Want your scooter in Scoot!?

I'm working on gathering scooters for our next issue's "Reader's Rides" which spotlights a well-done custom scooter. If you've got a scooter that draws "ooohs" and "aahs" from the crowd, we'd love to see it. Scoot! wants new and old scooters, vintage and modern twist-n-gos, the only requirement being that it reflects its owner and is done well. Stock scoots usually won't do (although it's not out of the question, especially with unusual vintage bikes). We want to see the owner's personality reflected in his/her scooter.

If you've got a bike you think should be seen in North America and the world, let us know. Here are some tips to help you get your bike in:

1) Submit lots of good photos: include details and keep in mind what's in the background. Look through your viewer for dead plants, garbage, stray body parts ans such tat detract from the bike. Do not submit night photos. Take your time to do a good job or get someone who is a good photographer to help you.

2) We accept prints or digital images. Digital images should be a minimum of 300dpi/ppi at actual size. The larger the file size the better. If we receive great photos, we're 3/4 of the way there!

3) Complete our questionnaire: you can download it from our site [www.scootquarterly.com]. Without the questionnaire we won't run a Reader's Ride.

4) Make sure to include a photo of you: Headshot or one of you on the bike. We want to know who you are so we can congratulate you whe we see you next!

If you have any questions, feel free to email me!

Rachel Ray & Peter Moore

Saw this in the store, today. Rachel Ray knows that scooting, especially on a vintage Vespa GS typifies the free-n-easy feeling of summer. Oddly enough, it is raining in San Jose, today. I hope my BBQ and ride tomorrow isn't ruined by the weather. I've got a rack of ribs & some drumsticks for the BBQ. Better cleanout the oven just in case...

On another note, you may recall the interview or Peter Moore & the review we ran of his book, "Vroom with a View" last year. Peter is in the US making appearances to promote the US printing. He's making a stop at THE book publishing event, the American Booksellers Association convention (I've been to it before and it is FUN) as well as smaller talks throughout the country. Here are his stops (which include some cool scooter shops, too):

Sunday May 21, 2 pm
Vespa DC, Washington DC
Ride/Talk and BBQ!

Monday May 22, 7 pm
McNally Robinson, New York
Talk

Saturday May 27, 1 pm
Vespa New Orleans
Talk

Tuesday May 30, 6.30 pm
Scooter Originali, Orange New Jersey

Wednesday May 31, 7.00 pm
Scomo, Richmond VA

Thursday June 1, 6.30 pm
Erico Motorsports, Denver Colorado

San Jose Motorcycle Petition ONLINE

Just an FYI for anyone in the San Jose, CA area:

Motorcycle rider, Bill B. has created an online petition to get more motorcycle parking in downtown San Jose. At this time there are over 550 people signed on. If that doesn't work, then we'll take to the streets and have a park-in! I'm actually relishing the thought! If you are interested,

View and/or sign the petition here.

Bravo to Bill for getting it going online! I hope we can accomplish this big, yet totally reasonable goal! :)

Are you working on a similar cause in your town? We'll be covering it in an upcoming issue of Scoot! and we'd love to share as many different stories as possible.

Dealernews article

If you're a scooter dealer and have the May 2006 Dealernews magazine, you probably have seen their scooter insert. I was interviewed by Senior Editor, Dennis Johnson. I told him that while I was at the Indianapolis Motorcycle Show I spoke to dealers about how a shop's longevity relies on creating a community of scooterists. I spoke about this briefly in my 2/10 blog entry, but went into it more in depth with Dennis. He used some of my quotes in the article that appears in Dealernews.

While some shops grow out of a thriving community, I am seeing many new shops open that are not owned or helmed by scooterists. While there isn't anything wrong with that, it just means that these shops will need to create a community so that it keeps revolving business going. This is especially true when you get "newbie" scooterists who are buying scooters purely for economic or practical reasons. These scooter owners are usually alone, putting around the town on their own. But, if a shop intoduces them to other sccooterists and hosts scooter-centric events, it can invigorate their appreciation for scooting!

The Dealernews article also talks about catering to the unique needs of scooterists by stocking items that they actually want to carry. I mentioned that most scooter riders don't want to get off their scooters looking like they were going to race. Unortunately, the article makes it sound as if I said that scooterists wouldn't wear Joe Rocket or Alpinestars gear. However,I didn't mention those companies as such and I think that both companies have some clothing that is totally right-on for scooter riders. I wish scoooter riders bought clothing that was made for riding instead of repurposing street clothing for riding. BTW- in our current issue, you can find a nice example of those clothes as we have a men's riding gear spread.

At any rate, I'm glad to get some press for Scoot! to dealers who may not be aware of us. Additionally, if you are a dealer who wants to chat about what I'm talking about feel free to give me a jingle at our San Jose office: 408.294.4292.

Oh, I also forgot to mention: HOW ABOUT THIS WEATHER? AWESOME!

NoHo Scooters on NPR

Congratulations to our friends at NoHo Scoooters for the NPR piece on scooters which exclusively used their shop. NPR is a great catch and says a lot about how scooters are making inroads to the nation's psyche.

Hear it here.

The piece talks abot the affordability and fuel-effficiency but mentions that you can only haul a few bags off groceries. I've been able to haul 2 people and 4 bags of groceries on my P200 with rear rack. It got me to thinking, why not ask readers to send in photos of their scooters packed with a safe bounty of items on it. In Asia, they haul a kid a wife, a bundle of bananas and a pig, why can't we do something similar? If you've got a good photo of your scooter loaded up with stuff, send it to me.

Mag is in the mail

We dropped off the magazine at the post office today. If you are a subscriber, I'd love to know how long it takes for you to received the issue. We've really tried to improve the way we ship the magazine over the past few issues and I think we have the speediest service, yet. Some areas take longer than others depending upon the Area Distribution Center (ADC) that is nearest you, but all magazines should be received before Memorial Day.

Mag & Rally on same weekend

We just received the Summer issue from the printer. We should have subscriber's issues in the mail on Tuesday and shops should be getting their copies by the end of the week. Book stores should receive them the week after. When the magazine comes in, it is a flurry of activity. The mailing process for subscribers is complicated and takes all my concentration and brain power. I'll be spending a little time at the Vespa Club Los Gatos "Classico Moto Italia" rally this weekend, but much of the rest of the weekend means stuffing, labeling, fillng out forms and carrying lots of boxes and sacks. I'll post photos of the rally but spare you the photos of the mailing process! :)

If you aren't out on a ride now, go do it. The weather is great and the hills are alive with the smell of two-stroke!

Dynotesting

Photo of Josh dyno testing his Vespa GT200 to see what all the additional whatzits we've had installed have done for it. To be seen in a future issue of Scoot!. Thanks to local motorcycle/scooter shop Moto Italiano in San Jose for letting us use their dyno and staff for our testing!

Is Baron King?

We are in the midst of our Baron scooter test. I picked it up in November, be honest, hardly rode it as it was raining in my area like it was a rain forest. It sat for about 2 months and when the weather got decent, the Baron wouldn't start. We've had our mechanic change the carb and do some clean-up and it seems to be working fine, now. The speedo said 50mph on my way home today.

Like most new vehicles, it's nice to have something new to putt around on, but I do notice a huge difference between pricier models such as Vespa, Aprilia, Honda and the like. Our windshield cracked, the right rear turn signal fell off and we've got a few stress cracks. When we were unloading it, the bottom caught on our ramp and cracked the plastic undercarriage. While I don't expect it to be as keen as a $6k scooter, I do wonder who is buying inexpensive plastic scooters and what they want out of them. I doubt that this will be a collectible scooter, and I think it would be generous to think that someone could get 5 years out of it without replacing lots of parts. Yet, maybe for most of the buyers of these scooters, the short-termness is OK. Not everyone looks to own the same vehicle dozens of years later. (One of my Vespas is 9 years older than I am!).

Keeping that in mind, we'll write our fair and review of the bike. No scooter that I have ridden is without merit. Some are definitely better than others, but scooter riders vary in their expectations, and I need to do away with any preconceptions when reviewing such bikes.
Honestly, before I got involved with Scoot!, I wouldn't have guessed that I would be riding all these different scooters, let alone actually *liking* some of them. You can teach an old dog new tricks!

Mike & josh have both seen the proofs of the Summer issue and we expect to have it delivered on Friday (Cinco de Mayo!). That weekend is the Classico Moto Italia rally, but we'll likely have to work through one of the days stuffing magazines.

The deadline for submissions for the Fall issue (can you believe it?) is June 14. If you want to submit rally reports, Show Us Your Scoots photo or anything else, send it in by that date.

An unrelated note: I just bought a PS2 (I know the PS3 is coming out, but this was only $139 brand new), and I am obsessed with "Getting Up" and all the butt-kicking and graffiti-ing. The soundtrack is awesome! Maybe the best part of the game. I'm looking to get some of those games with scooters on them, although real life scootering is much more fun!

25% off sale on cool scooter stationery!

The Scoot! website sells cards from the ladies at Rock Scissor Paper in Southern California. They had a line of cute scooter stuff. While they have sold out of most of their items, they still have a few pieces that may interest you. AND they are having a 25% off sale today through 4/26, so order now! I just ordered some personalized stationery. They also have small gift enclosure cards which are about the same size as the small cards that accompany flowers, except that these fold. So, get thee to your browser and order some stationery before they sell out. After the sale, you can check back with Scoot! as we always sell their products at a discount, just not THAT good. :)

On other news, the Summer issue is at the printer. We expect proofs this week and delivery next week. Some exciting news about this next issue is that we'll have it at every Barnes & Noble bookseller in the US. We're doing a promotion with our distributor where we're on the endcap to test our sales. This means primo placement at every store. Previously, we were in the rack with everyone else and only at certain stores. Very frustrating for those looking for the magazine. If you purchase the magazine at newsstands or have been looking for a place to purchase it, try Barnes & Noble in Mid- to late-May. I think we lose the endcap in June. If enough people buy the magazine, we might be able to get it at all B&Ns in the future.

I just heard that Wallnecks is doing an issue which will focus on scooters. I'll post some more info on it this week.

Happy scooting!,
-april

The best laid plans...

I just got back from Santa Barbara, Ca last night. I took a trip there to visit my Grandmother on her 90th birthday. Not only was it a trip to visit my awesome Grandma, I was also looking to figure in some magazine business.

If you've never visited Santa Barbara, you should plan to. It is called the "American Riviera" because it resembles the European Riviera in it's topography, climate and flora. The city is old, one of the stops of the Spanish missionaries who built a Mission there, and remarkably, it had a very visionary mandate to keep the city looking like a small Spanish town. The architecture is likely very controlled, which is probably a bane to those who want to be original and modern. But for those of us who appreciate the local flavor, Santa Barbara is a beautiful place. While it is a big city, they have refrained from tall buildings, almost all new commercial construction still reflects the white or terracotta stucco and tile roof look that has been here for over 300 years. They city is on a small bay and faces a channel of islands off the coast.

So, you're probably wondering what this has to do with a scootering blog, right? Well, Santa Barbara is also a great city for riding. I try not to miss the annual "Endless Summer" rally as it let's me combine a visit to Grandma with some fun and beautiful scootering routes. You can ride along the coast and stop to browse the weekend arts fair that lines the beach sidewalk. The hills offer fun curvy roads and beautiful scenery. Downtown has lots of quaint, independent eateries and shops if you want to cruise the long outdoor State Street Mall. There is also a lively arts scene with plays and musical events happening all the time. While Santa Barbara is a wealthy area (I could never afford to live there) it also has a large college student population, so you can find inexpensive places to get a drink and some food while still wearing beach bum clothes.

Unortunately, this trip was mired with rain. Lots of it. I had scheduled to borrow a bike from Bobby at Moto Paradiso (the local Vespa shop) and was set to take a cruise around the city with Janel Holiday (one of the brains behind the All Girl Scooter Rally). I thought it would be a slam-dunk, easy article for the magazine, but then it rained. And rained. So my one day of scootering paradise was turned into mall shopping and mani/pedi relaxation. Sometimes you can get all the plans in place, but a little thing like weather can throw it all off. I hope to get back there when the weather improves and write my article. In the meantime, if you have a chance to get there with scooter in tow, do it. The "Endless SUmmer" rally usually takes place in September, so mark your calendar.

Kalaisha Watrous Update

Just Scoot!

Just a quick update: The PayPal address that you can send your donations to:
killerfund@gmail.com

Portland Scooterist Needs Our Help

Last year we printed a photo of a woman who had been in a scootering accident as an illustration of how important it is to wear protctive gear when riding. This week, the same woman was in another accident which was much more serious and now leaves her in intensive care. Her injuries are numerous and severe and her friends in Portland are appealing to the scootering community to assist her in the long and expensive revocery period that awaits her. They have set up a bank account and are in the proces of settting up a PayPal account. Here is an excerpt from an email that has been sent out:

She has multiple injuries, including a broken left leg, shattered right knee cap, broken left arm, dislocated right elbow
and several facial fractures. She had undergone a 7 hour surgery on one leg and will have another surgery on her leg tommorrow. The facial reconstructive surguries can not begin until swelling has subsided. Details of the injury can be viewed from this link: http://www.katu.com/news/story.asp?ID=84395

Recovery from an accident of this severity will be long, painful, and expensive. We have set up a donation fund through US Bank. Donations can be made at any branch, anywhere in the country in any amount. Just go to a US Bank branch starting *Friday, March 24th* and say you would like to make a donation to the:

*Kalaisha Watrous Donation Fund*

If you can help by donating to Kalaisha's fund please do so. I will post updates on the PayPal account info as soon as I get it. The scootering community is a close one and we all know that an accident such as this could happen to any of us out on the road.

UPDATE 3/25: the PayPal email account to contribute to Kalaisha's recovery fund is: killerfund@gmail.com.

Summer Already?

Well, not quite, but my deadiline for content for the Summer isssue is this week. It has been cold & rainy as of late, with snow on the mountains surrounding my town. That may not be a big deal to those of you around the country, but we're just a few dozen feet above sea level. There was actually sleet at the beaches nearby! Needless to say, this scooter gal is finding it hard to get the gumption up to ride when the days are dark & wet, and the nights a so very cold. That being said, I am now working on the *Summer* issue of the magazine & it is hard to releate. :)

The Summer issue of Scoot! features a men's riding gear spread, which will be a great inspiration for guys to get on some cool looking clothing that actually protects them. We're also reviewing bikes from CPI, Baron and Vento. My Scooter Collector column will have some cool kid's clothing. We're still looking for submissions for the Show Us Your Scoots section. If you aren't familiar it is a place for readers o submit photos of themselves with their bikes: a quick snapshot to show the other reader who you are & what you ride. I think it's fun to see people on their everyday bikes, in cool locations or whatever. Our Reader's Rides section is for in-depth, custom scooters, but the Show Us Your Scoots is the "everyman's" place to show off our pride & joys. :)

I am also working on a campaign to get more scooter/motorcycle parking in my town. I'm dismayed that the city does not allow motorcycle parking in city-owned parking garages. Also, there is a scant amount of motorcycle-only parking spots downtown. This means that motorcycles/scooters need to park in metered spaces & compete with cars. Do you live in a town with a similar situation? I'd love to hear what you are interested in doing about it. I hope to write about our results in a future issue.

Piaggio Takes it Public...

We've all been saying it for as long as we can remember, but Piaggio is now taking some big steps that should have been part of every scooter manufacturer's plan all along: getting in America's face (politely, of course) about the fuel economy of scooters. Piaggio has taken out a full-page ad in the NY Times with an open letter to US Mayors. I'll include it here:

"Open letter to all U.S. mayors concerned with America's oil consumption

To attain the ambitious goal of breaking America's "addiction to oil," the President has recently focused on the need to invest in alternative fuel technologies. However, there is also a behavioral approach that could greatly reduce this nation's energy consumption, while helping to preserve our environment and reduce traffic congestion.

The use of motor scooters - a daily behavior of millions of people across Europe and Asia - is only marginally embraced in the United States. Everyday in this country, millions of individuals drive their cars in locations and situations where motor scooters would be perfectly appropriate and convenient. Instead, if they were to utilize one of the latest eco-friendly motor scooters available in the market today - those compliant with the most stringent European and American regulations on gas emissions - they would, on average, reduce their fuel consumption by 58%, their emissions of carbon monoxide by 90%, and their emissions of carbon dioxide by 80%.

With the launch of the first Vespa in 1946, our company started a movement that has substantively improved transportation in countries around the world. Consistent with the President's energy utilization goals, we believe the time has come to expand the range of transportation solutions also in the United States.

We encourage you to broaden the dialogue about energy self-sufficiency to include both technological solutions and behavioral ones, fostering acceptance of alternative transportation, such as scootering. With your support - as well as that of other federal, state and local government leaders - scootering would bring immediate and substantial economic and environmental benefits to Americans and the communities in which they live.

We remain at your disposal should you wish to discuss this opportunity further.

Sincerely,
Paolo Timoni
President and CEO
Piaggio Group Americas"

The idea that scooters are a fun, easy-caring way to move through life is a valid one, but us American's have sometimes simple triggers in our brains, thus at the Indy Dealer show, guys were lining up to get signed posters from girls in tight fitting clothes who were essentially nobodies with pretty faces and slim figures. Thus, saying "scooters will save you money on the gas that you were cursing last year" will hit home.

When Piaggio first came back to the US, I was expecting some TV advertisements. I had the perfect one visulized in my brain:

A gas station attendant leans against a gas pump while a nondescript soccermom or regular joe guy pumps gas into his/her SUV. The pump make that old style click sound which indicated how much gas he is getting. A smartly and appropriately dressed scooterist pulls in to the pump near the SUV and jumps off, uses ATM card, and fills his/her tank. Meanwhile SUV person is still pumping away. The scooterists gets back on the scooter and waves to the attendant and says, "see you next week!" leaving the attendant and the SUV as they were when the commercial started.

The overwhelming message of my commercial idea is stated simply: save time and money and be the envy of the road. I think those ads would make some serious inroads in getting America to wake up to the realities of our gas addiction. They could also back it up with abother commercial containing real testimonials from riders who see the benefits of scootering. Small print ads showing people having fun only go so far. The scootering industry needs to pound the message into the american mind (with a potpourri scented velvet hammer of course!) if they exepect to make soem serious inroads into the transportation market. They are trying, and Piaggio's current step (which includes a similar letter sent to George Dubbya) will benefit the whole industry.

On a a side note, I did spend the whole president's day weekend (and then some) at the Indy Dealer show, but I'll blog that throughout the upcoming week. Stay tuned!

The Scoot! is Out There...

Whew! We have just got the new issue to the post office & what a chore it was! Unless you've dealt with the post office and their periodical mailing permit requirements, you have no idea what hell it can be for a small publication such as ours. We just moved into a new office in the same building so that we could have more room for the hours of sorting, tagging, stuffing and sacking that is needed to get subscriber mail out.

All this rigmorale is necessary because we get much better shipping rates from the post office by doing it. AND it ships much faster then regular bulk mail, which was taking up to 5 weeks to get to certain parts of the country. By going with this method were were able to reduce the subscription price by nearly $8, which is something I think our subscribers appreciate! :)

But for now, I'm going to lick my wounds, band-aid my paper cuts, ice my sore shoulder and pack my suitcase for tomorrow's flight to Indianapolis for the Dealer Expo. Hope to see some of you there! OH... and if you're going to Las Vegas for the High Roller weekend, say HI to Mike who is the sole Scoot! representative. Look for the tallest guy wearing a new Scoot! Hoodie or Track Jacket!
-april

The New Lambretta...

When I heard that CMSI was looking to create a new scooter under the Lambretta name I thought, "They've got to be kidding!" It seemed like one crazy idea. Out of all the scooter communities, I find that Lambretta owners can be the most loyal, picky, sometimes snobby, and truly committed to maintaining the integrity of their scooters. I say that not to be catty, but to illustrate what an uphill battle a company encounters when attempting to create a new version of said scooter. Compound that by the fact that the Lambretta name is owned by another company, and you've got to wonder about the planning behind it.

Well, on the International Scooter BBS, Phil Waters from Pride of Cleveland has posted some news which I thought would originally get the board all fired up. See it here But I was surprised that not many comments were logged. Maybe this is because the whole Lambretta scooter thing has been circling around since 2003 and scooterists may be tired of it. Maybe its because most scooter bbs people log on from work! :)

Regardless, the announcement that there will be another brand name for the forthcoming (?) Lambretta-style scooter probably makes scooter fans feel as if the project is even less likely to happen. Although it seems to me that this should have been done from the beginning. Sure, Lambretta fans would have bitched..."Hey, they've stolen the Lambretta look!" but at least the project wouldn't have been hampered by the name ownership. I am no trademark lawyer, nor do I play one on TV, but I doubt that the man who owns the Lambretta name also owns the rights to the design elements of the Innocenti Lambrettta scooter. Even so, the realities of changing technology since Lambretta closed its doors decades ago makes it impossible to make a bike like they used to. Thus, a new Piaggio engine, liquid cooling, emissions controls, etc. The bike would need to be changed & updated to work in today's world. And that is where that overpaid & sneaky trademark lawyer comes in. :)

At Scoot!, we've been stonewalled for news about the Lambretta project. CMSI wouldn't give us news, said they weren't ready and then Scootering (bless their hearts) would get coverage of the new English developments. Even as "news" was coming, I felt that most of it (prototypes with blatantly repurposed parts that would never be DOT compliant) was too unreliable to count as real news. My gut feeling is that we weren't seeing something that was going to be a reality. Now, I don't mean that this project would never come to fruition,but what we were seeing seemed too unfinished and up in the air to dedicate our limited space to, especially when I was sure that much of it might be changed by the time our issue hit the stands.

Well, what do you think about all of this? I'd love to hear what readers think. Do vintage scooterists care about a new scooter "in the spirit of" Lambreta? Do new scooterists (the fastest growing segment of scootering) even care? If you were CMSI what would you do?

Still Waiting...

Well, our printer called us Friday to say we would receive the shipment of the Spring issue. Josh waited around well until after their 3pm delivery deadline & no mag. Hrumph!

Apparently the magazine will now be delivered on Monday, which is kind of a bummer as we could have used all weekend to pack & ship the magazine. Ah well! It's not the first time one of us has hung around the office waiting for the delivery, and it probably won't be the last. SInce we all work other day jobs, these deliveries are inconvenient since we rarely get more than a few hours notice and there is no real delivery window. As much as I want to go to 6 issues a year, I can honestly say that the delivery & packing of the magazine makes me dread doing it more frequently! :) BUT that doesn't stop me from trying to get us on track for 6 issues.

Next weekend, we'll be in Indianapolis for the motorcycle dealer show. If any of you are there, please stop by our corner of the KYMCO boooth to say hi! We've got some great new promotional options for dealers, which I think will make Scoot! an integral part of any dealer's comprehensive scooter sales/service plan.

In our upcoming issue we advise scooter buyers to build good relationships with local shops in order to keep them in business and serving the consumer's needs, but I also think that shops need to put the capital "S" in Service and show customers how mush they appreciate their business. One cool idea I heard of the dealer hosting an occasional "customer appreciation" events such as a wine/cheese tasting or a barbecue. Invite past customers to come & meet other scooterists and feel part of a larger group. I think the customers will love it & it will go a long way towards firming the dealer/customer relationship. Also, it will generate excitement that is contagioius. Perhaps that customer brings along a friend and that experience earns the dealer a new customer. Maybe you end up selling a bunch of lifestyle products during the event. Or, maybe the customers meet other scooterists who invite them to rides and get them on their scooters more. Whatever the reason, dealer events such as that can go along way in garnering loyal and long-term customers.

Enough of my preaching. It's almost 70-degrees here in San Jose. I should go for a ride!

Scoot! Swap Meet 2/26 8am-4pm

Last year we held a scooter swap meet @ our warehouse which was mildy successful considering we barely promoted it. This year, we're partnering with Vespa Club Los Gatos (who is really doing all the work!) and hosting it again at our warehouse. It's a great opportunity to bring out your old scooter parts, vintage clothes, and scooter-related lifestyle items to sell. A good place to get some deals. I'll be selling some spare parts and some cool scooter crafts that I made.

Our warehouse is located at 190 Martha Street, San Josed, CA 95112. The event will be held in the parkinglot/courtyard. I suggest that buyers park on the street & come in. Vendors can bring in their vehicles and pull up a piece of pavement. No tables/chairs will be provided to bring your own. Also, the coourtyard can get warm, so consider a tent or cover.

Scoot!'s new ofice willbe open for visitors. A great time to stock up on back issues!

See you @ the swap!

Scoot! Spring issue @ printers

Just viewed the Spring issue proofs & sent them off to the printers. We anticipate getting the issue back in about a week. We'll need to turn it around & ship it quickly because Josh & I will be in Indianapolis for the Intl. Motorcycle show the weekend of the 18th. Mike will be in Vegas for the big High Roller's Weekend rally the same weekend. Scoot! is out & about with the public!

This new issue features our Buyer's Guide, highlighting the new scooters available in the US. We review the Piaggio BV 500 and the TnG Baja. This issue was challenging as there are 99 new bikes in the Guide! We had to cut some content because the guide was large. The situation renews my interest in going to 6 issues a year. However, we'll need to grow our revenue more before we can do that: it will require us to quit our day jobs and re-structure our advertising program which is a lot of work. I am hopefull that 2006 will position us for that in 2007.

Other highlights of the Spring issue include our results for our "Rust or Restore" contest, which asked readers to submit photos of their project bikes which needed help; a beautiful Lambretta LD Reader's Ride; a great Scooter Collector column, tips on how to buy a new scooter; several rally reports; Mike's report on his trip to Taiwan for a tour of the KYMCO factory; and loads more.

The good thing about the Spring issue being stuffed to the gills, is that I'll have ready-to-go content for the Summer issue! We'll have a men's riding fashion spread; an article debunking scooter misconceptions; more bike reviews. I'm working hard on the issue as we speak.

As far as scooters go, bothof mine are throwing tantrums. The P200 electrical system is kaput. The VBB now has a flivkering headlight and idles very high. I think that my neglect over the winter is causing them to act out! :) Well, winter is for projects isn't it? Time to get back into the cold garage I suspect.