September 2010 Archives

09/24/10 Update: Sold, for $416 USD! Insanity.

09/21/10 Update: This one is back on Ebay. Currently it is at around $140 USD with two days to go, and no reserve. Let's see where it ends up!

(08/11/10) Here is one that you just don't see very often - a Bandai Vespa toy, with the original box.  This is for sale right now on ebay. I have seen quite a few of these toys show up on ebay, but I don't think I've ever seen one with the oringinal box.  Time to step up, all you scooter memorabilia collectors!  This one ain't cheap, that's for sure.  The bidding starts at $400.  It seems unboxed Bandai Vespas in good condition sell in the $60-90 range.  I wonder if anyone will buy this one.

I know there have been many times you thought to yourself... "Self, I like scooters, but they are just too big.  How could a get a smaller scooter?"  Well, take heart.  Someone thought the same thing, and in a beer-soaked haze, decided to make that dream into a reality.

I give you, Lambretta LD mini-bike.

This is for sale in the San Francisco Bay Area. Quick, buy it!

The Scooterlounge home base recently moved to the tony hills of Oakland California. I ride my P125X beater every day on my way the train, and on to work. My old commute was an easy one, on straight and flat streets. It is no longer. Now, I rip it up steep hills and very curvy roads on my way to the train. It is much more fun, but significantly more strain on my scoot. I should also mention that my P125 has a mild performance cylinder kit on it, and my throttle control is set alternately to either "wide open throttle" or "idle", and not much in between. I am not gentle with my trusty steed.

After about a month of thrashing, with little to no maintenance, it has taken its toll.  Last week I heard a strange, but faint, clunking sound from my motor.  When I got home, I noticed that there were fine metal shavings all around on my rear wheel rim.  "That's strange", I thought to myself.  Perhaps my wheel nuts loosened up.  So I tightened them.  The wheel nuts were indeed loose, but they felt sort of spongy when I tightened them.  When I tried to get one really tight, the stud on the rear hub simply broke off.  "That's not good..."

More to the story, below the jump...

They say imitation is the sincerest form of flattery.  Here we have a nice, original, Vespa GL for sale on Ebay.  The listing just cuts and pastes the description of the GL from our own humble Buyer's Guide.  Without attribution, I might add...  However, this scooter is pretty cool, so I guess we'll just have to let it slide.

This GL has nice original paint.  There are some serious dents to the front mudguard, but otherwise, it appears to be pretty solid.  The original windscreen is a nice touch, especially considering the trapezoidal headlight.  I wonder if it was a windscreen made just for that style of headlight.  I would certainly take it off, it were my scooter, but I'd probably save it.

Anyone in Florida should seriously consider making a play for this scooter.  The condition is pretty good.  Not good enough to warrant serious money, but good enough that you'll be rewarded if you get it, and fix it up.  The patina is good looking enough you could conceivably ride it as-is.  If it were my scooter, I'd probably just repaint it.  The GL is just such a pleasing scooter to look at, it is would be worth doing this one up right.

You have to love new scooter riders.  What a bunch of nimrods.

Yes, I know... YouTube is filled with videos like this. It just serves as a reminder to us - do not go on scooter rallies with new scooters!

Sturgis.  It is a name well known in the world of Harley owners.  However, not often associated with scooters.  Well, it looks like there is a Cushman show there as well. 

I don't know a lot about Cushmans, but I can see that this one sure doesn't look stock.  The motor appears to be two cylinder.  I've never seen one with two seats like that.  I think this guy must have lengthened the frame...

Both Innocenti and Piaggio set up factories to produce scooters in other countries outside of Italy.  In some cases it was a full blown manufacturing center, and in other cases, they sent "kit" scooters to be assembled in the target country.  I guess it was all dependent in the particular country's import rules. 

One of those transplant factories was in Brazil.  I'm not entirely sure whether it was ever an official subsidiary of Innocenti, but the factory eventually ended up as an independent company which licensed Lambretta production.  In fact, Lambretta production in Brazil outlasted production in Italy. (as it also did in Spain and India).  The Brasilians started off with D/Ld scooters, and then moved on to Series II Lambrettas.  They eventually went their own way, and built some pretty interesting Series III hybrids, and even a really odd looking Lambretta-powered mini bike!

A friend of the site from Brasil sent us a link to a photo gallery showing a lot of cool Brazilian scooters.  The scooter scene in Brazil seems to be alive and well!  The site also has a really nice history of Lambretta production in Brazil. Another interesting site, if you read Portuguese is the Lambretta Brasil blog.

Below the jump is a crude and abbreviated translation of the history of Lambretta production in Brazil from the site.  Apologies if my translation is bad/wrong.

This photo is from the September 2007 issue of Vogue magazine.  I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that her outfit is not proper safety attire for riding a scooter...  Not that I mind...

Via Filminas.

Wow, this scooter really just hits all the right notes.  It is a Lambretta C, and in the US no less.  These scooters were never sold here, so this one must have been brought back from Europe at some point a long time ago, used a bit, and then tucked away.  it still wears its original paint, and it is in remarkable condition.  I love it!  If this were not three thousand miles away from me, I'd make a play for it.  If you are on the East Coast, buy this thing!  I bet a weekend of tinkering and a set of rings will get it running. 

Funny, there was another barn find Lambretta C on Ebay last week out of the mid-west.  It was not nearly as nice as this one though.  These are quite rare in the US, but don't really have a lot of value.  It would be a good way of expanding your scooter collection to include something truly rare, but without spending a lot of money to do it.  What an odd-ball scoot!

Click below for more detailed photos...

Another great photo from the past.  This one is of what appears to be a Vespa club event in the early 50's.  I'm not really sure what is going on here, but it is notable that all of the riders are women.  At first I thought it was part of a parade of some kind, but then noting the number on the scooter's legshields leads me to think that this is part of some competition.  I don't have any idea, but the whole scene just looks super cool.  Note the big American cars and the jeep parked on the left side of the picture.

Scooterlounge is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, and thus, we have a deep and abiding interest (some could call it a hatred) of the California DMV.  Paying the registration fees on a fleet of scooters really adds up.  So we are really keen to figure out ways to pay less, or at least, not pay any unnecessary fees to the Man.

We already gave you, gentle reader, the tools with which to fight any back registration fees on your classic vehicle.  If you forgot, go here and read....

Now, we have become privy to a new online resource to find out in advance whether you'll need to pre-arm yourself for battle.  We give you, the online registration calculator.  You can use it to find out if your chosen vehicle owes back registration fees and penalties. 

Thusly forewarned, you can go to the DMV with the correct law provisions at your fingertips with which to dazzle and delight the clerk opposite you in the window.  You'll be in for a fight, that's for sure.  However, with the law on your side, you should come out victorious.

There is so much that is awesome about this photo, I can't even put it into words. Without doubt, one of my favorite vintage scooter photos of all time.

By Masanori Sakamoto. Via: Bloguidon & New Cafe Racer Society

Lots of good things going on in the photo...