Olympian Jenny Thompson Fights off Scooter-Jackers

This week, in Brookline, MA Olympic swimmer Jenny Thompson fended off attackers that tried to steal her Vespa. See the story on the WBZ website. Two men got out of their car, approached her and one punched her in the face in an attempt to wrestle her scooter from her. She fought back and screamed until nearby folks came out of their homes and scared the attackers away.
Hear her account on this video.
Be strong, Jenny, and ride again!

Apparently,  there is a rash of scooter-thefts going on in that area.

Another reason to wear a full-face helmet: scooter-jackers!

Antonio Banderas on Scooter

What's up with the Daily Mail? I suppose I shouldn't be surprised by the catty nature of the b*tchy British press, but they are clearly being jerks by badmouthing Antonio Banderas for riding a scooter at a MotoGP event in Spain.

AP image

He's actually riding a MotoGP licensed scooter made by Yamaha. There are pit bikes in car racing and motorcycle racing for when racers or crew want to get around the pits quickly but at low speeds. It's quite typical, all the big racers do it and it doesn't diminish their manliness in the least. What is also typical is the British press' interest in disparaging people when it is unwarranted.  

Ride on, Antonio!

Jay Leno Appears at Piaggio Dealer meeting

This just in from the Piaggio PR team:

Leno surprised an appreciative audience at the 2009 national Piaggio Group Americas dealer meeting in Palm Springs, CA, introducing dealers to 11 of the latest Vespa, Piaggio, Aprilia and Moto Guzzi products, including the all-new Vespa S 50 and Aprilia SMV 750 Dorsoduro. A long-time and outspoken ambassador of motorcycling and a fan of the Piaggio brands, Leno also personally evaluated the Aprilia Mana 850 and the three-wheel Piaggio MP3 250 scooter for JayLenosGarage.com.

Back from Comic Con!

I just got back from a week of working Comic Con. It was fun but next year I will definitely take advantage of more panels ad events.

I scoured the exhibit hall for more scooter collectibles, but didn't really find any. I did get to meet Patrick Ma of RocketWorld who did the Insurgent Wilderness Gruppo collection of animals on scooters. He had some special one-of-a-kind smaller versions of the figures on display.


I also met Rob Reger who is the creator or Emily the Strange and Bonbon (who was a cute scooter-riding mod gal that his company Cosmic Debris no longer produces). he signed books and did drawings on each one with cool custom inscriptions. Neat!


Something totally un-scooter related... I got to meet Ryan Buell at the PopCandy party hosted by Whitney from USA Today's PopCandy blog. (I met Whitney, too, and she's a Peach!. But I was thrilled (and a little tipsy) when I met Ryan. He was kind and gracious. :)


Finally, you may remember my previous post about R. Black making his scooter journey down the coast to San Diego. Well, he made it & I caught up with him at his booth. Way to go! h said he had one minor breakdown, and it was close to NoHo scooters, so it all ended well.