Vespaway

Springtime means change is in the air

It has been quiet here of late. I recently started a new job which has occupied my attention for a bit, and Jonathan became a father and moved across country! But another more important reason for the quiet: I have been waiting on some big changes to occur to the Vespa blogging world. Finally the changes have taken place, so I am happy to announce that Crystal Waters of Vespaquest is coming to join me here at Vespaway!

Crystal and I have been chatting about scootering stuff offline since we met a year ago when we both started blogging for Vespa. I am very excited to be able to continue that dialogue here on Vespaway for the benefit of the Vespa blog readers. Crystal & I have a couple of ideas that I think people will really enjoy. I don’t want to talk about them just yet, but I think that combining our talents on a single Vespa blog will yield some interesting results! Look for Crystal’s first post this week.

I want to thank Jonathan for having been such a wonderfully interesting writer & partner here on Vespaway this past year. It goes without saying that without his voice (as well as Justene’s voice on Vespaquest) the vespa blogging experiment would not have been nearly as enjoyable. 

As luck would have it, just as Crystal is coming on board I will be going away for a few days to London. I will return on Wednesday of next week. Until then, have a happy St. Patrick’s day!

Italians make solar powered "scooter"

I guess when you get tired of riding Vespas in Rome, you can unfold one of these neat thing:

  Sun-powered traffic-beater can be packed away like a bag (ANSA) Rome, March 3 - A group of young Italians has come up with a solar-powered scooter you can put under the desk or stairs after it helps you beat inner-city traffic .

Nicknamed 'Sunny', the three-wheeler has a top speed of a nifty 20 kph and sufficient oomph to keep weaving through the logjams for a full working day - with enough power left for a night on the town .

"We've really come a long way since Sunny was launched as a prototype in October," said project leader Domenico Iacurto, who heads a five-man team working in a small town north of Rome, Fabrica di Roma near Viterbo .

"We've upped the power and the operational range as well as improving the design" .

After it has tooled you round town, Sunny can be packed away like a trolley bag, Iacurto says .

"The panels fold up like a book, the front wheel disappears and the saddle retracts into Sunny's body" .

The Italian invention, which weighs a mere 30kg, is one of the stars of a Rome show this weekend on eco-friendly vehicles .

Source