Sep
30
2007
SHOWNOTES: We have been making plans for Marcel starting her new consulting job. this has meant getting ready to move everything back from Cincinnati to Richmond and figuring out how to cram two homes into one. For all of you geekaholics out there, I have gone from running everything through my old keyboard preamp to a Mackie Onyx firewire setup. Hopefully it will mean cleaner sound. Drop me a note and let me know if you think it makes a difference.
We are both looking forward to this new adventure in her work, especially getting the opportunity to be in Denver more. I think Cincinnati has been a good layover for her, on her career track. Like one of my friends said, it’s good to know what your good at, but better to know what your not good at. It has made me think more about how it feels to be “on your game”. I think you know what I mean…that feeling that you know what you are doing, that the timing is right and you are doing something that really makes a difference.
Occasionally, like this week I find a new blog called skutegruven. His post is about wandering around on his scooter and being taken back in time, then coming to understand that we each, in our own way are looking for that feeling of family. It’s a long post, but well worth reading. I’ve continued to get email saying, talk about Maxi scooters. First you need to understand is what little I do know is about classic scooters. I am starting to understand that Maxi scooters are of great interest to allot of people and I need to learn about them before interviewing someone else. I’ll admit it, there is a personal agenda here, I don’t want to sound like a complete idiot on my own show. So this week I started my research by going down to the local Honda dealer and asking to see the scooters they had in stock
Scooter news and blog posts
London Bikers.com - Peugeot’s New C-tech
Gilera Fuoco 500 IE - great closeup of the steering mechanism used on this and the MP3
Rebirth of the Fiat 500 Car (like the Vespa 400 car of the 1960s)
1967 Vespa SS180 Restoration Blog started in December 06
Music for this show is from the Podsafe Music Network
Jimmie Bratcher with Drive
Geoff Smith with Not on the Radio
Mama’s and Papas from the Monterey Pop Festival with California Dreamin
Sep
23
2007
Show notes: It’s been another busy week, along with my regular job and all the meetings I go to, I have been spend most of my time at home setting up a myspace page. After a number of inquiries about “do you have a myspace page?” I caved and sat down to do some work on it. Look for it here. I guess I had this idea that myspace was about all these single (or maybe married acting single) people trying to hit on each other. But now I understand. In the few short days that my page has been up, I have gotten dozens of contacts from people asking about the show and maybe more important to me, I have had the biggest week of downloads ever. As a podcasters, I guess like a musician, you want others to hear what you produce, so like Orin said to me, this could really expand the audience who listens to SCTRCST
Marcel and I continue to plan her move from Cincinnati back to Richmond, Virginia. She is going to make this her home base for a new consulting company she will be working with. Since the company is based in Denver, it means her and hopefully I, will be getting back there more often.Having lived there for many years we still have many friends there and of course there is always Sportique Scooters, the place I were I would go when I got an itch for a new scooter in my early scooter days of scooting. It is also the home of some scooter legends like, Colin Shadduck who wrote Scooters: Red Eyes, Whitewalls & Blue Smoke Scooters Lawrence who I met at Amerivespa, emailed me to reminded me that the big Texas rally called Third Coast Rally in San Antonio is coming up October 5-7. Check out the rally site here. Also look at myspace page for the Scooter Club in Lawrence’s Brownsville Texas area. It is call the Scooter Club Golden Triangle and is here.
Scooter news and blog posts
Tricked-out scooters scream personality
Aprilia Mana 850 rolling off production lines
Italian Style at Navy Pier
Honda will introduce a Silverwing 750 at the Tokyo auto show (thanks to thescooterscoop)
Overview of Honda Motorcycle Exhibition for the 40th Tokyo Motor Show 2007 Girlbike world headquarters to move to Vermont
Music from the Podsafe Music Network
Lee Coulter with Outside
Ernie Payner with Nothing Wrong With Texas-that Leaving Wont Fix (apologies to The Scooter Scoop)
The Hot Rods with Judy’s Got a Stickshift
Sep
16
2007
SHOWNOTES: This show is chock full of information and news. I was fortunate to spend time yesterday speaking with Dave Dixon, in Vancouver, British Columbia about his blog (he rides a Vespa LX50). Big Guy Small Scooter another talented blogger for you to check out.
In an email from Errol in Toronto he included a link to the latest update on Hayden Neale of Jacksoul. After his scooter crash he is still in critical condition, but starting to respond to doctors and treatment, which sounds like good news.
Other scooter news and blog posts:
Vintage vs modern vespa in Columbus OH
Once again the pros and cons of buying scooters made in China
Scooters in the Windy City
Kymco 700cc scooter
Music for this show can be found at the Podsafe Music Network
Boo Boo Davis from Netherlands with Tell me what to do
Darren Geffre from the US with Gasoline
Sep
09
2007
SHOWNOTES: Call the voice mail line at 206-888-6174 and tell me what you think of the show or let me know what kind of scooting activities are going on in your area. I have been looking to try to find out how Canadian Hayden Neale from Jacksoul is doing, but there hasn’t been much in the news about him and his website has not been updated. Anybody out there heard anything? Give me a call.
It has seemed that many of the scooter bloggers are slowing down a bit on posting. For me it means searching for more supplemental material and wondering each week what I will be talking about. So this morning, as a jump-start, I took off on my P200/sidecar rig for a ride into the country and some good old fashion open throttle riding. What that really means is pounding out 50 mph on a long downhill stretch. I realized that I haven’t said much lately about what is going on here at home, so in addition to this weeks news and blog reviews, we’ll do a little catching up.
Other scooter blog post that are up have very personal touches, like Honky Tonk Dragon and Ben’s plans to move from Oregon to Connecticut, with no job. How “in the moment” is that! Look at the following posts from and his starting over with his family or Little Billy’s Scooter Tales where Bill talks about his new responsibilities for helping guide their employee run business. An then there is the ever evolving and surprisingly transparent Combat Commuter, who bravely has opened up about his family and talking about what is important to him. These are people living and experiencing life as it is today and what pushes people to be better than we are or better that we were.
Marcel, my wife has been out west in Montana that past few days. Some of you may remember that she has been working in the land of ScooterDave in Cincinnati for the past few years and commuting back and forth on the weekend from here in Richmond Virginia. I think this trip has been a soul search for both of us, trying to regroup and get back to creating more of a life together. I must say that over the time we have been together, which is many years, she also has been much more the risk taker when it comes to employment, than I have ever been. But she has also helped me understand that with risk taking come the potential for great rewards and that is what I am talking about. So best of luck to Ben and Bill and the Combat Commuter and oh, yeah I guess I should say good luck to Marcel and me as it looks like she is coming home and we are embarking on a new adventure with each other and with her work.
Other scooter news and blog posts:
Piaggio continues to move forward in Vietnam
Honda announces lineup for 2008
Piaggio keeps pushing it’s MP3 “it’s fun and stable”
Crystal Waters review of “The Compete Idiot’s Guide to Scooters”
MUSIC
Podsafe Music Network
Steve Paroe from Switzerland with Mary, Mary
Girl stuff from Switzerland with a little hip hop called MI CHIEDO SE (I ask myself)
Italians from Italy of course! with Strong Enuff
Sep
03
2007
SHOWNOTES: Just a quick reminder, I now have a voice mail number you can call from your phone 
206-888-6174
. It is listed at the top of the web page and should scroll in the podcast title for those of you using an ipod.
The POR-15 product for reconditioning my 180ss tank came this week. Take my suggestion and just order it from the company website, it was here in three days. If you are planning this project, make sure you have time to complete the whole thing, that way there is less likelihood of any flash rusting, before you can get the tank coated. Just so you know, you will not find that everyone agrees with coating a tank. I think this comes from using inferior product and having the tank lining deteriorate over time.
There is an interesting blog post over on Modvespa.com taking about the restoration of an NSU scooter. NSU is from Germany and this on has been on the scoot.net website before. It is a 1956 Prima D and I’ll have links to both the ModVespa blog post and the original post at scoot.net. This is the kind of European scooter you don’t see over in the US very often.
Vespa has started pushing hard on their “Go Green” campaign The have put up another flashy website encouraging us all to make videos praising the Vespa as a tree hugger’s dream. At the moment there are only a few short clips, but given that they are offering to give away a couple of scooters for the best ones, I’m sure they will start flooding in. There will be a link in the show notes to the Go Green Vespa Video Challenge.
MUSIC Podsafe Music Network, Gatlinburg by Quarter Drawn Band, PJ Style Blues and Gasoline by Justin Gordon
