In fact one state wants a list of mentors that would be willing to mentor a new scooter rider and they would distribute that information to all new scooter registrants. Other state representatives are very helpful with advice and feedback. The idea definitely has legs.

In order to pursue this idea further I launched ScooterMentors.org this morning. I want to try to make the mentoring idea as inclusive as possible for all scooter riders and so I wanted to move it off the Burgman focused site.

You know how much I value your opinions and feedback so I don’t want you to be a stranger in offering help and suggestions about how we might be able to be a friend and mentor to new scooter riders to help them avoid trouble on the roads during their early days.

The idea is simple, just go for a ride with new scooter rider and show them how an experienced rider, rides.

Steve

©2008 Suzuki Burgman Scooter Riders - 'Lovers of Fun'. All Rights Reserved.

By the way, I’m going to be joining them in Raleigh and ride along for a bit. As you will see in the interview below, you are invited along anywhere on their trip as well. You can contact Ali and Tim directly for meeting details.

Steve

August 1: Greenville to Spartanburg to Columbia
August 2: Columbia to Bluffton to Hilton Head to Beaufort
August 3: Beaufort to Charleston to Myrtle Beach
August 4: Myrtle Beach to Cape Fear, NC to Raleigh
August 5: Raleigh to Greensboro to Winston Salem to Charlotte
August 6: Charlotte to Asheville to Greenville

2wheels4water Route

Q1: So you’re off on a scooter trip around the Carolina’s to raise money for water resources in developing countries. That’s a pretty interesting use of a scooter. Why a scooter?

Tim and I both love scooters. When we got married last September we decided that our first major purchase would be a Vespa. In May we finally made that dream come true when we purchased our Vespa ET2. We started talking about how fun it would be to take a long trip on the scooter and that transformed into making it a charity ride to raise money for an amazing organization called Hydromissions. We have known about Hydromissions for a while and I just had this burning desire to help them. 2 Wheels 4 Water turned out to be a unique, fun way we could help them.

Q2: It looks like you’ll have some big travel days and long distances to cover on a 50cc scooter. How have you prepared for such a long trip on a small scooter?

I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little unsure about the trip. The longest trip I have ever taken on the scooter is about two hours. But then again, when I ran my first marathon I had never run 26.2 miles, so it just takes faith and endurance. It’s also good to know that we have nice places to stay every night along the way. Hampton Inn donated hotel stays for us so we can rest up. Plus knowing that the distance we cover will translate into money for an organization we believe in is extra motivation.

Q3: Do you have any concerns about heading out on a 1,200 mile trip on a 50cc scooter?

There is always the unexpected but we know it will be an adventure. Our scooter (the one I will be riding) is technically a 50cc, but it has modifications to give it extra power which is nice when you are side-by-side with traffic. The wonderful people at Touring Sport BMW here in Greenville, SC are loaning us a 250cc Vespa for the trip. My husband will be riding that one. We plan to take a small gas can with us in case we can’t find a gas station. We also have a tire repair kit in the event of a flat. We also know that the people in the Carolinas are so friendly that it won’t be hard to find someone to help us if we need it.

Q4: Why scootering for water? Is this a combination of the love of two passions?

We are a pretty ordinary couple. We don’t have lots of cash to donate. We aren’t celebrities. But we do have a scooter and a passion to help others. We are proving that you don’t have to have lots of money or power to do your part and make a difference. We just found an organization we believe in and we wanted to help them.

Hydromissions was started in 2004 by Steve and Jennifer Lorch. In just four years since they founded Hydromissions they’ve worked to bring access to clean water to over 30 countries. Without having any engineering background, they used 100-year-old sets of encyclopedias for inspiration to invent low-tech water pumps. They go to third world countries and teach people how to install, operate and maintain these pumps. I love Hydromissions because it’s not an organization that is just throwing money or expensive equipment at people. They are teaching people how to get clean water and that translates into saving lives. The numbers are huge- 1.1 billion people don’t have access to clean drinking water. It would be easy to get overwhelmed by that number and just think that it’s too big of a problem to be solved. But Hydromissions knows it’s not about helping all 1.1 billion people. It’s about helping one village at a time and impacting the lives of those people forever.

Q5: How can people in the scooter world help support your fundraising goals?

There are so many ways you can help. First of all, you can support us by making a donation or a pledge. You can do that by visiting our website at www.2wheels4water.com and clicking on the “Donate/Contact” page. Every penny we raise goes directly to Hydromissions. Secondly, you can support Hydromissions by purchasing some of the soap they manufacture.

Currently they fund their trips to third world countries by selling soap that is made in a one-car garage here in South Carolina. You can buy the soap by visiting www.Hydromissions.com. Thirdly, you are more than welcome to ride with us! Check out our route on our website and let us know if you are interested in joining us. Finally, just help us get the word out. If you have a blog, write about our trip and post a link to our site. We want as many people as possible to know about the work of Hydromissions.

Q6: How did you pick the route and are you sticking to back roads?

My husband was in charge of making the route. We decided to try to drive about 200 miles a day. So once we had the main stopping points nailed down my husband mapped out back roads to each location. We are really looking forward to riding along the coast. Our goal is to avoid as much traffic as possible. We’ll probably get lost a few times along the way, but hey, that’s part of the fun.

©2008 Suzuki Burgman Scooter Riders - 'Lovers of Fun'. All Rights Reserved.

Hanoi and Soon to Be Peoria Scooter Traffic?

Maybe you’ve noticed a lot of newbie scooter riders on the road. I have. And that is confirmed by the huge rise in scooter dales over the past year. High gas prices have tipped people out of 4 wheels and onto 2 to help save money.

Just last weekend at the bike meet we were talking about how easy it is to spot the newbie scooter riders. Maybe you’ve noticed the same thing, they don’t wave. It’s not that they are anti-social but this new crop of scooter riders is a bit different than us lovers of two wheels.

For those of us that love to ride and ride the Burgman, we look at what we do as being part of a community. Many new riders just look at their scooter as cheap transportation and if gas went down by half a whole lot of those new scooter would be on eBay or parked. They are not enthusiastic about riding, but thrilled about 50 mpg.

The other trend that concerns me is that these newbie riders will lead to higher injury rates. A look around confirmed that most new rider accidents as driver faults, just due to a lack of experience, mentoring or training. More injuries will lead to a reaction from government and that will lead to more regulation. Not necessarily a bad thing.

Maybe one suggestion is to require new scooter riders to take a safety class before delivery. But who would teach it? Many motorcycle classes are backlogged now. Probably a non-starter idea but certainly it would not hurt at all. And here is a good reason why.

A year or so ago I was in Bermuda and met this woman that was limping and had a bandaged right arm. She told me about how she had an accident riding her rented scooter. She was ranting and raving about how bad the scooter was and that people should not be allowed to ride 50cc scooters.

In listening to her story I caught one very important point. She said she sailed off the scooter to the right when she made a 30 mph left turn. I asked her how she turned to the left and she demonstrated a hard turn of the handlebars to the left.

Seems she high sided off the scooter and threw her own self off. She just didn’t know it. She also mentioned that the turn was sandy but she hadn’t slowed down for that either. [Insert shaking head]

Maybe one suggestion is that we could contact our local dealers and offer to ride with any new scooter riders. It doesn’t have to be a formal class but a little mentoring goes a long way.

Photo by: Flickmor

©2008 Suzuki Burgman Scooter Riders - 'Lovers of Fun'. All Rights Reserved.

When you invest money, as little as $25, to help someone, you are not giving it away, you are making a loan and when the money is repaid you can withdraw it to put back in your pocket or you can lend it out to another in need of your help.

I would not ask you to do anything I would not do. You can visit my lender page on Kiva to see who I have lent money to.

Steve

For more information on each person below, click on the link under their picture.

$450 of $975 raised.

Started raising funds on Nov 13, 2008




Ayedzo Okoumassi est un jeune homme âgé de 35 ans, marié et père de 2 enfants. Il est revendeur de motos à Atakpamé, une ville située à environ 170 kilomètres de Lomé, la capitale togolaise. Afin de sécuriser ses stocks, il souhaite avec ce crédit construire un magasin pour le stockage de ses marchandises.

Diana Chota Marquez : Peru

$75 of $500 raised.

Started raising funds on Nov 17, 2008




La señora Diana pertenece al Banco Comunal Pastaza ubicado en el Jr. Comandante Barrera Nº 558, distrito de Callería, provincia de Coronel Portillo, departamento de Ucayali. Tiene 22 años de edad, es madre de 2 hijos menores de edad que aún dependen de ella, es casada y su esposo trabaja como mecánico de motos. Con el primer préstamo que recibió de Manuela Ramos de S/. 300 decide invertir en la venta de comida. Tiene un año trabajando con el banco comunal.

En la actualidad se dedica a la venta de repuestos para motos. Tiene el apoyo de su esposo para la administración de su negocio.

Con este préstamo de S/. 1,500, el cual será pagado en 5 meses, comprará 2 cientos de pernos, 40 rodajes, 2 docenas de cadenas, 2 docenas de anillos para motos, etc.

Diana se siente contenta porque ha encontrado la felicidad al lado de su familia y con la ayuda de Manuela Ramos su negocio ha crecido.

Bashiran M.Aslam Group : Pakistan

$225 of $925 raised.

Started raising funds on Nov 18, 2008




Bashiran baji is the wife of M.Aslam, and they reside in the city of Borewala, Pakistan, where they have lived for the past 12 years. She is the mother of five children: three daughters and two sons. Her older son is a bus driver (he drives a local, 32-seat bus), and her younger son is a student in the 9th standard. As for her daughters, her oldest daughter is a student in the 9th standard, her middle daughter is in the 6th standard, and her youngest daughter is in the 3rd standard. For the past 10 years, Bashiran baji’s husband has owned and operated a spare parts business, where he specializes in selling bicycle parts.

Meanwhile, Bashiran baji herself has a sewing business: she takes sewing orders from clients in her neighborhood, and she then completes such orders for a profit. She notes that she has been sewing clothes for the past 25 years, and that she began in this line of work when she was just 13 years old. Notably, she has already successfully repaid two prior loans from Asasah, a microfinance institute of Pakistan. Now she is applying for another loan to buy more bicycle spare parts to expand her husband’s business.

Bashiran baji is joined in her loan group by three other members: Hanifan baji seeks a loan to buy materials (e.g., wood and nails) for her furniture business (she makes wooden benches); Sharifan baji requests a loan to buy motorcycle spare parts to resell; and Rehana baji would like a loan to buy seasonal fruits to resell. This is a group loan; as such, the loan proceeds will be distributed amongst the group members, each of whom will invest in her own business. Notably, the group members mutually guarantee one another’s loans; as a result, if one group member does not repay her portion of the loan, then the other members are responsible for curing the arrears.

DOMINGO : Bolivia

$350 of $950 raised.

Started raising funds on Nov 17, 2008




DOMINGO ES CASADO, LA FAMILIA COMPONE DE 3 HIJOS DE 6, 16 Y 18 AÑOS, TODOS SOLTEROS, CON RESIDENCIA EN MINERO. SUS ACTIVIDADES SON COMERCIO DE COMIDAS Y RENTA DE MOTOTAXI, LA MISMA CUENTA CON MUCHOS AÑOS DE EXPERIENCIA EN EL RUBRO, TIENE POCA COMPETENCIA EN LA ZONA., EL DESTINO DEL CREDITO ES PARA COMPRA DE MOTO. PARA HACER TRABAJAR Y PERCIBIR RENTA DEL MISMO, EL CLIENTE TIENE BUEN HISTORICO CON NUESTRA INSTITUCION, NO TIENE DEUDA DIRECTA O INDIRECTA CON OTRAS INSTITUCIONES.

Veng Sun : Cambodia

$625 of $1,000 raised.

Started raising funds on Nov 11, 2008




Mr. Veng Sun, and his wife, Mrs. Chanthy Sim, 25, live in a small village along National Road Two, about twenty kilometers south of Phnom Penh. They have been married for one year and have one daughter, she is eight days old.

Mr. Veng has been a security guard since 2005. His wife has been a factory worker for five years. Both husband and wife are working in Phnom Penh City and they usually go to work by motor taxi and the cost is very high.

Veng is requesting a loan of US$1000 to purchase a motorcycle for going to work.

Martin Sanabria : Paraguay

$25 of $1,000 raised.

Started raising funds on Nov 18, 2008




El Señor Martin Sanabria de 37 años de edad esta felizmente casado hace 10 años con la señora Cristina Benítez de 28 años, el matrimonio tiene dos hijos de 8 y 6 años de edad, el primero está en el segundo grado y el otro en el primer grado.nEl señor Martin se dedica a está actividad desde que tenía 20 años , siendo soltero, luego se casó formando su propio hogar y continuo en el mismo ramo, ademas incursiono tambien a la venta de pescado. Cabe mencionar que el señor dispone de una moto en la cual diariamente sale para ofrecer sus mercaderias cubriendo la zona aledañas a la ciudad.nEl cliente solicita el préstamo para la compra de remeras, pantalones, ropa interior, sulfa carbón, 25 tetra , apirón, lascamicetina, dolanet, todos medicamentos de venta libre. De esta forma aumentar su stock de mercaderias y asi ofrecer mayor variedad y calidad de productos a sus clientes.nnnnnnnnnn

©2008 Suzuki Burgman Scooter Riders - 'Lovers of Fun'. All Rights Reserved.

A Keizer man was transported to Salem Hospital after he was struck by an SUV while riding his scooter.

Malcolm Gilbert Clarkson, 84, was southbound on Windsor Island Road when he was hit by a 2003 Ford Explorer. Clarkson was driving a 2005 Honda scooter.

A witness at the scene stated the driver of the Explorer, later confirmed as Anna Marie Klossen, 42, also of Keizer, made a left turn directly into Clarkson’s path.

As of Wednesday, Keizer Police Department was still investigating the case. No citations were issued.

Clarkson was later transferred to Legacy Emmanuel Hospital in Portland.

I was more impressed by the fact that Mr. Clarkson was out riding his Honda scooter. I can only hope that when I’m 84 that I’ll still be riding.

Granted at 84 my reaction times will be a bit slower but I’ll compensate for that by being sprayed in DayGlo yellow from head to toe with a flashing red strobe light on top of my head.

I hope Mr. Clarkson isn’t injured too badly and can look forward to riding his scooter again, soon.

Curious, I wonder who the oldest Suzuki Burgman rider is? Anyone know?

©2008 Suzuki Burgman Scooter Riders - 'Lovers of Fun'. All Rights Reserved.

©2008 Suzuki Burgman Scooter Riders - 'Lovers of Fun'. All Rights Reserved.

Restoration Tips for Joe Sixpack - Episode 78
SHOW NOTES: Have you noticed that scooting makes for a nice diversion from everyday life? I have been riding as often as possible and with every other spare moment running out to the garage or down to the paint booth I built in the basement to work on my Ducati moped. Marcel has made several [...]

7Hills Scooter Rally, more of Ed and the St Louis Scooter Club - Episode 77
SHOW NOTES: If you are even remotely in the vicinity next week I am hoping you will consider coming to the Indian Summer Rally in Richmond. This is the premier rally of the 7Hills Scooter Club and I am sure it will include a killer city ride along the river, one like those I am [...]

Ed Reggi and the St Louis Scooter Club - Episode 76
SHOW NOTES: Sorry for the delay in getting this podcast out. Once again, I have been consumed by work and all my scooting activities have taken a back seat to attending  meetings and writing reports. But this past weekend I had a well deserved reprieve. If you have been reading the blog, you know that [...]

7hills Scooter Club Ride-out
Weekends are for scooting. Well, at least that’s what I say during the week, when I rarely get to scoot enough to quench my thirst for the sweet smell of oil and gas. Yesterday was one of those sweet days when I hooked up with the peeps from the local scooter club and went on [...]

A Scooter Week with Clinics and a Motor Rebuild - Episode 75
SHOW NOTES: This has been a busy scooter week. In the past week we have had an automatic scooter workshop at Scootrichmond, I spent time rebuilding the 50cc motor for my 1965 Ducati and on top of all that, I was trying to keep up with the Cannonball scooter run, which wrapped up this past [...]

Scooter Cannonball Update - Episode 74
Show Notes: Last night Rob Taylor gave me an update on the Cannonball ride from somewhere in eastern Kansas. There have been some beautiful rides, but also several crashes and a few tickets. The riders are midway through the ride and have experienced a few break-downs and one serious injury. JimT is out with a [...]

2008 Scooter Cannonball Run Begins - Episode 73
The Scooter Cannonball Run is a coast to coast endurance event for scooters up to 252cc. The start was yesterday in San Fransisco and it will finsh next Saturday in Ocean City Maryland.  It is a test of both rider and machine that covers over 3000 miles and takes in some of the best [...]

Piaggio Co History and the Vespa Museum - Episode 72
SHOW NOTES: There have been a ton of books written about Italian scooters maybe because they are, at the same time, both practical and nostalgic. The Piaggio company was founded in 1884 by Rinaldo Piaggio just outside of Genoa, Italy. The company started as a woodworking shop, making interiors for ships, but branched out by [...]

Returning to Rome
It has been a beautiful week in Florence, with a side trip to Pontedera to see the Piaggio Museum. Today we are taking the train back to Rome and will spend the evening as Le Lanterna, one of our favorite places to have dinner. I took some time yesterday to post more pictures to the [...]

Scootercast from Florence Italy - Episode 71
Show Notes: This episode was done after arriving in Florence Italy, having just come from Ragusa which is in the southern part of the island of Sicily. While there it was a week of family dinners, celebration and of course lots and lots of conversation. Since I am at best, conversational in Italian, it means [...]

Trip Update
Wireless is hard to come by in the little towns of Sicily. So here is a great experiment, can I blog from my iPhone? Italy is hot in the summer but a good time to visit because everyone goes to the mountains or sea. Rome was empty and we walked up to the Spanish Steps, [...]

Scooter Quest with a Technology Twist - Episode 70
There have been a ton of scooter riders out there this summer cutting across the United States in all different directions. So when I got an email from Sean Blake about his ride, I said to my self “so what?” Later, I went to his website, Scooter Quest, I realized that this was something different. [...]

Episode 69 - PEACE Scooter Celebration at ScootRichmond
SHOW NOTES: One of our friends, a native Sicilian is getting some kind of “Italian made good in the US of A” awards and since most of her family can’t make it back to the old country, Marcel and I “said sure why not, we’ll go.” As you might imagine, this is going to be [...]

Episode 68 - Scooter Safety Tips
SHOW NOTES: It seems that in just about every part of my life these days I am thinking about scooting. At the same time, I think more and more about how riding and safety go hand in hand. I think about is getting hit, even when I’m doing everything right. Several months ago, we were [...]

PEACE Scooter Returns to Richmond, Ginormous Celebration Planned
It was a few short months ago that P.E.A.C.E. Scooter left Richmond, VA for points west. One woman following her dream and now, 22,000 miles, 182 days on the road, 29 states, thousands of conversations about Peace and $8k raised, she returns to ScootRichmond where the ride began. Alix has proven that women can safely [...]

Episode 67 - Rain on Amerivespa 2008, but it was a good time
SHOW NOTES: Scooter Club of the Golden Triangle and Christina Chen report that the big shots of Amerivespa decided to hold next year’s event in sunny San Jose, California. The rally will coincide with the 20th Anniversary of Vespa Club Los Gatos who will play host to the event. So there you go, no excuses [...]

Scooters in the Jerusalem
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 [...]

Episode 66 - Suzuki Burgman Scooters and a PEACE Scooter Update
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 [...]

Weekend Scooter Cleanup
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 [...]

Episode 65 - Iphone Envy and a New Lambretta Scooter Bible
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 [...]

Toronto Twisted Wheel Rally a Big Success!
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.

WPvideo 1.10

Episode 64 - Vespa GTS Scooter Bling and Scooter News
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, [...]

Episode 63 - More About Denver Scooter Shops
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 [...]

Sadness and more sadness
In general my life is or has been very good. Some days are sad, but this has been a really sad day. I have had Bella and Courtney as constant companions for more than twelve years. They were my company on that long strange diversion through Texas and then very patient travelers when we moved [...]

Episode 62 - Scooter Friends and Rockabilly Music
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 [...]

Busy, busy, busy…you know what I mean.
Not enough time for all my scooter endeavors like the blog and the SCTRCST podcast. One up side is that I have been saving up all my notes and will have a killer show this week, including music from a guy that I played with in the bars around Boulder, CO. Look for the podcast [...]

Wall Street Journal Likes the Vespa LX
WSJ is jumping on the band wagon, reporting about the Vespa LX and scooters in NYC. Check out the video here:

Episode 61 - Vespadition Crashes and Burns
Show notes: I have been obsessing for about a week on what to say about the meteoric fall of Vespadition. I know that it’s hard to draw a line between truth and fiction, especially on the Internet and I have toyed with saying nothing or reporting on dirty details, accusations and counter claims. Some of [...]

Episode 60 - Finally some scooter news and a podcast
Show notes: If you have been following my blog you know I have had a few interruptions in my regular routine. I’ll try to catch up and there is allot to catchup on.
First, Amerivespa is now open for registration. If you haven’t been over to the sight click on over and you can find more [...]

©2008 Suzuki Burgman Scooter Riders - 'Lovers of Fun'. All Rights Reserved.

Both scooters are 150cc 4-stroke with very similar performance and specs. Both are from the drafting tables of Nova Design. Both are from SYM, but only ONE has a chance to make it to the USA. So what’s it gonna be? You choose.
Review of the VS 150 is HERE.
Couldn’t find an English review of the Fighter, but here’s a Video commercial.

***UPDATE 11/18/08 3:30pm***
You may notice a problem with the “Show results” button only saying there is “1 vote”. Don’t worry, I will tack the tallied info up at the end of this week or you could just click on the title link to go straight to BlogFlux. Right now we are at about 100 votes. Keep ‘em comin’!
Here they are in white so you can see the details.

Major Kong scooter

It’s never too late to prepare for next Halloween or even your next rally.  Don your favorite cowboy garb and swing yer cowboy hat in the air and hold tight cause it’s gonna be a bumpy ride!

If Major T.J. “King” Kong is too far of a faded memory, you could always dress as Homer Simpson and reenact a similar scene (which I could only find in Spanish).

I found this thing over at Disaboom.com

Jobs for out of work scooters

If low gas prices have you back to driving your 4WD Dually to the office you should consider a career for your out of work scooter.  Here’s an idea from ace2heart.  It’s not real, mind you, but a concept called “Sweep-scooter” that he/she entered into the Worth1000 Dream Vehicles 5 contest. 

Just thought it could give you some ideas to keep your poor, lonely scooter active and engaged during these times of $2/gal gas.  Don’t worry Scooty!  You’ll be back to work before you can say “carbon tax”.

People STILL hating on scooters?!

(what are people so frightened of? a little ol’ scooter?! I wish I could remember the source of this image)

Hrm… this question still prevails. I remember asking something similar back in 2005 and just when I thought everything was cool and that scooters were finally being embraced by people (specifically Americans), I see signs showing otherwise.

Personally, I’m sorta sheltered from scooter haters. I hang out with scooter people, I read scooter sites and magazines, most of my friends think they’re pretty cool. So imagine my confusion when I stopped by Motorcycle.com’s YouTube channel today. There was the Majesty video I did some time ago. It had over 27,000 views and a 4 star rating with 30 comments. I was thinking “Wow! The scooter fans really dig this one!”, and then I read the comments. Things like:

“lol i throw a fu*king big stick in fornt of that freaking faygo haha.”

Now, I’m not sure what that means, but I’m not sure the Insane Clown Posse would appreciate your useage of profanities in the same sentence (if you can call it that) with their favorite drink.

What could be the source of the hate? Is it that people associate “Scooter Libby” with scooters? Is it that people are too insecure to ride them? Is it because Jim Belushi rides one? I thought people liked Jim Belushi. I don’t know the answer, but I do know this… SCOOTERS ROCK!

So, what’s your take? Why the hard feelings against scoots?

PennDOT puts the brakes on Chinese Scoots!?

(PennDOT says “zhè zú gòu le, xiè xiè” to Chinese scooters. source: flickr/ironleg)

A recent article in the power sports industry trade mag, Dealer News, reports that Pennsylvania has put a hold on registering any scooter with a “L” VIN. It may be hard to imagine, but Pennsylvania may be just the first state to exercise a crackdown on Chinese bikes. Here’s a snippet from the original story:
Scooter sales are through the roof. But some dealers in Pennsylvania haven’t been able to deliver a single scooter for the past two months. There’s even been talk that at least one dealer has gone out of business. Is it a supply-and-demand problem? No. The dealers have plenty to sell, and people are willing to buy. It’s a registration problem.

In an online bulletin dated September, the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation informed dealers that they could no longer issue temporary registrations and tags for any scooter or motorcycle with a VIN that begins with the letter “L,” the country code for China. Instead dealers must send these title applications to the department’s Special Services Unit in Harrisburg. The unit inspects the applications and decides if a title may be issued. The unit checks each VIN with an online database maintained by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), the federal agency to which importers submit their paperwork.This is not only affecting the “fly by nighters” but also the more established brands like TNG, Lance, United Motors and QLink. Chinese distributors call it discrimination, some dealers say they can’t believe it, other say it’s about time. I just wonder what the impact will be if this really is just the first of many state crackdowns. You can click on the title link to read the whole story.

Deal of the decade or dealer of death? The $315 scooter.

I’m a fan of extremes (I was gonna say ‘acrophiliac’ but that’s heights what the word for ‘extreme lover’?) , so in reaching across the spectrum of scooter prices we’ve seen a vintage going for $25k, there’s the modern Piaggio MP3-500 which will take you above the $10k mark once you get her out the door and on the other side of the spectrum is what you see here.

I won’t tell you the name since I got this in a spam last week, but I couldn’t believe my eyes. THREE HUNDRED and FIFTEEN bucks for a new scooter?! You can’t buy a USED scooter for $315. I don’t know how they do it, but my question for you is… Would you rock the $300 scooter down the street? Speaking of rocks, this was part of the description:
“Two 50CC model with rock price, 20 % off. the lowest price in the world.”

Wow! It is actually the price of a rock! For real look here. Opinions?

Ride it or trailer it? How Batman gets to the rally

He trailers it.

You wanna see something cool? It’s not new, but check out the homemade Tumbler. Bob Dullam’s got SKILLS!

The Bat Scooter also made a listphobia list.

2009 Scooter Model Round-up - Malaguti

Since we’re expecting a slow news week… you know, no big announcements or anything ;), we’ll be keeping an eye on EICMA #66.  This will be the show where the remaining 2009 models are expected to shake out.  What’s new?  What’s exciting?  What’s expected?  Stay tuned as we run through them this week.

First let’s start with a brand that’s not going to make much of a difference to us because you can’t get them in the USA, Malaguti.  Malaguti has trumped Piaggio’s MP3 for bad-choice-of-names with their new 125cc / 160cc Malaguti BLOG.  I’ll be on the lookout for the Aprilia Ninja Cat and Italjet Hadron Collider 250 announcements this week too.

The Malaguti Blog is described as such:
“an agile scooter, easy to ride in the city traffic thanks to its low seat, with large wrap-around leg shield and windshield, compact and short wheelbase, flat platform, under-seat storage compartment big enough to hold 2 jet helmets, double disc brake, high-powered frontlight.  The maximum comfort combined with the modern and aggressive, elegant and dynamic design of a “Made in Italy” scooter.  BLOG are equipped with the innovative and reliable 160 and 125 cc, liquid cooled, electronic injected engine, the ones assembled also on the CENTRO range.  They grant excellent results in terms of performance and driveability under any condition.”
The Centro, Malaguti’s big-wheeled scooter, is well received in the rest of the world so the engine should do good for the BLOG.

Malaguti has an update to the hot little liquid cooled Phantom F12 R 50cc Fantasy 2-stroker as well.  Look for a trippy new graphics set that will look something like this: 

Additionally for 2009 Malaguti will offer a new 4-stroke version of the Phantom and a new flagship scooter called the SpiderMax RS500 that goes a little something like this:

Looking more like a robo-mantis than a Spider, the SpiderMax RS500 is based on the GT 500 execpt she’s “more dynamic and sportier”.  You can read all the deets right here if you’d like.  I’m gonna save my hands for news on scooters scheduled for the American market.

Lambretta, lovingly restored. Asking $25,000, firm.

Years 1966-1968.  Your choice of Metal/Chrome, Red/White, or Yellow/White.

Yes, you’re reading this correctly and no, I’m not on crack… I’m not so sure about Royal College of Art grad Grahame Fowler and his firm GGF Restoration who is really selling them on Vivre for twenty-five LARGE each.  Grahame Fowler also makes a $1,725 aircraft-grade aluminum chess set also available at Vivre if you’re interested.

Nuff respect to Grahame.  I appreciate his gumption and wish him much success with his fashion career in NYC and his little scooter restoration project.  I could see spending that much on a Lammy… if it were an original, hand-built by Corradino D’Ascanio himself. 

Fox 7 - Scooters will keel yoooooooouuu!

An older Fox news piece that says fatalities are directly proportional to 2-wheeler use… You should stick to smoking instead.

Scooters vs. SUVs… POLLUTE!

It’s a good old-fashioned pollute-off! Fox wanted to do a story on how scooters pollute more than the biggest SUV. I wanted to give scooters a chance to defend themselves. We gathered up a group of Austin’s best to eat pizza, drink beer and burn oil.

Reason #523 to NOT buy an unsupported scooter

Loss of “cool-points”.

Oil down almost 50% from high

Oil prices drop due to fears that we will begin using less. 
*Insert Curtis Mayfield’s “I’m Your Pusher” here* 
Here’s part of the Bloomberg story:
By Mark Shenk

Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) — Crude oil fell below $75 a barrel for the first time in more than a year on skepticism that a rescue of the world’s banks will be enough to avoid a recession and stem a decline in global fuel demand.

Oil, which has followed movements in equity markets this month, fell as the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index and Dow Jones Industrial Average tumbled today. The Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries cut its 2009 demand forecast because of “dramatically worsening” conditions in financial markets.

“The oil market is under a lot of pressure and nothing is going to change that anytime soon,” said Ric Navy, a broker at BNP Paribas SA in New York. “We are entering a poor-demand cycle, which will put further downward pressure on prices.”

Crude oil for November delivery fell $4.09, or 5.2 percent, to $74.54 a barrel at 2:54 p.m. on the New York Mercantile Exchange, the lowest settlement since Aug. 31, 2007. Prices, down 13 percent from a year ago, have dropped 49 percent from the record $147.27 a barrel reached on July 11.
How much would oil prices decline if we just stopped using it all together? 

Oddities, abnormalities, anomalies oh MY!

(bruthas from another mother, the Honda MotoGyro and the 3-Wheeled WFT)

I think I figured out why I get along with those rabble rousing Ruckus fans so well, because they’re such good oddiologists! Just four months after TheScooterScoop was born, a post was started on TotalRuckus.com (see title link), it was their “scooter pic of the day”. Since then the thread has grown so large you need a high speed connection and a very hardy browser to view it safely. If you’re lying in bed with a broken leg, this will help you pass the time. By the time it’s done loading and you’ve looked at every image… you’ll be all better!

(hehe… Wonder Woman rides the Invisivespa. How fast does Flash’s Vespa go?)

*jaw drops*

And I really love this scooter collection:

Just take one off the shelf and go play! I want this in my office.

Rally weekend for the TSS staff

(As at every good rally, there will be mischief making of one sort or another. Flickr/Crash66)

Apologies for the slow posts. I’m sure I’ve got some ’splainin’ to do, but not ’til after the yearly San Antonio 3rd Coast Rally festivities. If you’re gonna be there please “slap me some skin”.

I’m riding down with one of my fellow Hooligans tomorrow morning with a 7am departure from Austin. It should be BRISK!

Look for a few updates in my Zannel Panel over there on the right.

Scooters make the top 10 vehicles for the “Financiapocalypse”

Beating out the Bicycle and Mini-Winnebago as best ride for the post $700 BILLION dollar bail-out is a long time favorite of ours, the lowly Scooter. Scooters don’t normally conjure up visions of Mad Max, but it could (ask the HiTechRedneck). To read the rest of this top 10 on jalopnik.com, click on the title link.

*Steve looks forward to hopping on one of these oddities, perhaps while sporting the Lord Humungus get-up?*

Is the Honda Super Cub Chopper real?

Caught this recently and I must say I was rather intrigued. Looks cool. Sounds cool. But, is it really what they say it is or rather WAS? A Honda Super Cub? Here’s where I ask my good friends in Japan to help us out. Kuroneko? Akisan? Do you have any additional info on this or how I can build one?

***UPDATE 10/01/08***
Aki sends us these nuggets from Japan:
Hello Steve,

I think he likes the USA’s street style and made
this motorcycle himself. Here’s some more examples.

http://image.blog.livedoor.jp/dragon_tattoo/imgs/d/5/d5089a46.jpg
Late 80’s DIY 50cc Chopper.

http://www.honda.co.jp/news/1986/2860414.html
American influenced but Honda built.

http://pub.ne.jp/clubman/image/user/1199796185.jpg
American influenced but Yamaha built.

http://datou.hp.infoseek.co.jp/mame.jpg
American influenced but Suzuki built.

akiAhh, it’s comforting to know that Easy Rider made it to the far East. Arigato for the links!

Speaking of movies… We’re gonna miss you Paul Newman. You were rare and shining example of what happens when a person of means chooses good over greed. Thank you for that. (click that link to see Letterman’s tribute and Newman on a scooter at 8:43 in.)

Scooter? No. Oddity? HELLS YEAH!

We’ve been known to love an oddity or two in our time. We’ve seen quite a few, but I can’t think of one with a power plant as odd as this madness. Even the 24-chainsaw-motor-powered bike can’t compete with the 48 cylinder bike of doom. Looks like it was designed by an obsessive savant. The engine weighs over a ton and the thing needs an engine bigger than a moped’s JUST to get STARTED! Click on the title link to hit the oddity buffet or click this link to read more about the entré.

Oh, and “YES” it actually runs. It sounds strange, but you can see it for yourself here:

D’oh!

Funny Scooter Crash Ends in Faceplant - Watch more free videos
Sorry for the lack of updates. We’re still alive, but very embarrassed… much like the guy in this video. Thanks Tim! More posts coming soon! I can feel them bubbling up.
*hopes it’s not just Dr. Pepper and fish oil supplements*
*shudder*

Southeastern States feeling what could be the future of fuel availability.

Times are tough from Miami to Atlanta and beyond!  Here’s a snippet from the Atlanta Constitution and Journal:

Gas remained hard to find around much of metro Atlanta on Monday morning, as lingering supply complications in the wake of two hurricanes had many motorists driving miles out of their way in a search for fuel.

Overnight deliveries replenished supplies, at least partially, at some stations that were closed Sunday. But others remained dry. And some that did have fuel, like the Shell station at Clairmont and North Decatur roads near Decatur, were running out as cars lined up during the morning rush hour.

“I should be out, maybe before noon,” said manager Andy Jiw, shortly after putting a bag over another nozzle. By 7:30 a.m., cars were lined up five and six deep behind the only two pumps with gas.

Maureen McCarthy, who lives near Emory University, waited in line as the needle on her fuel gauge hovered at empty. She was late for work.

“It’s a nightmare,” she said. “I’ve gone to four different stations. When I saw this one I was like ‘Hallellelujah.’”

State and industry officials say the problem stems from supply interruptions from the Gulf, where refineries are still rebuilding capacity after the double whammy of hurricanes Gustav and Ike, and the required use of cleaner-burning fuel in metro Atlanta. That means gas can’t be easily diverted from other areas where supplies are ample.

There were mixed signals about how soon the shortages will abate. Industry officials say refineries are rapidly restoring supply, and state officials say they’re taking steps to boost the flow. Some station owners, however, say they’ve been warned not to expect normal supplies for days to come.

The craziest mashup benefit of all time! Throw a kit on that ‘lex!

(The peeps at Warbux are ready to get this feestje started!)

What do you get when a band of 20 Dutch (Hollanders, Niederlanders, les Hollandais) philanthropists ride a benefit for the children of Indonesia in the United States on French mopeds?

“It’s like ‘we are the muphuckin’ WORLD’ up in this b!+¢h! THAT’S what you get.”, says “It’s like We Are the World on 2-wheels”, to paraphrase longtime scooter advocate Steve Guzman, editor of the popular 2-wheeled website TheScooterScoop.

In one week (that’s 3 days after the big G1 google Android phone announcement), this courageous group of Dutch riders from the Solex Club will depart from Steenwijk, Holland and eventually arrive to deluxe accommodations at Chicago’s Super 8 Motel. The next day they will meet at Hollywood “Throw a kit on that bitch!” Holt’s hangout, Warbux Mopeds, to prepare for the grueling 2666 mile journey across Route 66.

They plan on arriving in Santa Monica on October 22nd for a big celebration to be held by Big Ass Motors. Steve E. is a BIG Velo Solex fan, so it only makes sense. Anyone still alive after the ordeal will return to Holland on October 24th to tell the tale of their fantastic journey.

Ride safe my friends! Thanks to T-T- Nguyen for the scoop!

Globetrotting Vespa scooter-riding Italian author dies in China

(Addio Giorgio Bettinelli amico mio, addio)

Rome - Italian author Giorgio Bettinelli and recording artist, who clocked up hundreds of thousands of miles travelling the globe on a Vespa scooter and then recounting his adventures in books, has died in China. He was 53. Bettinelli, who together with his wife, had been living in southern China since 2004, died on Monday, a spokeswoman for his publisher, Milan-based Giangiacomo Feltrinelli Editore said Wednesday.

Bettinelli, whose latest book La Cina in Vespa (China on a Vespa) was published in earlier this year, was known to have been sick, but the spokeswoman said she had no further details (source).

Born in 1955 the northern Italian city of Crema, Bettinelli undertook a mammoth ride from Rome to Ho Chi Min City, Vietnam on his tiny Vespa - the subject of his first book in 1997.
Giorgio Bettinelli is arguably the greatest scooter-riding world tourer. He has ridden around the world numerous times on a Vespa PX. However, he apparently recently upgraded to a Vespa GT200. He has vowed to ride through every country in the world on his Vespa.

Bettinelli believed “The Vespa is like a bridge to tolerance and sympathy.”

Surprisingly, Bettinelli has few repair skills. When asked what he does when his Vespa breaks down, he replied “You wait. Someone comes, someone helps. A car, a truck, a camel. An hour, a day. Someone comes, someone helps.”

He has written books about his trips, but unfortunately for us English-speakers these books are only available in Italian (source).

“Thank you” to Aki, who had the pleasure of meeting Giorgio twice during his travels, for filling us in on this sad loss for the scooter community.

New EL wire jackets! Lightcycles not included.

(You can go from Riva to Rave without changing clothes!)

Janet Hansen has quite an eye catcher available for you.  The enlightened illuminated clothing line.  If you’ve got the cash and want one a one-of-a-kind piece of riding gear then you should give her shout or if you’re in San Diego, take her out for lunch and tell her what you want her to create.  She does other stuff too.  I’m not too much into the glowing bow tie, but she’s done work for Daft Punk, Kanye West, Incubus and others.  She’s got a LET (light emitting thong) if that’s your style.  I’ll probably just go with something more subtle, like this sweet black leather jacket with the red EL wire across the back.  Cool, no?  Thanks again to Tim for the glowing scoopage!

Austin wakeboard celebrity loves his scooter!

(Austin’s own Mitch Bergsma seen here on his Burgsma Burgman 400 with his GF riding wakeboard in the back)

Caught the news of friend and fellow scooterist, Mitch Bergsma, being interviewed for WakeWorld.com yesterday.  Mitch, who’s been wakeboarding for 10 years, has been riding, reparing and customizing scooters for about as long (remind me to post photos of his latest custom light job on his Piaggio Fly 150). 

He’s a great guy with a great sense of humor and he recently brought home first place in the Outlaw class at the SETx Mid-Summer Classic competition!  Way to go Mitch!

Click the WakeWorld.com link to read Mitch’s story.  This guy takes his scootering seriously.  I don’t think he even owns a car… just a garage full of scooters.

Cannonball is ON!

(I’m not certain if any of the competitors grew the obligatory facial hair before the run)

Whew! This is exciting! This year’s 3000+ mile Cannonball Run is close race right now with Patrick Owens of Team First Kick (the 2006 Manual Kitted class champion) just minutes behind Jess of Team Bastard. Right now they just passed Pueblo, Colorado and are heading toward Kansas. In case you want to run them out a pint, both Jess and Patrick have a cool gadget to tell you exactly where they are. Go here to follow Jess and Patrick.

Jess is on a Vespa GTV, riding for the 250cc class which has 15 competitors riding Honda, Piaggio or Vespa. Wassup Yamaha? Couldn’t get a rider for 2008? You’ve even got a 250 in your ‘08 line up, so no excuses. ;P~

Patrick AKA OopsClunkThud is on a slightly modified SYM HD200, which fits him into the Automatic 190cc class. There are only 3 in the 190 class with Two on SYM and one on Genuine. Maybe now that Patrick has donated his pony-tail to Locks of Love (bravo my friend) he might have shed enough weight to pull off another win!

I wish Austin’s own, Pink-haired Heather would have made it this year. Maybe she’ll bring it home for 2010? We’ll start training right away!

Go here to see the daily results. Who will be the big winner? Tune in this Saturday for the results!

Shout-outs to all my peeps who are running this incredible feat of endurance! I wish you all a safe trip and I hope you’re enjoying that cold front we brought down especially for YOU!

©2008 Suzuki Burgman Scooter Riders - 'Lovers of Fun'. All Rights Reserved.

Scootertronics adds the ever popular Givi Scooter accessories for Kymco scooters. With great new products for the Kymco Agility models consumers have a quality windshield they can add and top case hardware for mounting Givi top cases that are easily removed for a carrier to go with you. I have been using Gvi top cases on my ride for a few years now and can not beat attaching your trunk to your bike and removing it like a briefcase you carry into the office. With the popular Kymco Agility 50 model being bought up by consumers facing the high gas prices which have now settled back down to something not to scary a windshield added for a better experience over all and storage to get the job done on your commute. Customers will many new Givi windshields and mounting hardware for tops cases for Kymco Xcting 250 and 500 plus the People 50 and People S models up to the People S 250.

Yamaha Majesty 400 spoilers and top case mounting hardware all new to Scootertronics along with Piaggo MP3 500 windscreeen and top case hardware.

Parts Move
Parts Dept Moves

Scootertronics to better serve its local customers and stream line our parts shipping the complete parts dept has been moved from internet offices to our shop. The very first day this paid off in helping our local customers get parts they would have to normally wait for to be shipped to them.

Scootertronics continues to add parts to our site but the amount we are now stocking and bringing we are behind getting all the maxie scooters (250 and above) parts on the web site. Although our high performance parts are on there for to purchase at anytime and these sure move fast. Its been hard to keep most Dr Pulley high performance parts in stock they do not come in very often and you have to order way in advance and never know how much to get.

ATVs

Scootertronics has started stocking some ATVs for our local customers. We do this at this time of year according to demand.

Scootertronics Big Changes Move Added
 2008 Economy

The gas crisis in the spring and summer and now with the economy in the tank its been an up and down year for Scootertronics. With 2008 out taking off in Feb with Vog 260 sales and then shortage of product making any kind of plans was just not happening. With that said the economy and two robbery’s have left our heads spinning. Rather than just close or let everyone go or simply cry Scootertronics carries on with our plan to expand and add better products and service which we have here are some of our changes———

  Moving Parts Dept

Starting in November all parts and orders will be flowing through The Scooter Shop at Scootertronics in Sykesville MD 21782 west of Baltimore on Rt 26. The Scooter Shop location will get a huge boast in parts supply along with all other products offered on the internet on the web site. Scooters plus all repairs have been here since begining we are just combining our operations cost to better handle all customers through the correct channels making it easier to shop at Scootertronics.com and get service at The Scooter Shop. With real time inventory and staff we are now able to help with just about anything locally and throughout the states from our web site. Myself, (scootermike, Michael), Tommy Thunder, Levey, Lisa and Mary all in one place will make it so much easier for customers to get help and products faster. Debi Dean will contine to run Scootertronics as Operation Manager. Her role is to keep us alive and kicking through our leases, contracts, legal matters, policy and procedure are created by operations.

800 Number and Acessories Signage

All Givi Products, Helmets, Sullivan and WSP, ATV Solutions plus others will still be handle through internet office by Operations Manager Debi Dean seperate from The Scooter Shop.  The 800 number will be used strictly for phone orders, questions on stock and shipping info. New numbers and phone service will address tech question for all people who call even though they are not customers yet, we strive to help all that call with correct info to get thier scooter or cart upp and running. Signs are being added at shop to better direct to our location so be on the look out. With the addition to a glass store front has added traffic to the shop which is now a complete retail store something we have worked hard for and comes at a high cost in these tough times for small business. This was made possible by our landlord and other local businesses that support Scootertronics and what they are doing to create jobs, plus help with gas savings scooters for all.

Scooter Engines

Scootertronics now offers off the shelf engines for scooters using 139 qnd 157. These are Jonway engines that come with intake, trans and drum brakes. As always we can build these into custom engines for your scooter in anyway you need or want for the best performance you can get by adding quality cylinder kits plus trans and exhaust. These engines will start at 399 shipped.

 Go Carts ATVs

ATVs and Go Carts are in stock and shipping plus moving at The Scooter Shop.

Helmets

Helmets from HJC have been added and are a welcome site adding the quality and style demanded by scooter riders today.

Givi Products

Givi continyes to add quality products to its line up and although not lisited we can order anything in catolog.

CA Trip

Recently in mid Oct I had a visit that included business for Scootertronics and personal gig for me after being back in MD in 13 years. My wife and I had lived in LA, CA before moving to MD. During this time my music gig was continued that had started in the 70s in MD so simply a extension due to recording contracts and tours that had taken me all over the states with several bands during the 80s and early 90s, so to make things short I did a reunion gig with Black Cherry at the Viper Rome in Hollywood.

During my visit I did visit several scooter distributors and scooter retail stores. My intent here is just to let all know this is what I do when I travel during the slower months of the year but its increasing that we have no slow months. I do have to say I was disapointed in several places I visited expecting to see waehouses and tech work being done, parts dept and such. Although I saw warehouses with lots of scooters in boxes but since most are simply fill fullment warehouse there are no scooters being worked on or assembled nor tested so once again those who claim they assemble or even inspect or know their product they push is simply not true. Parts are other story they did have a dept but not something or with someone where I can go and ask questions that can be answered with any knowledge. I do understand most who work at these distirbutors never saw or heard of the types of scooters they are selling butits a shame they do not get one person on top o it all.

As far as scooters in CA Yeap big time all over the place all types of sizes and shapes and brands. A lot of Vespas and then again a lot of Chinese 50s and 150s with no tags. I do know how this works its half the public never trying to even get tags then the knowledge that you do not need them and then the biggest reason no tags is they are not carb’ed approved scooters for CA and were shipped there from dealers on the internet that once again do not have knowledge of the business. 

The retail shops I visited did not sell chinese but plenty of Twaianese with same exact engines that they say do not work on. Amazing, so I did my thing and told them I can help always.

Oct Rolls In Quick
Looks like Oct has hit us without much warning and keeps going strong with parts orders and go cart orders. Around this time ever year we start selling Go Carts and ATVs from our shop and online store. Although larger and more costly to ship we will again offer completely assembled and trail tested 110cc ATVs and smaller 90s and 70s shipped where you need it so you will not have to wait to ride or guess if it will start. We can do this with alot of our off road products with our own service for delivery and shipping them on a pallet. We can cover personally MD. VA, DC, PA, NJ, NY and where you need it through Estes.

Call to set up delivery of an ATV or Go Cart assembled and ready to go.

Cooler Weather Keep Rides Shorter

When Sept starts to close out more scooters riders slow the rides down and take shorter ones but thi sfinds more keep rides short but keep right on commuting to work on scooters,.We are finding alot more riders keep riding even when it gets cooler including all at scootertronics with some of us only having a scooter to get around so we kno wthese last and gives good rides always.

My V5 is closing out at 15,000 miles for Sept. and it has a hard summer on his puppy. Lots of rides from home to shop which is 85 miles so I get top speeds of 70 most of the way. After installing clutch pipe and weights it runs much better but something I had not counted on is they need to to be changed and will put a Malossi clutch on theis time with a Polini bell. The variator ill change out to a MRP one with DR Pulley 21 gram weights. I will aslo be add 32mm manual choke carb with Uni Dual Layer Air Filter for added power to go with my pipe.

Sept Rolls Big
TGB/Peirspeed Scooters

Scootertronics added Peirspeed scooters this last week. Peirspeed scoots come to us from Cobra Power Sports which as been around awhile and know what it takes to produce a good long lasting scooter from working and distributing TGB scooters for the last few years. It was a cool thing when I realized this was the same Cobra I had known when scootertronics started out. Just as BMS was around when I started scootertronics so I have made them some of the main suppilers for scooters for the last few months. The Peirspeed line is new to market with 49cc four stroke models with GY6 139 engine so upgrades will come natural. Vey slick looking RM50 has cool colors like Orange and Silver to go with black outline which makes for a very visable scooter while commuting. The smaller kKey Largo will be liked by college bound students with a small frame for an easy learn to ride a scooter quick I need to go. With two year warrantys you get a reliable scooter with back up.

Peirspeed scooters will deliver locally for free up to 150 miles of Baltimore so we cover DC as well.

 BMS Motors has provided our 16 inch wheeled model from Xingyue with other Znen made scoots as the Classic Heritage 150 with large handle bars for a motorcycle feel with Retro styling. The Vog 260 is a Xingyue model as well as the Bemine 150. Other Znen models are the Apachee 50. Along with our Meitian scooters such as Metro Duo and Retro 16 as well as most of our Sport Rs which also come from Znen at times seemed to be the best we have found. The Jonway/JMStar Shenke scooters do not seem to be as well built. These are all over the internet so there is a big parts demand for these scooters as well as high perofrmance parts to get a slow 50 to keep up.

High Performance being a main stay with scootertronics always has more to add each month. We do cylinder kits as well as variators and clucthes plus roller weights for all 250cc - 300cc Linhai 300.

These are new editions to our line up as wel as a new 50cc pipe that will work well on all GY6 50 scooters. Add thi spipe and clutch upgrade to get your scooter cruising in traffic and get a safe ride home. Most 50s are made to only go 30 so upgrades are needed but still with good gas flow tires with right amount of air always help. Gas flow seems to be a problem with alot of scoots so we offer kits to help with these probelsm with gas line jets and air filters.

Sept Gets a Cool Breeze
Starting in Sept my V5 rides are getting chilly but that just means get the jacket out and stor in my Givi top case on the back.

Challenges of 2008
New Scooters New Days Ahead

Some of the biggest challenges scootertronics has had in 2008 was simply supply of products. With the ever changing gas prices plus when they came in such a short time caused many to panic and run right out and buy the first scooter that they could get in a short period. These customers did not purchase a scooter from scootertronics. They would have had one dropshipped from one of many chinese scooter sites selling these as the newest and best scooter out there when for all intense purposes they are the same ones sold in 2004/05 when scootertronics started selling more of the four stroke models and did dropship many of them. Customers who wanted something more and a better value purchased from scootertronics. We DO NOT DROPSHIP our scooters but take them out of the crate and treat they way they were built to be treated. As a vehicle that will be ridden on the road with other vehicles. When delivered to us from China and distributors in the states they are in a crate unassembled need assembly and prep before delivery to customer. Thi sdoes take time so if you are out of state it takes longer. All of our customers waited for better service and hand personal deliverys as far away as the Bronx plus stops in CT, MA, NY< VA, NJ and most of all PA where alot do come from because we are so close.

With everything that Scootertronics has learned in the last three years will give us a good leg to stand on while we bring TGB and SYM scooters, ATVs and Go Carts that have superior quality to the products we are selling at this time. With so many sites selling the same scooters under different names no one can relate too we will simply move on to bigger and better scooters for all customers. We will start slow and offer 50s before we get into bigger scooters. We will still carry Linhai which gives us plenty of quality scooters to sell without tranishing our rep with poorly made scooters. This year has priven we can not depend on vendors we are working with now to even come close do what we would like to sell and service and simply do not care after they have sold us the products, so we will stop buying all together and see how they feel about business with scootertronics.

We will however continue servicing and stocking all parts got GY6 scooters plus any others we have sold or sold parts for for all customers. There is a huge demand for products scootertronics offers, take a new fuel and air kit we just added to website that is not even upfront. After two days on our site we have already sold our inventory we stocked to offer. Same thing happen when we introduced rear racks for Linhai 300 with trunk plus back rest, sold out in one week, so we know whats needed. The one thing I really dislike is all teh copy cats that continue to watch us and steal most our ideals to make thier own. There was one site when we started in 2003 that offered what scootertronics offered. Now there are so many its hard to tell who is for real and who has a container and sells from home. I did start this way and anyone can but do not hide what you are doing like all do. Scootertronics stopped dropshipping in 2006. Some claim prep but do not do it.

Aug Rolls Ahead

Scooters still doing and we will keepem coming as long as needed. Shop has been busy with repairs and improvements as well as a new tech to help with the amount of service we get each week. Have done some interesting upgrades to a few scooters we had not done as of yet as in the Keeway Matrix 150 adding an MRP V150 Exhaust producing an awesome sound and better bottom as well as adding a 130/150 jet plus an air filter. We have real good luck lately with Uni Filters both Dual and Single PODs that work well on all GY6 scooter engines giving it that added air boast with more gas gets them running very smooth. The way I have have been dealing with alot of the fuel and air problems and simply use quality parts and add the correct amount of gas with larger jets and air filters that work well with an added boast of air without losing back pressure that is need to create a good vacum that does not fail when high speeds are achieved.

We have added the Linhai racks with trunk combops on the site with Binetto cases the colors of the Linhau 300 in Red, Blue and Silver. We are wairing delivery of trunks at this time and will begin shipping this coming week. With the addition of rack for top cases for the Linhai 300 we have also added performance parts with a killer exhaust system plus roller weights variator and clutch giving the boast need in traffic for freeway travel. Most are from Polini that will do the job on the Linhai 260 and 300 plus these also fit on the Vog 260 as well.

Aug Rolls In with a Bang

Aug picks up right where July left off with hundreds of emails and calls, although we have added numerous people to help answer phones fill orders and do repairs and prepping so we are able to catch up a little even though we were robbed Aug 5 of four scooters that were all set to go out. This reallu hurt but we have over come this as well as most problems we are faced with everyday. Most of our distributors have simplky sold out of most products we get from them which leaves our customers with no products. We do our very best in this crazy world of chinese scooters.

To keep up with all the customers and ship over one thousand products a month we have hired an operations manager to over see everything and handle concerns from our customers. Aug has brought as many orders as the months before in 2008. We have also hired  agreat shop tech and a new girl to handle repair and parts for shop, you know to keep things in order.

In 2003 I started scootertronics and have been here ever since. With gas prices the way they are we grown so fast its hard to keep up but we are and still the only place for most of what we sell.

I will not let scootertronics fall back or go away but to grow stronger everyday.

Diggin Out
With July closing down we are digging out doing our best to process all orders and get them shipped. When the 2008 gas prices rose everyone wants a scooter and wants one prepped and deliveried ready to ride which is how we do it to cut down on any problems and be legal. We are starting to stop selling alot of different scooters that are not living up to what they were supposed to be plus alot of parts we simply can not get anymore. Most of our problems have nothing to do with us but with distributors who bring scooters into the states and no parts and then tell thier customers to call us. We get 1,000s of emails and phone calls on three different numbers and still do not even come close to helping everyone who did not buy from us. We are different where we will help all who call but need to help the customers who spend money with us first.

July Heating Up

Deliveries Part Orders

With July almost over we have been in full swing with scooters and parts coming in plus lots of parts that we did not have we awhile like 95 jets for four stroke 49cc 139QMB engines we have carb jets alright and filling all BO.

We are extremely busy and know that all customers need help because of gas prices and we are doing the most we can do.

Phone calls are drowning us with so many tech questions from customers who are not our customers but have bought a scooter on the internet and the dealer or site does not want to help them or simply can not so they call us and we do what we can to help everyone who calls. We do have to help our customers first thats just what we have to do and believe me we have plenty that we can not get to all themm right away but we try our best working 7 days a week 14 hours a day and this is now 7 people with sales, shop, parts and service plus prep and delivery.

Retro 16s are in and going fast, so order one soon if you want one.

We are doing our nest and prepping all scooters and getting them but always find new things that need our attention like the Vogs coolant is not reallt coolant from China so we are changing all that now so that adds time. Our ITAs are not assembled when we get them so they need complete assembly and they way they are packed from factory they are now breaking left side brake handles so we need to replace most of them.

Sport Rs and Metro Duos have been coming in so these are going out as fast as we get them. Plus alot of customers request upgrades to be done before hand.

I do need to thank all our customers for hanging in there with us and waiting on scooters and parts because we are nothing without them.

MCOs we ahve gotten behind mainly due to our distributors not gettin them to us. Its never really that we are doing a bad job but when we do not have a scooter in stock and order them the MCOs are sent to us by mail same as when we send them and they do not always get here with scooters and customers who have been calling everyday so we ship the scooter than MCOs get to us and send to customer. We are doing massive MCOs all weekend and willsend most that are due on Mon-Wed July 28-30 to catch up on last few weeks.

Scooters from China in general and out of stock at most places not just us thats why people are are so worried we are ripping them off we are not we do not charge unless you are getting a scooter or parts and yes we charge a few days ahead because we do not get the money that second we have to wait for credit card companies plus we need to hold that scooter for that customer and the onloy way to insure someone gets a scooter they want we charge when its on the way to us.

Big day All Week

Yes we have been quite busy this week with the arrival of Metro Duos, Sports, Keeway Matrix and Hurricane, Expressways and BMS ITAs here early next week. More shipments every week till we run out again. Althought parts have also been slow to get out lately with demand we still get parts shipments every week two to three if not everyday. Polini had run out of alot of things so we just got some Honda Ruckus Polini kits in along with Two Stroke cylinder kits and four stroke cylinder kits from MRP plus new pipes for 139QMB and Two Stroke also. Leo Vince pipes did arrive with more chrome coming in. 

But all of this is nothing at all without the loyal customer base Scootertronics is building through trust and dedication to our cuctomers. This brings me to my point of the day is we are always adjusting what we spend our time and energy on to best serve our customers we have now and then move on to the new ones we get everyday. When we have only so many of a product we have to reserve those for customers we have now, however we do regert not being able to be more timely and less on BO it seems to be the nature of what we are doing to have exploding months for each product right now its scooters but we have to be ready for go carts any day now.

Bang July 4
July Rolls in with a Bang

Scootertronics continues roll along with a push from the 4th of July fireworks that are happening in the scooter world for everything we could have predicted. The gas prices have fueled an industry that was not ready. Scootertronics has started alot of trends with first shipping scooters in 2003 to now with full time shop plus lots of different products and parts. Hence we do not ship unprepped scooters from a warehouse which is the norm for internet purchases plus our upgrades that are requested. Scootertronics has pretty much bought all teh parts and different scooter model parts that we can find and supplies have dewindled, there is hope though due to the hard work we are doing we now have scooters, parts and trunks plus locks all in stock now plus deliveries every day just about of parts and scooters. We have alot of back orders.

Back Orders

Scootertronics has shipping dates for arrival of Duos and Retros plus most other models all due in everyday from now on with first Duos arriving July 11 and shipping JUly 15, we will also at this start filling all local orders for Duos also Retros will be arriving July 15 and shipping July 17, however there are alot of BOs so we are starting from the top some closer will recieve earlier.

Parts are picking up finally with MRP recieving new 139QMB pipes plus stock parts so we will be able to get stock and high performance in one place.

ATV Solutions handles our Tilt A Rack orders and has been really hit hard and is a month behind saying shipping has happened twice now and still customers have not recieved.

©2008 Suzuki Burgman Scooter Riders - 'Lovers of Fun'. All Rights Reserved.

I’m not sure if I should be appalled by the rider below or he should be applauded for his ability to deliver carpet on a scooter.

At least he is wearing a full face helmet. Bonus points I guess.

©2008 Suzuki Burgman Scooter Riders - 'Lovers of Fun'. All Rights Reserved.