Scoot! to Review Suzuki Burgman 400

Suzuki is making the Burgman 400 available to a pool of journalists in August. I'll be traveling to San Francisco and riding to Napa with a group to give the Burgman a spin. I'm looking forward to the long ride. As you may recall, Scoot! did an ambitious review of maxi-scooters in our Winter 2004 issue.

In that issue we rode from The Los Angeles area to our homes in San Jose/San Francsico and back and then back again and then back again! We rode over 8,000 miles on 11 different bikes. At that time, only the Burgman 650 was available. Now, I'll get a chance to review the 400. It's a big bike, but I think I can handle it! :) The review should run in the Winter isssue which comes out in November. As for the Fall issue, it is at the printers and should be ready to ship next week.

Join us on MySpace!

I know I posted this earlier, but just wanted to remind everyone that they can find Scoot! Magazine at
Scoot!'s MySpace Profile.

We'll be using the bulletin area to make announcements, and we hope to keep in touch with those we meet on the road. So, add us as your friend!

New Merch Sneak Peek...

We received our new shirts from Modified Printing in Portland, OR. The artwork is from Mark Atmos Pilon who created a cute little couple scootin' along. The back has the Scoot! logo so you can represent! It's not yet available, since Josh & Miike are selling them at Amerivespa this weekend in Denver. When they get back, we'll post the shirts to the Scoot! webstore and you can order them. We have both men & women's sizes. As with all new-fangled women's T's the girlie shirts are form-fittting.

MTV Italy Pimps Some Rides

I wish that MTV USA would "Pimp" some scooters! The Italians have and you can download small video snippets from iTunes. Like all "Pimp.." vehicles, they are over the top, but who doesn't want one scooter which blows everyone away?

Download free videos from iTunes.

"Das Freakout"

WWI German Surf Band, Beach Kreig performs at Scoot to the Moon rally in Half Moon Bay, CA. July 22. And no, the picture isn't fuzzy because of my drinking, it's just my little picture phone.

Ride to Work on Wednesday

Don't forget, this Wednesday is Ride to Work Day. Drop me a line and let me know if you are a first-time participant and how it went. I'll be putting through the streets of San Jose that day spreading the word with my cool Scoot! License Plate Frame:

Cick the picture to see how you can get one for yourself and friends.

Delia's Get's MOD-ernized

The new Delia's catalog features a vintage Lambretta in keeping with their mod theme. See their splash photo of teens & the scooter. The catalog has a few photos of the scooter,but this one is best. They also use a Mini Cooper. Some of the clothes may fit in with the mod lifestyle. I'm just hoping that the bad 80's clothing will soon go away. And what about all these flared & bell-bottom style pants. Ugh! "Where have all the straight-legs gone? Long time pa-assing..."

Racing fun

Fuzzy phone pic of mini-motorcycle races at DeAnza college. While these races aren't for scooters exclusively, it's a great place for those who own vehicles that aren't street-legal to get out an tear it up. Jason from Battlescooter.com was able to race a 50cc scooter in some of the races. There were also go-peds, go-carts, mini-bikes and such.

Jason of Battlescooter.com and friend at the mini-motorcycle races. They raced against mopeds on stock 50cc scooters that were totally stripped. They didn't even have seats! The day also had gokart, go-ped and other bikes racing.

New Polly Pocket scoots

Found at Target for less than $10. The scooters are similar to the previous Polly Pocket ice cream scooter but I think they are a slightly different design.

"Are we in trouble...?"

Outside Rev. Horton Heat show

Lori & I parked in a red zone between 2 cars which is a dead space of sorts. When we came out we thought we'd have some explaining to do, but it turned out that the police merely pulled over to arrest a lady who was drunk in public. You might be able to make out some frisking going on in the back of the pic. We rode away with no hassles. Hooray! As an aside, The Reverend was great and Jimbo (his stand-up bass player) was on fire that night. J-I-M-B-O!

Say Kanichewah to a Japanese scooter shirt

OK, so my phonetic spelling is likely wrong, but I took four years of French instead of Japanese. I found this cool shirt on the Internet and haven't actually ordered one, so I can't say anything about the actual product or the website, but it was too cool to pass up. It is supposed to have the Japanese word for "Scooter" on it. A good way to combine the vintage scooter with a Japanese sensibility. I've emailed the site to get more info before I put it in my printed column, but you get the scoop first. Find any cool items that are worthy of a mention in the blog or column? Email me below.

Aggrolites

L.A.'s "dirty reggae" band the Aggrolites perform in San Jose. A good show. Rolling Stone gave their new album a great review. Catch them if they come to your area. Visit their website.

A 700cc scooter? What's next?

I saw a news item about KYMCO beginning work on a 700cc scooter. Read it here
While it is only 50cc bigger than the Suzuki Burgman, it brings to mind the questions, "How big can a scooter get?" and "When does a scooter become a motorcycle?" The first question is hard to answer. The Scoot! team has long been wondering when a 1,000cc bike will be available and which manufacturer will make it. It remains to be seen.

The answer to the second question seems a bit easier, but actually isn't. In our next issue we'll review a CPI "scooter" which is more like an automatic motorcycle. I can see that line between scooter and motorcycle blurring. Especially so when many of the bikes we review are loosing their flat center mats to big humps that make it more difficult to carry a 12-pack between your feet on the way home from the store. :)

In other news, we're expecting to get some new Scoot! merchandise this week from Modified Printing. Some more track jackets and some cool white/blue ringer shirts with a cute scooting illustration by artist Mark Atmos Pilon. Mike has begun the layout process and we are doing our best to get the issue available for Amerivespa In Denver next month, which willl be 2 weeks early! Wish us luck!

Piaggio Makes Parking a Priority

Readers of my blog will find that the need for scooter parking is nothing new, but Piaggio is putting some muscle behind the call with their announcement of their Vespetition. Read it here.

In the US there are several "obstacles" to getting people to purchase scooters. While some can be addressed easily ( riding in poor weather, carrying capacity) some can't (long-distance commute for many Americans). One issue that is somewhere in the middle is parking. While most cities are car-centric, with a persistence and hard work scooterists can get the safe parking they need in order to make scootering more practical. Cities such as New York, San Francisco, Portland and even our own campaign in my home town of San Jose are making the effort to make scooter parking readily available.

The Piaggio petition has some interesting points that are not addressed in our campaign such as requesting that there be sidewalk parking along with bicycles and creating a scalable fee structure for scooters. I'm not sure how well cities will go for the sidewalk aspect, but the reduced fees are a real possibility.

Scoot! will be publishing an article on the campaign for more scooter parking. If you are mounting a campaign in your area, let me know about it so we can follow it!

James Cornell Fund

Last month Bay Area motorcyclist/scooterist James Cornell was gravely injured during his practice run at the Isle of Man. He has been in a medically induced coma and his family and friends are all waiting for him to regain consciousness.

Although you may not know James, you may have seen him in the Men's' Riding Gear feature we did in the Summer '06 issue. James works at Helimot European Accessories, a company that manufactures leather riding suits and gear. He is a vocal supporter of all riders wearing protective gear and he gave his time and expertise to help us put together our important gear article.

The Isle of Man race is notoriously dangerous. This year, several racers were critically injured. Two were killed. James and his racing partner were very aware of the dangers of the sport but love it and were proud to represent their club and the US in the race.

If you are interested in finding out more information or donating towards the mountain of medical bills that James will face
Visit the James Cornell Fund website.

Ride to Work- July 19

If you didn't know it, we're one month away from Ride to Work Day- a great time to take advantage of what two-wheel commuting can mean. I am lucky enough to work about 5 miles from my house, so my 10-15 minute commute is easy on city streets. While some may have a bit farther to go, I encourage all of you riders to do it. Even if you think it might be a stretch, give it a try. It may involve planning out an alternate route to avoid freeways. Maybe it means leaving a little earlier.Think of the gas you'lll save. Remember how fun riding can be, especially when you're leaving all the cars in the dust! To get more info on Ride to Work Day, Check out the Site.

San Jose Parking Update

Last week, Josh and I met with Bill (who put the SJ downtown parking petition online) and went to the City Council. Bill had already primed the Dept. of Transportation that we'd be there and the Director of the department was on hand to meet with us. Each of us addressed the council during the open forum section. Open forum speakers go in order of when their cards are received. We were sandwiched between 2 lunatics who ranted, which made us either look good in comparison, or else lumped us in with the weirdoes. Regardless, I think that the council was receptive.
Afterwards we meet with the director and he assured us that the ban on motorcycles in the city-managed parking garages was on its way to being reversed. In fact you can now park in the Coty Hall underground garage. He said they were fine-tuning the garage gate sensors and that all the garages would be within compliance shortly. Also, he said the new garage across from City Hall would have specific motorcycle parking spaces in it.

While I was pleased about that, I did tell him how important designated on-street parking for motorcycles is, especially for scooters who are smaller and more apt to be moved by motorists looking for parking, or backed into by oblivious drivers. I told him that I would like to present him with suggestions on places where we think motorcycle parking could be places without removing car spots.

So, I'm asking our fellow scooter/motorcycle riders to keep an eye out and send me an email with locations that you think could be turned into motorcycle parking. The red spot on Devine across from Germania by Trials is a given, but let's see what else we can come up with. How about So. 1st street? How about near the blank club? I want to go out & take photos and annotate a map to present to the DOT.

Thanks & happy scooting,

Scooter Charm Bracelet

Saw this online while shopping for a birthday present for my boyfriend. Not exactly his type of thing, but maybe you want to spend $89 on a special scooterist? Check it out at: eLuxury.com.

Piaggio IPO

Looks like the relaxed Italians are making for a less timely IPO by Piaggio. This article in the UK's "The Business Online" has a story on it.

See It Here.