What SF Weather Does to Chrome

My friend's Genuine Buddy is a riding scooter that waits at the curb for its master.



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

Ska Show in San Francisco Friday 2/18

Hey, there's a scooter on this poster!

Ska Show tomorrow at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco with GOGO13, seen in Scoot! Magazine. One of the band members illustrated the cover of Scoot! issue # 56 (Scooter Art issue).
Doors open at 8pm.

"Big Wet One" Itinerary

The San Francisco rally, The Big Wet One, is a unique rally in that it is hosted by multiple clubs/scooterists rather than one club; it is planned with very little lead time, perhaps a couple of weeks; and it is planned to coincide with a cold, rainy time for the city (thus the name). It seems that it is tailored to fail, incorporating what would seem to be counter-intuitive plans.

But it works. And while I don't attend every year, I have yet to be rained on, so the name is typically a false promise.

If you are in San Francisco next week, try to make some of the events.
Here is the schedule (subject to change):

Thursday 01/6/11
9pm: Ride to Cafe DuNord (2170 Market St.) where local DJ Dr. Scott and Band the
Titan Ups will get your feet moving.

Friday 01/7/11
8pm: Meet at Lucky 13 (2140 Market St.) for a city lights ride led by SSSC, to
the DNA club where we will celebrate BWO founder Mole's birthday with the ska
sounds of Monkey and DJs Dion and Mickey Angry.

Saturday 01/8/11
10am: Meet at SF Scooter Centre (127 10th St.) for two options:

1. 11am, Patrick and Oz want to take you on an adventure ride. Make sure your scooter is fast and reliable cause you never know how far these guys willl go in a day!
2. 11:30am, The Lone Wolf Drunken Texan SC Wants to challenge you to their version of an alley cat ride. You scooter can be less reliable for this one but make sure your brain is tuned up!

Saturday night
8pm: Dress up proper and ride your classic, then meet at the Orbit Room (1900
Market St.). At 9pm well head out to explore the city on our way to the the
Crescent Hotel (417 Stockton St.) for some late night mod fun in the Burritt
Room.

Sunday 01/9/11
Noon: Meet at Cafe Greco (423 Columbus Ave.) in North Beach for a group led
"Mural Ride". We'll wind up at Bender's (806 South Van Ness Ave.) for beer and
burgers.

Upcoming Event: So Far So Good

The SF Scooter Girls know how to party...in an organized and responsible way. Go ladies! That sounds funny but I love a fun, organized rally, and these ladies can bring it.  :)

The San Francisco Scooter Girls Present:
So Far So Good IV – I Left My Heart in San Francisco

An all rides no raffle rally.

Friday Sept 10:
Meetup: 5:00 PM

• San Francisco Scooter Centre - 127 Tenth Street (at Mission), San Francisco
• Leave: 6:00 PM (led by Rachele)
• Arrive: 7:00 PM
• Broken Record Bar and Grille - 1166 Geneva (at Edinburgh), San Francisco

Saturday Sept 11:
Breakfast: 9:00 - 11:00 AM

• Green Bar – 101 Clay Street - Embarcadero 3 – 2nd Level, San Francisco
• Kick-ass breakfast provided by SF Scooter Girls at Green Bar
• Scooter parking provided by SFSG on Drumm Street at Clay
• SFSG breakfast, back by popular demand is as follows:

• Scrambled eggs, bacon & potatoes
• French toast w syurp/butter
• Italian sausage w assorted peppers
• Down home grits w sharp cheddar cheese *new edition by request*
• Breakfast breads: carrot, marble, lemon poppy, orange cake and bagels
• Coffee, tea, assorted juice

* There will be bottles of water and cookies to grab for the ride*

Breakfast begins at 9:00 a.m, we'll serve 'till 11 or so---see you there!

• Leave: 11:00 AM (led by Lauren)
• Arrive: 2:00 PM Park Chalet – 1000 Great Highway (at Ocean Beach), San Francisco
• Meetup: 7:00 PM Silver Crest Donut Shop - 340 Bayshore Blvd., San Francisco
• Leave: 7:30 PM
• Arrive: 8:30 PM Serra Bowl - 3301 Junipero Serra Blvd, Daly City

Sunday Sept 12:

• Meetup: 10:00 AM Philz Coffee - 201 Berry St (at 4th Street, near King)
• Leave: 10:30 AM
• EB Meetup: 11:00 AM
• Doyle St. Café - 5515 Doyle Street, Emeryville
• Leave: 11:30 AM
• Arrive: 2:30 PM New Zealander – 1400 Webster Street, Alameda

Upcoming Event: San Francisco Classic

This weekend is the San Francisco Classic rally in beautiful San Francisco. Josh has to miss it as he is teaching a Motorcycle Safety Foundation class. I'll be at the Saturday show selling Scoot! issues and swag. Stop by my table if you are there.

Check out the schedule for the event.  It's vintage only, so dust off your old standby and get riding!

Moped on the streets of San Francisco

This cute moped has a goofy face on the headlight.

Upcoming Event: San Francisco Classic

One of the first rallies that I attended was Kings Classic in San Francisco. I think it was the one with the flaming die patch. I didn't buy a patch because I thought it was lame to buy one if I didn't have a scooter. I was on the back of my friend Paul's P200 and I had never seen so many scooter in one place; taking over the streets, ignoring traffic signals, populating the air with blue smoke. It was exhilarating.

The Rally Kings are gone, but the event lives on in the form of The San Francisco Classic which takes place this weekend. San Francisco is a great town for riding. I'm so used to scooting around that town, that I hate riding in a car and would rather tow my scooter in a truck and park it on the outskirts so that I can get around. Silly but true.

This is a classic scooter rally for vintage bikes. No one begrudges the new bikes, but it is an old-style rally that should be left as it is, like an interactive museum.

I'm planning on being there on Saturday. I am seriously behind on the next issue, so I can only spare one weekend day.

LALO today in San Francisco

Today is the San Francisco Loose Association of Lambretta Owners ride. Since I don't own a lammy, I won't be riding, but I will meet up with the crew at the end of the ride. House mate Lori & my BF Jon rode up there this morning while I went to the nursery to get some tomatoes and pole beans. Yum!

Vespa Rentals coming to LA, SF, Vegas & Orlando.

This in the news:

EagleRider to include Vespa scooters in rental line-up.
from Powersports Business:


EagleRider added Piaggio and Vespa scooters to its motorcycle rental line-up that already includes Harley-Davidson, Honda and BMW motorcycles, reported EagleRider.

Beginning Oct. 11, EagleRider will start renting Piaggio and Vespa scooters at its Los Angeles, Las Vegas and San Francisco locations. Beginning Oct. 15, EagleRider’s Orlando location will carry the scooters.

“Strong Vespa Scooters sales growth in 2008 coupled with increasing gas prices makes the addition of the Vespa line-up a necessary choice,” Chris McIntyre, president of EagleRider, said in the release. “Vespa is a world famous lifestyle brand that will be a great complement to our prestigious rental fleet of Harley-Davidson, Honda and BMW motorcycles.”

TODAY: Lambrettaworks Grand Opening Party

Unfortunately, I will be in the midst of a 4-day video production class and will miss most of this event. My class gets out at 6pm, so maybe I can drop by.

If you are in SF, stop by the new Lambrettaworks location and wish them the best.
According to their invite:

Please come by between 2-6 PM to welcome us to the City, gawk over our collection of scooter paraphernalia, and mingle with other scooterists.

We will be having a ride led by a member of Secret Society Scooter Club that will leave the shop at 4PM to tour the City. Then back at the shop, the local 60’s Garage band ‘The Parties’ will play at 9pm.

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Bagel's Cannonball Blog

I must know a lot of people who love long rides and weeks of torture! Tom D. aka Bagel is participating in the Cannonball Run (again!) this time on his shiny new-painted GT. You can follow him and his adventures here: http://bagelsscooterblog.blogspot.com/.
Best of luck to Bagel as he and the other riders take off from San Francisco on the 11th!

West Coast Lambretta Works: Same Coast New Latitude

Many of you have already heard that West Coast Lambretta works is moving from San Diego to San Francisco this month. According to Guillermo's email:

With Jenny in-tow, we will be leaving Guillermo's home town of San Diego for the great city by the bay! We have been wanting to move there ever since Mary left in 2004, and now the opportunity has presented itself. But this is not just great news for our personal lives; it's great news for the shop as well!

With an amazing 3000 sq. foot space in the Mission District, we intend to give LW an extreme make over- shop edition! This is a long time in the making and we are excited to allow our shop to completely flourish under new skies. Guillermo will soon be out of the shop most week day mornings, so Mary and Jenny along with a highly experienced part time mechanic (name TBA) will be operating the business with a greater focus on mail-order efficiency and walk in support. We will still take repair and restoration jobs and will be allowed to offer faster turn around time on these jobs as well! don't worry, Guillermo and his 25 years of 2-stroke knowledge aren't going far! He will remain in constant touch via email and will be at the shop in the afternoons and weekends approving all work done in the shop, answering tech inquiries, and wrenching as well.

As the new owners of an old business, we have been eagerly awaiting an opportunity to give LW a real positive overhaul. We have been working with the creator of our website for some time now to come up with the best improvements and upgrades so that your experience can be exciting and new each time you visit lambretta.net.

There are quite a few Lambrettisti up here in the Bay Area, but I'm not sure how it compares with the San Diego area. Lots of folks are excited about it, especially my Lambretta-loving boyfriend, Jon. Best of luck to the WCLW crew. A grand opening party is slated for July 5th. West Coast Lambretta Works' new location is at 3265 17th Street, San Francisco CA 94110
Check it out:

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San Francisco Scooter Sightings

Scooters I saw near a park.

Board for a cafe on Rich Street near the train station and a few blocks from the ballpark. Owned by a Lambrettisti, of course. Who else would call it "Cento"?