Thanks to our reporter abroad, Errol in Toronto for bring this story on scooting in Jerusalem and Tzahi Ziv of IFI Motors, which is importing the American-made Vectrix scooter. Click here for the original article. “Do you realize how many lawyers drive scooters to work in the metropolitan Tel Aviv area?” Ziv asks, potential sales figures gleaming in his eyes. “There is definitely a market in Israel for the Vectrix.”

I have been waiting for an accessory order from Motorsports Scooters to arrive and last week was like Christmas. This past weekend I spend time in the garage mounting crash bars and a smoke colored mini windscreen to my Vespa GTS and I like the results. I was pretty set on getting the crash bars, but it took me a while to settle on the windscreen. The feedback on ModernVespa forum, like most scooter forums, was a great help in deciding what to buy. There are pros and cons to full sized vs. mini windscreens, but I settled on something that would primarily divert the wind. I always wear my full face helmet and a mesh jacket so I don’t feel I need full coverage. Now I am left with only one other concern. Bella, the name I have given my GTS, in memory of our little Wheaton Terrier dog, has developed the dreaded roller weights rattle. I plan on visiting the Vespa dealer this week and will talk with Dave Munn before making any decisions, but again, ModernVespa forum has been very informative and has helped make me more knowledgeable before I even set foot in the scooter shop.

Scooter News and Blog Posts

• Orin O’Neil at Scootin Old Skool writes about Seattle’s biggest scooter rally Scooter Insanity 21. They also showed the film Mondo Scooterama featuring Seattle area scooterists. For me the highlight would have been the special guest: J.P. Patches. Check Orin’s blog for the latest.
• Steve Guzman at The Scooter Scoop spotted the Kymco People S300i, on motoblog.it and Italian site, unfortunately it sounds like this beautiful is bound for the Euro market. So, here’s a question, why do all these manufactures pawn off the small displacement scooters in the USA and keep the classy designs for other markets?
• New York Times auto section had a story about renting a Vespa and touring Rome. From the itinerary it looks like they cover a lot of the city, including many of the main Piazzas and parks. The idea comes from Sergio Caggia, founder of Nerone Tours who has been organizing private walking tours of the city for the past ten years. If you are feeling brave, check out the story and make your plans.
• Motorcycle.com this past week posted a video test ride of the Vespa  Mp3 500i.e., giving us another look at the three wheeled scooter from a motorcyclist’s perspective. The riding pictures are quite good and the comments are positive although sometimes shallow. Coming in at just under $9k  it isn’t for everyone.

Music for this show is from the Podsafe music network and Lil Ed Williams and the Blues Imperials.  Lil Ed is one of the last authentic West Side Chicago blues men. He plays an amazing smokin’ slide guitar and bats out Chicago style shuffles and slow blues.

 

 SCTRCST Podcast Episode 64 [18:52m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

SHOW NOTES: It’s only been a few days since I returned from visiting Denver, possibly one of the best scooter towns in the US. Although it was a quick trip, I took part of the afternoon on Saturday to visit three of the city’s scooter shops. Each has a distinctly different feel and it has prompted my to pen a few observations on the scooter scene.

The first is Sportique Scooters, a mainstay and one of the first shops I visited back in 1984 when it opened in an old abandoned west side gas station. These days, Sportique is pushing new scooters, although they still do vintage restorations. Last week when I stopped to check-in, I was impressed by the number and variety of people trying out new automatic scooters and I was glad to see Sportique letting everyone test ride and touch everything they had on the lot.

An extreme contrast is Erico Motorsports. Although this is not an exclusively scooter oriented shop, they are an authorized Vespa dealer and their showroom exudes European style and class. They have a collection of vintage scooters and motorcycles on display that you rarely see outside of a museum. They are the Vespa dealer, but I sense that their real passion is for the sport bikes, the 700cc plus rockets that you see all over Denver.

The place that is becoming my favorite Denver shop is Casa Lambretta USA. What is really funny about this place is that it is the antithesis of Erico Motorsports, yet it is right next door, in the same building. The Denver shop opened about four years ago when Jon moved from Miami to Denver. Jon Kroge is the top dog in the Denver shop (there is another in MIami) and a mechanic that has been wrenching and restoring classic Italian scooters for years. One of things that impressed me, was that several riders were out front wrenching on their vintage bikes with the help of Jon and with tools from the shop. Now how often do you see that. The shop not only restores, but races vintage scooters and has helped organize this summer’s MSRA races in Denver. Next race is July 28th.

Blogs and Websites

• Steve Guzman is in Los Angeles doing a series of scooter reviews for another site. Check for the videos on The Scooter Scoop.
• Scooter Dave got back from the 2008 Gasoline Rally in Indianapolis. And posted up a load of great pictures.
• Italian auto giant Piaggio plans to manufacture bikes in Pakistan where there has been 25% growth in motorcycle sales in the past year. Pakistan? Oh well, I guess they are going global.
• Tuveo, the Italian equivalent of you tube has a highly produced video if the 2008 Toscano Rally.

Music for this show is from the Podsafe music network
The Safe Drugs

 

 Episode 63 [25:14m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Show Notes: I have notice that every time I turn around there is another scooter on the road here in Richmond and many of them seem to be the Kymcos and Genuine Buddys. Just this past weekend I delivered my own Vespa Sprint to Scoot Richmond for an adjustment and it seems that their once bulging inventory of Genuine Scooters were almost all gone. I looked at Chelsea and said, “so business is good”, my first clue being she had a perpetual grin on her face. Her smile got even bigger.

There have been way too many news stories clogging up my news reader all of them about how popular scooters are becoming. I noticed the onslaught of repetitious reporting once gas hit $4 per gallon. I am not going to talk about them, because most of them are boring, but it is worth mentioning that have been getting more emails from newby scooterist looking to buy their first scooters.

On the forums, like twostrokesmoke questions about buying cheap Chinese scooters are common. These are usually posted by the naive individual who obviously has not been following the forum and he/she is usually taken by surprise at the hostility and flaming that their post elicits. Usually the conversation turns around and is helpful, but just as often these people are ridiculed and disappear from the forum. Personally, I like some of the members who take a more educational approach. given that there is a lot to learn about in scooting.

Alix from the Peace Scooter ride and I have been trying to connect via Skype for about two weeks now and it was just yesterday that I was able to catch up with her. Over the past month she has made her way out to the west coast and I tracked her down in San Fransisco where she was meeting up with friends and attending a local rally. She is heading out for points north, like Eugene, Portland and Seattle so check her website for ways to connect with her as she comes through your town. Given the upset with and derailment of Vespadition, it is nice to see Alix continuing her ride and connecting up with people along the way who have a passion for what she is doing. Make sure you help her out, there are ways to donate to her ride and the charities she has chosen. My sweet PEACE Scooter T-shirt arrived just the other day and you can get one too. Click over from the SCTRCST link or look on the website for how to order.

Blog posts and links

• Orin’s post on the Seattle All city Scooter Community Day
• Honky Tonk Dragon’s observations on the race
• The Sportique Scooter Uproar
• Marco Quaretta and his Vintage Scooter Workshop in Livorno

Music for this show

Some of you who have been listening to the show for a while know that I have been amateur musician for a number of years and even held onto my dream of being a rock star late into my 40s. Just to prove that all hope is not lost, I want to turn you on to a musician that I had the pleasure to play with back in the 90s when I was making the bar band circuit in Boulder, CO. The Hillbilly Hellcats are a rockabilly group fronted by Chuck Hughes, a fellow we all considered a guitar wizard. On on memorable night, Chuck jump on stage and proceeded to play note for note rendition of Stevie Ray Vaughn’s Lenny, leaving me wishing I had the opportunity to play with this kind of  talent every night.

 

 Episode 62 [23:05m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download