Just a reminder folks: The scooter breakfast is live in tasty! Oh yes, in less than a week, you too dear reader can enjoy a variety of homestyle breakfast entrees and then scoot amongst friends old and new on a relaxing ride through town.
Are you up to the challenge?
Are you prepared for the feast?
Are you tired of the questions and ready for the link to the wheres and whens of the meet-up?!
Follow the link for the details, and we'll see you on Sunday (provided it's dry!). If you have any questions, email me and let me know!
EXCELSIOR!!
Monday, April 28, 2008
Monday, April 21, 2008
More Scooters for Everyone
The title-link is to an recent post on NBC17.com about rising scooter sales in Raliegh, North Carolina, but I, just getting back from vacation, have something similar to post.
While out in Colorado last week, we spent the weekend in Denver, and man, oh man, did we see a lot of scooters.
As anyone whose had the (mis)fortune of driving in Denver will tell you, the traffic there is definitely worse than what we have out here. People drive harder, faster and with more determination, making KC drivers seem lazy and slow as a result. That said, there were scooters everywhere! And the surprising part to me, most of them were 50 cc bikes! It was awesome. Everywhere we went we saw a lot (and I'm not talking about just a handful) of scoots. It was simply uncanny! Kansas city, we need to catch up! Here, it may not be rare to see a motorcycle or two at any given time, but out there, I saw way more scoots than I saw motorcycles.
We paid a visit to Denver's Vespa store, Erico Motorsports and was blown away by their showroom. Friendly staff, a great selection, and innovative ideas (they rent Vespas!) have made a big impact in helping Denver do what they seem to be doing a pretty good job of: finding cheaper and more enviornmentally friendly ways to live life, day to day. They already have a light-rail system (that works amazingly well, by the way; way cheaper than a cab), Toyota Prius hybrid-fuel taxi cabs, metro busses that run off of soy-oils, and an obvious love of scooters.
If you can't tell, I'm a little jealous of Denver's attitude. :)
While out in Colorado last week, we spent the weekend in Denver, and man, oh man, did we see a lot of scooters.
As anyone whose had the (mis)fortune of driving in Denver will tell you, the traffic there is definitely worse than what we have out here. People drive harder, faster and with more determination, making KC drivers seem lazy and slow as a result. That said, there were scooters everywhere! And the surprising part to me, most of them were 50 cc bikes! It was awesome. Everywhere we went we saw a lot (and I'm not talking about just a handful) of scoots. It was simply uncanny! Kansas city, we need to catch up! Here, it may not be rare to see a motorcycle or two at any given time, but out there, I saw way more scoots than I saw motorcycles.
We paid a visit to Denver's Vespa store, Erico Motorsports and was blown away by their showroom. Friendly staff, a great selection, and innovative ideas (they rent Vespas!) have made a big impact in helping Denver do what they seem to be doing a pretty good job of: finding cheaper and more enviornmentally friendly ways to live life, day to day. They already have a light-rail system (that works amazingly well, by the way; way cheaper than a cab), Toyota Prius hybrid-fuel taxi cabs, metro busses that run off of soy-oils, and an obvious love of scooters.
If you can't tell, I'm a little jealous of Denver's attitude. :)
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Singapore bike expo report
I may be in Colorado doing my snow thing for the week, but that doesn't mean I'm not at work :) The above image is via http://rinaz.net.The blog, Marina's Bloggarific has an excellent report on the Singapore bike show, "Bike Asia." The show features plenty of scooters (including your favorites) and is worth checking out!
Thursday, April 10, 2008
Vespa's keep up with traffic... ORLY?
Posted this morning on Vancouver's Straight.com an article titled, "Vespa's punchy new scooter keeps up with traffic" caught my attention and then immediately left me feeling slightly offended.
As of late, I've been getting sent a lot of articles and posts about publications just now, almost eight years after the re-debut, discovering the Vespas, Piaggios and scooters in general. In the defense of these recent articles, I'd say that it's arguable that media folks are extremely busy-types. They have deadlines to meet, writing about things they don't know anything, nor care about. Eventually, one of these folks will write a story that we're familiar with, and we're either left applauding the facts or, more likely than not, left feeling empty. The post on Straight.com was, presumably, destined to fit in the latter catagory.
Assuming soley from the title that the author would simply not do enough research to sound educated on the subject generally, I read the post and for whatever reason, found it humourous that:
As of late, I've been getting sent a lot of articles and posts about publications just now, almost eight years after the re-debut, discovering the Vespas, Piaggios and scooters in general. In the defense of these recent articles, I'd say that it's arguable that media folks are extremely busy-types. They have deadlines to meet, writing about things they don't know anything, nor care about. Eventually, one of these folks will write a story that we're familiar with, and we're either left applauding the facts or, more likely than not, left feeling empty. The post on Straight.com was, presumably, destined to fit in the latter catagory.
Assuming soley from the title that the author would simply not do enough research to sound educated on the subject generally, I read the post and for whatever reason, found it humourous that:
- I was right and...
- The post was obviously written as filler: no real substance
That said, I'm still found myself feeling a bit offended after reading statements such as, "...Vespas are kind of like Harley-Davidsons..." and, "Instrumentation is virtually nonexistent—a speedometer and fuel gauge with some idiot lights, and that’s about it. But for the majority of those interested in this kind of ride, that’s more than enough."
That last quote really did me in; not only did it prove that the author doesn't care about the subject matter of which he/she wrote about, it also highlights the fact that he or she doesn't care about the audience who is interested in said subject matter. In my humble opinion, if you can't write for your audience, why are you even writing? If you're not sure as to why I'm worked up over such a mundance peice of writing, I'd explain it as asking you to think about how this small and unremarkably written post may not change minds one way or another for folks who own and ride a scoot, but for those who may still be considering adding a scooter into their stable of vehicles, the tone alone could deter them from finding out for themselves how wonderful the world of small motorcycling can be.
That's why I'm ragging on this post so much.
As partially mentioned before, I would normally just skip over something like this as I don't neccessarily consider it worth a read (I am biased afterall!) but I'd like to know what you think of the post. You can check it out here.
Friday, April 04, 2008
Scooter Breakfast is GO!!!
Okay Ladies and Gents! The Scooter Breakfast is on!
Mark your calenders:
Mark your calenders:
Sunday, May 4th
Lucky Brewgrille -Vespa KC
SCOOTER BREAKFAST
10:00 AM till stomachs are full!
Lucky Brewgrille,
5401 Johnson DR
Mission, KS 66205
Come early and meet local riders!
Stay after the eats and ride with them too!
For those not in the know, Lucky Brewgrille in Mission is giving us their entire downstairs portion of their resturaunt to do whatever we want! So, I'm inviting you (and please invite whomever!) to a Meet n' Greet n' Eat breakfast. There will be scooter parking, so leave the car at home, and if you're a little road shy, this is a perfect opportunity to work out the kinks and get the confidence levels a boost!
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