Brian Jonestown Massacre Member's New Video

Scoot!'s pal Joel Gion, member and ultimate tambourine player for the Brian Jonestown Massacre has a new EP coming out. Check out the video he made for one of the songs. Features his white Bajaj. It's mega-trippy!

If you catch yourself thinking, isn't he the guy from that movie Dig!? You are right.
And, if you wonder, isn't he the guy who was on two episodes of Gilmore Girls. You are right again!




Blog entry soundtrack (one of my fave BJM songs....)

The Fun Way to Rake a Beach

If I had one of these, I'd happily have rakes my parent's lawn!

from news.motorbiker.org

Thanks to Philip G for sharing.

Bajaj to Exit the Scooter Market (?)

Just saw this article in the Business Standard of India, which says that Bajaj will exit the scooter business in favor of trying to overtake the small motorcycle business that Honda has been dominating. Sad! According to the story:

The decision to move away from scooters, according to Bajaj, is pegged on three reasons. One, the company is seeing good profitability in selling strong brands like Pulsar and Discover 100cc motorcycles.

“Our EBITDA margin for the second quarter of this year stands at 22 per cent, which is the highest in the auto industry so far. For the third quarter we hope to do better.” Vaishali Jajoo, analyst at Angel Broking, said margins derived from selling Pulsars were above industry average, at 15 per cent.

Secondly, he thinks the worldwide motorcycle market is growing faster than scooters. “There is enough headroom for growth both in the domestic and the export markets. Currently we manufacture around 50,000 units of Boxers in China, which are sold in the export market.” The Boxer is sold as Platina in India.

Lastly, address the top end with KTM motorcycles. The company has a 31.72 per cent stake in Austrian motorcycle manufacturer KTM, which manufactures motorcycles of 250cc configuration.

“So, we make more money by being focused as motorcycle specialists rather than producing everything and making no money at all like the Chinese manufacturers,” Bajaj added.

So has everyone abandoned the Vespa-styled manual shift scooters? Sad! Sad! Sad!

"The company is putting in all of its resources towards becoming the number one motorcycle manufacturer in the world." Anyone want to take bets on how that will shake down?

Ride to Baja

Some friends are embarking on a trip to Baja by scooter. From the San Francisco/ San Jose area it would take about 12 hours to drive a car on the freeway to the border of California/Mexico, so you can imagine how long it is going to take on scooters!
Brian Holm will periodically post updates to his blog if you are interested in checking up on the group.

The ride isn't just scooters, there will also be motorcycles as the ride is lead by the San Francisco Motorcycle Club which celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2004 (!) They have a close relationship with the SF scooter clubs and participate in the annual Mods vs Rockers event.

I wish them lots of fun!

Scooters and Primates

Saw this photo online and thought that it was proof that primates are smart... they like scooters, or at least they'll feign interest for food.

Bajaj Longs for Scooter Successes

In a recent article in the Hindustan Times it is said that Indian motorcycle manufacturer, Bajaj, is considering producing scooters once again. The company had decided to put their efforts into motorcycles, but found that the still strong 100cc market was falling to Honda and others. They are losing market share, and may yearn for their scooter business which earned them an 80% market share. Does this mean that the Chetak or Legend will return? Who knows as Bajaj is keeping it secret.