Vespaway

You Go Girl

Girl, you go! We may be permitted the old Oprah Winfreyism here as we refer in jubilation to a blog by scootering women. In case you haven't been following already, our "sister site" has been up and running for a month already. Vespaquest is a lively dialogue between one Justene Adams, who wants to find the right ride, and one Crystal Waters, who's ridden enough to offer some sound advice. The blog also definitely has the feel of an open conversation with the readers all around, as a good blog should. Justene is a lawyer and a mom (hooray for moms!) and you may already know Crystal from girlbike.com (not to be confused with girlsbike.com).

BusinessWeek: "Scooters: The Perfect Second Car"

  These babies are scoring because of their mileage and maneuverability

High gas prices and traffic: They're the banes of a driver's existence. With neither about to improve anytime soon, there may be a small solution to these big problems. Scooters are an increasingly popular way to zip to errands, make parking a snap, and cut down on fuel costs.

Smaller and easier to use than their motorcycle cousins, scooters have long been popular in cities in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. But lately, the economics of scootering has helped them gain fans here in the U.S.

With a final bill that won't exceed most credit-card limits, a scooter makes a great substitute for a station car or an ideal spare vehicle for errands. That's why sales are soaring in urban hot spots such as Miami and New York as well as in the suburbs.

All scooters share a basic ease of operation that makes it easy even for non-motorcyclists to get on and go. Start with the motor, where automatic "twist-and-go" transmissions are the rule. With no clutch to fuss about, you simply twist the throttle to take off. The brakes work just like a bicycle's, with a lever for each hand. Thanks to the positioning of the engine -- directly in front of the rear wheel -- scooters share a "step-through" design so you can sit upright, with your feet in front of you.
 

Read the rest here.

The Vespa… Scooting With Style Down Under

It looks like people down under are taking notice of the Vespa in this Epoch Times article.

The classic coupling of Italian flair and efficient function is making Vespa scooters increasingly attractive to city dwellers in Australia.

Riders have embraced the Vespa as offering something beyond the affordability and smooth operation that scooters provide and have fallen in love with their iconic rides.

Enthusiasts of the classic Vespas point out the 1950s and 60s styling, the almost exclusive use of metal bodywork, manual shifting mechanisms and kick-starters as characteristics that give their vehicles a unique riding experience.

The scooters also feature the ability to be tailored to suit the owner’s individuality in ways that motorbikes cannot.

With extra bodywork for custom paint designs and a whole range of accessories available they lend themselves to more personal expression.

Although being highly economical, scooters do trade by their looks and it is important for their riders to feel they are on a stylish, well designed, classic machine.

Yeeahh Boyeeeee

New York, NY
20.08.05 
At 10:53 AM  Nathaniel MacGregor Ogilvy, eight pounds and seven ounces, is brought into this world. Swimmingly, mother and child go from pod unit to tandem.

22.08.05
The new father has a shave and a haircut at the barber up the street from the hospital, tells of his joy to everyone he meets, and they all agree  this news is the greatest news of the day, of the week, nay, it must be the greatest news of the millenium.

24.08.05
For continuing rest and wonder, the family returns to the nest in Brooklyn, where the peace is hardly disturbed by the regular passage of scooters outside on Clinton Street.

25.08.05
Little Natty Bumpo says, "Hi."

August 20th Boston Strangler Gathering Coverage

From this article at Boston.com comes coverage of the August 20^th gathering. There is a lot of talk about the vintage scoots there as well as some mention of newer bikes that folks use for commuting.

Scooter enthusiasts from as far away as Nova Scotia will be riding along the Emerald Necklace this afternoon. They'll start in Kenmore Square at noon, then cruise around Jamaica Pond and through Franklin Park. The tour of Boston's parklands is the pinnacle of New England's biggest scooter rally, which started Wednesday and runs through tomorrow.

It's an annual event hosted by the Boston Stranglers, a group that's been scooting around the city since the 1990s...

Take Wallace V. French III. He uses his 2002 Vespa to commute from his East Boston home to his job at the O'Neill Federal Building on Causeway Street. It takes him 15 minutes.
 

Previously he owned a 1966 Vespa. He bought it while living in Italy, where ''everyone has a scooter." In that country, you must be 18 to drive a car but only 15 to drive a Vespa. Unfortunately his vintage ride didn't survive for long. ''It blew up on me, and I didn't want to deal with it," said French, 35. So he bought a modern model and had it shipped over from Italy.

What if You Had to Pay $6 a Gallon for Gas?

Ever wonder why there are so many scooters in Europe, and not as many here in the US? Because they pay $6 a gallon for gas. Some economists predict that the United States could be at that rate next year. I hope this is true, as it will change the landscape of our cities and infuse them all with scooters at number never before seen. Read the full MSNBC article here about high gas prices in Europe.

LONDON— Even as American drivers complain about "gas pains," they can count their blessings that they don't live in Europe, where motorists pay more than twice as much at the petrol pumps.

Yet, the panic that has gripped the United States is almost absent here and gas prices are not the number one issue on drivers’ minds…

Still, drivers here are making changes to the way they get around. Sales of hybrid cars have gone up 330 percent since 2002, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers, and more and more scooters seem to appear on London streets. Armando, a north London resident, bought a Vespa scooter one month ago and says he is now getting double the life out of the gas he buys.

"Scooter Girl" Saves Gas on Paper Route

In the Kafka AP article I posted here he mentions Jessica Meuchel, 23, who uses a scooter to deliver daily newspapers in Pierre, S.D. He also decided to cover her in depth in a separate AP article that ran in local papers:

Jessica Meuchel cautiously edges her small scooter onto the street after dropping off a half dozen copies of the Pierre Capital Journal at a large office building best reached from an alley.

It is one of many stops she makes on this warm day, delivering 147 papers on a route that not only winds through the capital city but also extends to an upscale housing district across the Missouri River bridge that ties Pierre to Fort Pierre.

Meuchel chuckles when she tells a reporter that some customers in Fort Pierre call her "scooter girl.""It's my nickname. They don't know my real name, so they call me scooter girl. It's kind of cute," she said.

Short version here.

Long version here.

She also showed up here.

Gasoline pushing $3 gallon? Why worry?

So asks Joe Kafka of the AP who writes an article that has shown up in no less than 94 publications according to Google news. Here is the Google news search so you can pick which one you want to read. From the article:

Gasoline pushing $3 gallon? Why worry? Buy a motor scooter like thousands of other Americans and stretch that single gallon of gas a week or more.

"As people start driving them, they start finding more reasons to use them," said Doug Day, owner of Scooter Centrale and Vespa Hartford in Plainville, Conn.

"They're practical, easy to park and get great gas mileage. I put $5 worth of gas into mine when it's totally empty, compared to $50 in my SUV."

As gasoline prices soar, the popularity of peppy, fuel-sipping motor scooters _ most easily get 50 miles per gallon and some of the smaller ones get up to 80 mpg _ is soaring. Sales, estimated at 86,000 last year in the U.S. have doubled from 2000, according to the Motorcycle Industry Council...

MIC spokesman Mike Mount said the market gained momentum when upscale Italian scooter maker Piaggio re-entered the U.S. market with the legendary Vespa scooter in 2001. Motorcycle makers such as Honda and Yamaha also began offering new lines of scooters in recent years.

Currently On Current

Current TV, the happening new cable channel that may be more viewer interactive than QVC --it's certainly more interesting-- is running a little piece this month called 'Scooter Rage.' Host Vanessa Wruble thought a scooter rally might be a fun thing to attend and she was right -- fun, and funny. Click here to see if Current TV is available in your living room.

It's Not A Mopod Either!

Pah! It's a Mopah! What you get when you cross an electric scooter with an ipod, mopod appears to be the idea design student Michael Tseng was going for. I don't know why he called the result mopah. It could have as much to do with personal frustration in the realization of his vision as with corporate licensing*hazards. I do know why it looks so boxy, though. Beyond whatever manufacturing limitations Michael might have had, what he wanted to do all along --indeed, what he achieved-- was no less than the creation of another milestone in the line of portable stereos that started in the 1970's with the boombox.  This is elegantly made clear for us at MyAnalogReality.com in the theory and engineering sections. There is also a reaction section with pictures of hip urbanites checking it out and you can almost hear them saying, "How cool!" The reaction of my compatriot Neil Barton was to say no more than, "That has to be just about the ugliest scooter I have ever seen." But don't think of it as a scooter. Think of it as a boombox you can ride.

*The tip for this came from the UNOFFICIAL Apple weblog.

Canadian coverage

It looks like some of my Canadian coverage has left an impression on our friends in the North. Nick Frühling of British Columbia writes:

Just to let you know, in continuing with your coverage of Canadian news outlets publishing stuff about scooters and such, a Vespa Granturismo made it to the front page of one of the main newspapers in Vancouver, Canada.

The Province, sister publication to the Vancouver Sun, has an article on cutting the gas tax during these times of record high prices.  You can see the picture and read the article here.  Love the blog, by the way.

Saturday August 20 in Dallas: Scooter Exhibit Lecture

SCOOTER EXHIBIT LECTURE
Performance Space, 4th floor
Saturday, August 20, 2 - 4 p.m.
Local collector Steve Davis talks about this month's exhibit of classic motorized scooters from around the world and beyond.

Press release mentions which vintage models are on display, how long the show runs, etc.

Gas Prices Hit All Time High

High gas prices are good. High gas prices are very good. Have you bought your scooter yet? No? You definately should. Or you can wait it out, some experts say that the gas prices might break a little come September. But for right now it makes me smile when I pass by overly large inefficient vehicles on my vespa ET4.

NEW YORK (CNN) - Gas prices surged 20 cents over the past three weeks to an all-time high of $2.50 per gallon of self-serve regular, a national survey said Sunday.  The price surge "does smash the all-time record high for the third time this year," Trilby Lundberg, publisher of the Lundberg Survey, said.

"Crude oil has caused this jump at the pump," she said of the survey, taken Aug. 12 at about 7,000 gas stations in every state. "And even at the current record-breaking pump prices, gasoline demand, while not galloping, is still growing."

However, should the crude oil supply remain undisrupted, then, "The gasoline price surge itself will probably be ending soon, if it has not already," Lundberg said, citing an expected decrease in gasoline demand after August.

Read the CCN money article here.

Advertising done scooter-style

A Washington DC based pr/ad firm uses either Vespa ET2's or Et4's for advertising in town. Basically, because everyone likes to oogle at shiny Vespas, they drive em around town with ads on them/park them places. The writer of the article clearly was confused about which kind of Vespa was being used, as evidenced by this quote:

The four Vespa E24 scooters zipping through Northwest were towing - on custom-designed matching trailers - five-foot images advertising Abbott Laboratories' two new diabetes medications.

Ahh... the good ole E24's, a wonderful Vespa model indeed... if it existed. Other than that, the article makes for a decent read:

Blake Wirht, co-founder of Los Angeles-based Scooter Media, said his company is the first mobile U.S. advertising company to use scooters, which are less cumbersome and more versatile than trucks towing full-size billboards. The scooters also allow quicker stops in smaller places and can target a more specific audience.

And the scooters are, well, cute, Wirht said. "We managed to be cute and cool," said the former marketing and public relations manager for NetZero. "We gets smiles from kids, older people and the hipsters."

You can read the full article here

Electronic Eleven

Way back in July, as part of a post about the latest Marvel Team-up, I said I would follow that roster of superheroes with a little video game catalogue. I guess that xbox deal is well due since, without planning it, this list shows no games built around Marvel characters. Also without even trying, however, this list does have three games with scooters in them.

Jonathan's top eleven video game experiences (in order of occurence):
1. Night Driver
2. Battle Zone
3. Tempest
4. Q-bert
5. Freakshow
6. Runabout
7. Twisted Metal 2
8. Final Fantasy 7
9. Bushido Blade 1
10. Sitting Ducks
11. GTA 3

Daddy's Home

Part four in our space ship segment says simply that Discovery has returned safely. Says Howard Witt of the Chicago Tribune,

If that modest, almost circular goal lacked the drama and imagination of the first moon landing, it did not lack for importance. NASA needed a successful Discovery mission to erase the stain of the failed Columbia flight that came before it--and to prove to Congress and an increasingly skeptical American public that the bureaucracy-laden space agency can manage infinitely more complex plans to return to the moon and, eventually, fly on to Mars.

Adventure? Excitement? A Jedi craves not these things.

A Jedi may not crave these things, but Fumynori Saito does. He quit his job as a corporate real estate agent at Japan’s prestigious Sumitomo Corp and went on an incredible journey from the very bottom tip of South America to the Tip of North Americaon a 90cc scooter!!!! He made the journey of over 17,400 miles from the southern tip of Argentina to Deadhorse, Alaska, including several detours, in a little over six months. My tip to Saito: next time bring a Vespa GT with you, it would have made the trip a lot more pleasant. Below are a few highlights of his incredible journey taken from an article you can find here.

There are times when a GT would have come in handy:

“Patagonia was so windy, my motorbike didn’t have much power. I had to drive with my head down at 40 km/h, and I was at full throttle,” Saito said of his first day, often switching between English and Japanese. “My bike had a top speed of about 65-or-70 km if the conditions were perfect, but if there was wind or hills, it was much, much less.”

North of Santiago, Nori entered mountainous terrain, the Andes, and began to realize the limitations of his tiny scooter.“My bike wasn’t able to go very fast with the height of the mountains. I was at full throttle and was going about 10 km/h and my engine stalled a few times.

He had some lovely accommodations along the way:

“I received a very strange reception when I entered Peru on March 14,” Nori continued.The children, it seemed, were not as interested in strangers as the kids in Chile, and Nori was welcomed with a flurry of rocks. He also found “one of the dirtiest, smelliest” rural hotels that he had ever seen, and some of the nicest soldiers he’d ever met.“It (the room) made me think of Alcatraz as beautiful.”

Are you offering me a bribe?!? Okay then, I will take it:

Central America posed the hardest part of his journey. He had trouble finding his scooter as the shipping company kept giving him the run-around. He also had to bribe border officials in Nicaragua to gain access to Honduras and saw a person killed right outside the Mexican border in Guatemala. “It was the first time that I’ve ever seen anybody die. Right before the border, I saw a bus speed and run over a person. It scared me; it really scared me,” Nori said with a serious look.

Oh yeah, he coulda used a bigger bike here too, he could ALSO use a better strategy for raising money:

After crossing into the United States on June 4, Nori said he entered onto what he described as his “hell road” – the Interstate. “It was very scary, there were four lanes and cars were going 130 kilometres an hour. I thought about changing to a bigger bike but I didn’t have enough money so I decided to go to Las Vegas to try to get some money. “I had no luck (in Vegas) and I spent a lot of money.”

Vespa Scoots into Harleytown (Milwaukee)

I really enjoy reading stories about Vespa making inroads in the middle of the country. This means that the scooter rush that we are experiencing on the coasts in cities such as New York and San Fran is not a passing fad, but a real movement towards change. In my view this is a movement long overdue and speaks to the changing landscape of American cities. I truly believe that there is no better vehicle for urban transport than the scooter.

Immortalized by Audrey Hepburn in the 1953 romantic comedy "Roman Holiday," the famous Italian scooter Vespa is no longer a toy for the rich or must-have for the mod-obsessed. The style and finesse of the Vespa is catching on in this city, which has long been ruled by the Harley-Davidson motorcycle, said Joe Reina, co-owner of Reina International Auto and Vespa. High gas prices have been one of the biggest factors in the boom. Vespa posted a 62% increase in U.S. sales last year, and Reina said a similar increase can be seen locally. The growing popularity of the scooters led Reina in May to open a second location in downtown Milwaukee at 715 N. Milwaukee St. Reina is selling about 25 to 35 scooters a month…

Read the rest here.

My Scooter Theft Adventure by Nuclia Waste

There are many types of folks who ride scooters, all of us individuals in our own right. But Nuclia Waste is one of those riders that just grabs your attention. Is it because she is a drag queen on a scooter.. maybe.. but there is so much more to her. She is a star in her own right, as is her vespa Et4 painted green with orange flames. This is why it made me sad to read that it was stolen and trashed. I include here her story in her own words.  (You can also read local news coverage here)

My Vespa Scooter Theft Adventure
OR Why You Should Never Ever Steal A Scooter From A Drag Queen....

By Nuclia Waste

It was a dark and stormy night. Well, not really. Actually, it was a beautiful bright and sunny day in Colorado. Mr. Waste and I had decided to go camping over the July 4th weekend in the beauitful Colorado Rocky Mountains, so we left our house in Denver about noon on Saturday. Later that evening, a friend of mine, Michele, spotted my fluorescent green Vespa scooter with the hot pink flames (the one made famous in the April issue of Forbes magazine) zooming down Colfax Avenue. She immediately recognizes the scooter, but the person driving it does not have big green hair and three boobs.

Michele sends an email telling me about what she has witnessed, but of course I am still frolicking in the wilderness with the gay motorcycle club, The Rocky Mountaineers. So, upon our return on home on Sunday morning about 10:30 am, we discover our garage door wide open and the my famous green Vespa scooter gone! I immediately called the Denver police and filled out a stolen vehicle report with the officer who arrived. While we are standing there, a neighbor comes up and tells us that he saw three suspicious youths walking through our alleys on Saturday afternoon.

Knowing the police probably are not going to make a stolen scooter a priority, even if it does belong to Nuclia Waste, I decided it might not be a bad idea to go look for it myself.

In my best Angela "Murder She Wrote" Lansbury, I deduced:

1. If these kids were on foot, they might live nearby.
2. Being kids, they might have stolen it for kicks and a joy ride.
3. Being kids, they probably are not too bright and don't realize this is the most famous scooter in the city of Denver, and maybe the country. That custom green paint job can be seen for miles away.
4. With it being a beautiful day on Sunday, they might be riding it right now.

So I venture out to look for the darn thing. My friend Tai Beldock, who owns EricoMotorsports/Vespa Denver where I bought the scooter, calls and offers to help get my Vespa GT200 scooter out of their shop which was there for an oil change. (Thank goodness for that, or they might have stolen both! Note to others: Always have a second scooter stashed away somewhere for backup.)

So now you've got one pissed drag queen with some very fast wheels riding around Denver looking for some very hot wheels. You know there's gonna be trouble in Vehicle Theft Land!

Within one hour, I find my scooter being ridden by two kids not very far from my house. The scooter is still green but now I'm very red. I block them in with my scooter and tell them, "Get off that bike, park it, turn off the engine. You are riding a stolen bike and I am calling the police.'

Now the kid driving the bike is 16 and his 10 year old brother is riding on the back. The little brother takes off but the older kid just stands there with me. I call 911 for the police and we wait around for the while. The whole time I am thinking this kid is going to bolt at any minute. But he does not. (I was REALLY right about the not too bright part.)

So we wait for the police and I chat the kid up. He says he got the scooter "from a friend" and he thought it might be stolen. Of course, I am not believing any of this. He also tells me he just got out of jail a few days ago. Lovely. Then he asks if he can use my cell phone to call his mother.

"OK. Hmmm, let's see. You probably stole my scooter. You've trashed, wrecked and defaced the bike beyond recognition. And now you want to use the minutes on my cell phone. I think the answer is ......NO!!!!"

The police finally arrive. The kid has no ID and gives a name that apparently is not real. So they put him in handcuffs and tell him he is not under arrest, but they need to detain him in order to sort out his real information.

After verifying the VIN number on the scooter and confirming it is mine and matches the stolen vehicle report I filed just hours ago, the police do arrest the kid and haul him off the jail.

Tai Beldock and her husband John arrive on the scene for some moral support. Her husband thinks the bike will have to be totaled. Most likely the frame is bent. Not as bent as my attitude, I can tell you. The poor scooter, trashed, crashed and bashed, is hauled off to the impound lot for fingerprinting.

A few days later the detective working on the case informs me the kid is being charged with a Class 5 Felony, Theft By Receiving. Since he admitted to me that he thought the bike might be stolen and he was driving it, that right there is a crime in Denver. And since the scooter is a licensed motorized vehicle, it is treated just like any auto theft case.

I am afraid the Nuclia scooter had to be put down. Sniff, sniff. I never loved anything so much before that vibrated between my legs. The scooter was totaled. Luckily, my auto insurance came through with enough money for me to make plans for the Nuclia 2 Scooter. It will be bigger, faster and greener. Vespa comes out with the new GTS 250cc scooter in the spring and the green paint is ready to go when the first one drives off the boat.

So my stolen scooter story does have a happy ending. And a moral too.

Moral of the Story: Never, ever steal from a drag queen. She will hunt you down and make you pay. And she'll look fabulous the whole time she'd doing it.

Event: Twin Cities Skooter Du 6, Aug 12-14

Don't miss THE scooter event of the Twin cities. I got this email from John in MN, and I have to say, I really dig their logo:

If you are interested in promoting a little scooter culture, we have a rally coming up in mid-August that could use a little help. Thanks.

http://www.mirocat.com/2005/08/skooter-du-6-ten-days-and-counting.html

"A" Is For "Alice's"

Among many great places you can travel to on a Vespa, our premiere posting in the Destinations department is Alice's Restaurant in La Honda, California, at the intersection of scenic highways 35 and 84. On any Sunday one may see hundreds of motorcycles stopping there or driving past, just because of the lovely mountain roads between Silicon Valley and the sea. I recommend taking a scooter on a Saturday, though, because nearby Cañada Road is closed every Sunday to all vehicles excepts bicycles. Those lovely roads do attract a lot of bicyclists too, so be on the lookout for them whenever rounding a blind turn. A few of the velo guys hate anything with a motor in it. A few others, more familiar with European customs, will accept a draft up a long incline if you know how to provide one. Regardless, leave them alone on Cañada Road; leave them behind as you find the top of your throttle. This map shows you how to find it from the North.

Approaches to Alice's

1. Cañada Road From Trousdale Drive in Millbrae, Black Mountain Road in Burlingame, or Crystal Springs Road in San Mateo, follow Skyline South along the reservoir until it intersects with Highway 92 (East on 92 reconnects with Skyline upon the ridge, or, over the ridge it goes to Half Moon Bay and Highway 1). West on 92 goes to Redwood City and the San Mateo Bridge. That's the left turn you want to make for the first right turn on Cañada Road (unless it's Sunday) to continue along the reservoir. At the intersection with Woodside Road in Woodside, make a Right. 1A. Route 84 is now the road you're on, and you can follow it all the way up the hill to Alice's. 1B. King's Mountain Road appears on the right at the end of the straightaway through Woodside, with a sign for Huddart Park. Make that Right, pass Huddart Park, climb all the way to the top and turn left on Skyline to get to Alice's.

2. Big Basin Way From Highway 9 in Saratoga, wind your way up the hill and make a Right at the top. From Highway 9 in Santa Cruz, wind your way up the hill and a Left at the top. From the intersection of 9 and 35, it's six and one half miles to Alice's.

3. La Honda Road From Highway 1 in Pacifica, or Highway 1 in Santa Cruz, head inland at San Gregorio for some of the sweetest sets of S-curves ever.

Vespa US Campaign:"Make Your Reality a Dream"

Here comes the press release! Find it here and here. To quote:

Taking its cue from Italian cinema posters, a series of ads that reflect both the convenience and practicality of using a Vespa, and the innate sense of fun and freedom that riding a Vespa delivers. Four scenarios all emphasize everyday activities that become anything but ordinary when riding a Vespa. Entitled to the dentist, the commute, to the in- laws, and out of milk each layout resembles a film poster replete with laurels exclaiming "sexiest ride in town" "superior head turning ability" and "astonishing pedestrian envy" among others. A fifth layout, the 24-hour joyride, is an invitation to test drive that dealers will use.

Here are the images Vespa is using for the campaign (click to enlarge, I need to get better quality ones but these will do for now):

Scooter War3z!!!!

This is fantastic, I have to quote the game makers themselves directly here:

It's mayhem with scooters! Scooter War3z delivers a surprising combination of high-speed racing, crash'em up action and death defying ragdoll stunts. Discover the dark but alive world of Scooter War3z, taking place in a free-roaming city featuring several interconnected neighborhoods, where it's all about winning.

It is mayhem indeed. Does this means Scooters are making it culturally, now that we have our own urban war game? You be the judge.

Read about it here, Download the demo it here

Video:Local St Louis TV Station Does Fluff Piece on Scooters

From the news page:

There are retro-styled models, and sleek new designs. Italian-made, and ultra-convenient. No cost to park, and up to 100 miles to the gallon. Is it any wonder scooters are one of the fastest growing forms of personal transportation? Story by Chris Balish.

Watch the newsreel here.

Vespa Marketing Gnomes Invade Framingham, MA Newspaper?

I think the Vespa marketing gnomes are at it again. They scored a 2 for 1 this time in the Metro West Daily News which comes to us from Framingham, MA. The first of two articles reviews the Granturismo 200 and I do have to agree with the author’s opening comments:

What's the point of taking a drive in your car on a nice day? Unless you are driving at an intolerably slow pace, the car windows will likely be up and the air conditioning and radio will be humming. There is nothing sensory about the experience. But if you replace the car with a speedy little scooter, we're talking about a whole new ballgame. I recently raced up and down Rte. 20 atop a sexy white Vespa Granturismo 200 with my guide Amine Nasr, a 24-year-old dental student and Vespa enthusiast.

The second article also talks about Vespas as well as other scooters in general, (there are other kinds of scooters?!?!?). Of course saying "Vespa" pretty much defines scooter for me, but you can read that artile here.

Biz news: Piaggio USA Appoints New Prez

Here comes the press release:

NEW YORK, Aug. 1 /PRNewswire/ -- Piaggio USA, manufacturer of the world-famous Vespa® scooter and pioneer of the two-wheel vehicle, announced today the appointment of Paolo Timoni as the new president and CEO of Piaggio USA, Inc.

Mr. Timoni, who previously served as senior vice president of sales and marketing for the Piaggio Group worldwide, has relocated to the U.S. and will be responsible for leading all U.S. brand operations, as well as developing North and South American expansion opportunities.

Mr. Timoni's appointment represents Piaggio Group's focus on aligning senior leadership with strong growth opportunities around the globe. Since returning to the U.S. market in 2001, Piaggio and its dealer network have made great headway in increasing brand awareness, building excitement about scootering, and driving sales. Recent acquisitions by Piaggio Group of Aprilia and Moto Guzzi have also opened substantial opportunities in the large and well-established U.S. motorcycle market.

Italy Puts the Brakes on Scooter Rebels

From the Times Online:

ITALIAN police may soon be given the power to confiscate scooters from riders travelling without a helmet or carrying too many passengers. A parliamentary bill expected to pass into law this autumn would enable police to take immediate action against anyone riding illegally. It marks a small revolution for the 10m Italians who use a scooter daily. For many, the obligation to wear a helmet not only violates their personal freedom but also cramps their style.

Interesting information about accidents in Italy:

The crackdown will not be easy to enforce. According to a survey by the Italian Automobile Club, 13% of scooter owners do not wear helmets and 15% carry more riders than they should. Although most teenagers have scooters designed for one rider, 50% admit that they often travel in pairs, keeping a lookout for police.

My favorite quote from the article:

In Naples it is common to see an entire family — father, mother and toddlers — riding a single scooter. Neapolitan police hand out 125,000 fines a year to offenders who fail to use a helmet or carry too many passengers, 10 times as many fines as in Milan or Rome. In law-abiding Florence, however, 99.7% of riders wear a helmet.

Read it in full here.