I have been pondering this post for the past week. It was about this time seven days ago I accepted another dream job. However, like owning a vintage Vespa, it comes with both risks and rewards. Those of you who know me might say I am a professional “do-gooder”. I have always worked in social services and in the past ten years, probably through sheer persistance or luck have become a minor celebrity influential in advocacy and politics, mostly  in Virginia.

In August I will be moving to the Washington DC area to continue my do-gooder ways, but it means leaving the Richmond scooter community behind. To some of you, this means nothing, but you must understand that old Richmond has a traditional southern village feel and outsiders are not easily welcomed into the grits and fatback circle that is the south. Amazingly, the Seven Hills Scooter Club is a southern anomaly. It is a curious combination of carpetbaggers, old-timers and young southerners who all flock together around our love for scooters. Regardless of your ride or your scoot-cred, you are never an outsider and anyone who shows up, dues paying or not is treated like a member.

Many thanks to Chelsea, Rick, Ed, Brendan, Dave the Mechanic, the myth legend known as Munn and many more club and ScootRichmond patrons for support of Scootercast and being so kind to an outsider. I will be attending my last Friday night parking lot scoot-in tomorrow night at ScootRichmond to witness the movie madness of “This is Spinal Tap” and revel in one more inclusive event that welcomes even an aging, slightly socially inept scooter nerd like me.

The 7hills scooter club rally is coming up in a few weeks. That is usually a ride out into the country, with camping and bonfires in an area where club members can stay out of trouble and avoid doing too much damage to themselves. The 2009 Dogwood Classic scooter rally will be held at Heavenly Acres Campground in Stanardsville, VA Friday, May 15 to Sunday, May 17.

Another big spring rally here on the east coast is the New York City  Scooter Club block party, which is scheduled for the end of May. Their club motto is: “If you have a Scooter, you’re in the Club!” The block party, held in Brooklyn and attracts scoot fans from all over the northeast. I am jealous of our New York friends. They have a vibrant scooter scene and at least a dozen legitimate scooter shops to choose from in the New York city area.

Here is taste of what they have:

• Brooklynbretta
• McCarren Motors
• Scooter Bottega
• Scooter City Inc.
• Scooters Originali
• Vespa Brooklyn
• Vespa City
• Vespa Jersey City
• Vespa Queens
• Vespa Soho
• Zoom Scooter

In my world, scooters are connected to many of my other interests and activities. One of those interests is a life long fascination with pinball machines. Nick Bennett happens to be one of those fellows who’s life is dominated by pinball. I came across Nick’s website a  few months ago, while referencing the Las Vegas Pinball Museum and later heard from him in an email about this summer’s European tournament. Although a bit of a digression from scooting, I think you will find this conversation interesting and most likely will see some similarities in Nick’s passion for pinball and our passion for scooters. Listen to the podcast for all the details

Music for this show is by Telling on Trixie a New York based band that has gathered a big web. I first heard about Telling on Trixie two years ago at podcamp New York. Checkout their website.

It is a regular occurance in my life. I easily become fascinated with a new idea. A few months ago it was retrofitting a vintage Vespa with an electric motor. I have no useful experience or knowledge related to this interest, but that never stops me. I found that one resource for pursuing such a project is Sound Speed Scooters in Seattle. They offer an impressive conversion package at a hefty price, just over $1500, not including batteries.
Luckily the electric vehicle community is alive and well on the internet. I turned to the V is for Voltage Forum. Much of the forum is devoted to motorcycle and scooter conversions. It has sections on all the basics and not so basics of electrifying your favorite ride without electrocuting yourself. I searched the forum for Vespa and found Jake Stept’s blog with pictures detailing the build of his small frame conversion he has named the Rezistor
Jake spoke with me on the SCTRCST podcast from his home in Portland Oregon. I was impressed. He tackled his project having no experience with electric motors or conversions. Now I can’t stop hearing the whining sounds an electric Vespa in my head. You can see a Sound Speed video here or check out Jake’s Rezistor here.

Pod safe Music for this show is from the Podsafe Music Network and features the Redline a Chicago based band.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Electric motorcycles: current production (telegraph.co.uk)
• Coming soon: Highway-legal plug-in hybrid scooter (news.cnet.com)

The last couple of weeks I have been ignoring my blogging and podcasting responsibilities. Sorry. I was sick most of the week after returning from Denver and haven’t gotten back in the groove until this week. This hasn’t stopped me from scooting a bit during the brief warm weather hits that are popping up every few days. The 7 Hills Scooter Club had a delayed ride a few weeks ago after the first Sunday ride of March was rained. Although everything in the garage is running, I was a bit lazy not wanting to risk a break down, so I took the Vespa GTS out.

My favorite scooterist, Alex from Peace Scooter has posted a video on her site she is calling a minumentary. It a mini-documentary that chronicles her two years of scooting for peace. It occurred to me this week that Alex didn’t have one of today’s great social connectors when she was riding. I am talking about Twitter. Loved by some and hated by many, Twitter is an amazing tool for connecting. I use it myself, mostly when I travel. Right now there is a guy called the Twitchhiker who in just a few weeks has traveled from New Castle in England to New Zealand San Fransisco by using twitter to connect with people who help him get from one place to another. You can see all the details of his trip on his website.

I got tagged as one of the top five scooter blogs on the Go Motor Scooter website. I am not really sure this has any credibility to it, as I tend to think that reader and podcast listeners’ feedback is most valuable. It may be a bit pedantic, but shouldn’t we really be talking about the real powerhouse scooter blogs like 2-stroke buzz, Scootin Old Skool , The Scooter Scoop and Scooter in the Sticks. I have always thought of them as having an editorial credibility and an authority that I can only aspire to. But my thanks goes out to Paul, who does the site. Any link love is appreciated.

I want to comment on a post over on 2-stroke buzz, where the blog posts are usually to the factual with minnimal editorializing. But in this case a bit of editorial license was just what the scooter doctor ordered when it came to talking about Steve Guzmans’ departure from Carter Brothers and SYM. The post makes several very good points about how the power-sports industry not seem to understanding the scooter lifestyle. We are very accepting of almost anyone who comes into the community with an honest interest in scootering. One of the problems, not that I profess to know anything about Steve’s situation with SYM, but when a short-term perspective motivates what you do, you can expect the deal to go south pretty fast. Thanks to 2-stroke buzz for speaking up and we wish Steve the best in keeping up the Scooter Scoop Blog and anything else he jumps into. He is an honest, straight-up kind of guy.

Scooter Website Link
All Styles Scooters – A ton of information, including brochures,repair manuals, owners manuals, schematics and much more from a scooter parts site out of England. Focus is mostly on Vespa and Lambretta, but not just vintage bikes. They have instructions on making racing modification including barrel tuning, intakes and plenty more. The tech page seems to compliment all the parts options they offer, the kind of thing that could really get someone like me in trouble.

Music For this show

Dance Hall Night from Jonny Barber, an old friend of Chuck Hughes another Denver Rock-A-Billy star and also known as the Velvet Elvis. Jonny has played with numerous and is associated with the Rock-A-Billy Record Co. label. I love this music, but to get the full experience you have to see it live. Jonny is constantly on the road so make sure you check his website to catch a live show.
Mashuptown has endless remixes of known and unknown music. Six Songs Collide played on this show mashes: Jason Mraz, Howie Day, Five For Fighting, Angela Ammons, Boyzone and 3 Doors Down.