Customer Profile: Tommee S

Our good friend & customer Tommee e-mailed us these pics of his PX150 @ the Lawrence Art Tougeau Parade.

Tommee rides his Vespa down a stretch a gravel road on a near daily basis. Yet, he manages to keep the sunny side up & the scooter looking good as new. You may have spotted him on the KU campus where he has been a fixture for years or down on Mass playing saxaphone for grateful evening passer-bys.

Thanks for the pics Tommee!

In search of Vespa!

Here at the shop, we run into Vespa videos all the time. From clips of folks in Germany stunting their scoots to chaps in China racing them, we get a taste of everything. Unfortunately, I sometimes forget that not everyone works at a scooter shop and might miss out on the goods.

Lucky you that I came across this tasty tart! Videos like the following are always nice in the way that they illustrate how historical and rich the heritage of the Vespa brand is. I mean, sure there are plenty of great bikes out there, but only with Vespa can you find so many examples of culture-inspiring uber awesomeness! (yeah, I'm biased towards these things)



If you can't see the video in your browser, click this link for direct access to entertainment.

The video is a youtube quality peice following a British scoot enthusiast as he travels Italy in (as the title of the video suggests) Search of Vespa. Good stuff! The clip is seperated into multiple parts. Check the links for the rest:

Part One

Part Two

Part Three

Gleaned from modernvepsa

Happy Holidays!

I figured our weblog would be the last place anyone would find themselves today, but just incase-you know: after the presents, the food and fats, the in-laws, and the movies-we have you covered.

So, a very happy holidays to you from us at VESPA KANSAS CITY! May your stomachs stay full and your company inebriated so you may nap at will and in peace.

Ciao!

ONLY TEN DAYS LEFT!

To celebrate Vespa's 60th Birthday, we're giving away a $60 gift card when you purchase a new Vespa. You can also take advantage of our 365-day no payment/deferred interest financing program to buy your Vespa. So you can ride for free for a year and fill up your gas tank on us for the first few months. Not a bad gift! But you must purchase before December 31st to take advantage of it!

Click here for details

Vespa Milestone for the Holidays!

This month, the 100,000th Vespa of the year was produced at Piaggio plant, marking a milestone that hadn't previously been met since 1990. Wow! In doubling the production numbers from 50,000 units in 2004, the folks at Piaggio had a lot of reason to celebrate. In promising to donate on Euro for each Vespa sold during 2006 and '07 to the Italian Multiple Sclerosis foundation, Piaggio isn't the only one having a party this month. Click here for the original post, via 2strokebuzz.com

To put some of this into perspective, lets take a look at the year 1990...

• Seinfeld and The Simpsons were becoming popular sitcoms in many homes.
• Iraqis invaded Kuwait
• The World Wide Web was created(1989-1990)
• The Hubble Space Telescope was launched
• The Berlin Wall became history
• South Africa ended apartheid
• The Russian and former USSR states begin their decline into depression
• Club dance music hits an all time pop high
• Piaggio produces 100,000 Vespa models

To provide insight into the line-up available around that year that was so successful for the Vespa founding fathers and mothers, I did a little research. It seems that beyond the Piaggio Sfera and the Vespa 50 Special being reintroduced to the world, everyone was still riding around on PXs, PKs and T5 pole positions. Quite a different world of scooters nowadays eh?

Blogs from another world: ET34

Obviously we're your favorite blog of all-time! However, that doesn't mean we should be the ONLY blog you read from time to time. That said (or written), I thought maybe it'd be nice for you to check out a weblog of a different flavor. Its still about scoots... but scoots in Japan! Click here for a direct link!

ET34 is a nice read and.. wait, you can't read Japanese? Well, Click Here for the translated version!

New ScooterWorld mag hits our shelves.

We just recieved the new ScooterWorld publication this morning, chock full of scootering goodness!! A few reviews of jackets and scoot-related product throughout, the standout is the review of the Piaggio MP3 on page 20! A very well-written and enlightening read, it describes in detail the functionality of the electronic stability system as well as its road-going mannerisms. All in all (like every other mag that has reviewed it), the author gave it a thumbs up! Come by the shop and pick up your own issue!

Euro-spec MP3 on the streets of America..

ModernVepsa.com member, Jess recently got a day and a half to ride the Piaggio MP3 around the mean streets of San Francisco. He wrote up a review for it and gave the Euro-spec model a thumbs up. Its a long first-hand write-up, so click on the link to read about it.

Main web back in operation!

A well deserved thanks to The-Man for getting our web page back up for your viewing pleasures. Another rebel fist of defiance and thanks goes to The-Man for getting our email back up as well; you can now feel free to send us all the lovely suggestions/hate mail/scootering info that you've been unable to all week. Or, just stop by today and celebrate our "spring weather during the month of December" Saturday with us; I'm typing email replies all day and Christopher is selling parts over the phone.

No, we're not boring...

T-shirt "Oh!s"

Two days ago, Christopher recieved our shipment of classic Vespa shirts. As of yesterday, we are sold out of one color, and there are only three left of the other...

For fans of the GTS, we added another Gloss Black/tan seat bike into the showroom last night so we could have one of each color on display. Problem is, the Excalibur Silver GTS is on its way to a happy home and our Dragon Red GTS demo is the last of that color we have period. Thank goodness for warm winters eh?

More shirts are on the way (and probably more GTS') but stay tuned for pics and details regarding these classy threads.

Go speed racer(s)

Scooter racing, while nothing new, is extremely exciting to watch. However, while being in the US of A and trying to catch up to the UK and the rest of the world as far as all things scooters are concerned, its not a surprise that most of us have never witnessed one. If you didn't know about the existence of scoot racing... Well, now you do!!



While the video was sourced via the DML, I found information regarding this particular GP in China from 2strokebuzz:

"...Macau (a Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China) plays host to the 53rd annual Macau Grand Prix. The Macau Motorcycle Grand Prix, run on the Guia Circuit made up of the streets of Macau, is part of a dieing breed of Real Road Racing. The notoriously dangerous race is favored by racers who normally take part in the celebrated Isle of Mann TT. Also being held is the 4th annual MGPC Scooter cup. The race is open to Macau residents and follows the 40th annual Motorcycle Grand Prix on Saturday November 18th. The race includes 50cc or 70cc two stroke scooters and 125cc 4 stroke scooters, each with their own class. PGO entered a G-Max 125 (aka Genuine Blur) in 2004 and won the 125cc class by placing 14th overall. This years entry list does not show a PGO taking part but there are plenty of Yamahas and a smattering of SYM scooters making up the race grid. 2005 podium residents Kin Fei Lai, Mou Heng Tou and Kin Fai Chan (finishing in that order) return for this years challenge. The Scooter Cup, run on the same circuit, has got to be the coolest scooter race on earth. The Macau Grand Prix Committee website offers live audio of the race. "

Exciting stuff! Doing a search for Scooter Racing usually brings up performance parts and such that are meant to make one's scoot a little faster, a little louder, and little more "racey," but in order to see what real scooter racing is, one should check out a quick summary here. The actual British Scooter Sport Organization site has more dept info and can be found here.

Enjoy and let the speed racer dreams begin! Keep em on the track though!

Note: The above video doesn't always display in all browsers. Click this link for a direct stream.

MP3 action!!!

Holy Shmokes! They're stuntin' them already?!
It seems the French blog, Moto Cardisiac, found a test report given by leather clad racers wanting to push the 250cc three-wheeler to its limits.

The objective?

Knock it over.

The outcome? Not so much. Knee-dragging, GP style and 11 O'clock stoppies weren't enough to send the new favorite toy of Europes bravest to the junkyard. From the pics, it looks as if they seriously brutalized the machine in an effort to see what it could do; and they came away impressed. Check out the link for more pics and the story, translated via Google.

Thanks to 2strokebuzz where I lifted this info from.

Vespas to the rescue

Its the season to give, and in Canada, one man is giving the residents of the war-torn Sierra Leone a bit of holiday cheer. Donating two Vespas to the African region, he's hoping they can help the farmers speed up their tasks and make life a little better. Click here for the story.

Paris on a Vespa, no, not THAT Paris..

Tipped off from a thread on Modernvespa.com, here's a vid of Paris Hilton (Oh, that Paris) hitching a ride on a Vespa and butchering the Italian language. Its is supposed to get one to switch cell phone plans, but it makes me think I should buy someone famous a hamburger. Nonetheless, its a quick clip and its amusing. Check it out!




If you don't know who Ms. Hilton is by the way, I'm not going to get into here, since we're more about scooters, and less about celebritydom.

Customer Highlight: Joe and Ernie T

This is the first post like this here for our our blog, so I apologize for the awkwardness of it, but when Joe and Ernie Tilford decided to share a few pics of their rides with us, we decided a little akwardness would be worth it. For those who don't know, Joe and Ernie are the Son and Father tag-team steel-cage deathmatch champions from Kansas City who, by happenchance, are also really nice guys. You can see them at the shop on occassion, bothering our mechanic, Jason, or our Aftermarket MGR, Christopher for goods and services.




I had asked Joe to share a bit on how he and his pop found themselves fans of the Italian scooter.

"Short story about how I got into scoots is that Grandma got a little electric scoot for the grandkids; well me and Paw got to put it together, and of course we had to take it for a sping to make sure nothin' fell off. So I tok it for a spin and decided the little scoot wasn't ad at all, so I priced vintage Vespas-because to me, Vespa was the only scooter I would buy(now it's Vespa and Lambretta-and took a new PX for a test ride. That was all she wrote; I was hooked."




Ernie aquired his now black P200E via craigslist.com. Personally I remember the ad for it: P200E all in parts, not time for restoration. As the first shows, it seriously was all in parts which I belive were all in boxes, the body primered for paint and accompanied with a vintage side-car! "One man's trash..." Mr. Tilford spent the last month and a half and the pictures above are the product of that time spent. That's dedication!

Joseph's GL was actually purchased from our very own Christopher! When asking Chris as to why he sold it, a wrinkle appears on his forehead, and his eyes say he misses it a little. I believe the story was that Chris was going to put a newer 200cc powerplant in place of the antiquated 150cc that it came with in the '60s. Apparently the scooter gods were going to send Chris elsewhere, so it ended up finding a nice home with Joseph & Co.

Joseph has been working on the GL for a month to a month and a half, primarily getting the engine in tip-top condition. Its ready to run now, but seeing that its not the warmest of weather, it hasn't seen much tarmac time. When pressed about what he likes best about his scoot, he writes: "I can wear me kilt whilst riding and I feel comfortable turning a U-turn."

I asked Joe about future plans for the scoots.

"I want to kit my scoot a bit; when I have the money, I want to put a 200 motor in it. I think dad is going to leave his stock :)

"We (me and paw) give credit to Jason and Chris for helping when we had a question concerning scoots that we could not figure out, ie; why won't it start, why is my scoot making that weird noise?"

Thanks to Joe and Ernie for sharing their scoots with us! If you'd like to share, send us an email and some cookies (Vegan-friendly) and we'll see what we can do!

Wha? More?!

Oh yeah, there's always more!

Low and behold more stuff I missed when compiling info on the whateveritsnameis. What you see before you is the EICMA revealed beast that is the MP3 400. Apparently the 125 and 250cc engines weren't enough for the Europe market where the bike is old-hat already. The 400cc engine is the same MASTER engine in the new Beverly 400, is fuel-injected and will see the bike off at speeds north of 98 MPH. Oooh, law-breakin' speed! The bike has a longer wheelbase thanks to the new powerplant and a larger 14" rear wheel.

The crazy windshield on the blue machine may be on the accessories list for ya by the time we get our U.S. bound bikes next year. Although fricken huge, it does look like it would offer amazing wind and weather protection, especially if the only way to get back to the future is to cruise at 88 miles per hour or more.

Rumor mill says we won't see that engine anytime soon on any of our bikes since the EU folks didn't seem to like it in the Beverly 400 so much. Apparently, when you already have a 500cc engine, having a slightly smaller 400cc isn't going get the juices flowing. However, if that engines makes it into a US spec MP3.. Man, I'm drooling on my shirt just thinking about it. No guess when this bike will be built, but I'm pretty positive it will be more than just a concept since pictures abound of the bike using the 125's and 250's tinted accessory windshield.

The vid ripped from youtube.
Pic ripped from Topmoto.it .

More three-wheeled info

It seems todays vid wasn't the only thing I somehow missed previously in regards to the whateveritsnameiswhenreleasedinthestates, Looks like the TRA has been working on a MP3 for research.

"The Piaggio MP3 is a highly innovative scooter-like vehicle with two front wheels that promoters say features “power, performance and ease of use”. The unusual front assembly, with two independent tilting wheels, is reputed to be far more stable than any scooter, providing top performance in total safety.
"The MP3, which is already in production, will now serve as the starting point for the EU-funded SIM project (Safety in motion). The aim of the project, says Piaggio's Marco Pieve, is to equip the MP3 with both active and passive safety devices, including an assisted braking system, electronic suspension, air bags and an intelligent navigation system and management tool that will relay system information to the driver.
"The SIM project is set for launch in autumn 2006 and will focus on new safety configurations previously untested on motorcycle-type vehicles."

Wowee wow. ABS, nav-sat and electronic suspsension? Upon further research, there's no word on when we can see this hot-rod, whether in production form or as a concept, but rest assured, when it does arrive, you'll hear about it here. Eventually.

Can I have one for Christmas?

It seems the Brits up at Fifth Gear took a Piaggio MP3 to London to battle traffic and set lap times. A very interesting clip that makes the MP3 look mad fun.. BUT, I have to say:

In no way, shape, or form do we condone lane-splitting (the act of driving through stopped or slowly moving traffic) for it is not only dangerous, but not legal in Kansas, Missouri, or this country of which you live. (Exception being California) The specs and options seen on the machine may not reflect what we will recieve as standard or optioned equipment once the bike arrives in our showroom next year. Pricing given is in British Pounds, and MPG estimates have not been given for the U.S. spec bike yet.

I think that covers everything :)

Oh, almost forgot! For those folks looking for a little more insight as to what you may be getting next year (you know who you are!)... Size wise, the "as of yet un-named three-wheeled scooter for the US market" is narrower than a Piaggio X-9 by 5 inches, shorter in length by almost half an inch, lighter, but has the same seat height. Even though the engine output in CCs is half of what the X-9 is, the performance is nearly the same (??). I can't wait till we get our first batch!!! If you want one for yourself, you probably want to call and put a deposit on one, just to be safe. Its going to be first come first served unless you're partially paid for one, so there! :)