SCTRCST Scooter Internet Radio

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SHOW NOTES: I have been getting emails from all over, telling me about your local scooter events. Sorry I don’t have time to cover all of them, but I have plans later this summer or early in the fall to recap with links to some of the better videos. Speaking of rallies, for those of you who have asked, I will not be at Amerivespa this year. I had hoped to make it, but another commitment to attend a friend’s wedding in Denver has changed that plan. (that is were I am posting from today) Although I can’t make it, it sounds like a number of other bloggers and regular scooterist are going to be there. Send me your pictures and videos and I will see about posting them on the website or give me a call (206-888-6174) and I will try to get you on the show.

Some of you have written asking about why I talk so much about Italian scooters. Well, I am Italian, but mostly, it’s like a lot of things, you talk about what you know. Then the other day I noticed that someone had linked to the scootercast website from The Burgman Riders Forum. It a was pleasant surprised to find an active scooter community talking about Suzuki Burgmans. These big machines are made for the open road and I understand that they are very comfortable for touring. The forum has a lot of threads going into modifications and accessories and there are  numerous links to spare parts, technical references and people who can mentor you.

I got an email from Alix last week. You know, PEACE scooter ride. She is planning to be in Washington, DC on August 8th and then will head back to Richmond on the August 9th where we hope to have a big scoot-in at ScootRichmond to welcome her back. If you haven’t checked her blog lately it’s worth a few minutes of your time. If you want a reminder that the whole world doesn’t think alike, and there are some pretty incogitant people out there, it’s post you must read to believe.

To digress from scootering for a minute, while I was about reading this I was keenly aware that in Virginia, a moment in history was being created. On Monday, a Statue and Civil Rights Memorial was unveiled on the state Capital grounds honoring Barbara Johns and other African-Americans who were part of the fight to end segregation of schools in Virginia. It seems a  wry irony that the monument sits on the same ground were the politicians of Virginia actively resisted desegregation into the 1970s. I think Alix would have been proud to see this, it was one kind of PEACE and along some reconciliation, yet acknowledged that we do not have equality, but things are more equal, and somethings are worth fighting for.

Podsafe music for this show came from Ariel Publicity out of New York and the Stilentreatment. Their music can be found at the Podsafe music network or their website.

P.S. Here is a link to the webpage on sidecars.

Weather here in Richmond has been uncomfortably hot. This means getting out early to take care of all those chores. Since selling our 2002  Mini Cooper, I have been meaning to organize my tinkering space, the garage, and this weekend I finally got to it. The problem with cleaning up is that I always run into more projects and in this case I was reminded when I ran across the neatly organized parts from my Ducati Falcon. I am pleased to say that I am back on track with the project and the frame is at the powder coater. Next comes chrome and paint. It has only been a year since I started, not bad for amateur restorer.

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SHOW NOTES: I am sitting here with a beautiful hand crafted premium leather case for my new 3g iphone. It’s that soft Italian leather, you know, the kind that feels like a well worn shoe, already broken in and it has a wonderful new car leather smell to it. I am talking so much about this case, because my stupid AT&T store ran out of iphones and I had to order one “to be delivered in the next few days.” Now as much as I like smelling the leather case, I find myself a little pissed that all I have is a case. How can I show-off? Maybe what also gets me is that I ordered the case last week, thinking, I bet if I do this I won’t be able to get the phone. As I pressed the buy button, I thought “this will be a self fulfilling prophecy”. So now I check the AT&T website everyday to see the if the phone has shipped. So far all I get is, “your phone is on back-order.” Damn that Steve Jobs, he sucker me in again.

So as our English friends might say, lets get to this week’s scooter shite. Pete Davies is one of those English fellows, like Nigel Cox whose name is synonymous with scooter history in Europe. Pete was around way back in the late 70’s and heyday of the huge Scarborough rallies in England and has stayed true to the Lambretta badge since. Today he remains immersed in Lambrettas running the British Lambretta archives.

Being an admitted Lambretta neophyte, I am no expert, but I will go out on a limb and say that both the beginner and experienced Lambretta fans are going to love Pete’s new book, The Lambretta Bible. The book outlines in great detail the production run of every Lambretta model from 1948 until 1971 and the book also includes extra details on non production scooters including those modified by English dealers. This is one of those books that sucks you into the brand, even if you have had only a passing interest in the Lambretta scooters. Of course, now I find myself wondering if I am missing out not having a Series 2 Li in my stable. Pete has included model by model frame numbers, paint schemes, Lambretta’s Central Office notes on model by model changes with carburetor specs and gear ratios for every Lambretta model made.

The Lambretta Bible is published by Veloce Publishing in England, but as you might expect, it is available from all the major book outlets. For a direct link to the Veloce website click here. With all the detail and hundreds of glossy color pictures, of some of the best Lambrettas ever made, you won’t be disappointed.

Music for this show is from native New Yorker, long time studio musician and session guitarist Chris Juergensen and Todd Sharpeville both on the podsafe music network.

Our friend Errol in Toronto sent this video update on the Toronto Twisted Wheel Scooter Rally. You can find more about the rally on thier website.

 

 Episode 55 [41:14m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

SHOWNOTES: ScootRichmond did a fantastic job on the installation of the LML 150 engine in my Vespa Sprint. I have had time to take a closer look at it and the workmanship that including rewiring to a 12 volt system makes a big difference in the lights. Hopefully it will prove to be more reliable. I guess that’s another free plug for ScootRichmond, but I mean it as a plug for building a relationship with your local scooter shop. When you have an established relationship, they are more likely to go above and beyond to give you good scooter information and make sure you are happy with their work.

Before I prattle on too much about the usual scoot stuff, I want to tell you about a unique conversation with Alix from Peace Scooter on this week’s Scootercast. Alix is a person who speaks with amazing clarity and purpose. During our conversation she talked about her upcoming 20,000 mile ride for PEACE. Most people might ask the obvious, “are you some kind of fanatic?” But for Alix it is much more personal and the ride is a natural extension of her view of life. Since completing the first half of her PEACE ride last year (here is link to the CNN coverage), she has been planning and blogging about this years ride with the kind of enthusiasm a child has in anticipating a birthday. The ride will start in Washington D.C. On May 2nd and the route will circle the USA ending back in D.C. Along the way she plans to blog, post video, volunteer, mingle and generally commune with all kinds of people asking only one question, “how do you define PEACE in your life?” Over the course of the next few months I’ll try to check-in with her and get an update on the ride. Go over to the website and throw some support her way.
This is a very good interview, not because of me, but because of what Alix has to say. Although a little longer than most shows, it is worth taking the time to listen too.

Music for this show

• I Got Sunshine by Sarah Vonderhaar
• Love is in the Atmosphere by Kerry Politzer

 

 Episode 54 [24:04m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

SHOWNOTES: I am planning some changes on the website and want to know what you think about the idea. Last week when I put up the link to Vespadition, I noticed that several of the posts that included links to Peter Moore and Christian Bauer’s websites had fallen off the front page of the website. One way of fixing this is to increase the number of posts that appear here, but then the page gets to be very long and who wants to have to scroll and scroll just to find a link. So I have been considering changing up the format of the site and plan to keep a picture link to my most recent guests right at the top of the page.
Another website issue that plagues podcasters is the question of monetization. For the common folk, this mean “how do you make money to defray the cost of bandwidth.” But before I head off in this or any other direction, I want to know what you think. Are you interested in this kind of this stuff, you know sctrcst t-shirts, buttons and other good SCTRCST crap. I would hate to do anything to make you, my audience, feel like I was just pimping for pennies.
On a completely different subject, I picked up my 1966 Vespa Sprint at ScootRichmond. It has a clean, shinny, new LML 150cc engine and I got my break-in instructions from Dave the mechanic, which synthesize down to “don’t ride it like you usually ride it”. This translated into keeping it under 60 kph, that’s 37.28 mph for those of you keeping track. Coming home I could feel the difference in power and responsiveness and can’t wait until it is broken in, should be about 300 k according to Dave. Apparently he installs a larger main jet to keep people like me from over doing it in the beginning and after break in, changes the oil and swaps out the jet so it will accelerate as it suppose to. This is probably a good safety measure for me to have, I do like to go fast.
Maybe like you, I listen to lots of podcasts, especially those that have to do with tech. One of those is called net@nite, hosted by Leo Laporte and Amber MacArthur. Leo is a longtime tech broadcaster who teams up with all kinds of people to produce podcasts and in this case he is working with an entertaining fresh face from Toronto. This past week, they talked about a website named Animoto. It is an on-line application that automatically generates a professionally produced video. There are really only three steps to the process. 1) Select your images and download them to the site, 2) choose your music, and 3) finalize some details as to how you want your video to look. You can produce the 30 sec clips for free, but I recommend signing up for $30 per year which gives you unlimited access to longer produce videos. If you want to see what a short clip looks like, checkout the one below.

Blogs Posts

• 2 strokebuzz - Josh from Scoot Mag and the silent auction to help him out
• MBI Awards – Mostly about motorcycles except MP3
• Vespadition – Changing his route

Music for this show is from the Podsafe Music Network

• Cant Help Myself by Kyoshi
• Dumb by 21 Against
• Podcast Sell-Out by Smart Bomb Radio

I know this is a bit of geek-related old news, but for those of you who missed it, here is the video I mentioned on SCTRCST Episode 43 with Cali Lewis from Geekbrief TV and Geoff Smith’s song “Digg the Code”. On May 1, 2007 an article appeared on Digg’s homepage that contained the encryption key for the AACS digital rights management protection of HD DVD and Blu-ray Disc. Then Digg, “acting on the advice of its lawyers”, removed posting submissions about the secret number from its database and banned several users for submitting it. The removals were seen by many Digg users as a capitulation to corporate interests and an assault on free speech.

 

 Episode 41 [40:48m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

SHOWNOTES: It’s been another long work week which took me to Baltimore and Washington DC, but as usual, the best part was coming home and settling back into my routine. Marcel is away in Denver this weekend, so I have spent some extra time putting together a special show. I have another interview for you, this time with a legend of the long distance ride and a active member of the Modern Vespa forum. I want to say thank you for all the email you have been sending and if I haven’t gotten back to you yet, please be patient, I will answer you. I have been getting email suggestions for show topics and this show is a direct result of one asking for some discussion about long distance riding. The suggestions was a natural, in that I have been emailing probably one of the best traveled scooterist here in the Untied states, after having met him here in Richmond at the Modern Vespa Workshop. Any of you who belong to the Modern Vespa Forum know him as Bobo. Continue Reading »

 

 Episode 40 [19:54m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

SHOWNOTES: On the last show I talked allot about the scooter groups and forums on the web. As a source of information they are fantastic and if you follow them with any regularity you start to get to know the people posting. I mentioned that they operate much like a social community and as a result, you hear about all kinds of things. This past week some of the posts referred to past scooter accidents and injuries and I began to think back to a post by Steve Williams that I had breezed over. Steve had made a reference to how pilots dont talk about crashes and I thought about how I have never really talked about scooters and risk and what I think about every time I take off out of the garage. Continue Reading »