I've moved!

My blog has been absorbed into the new Scoot! Club website.

Scoot! Magazine has transformed into Scoot! Club, a membership organization for scooter enthusiasts which provides news, opinion, membership benefits & discounts with retailers, and more. I will continue to blog, just under the same umbrella as the magazine and club.

Come join us!

AGV Trade-In Deal

AGV has announced a deal on a new helmet. Trad in your old stinky helmet for a fresh new one!
-april
+++++++++

"Trade in your past: start fresh with a new AGV helmet!"

From May 1st to June 15th 2011 you can make a clean break with the past. Trade in your old helmet and receive a 20% discount on your new AGV helmet.

 

Every motorcyclists in the USA can trade in their old helmet of any brand, for 20% off on the purchase of a new AGV helmet, from May 1st to June the 15. This promotion is available to the public at all participating dealers.

Our goal with this "Trade In" program is to emphasize safety and awareness, an important matter and concern for all motorcyclists, that is always at the top of AGV's priorities and daily operations

 

Restrictions

 Promotion is available only at participating dealers and on selected helmets only.
Dealer must collect the chinstrap of every old helmet traded in for the purchase of a new AGV helmet (one chinstrap = one new AGV helmet purchased).

Check the AGV Dealer Locator to contact your store.
To participate to the promotion through www.agv.com, please send a picture of your old helmet you want to trade in to agv@dainese.com and you will get a 20% promotional code to use for your online purchase at www.agv.com (helmets under the "Hot Deals" category are not part of the promotion).
Promotion available in USA only.

Ride to Work: June 20, 2011

I probably don't need to tell you that you will save gas by riding your scooter to work rather than driving a car. The fuel-efficiency of a scooter is on everyone's mind right now. So it's even a better reason to participate in Ride to Work Day.

For the 2007 Ride to Work Day, I published some ideas on how to make the event a community-building and awareness event like the Bike to Work Day has become. These ideas bear repeating:

• Contact local scooter & motorcycle shops to see if they would host a stop. Most people commute in the early morning hours, so it may be a tough sell to get the store to be available from 6-9am, but its worth it.
• Get a local grocery store on board to supply the snacks. I know from experience that Whole Foods Markets are pro-alternative transport and you may be able to get them to help out like many of them do for Bike to Work day.
• Contact the Motorcycle Safety Foundation and see if they can send you information on safe riding, helmet fitting etc.
• Find local clubs that may be interested in manning the booth to promote their club or perhaps just leave information on their club.
• Send a press release to the local news about the event and list any stations that you have. Do this at least 4 weeks in advance for newspapers and 2 weeks in advance for broadcast outlets.
• Get sponsors to donate product for a raffle. Get participants to sign up and then add them to an email list (with their permission of course) to keep them updated on future events. 
• Organize an after work "Happy Hour" where participants meet up for dinner or snacks and share their RTW stories. Don't forget to dissuade drinking & driving!

If you participate in Ride to Work Day, share your photos on our Facebook page. 

Having Difficulties Updating Your Scoot Account?

You can do so via this direct link which should take you to the sign-in and then account page.

For some reason, we hadn't included the info for already existing online account users. Sorry for the inconvenience.

How Expensive is Gas Near Stanford University?

I'm not kidding...$5.19/gallon for Supreme Unleaded Full Service.
Now, what dork would get full-service supreme gas during this gas crisis? Well, maybe a sweet old lady in a luxury car. I'd guess that even sweet old ladies are now pumping their own mid-grade at these prices!

Can you beat my recent high gas price pic? Post your own!

It's Earth Day...how do we make scooters even more eco-friendly?

This week, I have been in New York City with David de Rothschild explorer, eco-ambassador, and a past scooterist (he told me he had a 50's Faro Basso Vespa in his youth!).  He's spreading the word about how we can improve our relationships with plastics to reduce their effect on the environment. It got me thinking about the ecological advantages of scootering.

While scooters boast great MPG, there is a lot more to their eco-friendly nature than just fuel consumption:
Less traffic-- for those who travel alone (or with a passenger) a scooter takes up far less space than a car.
Less parking--It's possible to fit 4 scooters comfortably in one car space. With 2 people per scooter, that's 8 people that can fit into one parking spot.

What else can we do to make scooters even more eco-friendly? I'd love to hear your ideas.
Here's a few of mine:
Keep tires properly inflated: saves even more gas and keep the tire wearing evenly, thus extending the life of the tire. And make sure to recycle your old tires!

Keep your scooter tuned up: a scooter that leaks oil or runs inefficiently detracts from its eco-benefits. And your local scooter mechanic will thank you for the business!

Use less toxic cleaners and solvents: carb cleaner brightens up grimy parts like nobody's business, but it is harsh on the environment. Look for less toxic cleaning materials, even for washing the scooter, use it sparingly and clean it up properly. Don't let them run-off into the street drains.

If you want to leave a comment on how to make scooters more eco-friendly, send me an email or get involved in the conversation on Facebook.

Happy Earth Day!

Having difficulties updating your Scoot! account?

I've heard that some folks who already have Scoot! web accounts are having problems updating their accounts with the new membership numbers.

Apparently, we thought we had the account update screen formatted correctly, but we didn't. Our webmaster Chris is now updating the website so that it runs correctly. Sorry for the inconvenience to both our subscribers...and Chris! I'll post an update when it is fixed.

Onward and upward!

Scooters of NYC

Some scooters that I have seen on my trip.











-- Post from my iPhone, out-n-about...