More to come as I dig 'em up.

Suzuki Jelato 125 cute? Yes. Fattening? Maaaaybe.

2009-09-30T11:17:00.001-05:00

(Thanks to lemonlove9 for posting the video!)

Poking around Motorcycle Thailand blog I found some images of the all new Suzuki Jelato, a 124cc, fuel injected scooter that one reviewer describes as "powerful enough to send me zipping through traffic, At 110km on larger streets"; stating that "the Suzuki Jelato 125 feels solid". What? That's like 68 MPH, not bad at all for such a cute little muffin of a motorbike.

Suzuki's communications specialist could not be reached at the time of publishing, so I'm going with my current assumption that we will never see this scooter in the USA. I would love for Mr. Kai to tell me otherwise. Suzuki! You really need to have something smaller than a 400 here in the USA (and I wouldn't be mad if it was this... or the SD-01).

An old icon meets a new movement - The Honda EV-Cub

2009-09-30T10:00:00.003-05:00

To go with our deep-fried Snickers donut and triple shot of organic wheatgrass this morning our friend Akisan gives us this to munch on... the Honda announcement of their plans for the 41st Annual Tokyo Motor show (Oct 24 - Nov 4). There's the normal amount of car and motorcycle stuff, but buried in that list of sportbikes, cruisers and cars is a special little treat... the EV-Cub concept. See it there in the image? Right there in the middle next to the Honda omnidirectional segway styled unicycle the UX-3? All clean and white and red? We're probably still two or three battery technology generations away from them actually producing the EV-Cub, but it's nice to imagine.

The EV-Cub concept is part of Honda's HELLO! (Honda Electric mobility Loop) Zone at TMS 2009, which features many of Honda's latest green technological developments including zero CO2 vehicles powered by solar and hydrogen generated electricity.

Another electric scooter concept on display was the EVE-neo (below), which looks like it's ready for the road. Details on this baby are scarce at this time, but we're certain to have more specs and photos in the coming weeks.

Honda says to also expect the PCX 125 to show up as well as "other" items. We'll keep you posted! Arigato once again to Aki for the scoop!

UPDATE
Just added a link to the original press release to the title, so click on it if you want to read the whole thing.

***UPDATE 10/2/09***
Found a bunch more nice photos of the whole lineup HERE>

3CR celebrates a half decade of sweet rallies!

2009-09-17T12:49:00.005-05:00

One of my favorite and most consistant rallies in the Central Texas area is the Third Coast Rally. Lots of riders show up, it's always well organized and rarely breaks out into a bike torching, bare knuckle brawl... just be sure to zip tie the zipper on your tent when you retire for the night... I'm just sayin'.

I plan on being there (Granting our good friends at TheMotorcycleShop or Vespa SanAntonio will be able to hook us up with a loaner). I'd like to ride something unusual, anyone know where I can get on of these classics from the 60's?

This will be a good warmup for another little rally coming soon to San Antonio the weekend of May 28th 2010 and also a visit from the riders of the 2010 Scooter Cannonball Run sometime late 2010.

Thanks to CoffeeDrink for the scoop!

How it's Made - Vespa Edition

2009-09-17T11:46:00.000-05:00

(Thanks to peterscooterlife for publishing this on YouTube.)

I'm sure you've seen one and you might have even repaired one, but you probably haven't seen a modern Vespa built from the ground up. While over visiting the site of our phriend in the Philippines, John Rana, I saw some nice videos including this clip from Season 6, Episode 13 of How It's Made, the "it" here being a Vespa GTS.

Shout out to the WhoRidesAVespa? blog for the scoop and a happy belated birthday to John who just turned 37. You should check out some really nice looking video of him and his scooter here. You can tell it was done by people who know more about their cameras than "Autofocus". Artfully done!

Scooters, more than meets the eye

2009-09-17T10:00:00.003-05:00

Yes this scoop is more stale than a gingerbread man hiking in the Atacama desert, but that's how much I've avoided anything dealing with Transformers II. This was one of many viral vids released on the web back before that movie polluted the screen.

This viral vid was done pretty well. Sorry it's kinda late.

PS> They would have been better off taking that $200 milli and hiring MyWay Entertainment to release their Transformers (NSFW) as a feature length presentation or even the Juggernaut (NSFW). I'd pay to see that.

A new Honda 125cc that gets 117 mpg! (gets worse mpg in USA)

2009-09-15T11:41:00.003-05:00

Honda is gonna be gracing us with a new 125cc scooter (the PCX 125) in 2010! WOOHOO! Do you believe it? Looks really nice; almost like a tidied up Gilera Runner. This baby has SOOOO much going for her, I hope they don't screw it up... wait, what's that? They are introducing it with a new “idling stop system,” which automatically stops the engine when the scooter comes to a temporary stop, but not including it with the US version? Great.

Oh well, so much for bragging to my friends about the sweet, new Honda scooter technology that gives me 117 mpg.

At least she's still got her looks. As for that big hump between yer knees... I hope that is storage and not just wasted space.

I can't wait to see how all this sexiness performs. There are other specs HERE> but I'm gonna wait until the US announcement before I go cutting and pasting all over the place.

A tip of the hat to Dudel, once again, for the scoop!

What would Doofenshmirtz ride?

2009-09-10T20:53:00.004-05:00

(I bet you can't just watch the first couple of minutes)

Well what else would you imagine a Eeeevill scientist to ride but a Lambretta. Ok, maybe it's not a pixel perfect replica, but you'll get the hint.

And what set of wheels are under his nemesis, Perry? I'm not sure why, but the good guy gets a Heinkel.

Honda Cub to go automatic for 2010!

2009-09-10T15:37:00.006-05:00

Honda's gone and done it! Adding an automatic transmission to the Cub has been on Honda's upgrade short list for some time now, and just two days ago Akisan sent us the scoop on Honda's new CV-Matic engine for Cubs (all underbone type Hondas).

Here's a snippet from the press release:

TOKYO, Japan, September 8, 2009 - Honda Motor Co., Ltd. announced that it has developed a new automatic transmission, the CV-Matic (with 14 patents pending!), which can be used in combination with Cub-style engines. This new fully automatic transmission further enhances the practicality and convenience of the Cub-type models that have won fans worldwide, especially in developing countries. The new system will be available with Cub-style scooters to be released in the ASEAN region starting in 2010.

ASEAN is not a misspelling of Asian, it's pronounced AH-see-ahn and it means the Association of Southeast Asian Nations... so yeah, it means Asian and that means there are currently no plans to share the love with us meat eatin' 'Mericans. Dang it.

Here's a photo of their new cooling system based on Honda's small-motorcycle automatic transmission technology, which protects and enhances the durability of the drive belt and allows for a more compact design with shorter distances between pulleys. Thanks to this advance, the positioning of the engine does not need to be significantly altered, optimizing layout design freedom.

Here you can see that it's just a smidgen bigger than the classic, manual cub motor.

I can't wait to see one of these babys mounted on a 2010 Cub!

The old manual tranny is fun and all, but my carpal tunnel would really appreciate the break. Again a big ARIGATO to Aki for the scoop! Click the title link to go to Honda's official press release page.