Cute BDay Card

I found this cute card which would be a cool thing to have in your card drawer for those scooterist birthdays that seem to pop up here and there. Inside it says, "Wishing you a day of great adventures." Maybe there's a fancy lady scooterist in your life who might enjoy it.
Get it at Taylor Papers for $2.75.

Remembering 80s scootering scene...

Scoot! is currently working on an 80s issue. We'd like to pay tribute to the 80's (and perhaps EARLY 90s) scooter scene in the US. Things have changed in the past 2 decades, and we'd like to remember the scrubby days of 'zines, photocopied flyers, silkscreen patches, bomber jackets and ironingboard backrests.

If you were a scooterist in the "old days" we'd love to talk to you. We're looking for contributions in the following areas:

1) Photos: Show Us Your Scoots! If you bought a P200 news from the dealer, let's see your proud photos! Were you a mod with an asymmetrical haircut and a scooter with dozen mirrors and a raccoon tail aerial? Were you a scooter boy with a cut-down, a patch-coated jacket and straight-edge tattoo? Send us some of your choicest photos that exemplify the scene. We are looking to run an expanded and 80s-centric Show Us Your Scoots section.

2) Reader's Rides: Do you have a bike currently that is in an 80s style? We want bikes with those rare accessories, funky chrome or definitive 80s mod, scooterboy, skinhead or punk style. They don't have to have perfect paint, but they do have to typify the 80s style. If you've got a good collection of photos of a bike you had in the 80s (even if you don't still own it) we're interested in featuring it. The trick is, e need several photos of the bike at different angles, so you had to pretty type-A about documenting it. If you've got photos like that, we want to talk to you.

3)Rally History: There were some great, infamous rallies in the past. Were you involved in planning them? D you have memorabilia from them such as patches, shirts, flyers etc? Let's create a historical documentation of those old rallies.

4) 80s style: What made the 80s scooter scene? Was it the clothes, the custom bikes, the music, the culture? If you've got some suggestions on what we should cover, we are open to your input. Here's some suggestions to get your mental gears going:
**What accessories, treatments and styles exemplify an 80s scooter? What accessories or treatments were all the rage? Was it checkered tape, chrome, mud flaps, a certain brand of seat, a special aftermarket pipe?
**What were the fashions of the time? Name some key pieces to a scooterist's wardrobe.
**What bands courted the scooter scene? We know how a Bad Manners show could rustle up a parking lot full of scoots, but what other bands has a scooterist following?
**Who were the leading scooterists of the time? Who made the scene what it was? Who was printing 'zines, organized rallies, made parts, ran scooter shops?

Many scooterists miss the good old days, so let's put our heads together and create an issue that stirs up memories, calls attention to where we came from, and perhaps inspires a revival.

send your ideas to aprilATscootquarterly.DOTCOM or email us a brief reply to this post and we'll get back to you.

Happy Scooting!
-april

Operaton Calendar 2008

Operation Calendar is a group that creates and sells pinup calendars. According to their website, "A portion of the proceeds from the sales of Operation Calendar's CAMOUFLAGE: PIN-UP 2008 will be donated to charitable organizations that support wounded Veterans and their Families."

If that isn't enough to convince you, maybe perhaps Miss September's shot on a Lambretta (misidentified in promotional copy as a Vespa) will help loosen your credit card from your wallet. The model, Michelle Manhart recently posed in playboy's Feb. '07 issue.

All of the models posed nude except for painted-on swimsuits or lingerie.


The calendar is available for $12.99 at the Operation Calendar website.

Save Internet Radio!

If you are like me, you spend LOTS of time in front of your computer. Working on the magazine late into the night is lonely work made better by the Internet Radio stations that I listen to while working. Here are some of my faves:
Indie Pop Rocks!
Radio Paradise
Kink FM

Unfortunately, the music industry and commercial radio are incestuously intertwined and have ganged up on Internet stations to charge them HUGE royalty fees. They want to charge them based on *possible* listeners. As you know almost anyone in the world can connect to an Internet radio station, so you do the math on the royalty fees! In order to limit the industry to reasonable royalties some groups are appealing to congress to pass some sane legislation. One site involved in the fight is Savenetradio.org:

The future of Internet radio is in immediate danger. Royalty rates for webcasters have been drastically increased by a recent ruling and are due to go into effect on July 15 (retroactive to Jan 1, 2006!). If the increased rates remain unchanged, the majority of webcasters will go bankrupt and silent on this date. Internet radio needs your help! The Internet Radio Equality Act has recently been introduced in both the House (H.R. 2060) and Senate (S. 1353) to save the Internet radio industry. Please call your senators and your representative to ask them to co-sponsor the Internet Radio Equality Act

Time is of the essence as the deadline is next month. Please contact your representative and ask them to get on board and stand up to the music industry bullies. If you aren't a political person or think your opinion doesn't count, don't be discouraged. If a small percentage of the people who felt the same took a stand our country would be a far better place. You've got to start somewhere, why not with the expression of musical freedom?

Find your congressional or senate rep here.

There are several bands that I would never have found had it not been for Internet Radio. Through the Internet I heard obscure bands from other countries whose music isn't even sold in this country. How can Slayer sell out a venue with no commercial radio play in their career? Because of word of mouth. Look to your record collection and think of the bands that you heard of from friends who aren't played on the radio. The Internet now makes it possible for you to hear of more diverse music than ever before. Don't let the possibility be squashed.

Sydney getting on board-Pt. 2

Maybe you saw my past post about the city of Sydney, Australia investigating better motorcycle/scooter parking. I decided to send an email to the Lord Mayor Clover Moore about how I have the same concerns for my city. I made some suggestions on how to improve parking and suggested that she look at cities like San Francisco for inspiration.

Today I received the following response from the Mayor's office:

"Hi April,
The Lord Mayor has asked me to respond on her behalf to your email about scooter parking. My apologies if I am too late for the recent edition of your magazine.

There has been very rapid growth in motorcycle ownership in Sydney, particularly ownership of scooters in the inner suburbs. However, motorcycle and scooter riders have relatively little parking available to them, because the operation of ticket parking schemes and resident parking permits (for parking on the street) are not well suited to motorbikes. Some regulations, which are controlled by the New South Wales government, are also anachronistic. (eg, only one vehicle - including motorcycles - in a marked parking bay)

To address the problem, the City has commissioned a consultant to develop a detailed strategy to improve conditions for motoryclists and scooter riders. The strategy will address the problems facing motorbike riders, and examine some possible solutions, including changes to the way permits and parking tickets are issued. There will also be some investigation into ways to improve safety for motorcyclists.

I understand this policy will be considered by Council in its draft form, then exhibited for public comment and feedback, probably late this year. We will be looking at lots of international examples of better ways to do things, including the problem of more secure parking for easily stolen scooters. There are a few design options, and we want one that is user friendly without having too much of an impact on the look of the streetscape. Maybe something like low bronze tethering racks parallel to the kerb, or pull-up rings in the pavement.

If I can help with something specific, please let me know.

Regards,
Anthony Mifsud, Research Officer
Office of the Lord Mayor
City of Sydney"

Well, I was impressed with the fairly quick response and I am glad to see that it seems to be a priority for the city. I will be responding to Mr. Mifsud later this week with some examples and names of DOT contacts who may help. Look to the August issue of Scoot! for a feature story on scooter parking.

Is your city doing anything specific about scooter/motorcycle parking? Let me know.

Is it a scooter?

This week Californian company RideVehicles demonstrated their zero-emission personal transportation vehicles to a delegation of Canadian business leaders at an event geared at furthering trade with Canada. Above, Governor Schwarzenegger checks out one of the models.

The Ride vehicles are three-wheeled electric vehicles that are positioned for business use. The Blue-Ride is geared towards police and security use, while the Mail-Ride is for postal employees, the Base-Ride is for military bases and he Work-Ride is for private business use. All models are made to help individuals easily cover large areas which is definitely a concern for mail carriers and foot patrol police. You've probably heard of how some large factories use bicycles for workers to get quickly from one area to another. Some would argue that the bicycle is the better choice or health reasons, but there are probably several instances where this electric vehicle has some advantages over the bike.

But, is it a scooter? In the popular vernacular it probably is, although Ride may choose to avoid that term. As far as Scoot! is concerned, it is in the realm of the Segway (to which it is compared) and the mobility scooter: similar but not enough to really cover it. Although it is an interesting development for alternative transportation.
You can find out more about these vehicles at the RideVehicles website.

Funky Scooter Fonts

I've always had a thing for fonts since I dated a typographer in the waaay back. The inspired use of fonts can make a page come to life. If you are a scooter fanatic, you may enjoy the fonts I've got in this entry.


I found this Lambretta-inspired font pack at Chank an online font foundry. I've been a big fan of their free fonts, but this font pack is quite affordable at $39. While it is probably best for headings or titles, it can jazz up invitations, posters and the like. May be great for patch design or rally fliers.



If you are interested in getting the font that is used on the Vespa Primavera, you can download it from Smallframes.com.

Solar Powered Scooter

Have you heard about the Solar Scooter? No joke, Don Dunklee has developed a way to charge his electric scooter by solar power and he has created an instructional that you can download on how to do it. According to his guide:

"The basic bike is a stock EVT 4000E available from various dealers around the U.S. The rest of the system consists of a Xantrex (formerly Trace) C-40 charge controller, and 4 Atlantic Solar 30 watt, 16 X 25 inch panels mounted two to a side. The panels fold open while in charging mode and are closed while driving. Mounting hardware is basic off the shelf parts available from any hardware store."

The result is something a little hokey-looking but useful and very affordable for Don's commute to work.

Check out Don's Solar Scooter at Build It Solar.

New Scoot! T-Shirt

We've got a new t-shirt that should go into production in the next couple of weeks. Designed by Spanish artist, Charuca, for our Scooter Art issue, it is a vibrant, sexy illustration likely to get scooter boys and girls excited to get dressed in the morning. Because many of our past graphic Ts have sold out quickly, we're trying a pre-order system this time. You can go to our website & place a pre-order which will not charge your card until we are ready to ship the shirt. This will help us order a more appropriate quantity. The shirt comes in both
a women's version and a men's version so make sure to order the right one.
Note: the Scoot! logo will not appear on the shirt, just in the online logo.

If you have any feedback on the shirt or suggestions on what sort of clothing or lifestyle items you would like Scoot! to offer, let me know. We aim to please...:)

Also, if you want to get a look at Charuca's other work, visit her website.

It's true...

The rumors on the board are true. We've got 'em and we're putting them through their paces. Look to the August issue of Scoot! for a full review.

Favorite Internet Radio Station

Lots of my time is spent in a dark room in front of a computer working on Scoot! content. It's made much better by Internet radio, my favorite station: KinkFM out of the Netherlands. Damned if I can understand about 5% of what they are saying (they pepper their speech with English terms now & again), but they play some excellent music. Luckily, can get a great connection via iTunes. Kink has exposed me to some great, diverse music like Pete Philly and Perquisite, Electrelane, Vive la Fete and many more bands that I have had a hard time finding in the states. Often, I hear of bands on Kink way before they make it to the US and most of them will never make it to the boring and unimaginative US broadcast radio.

This afternoon, as I was finishing up some articles, I was listening to DJ Dr. Ska who was playing some great classic and contemporary ska as well as some vintage soul. I was so enthralled, I had to send him a congratulatory email. Not 5 minutes later, he gave me a shout out! I may have never made it to the Holland, but some late night Netherlanders have heard my name!
Give them a listen!

Sydney getting on board

I happened upon an article about Sydney, Australia's push to make the city more scooter friendly to reduce congestion and improve the environment. The movement is part of an overall transportation strategy that is also encouraging walking, public transport and bicycling as alternatives to using cars.

As I've said in the past, pro-scooter planning should be a part of responsible city planning. In my city, we're working to address more scooter parking in congested areas. I am currently working on an article for the August issue of which discusses what has been done in cities such as San Jose and Portland, OR. I've sent and email to the Mayor of Sydney to offer some suggestions and to request an email interview. We'll see what comes of it.
Read the Daily Telegraph's article.

Scoot! Magazine Isue #40 Now Available

I've been so busy working on the next issue that I completely forgot to mention that the Summer issue is now available. We've brought back the Scooter Art issue and have some cool submissions from all over the world. We've also got our review of the Piaggio MP3. Find out what we think about this eye-catching three wheeler. Our "Ladies Love Cool Scoots" article will introduce you to all-female scooter clubs from around the US along with some tips on starting your own club. We've also got the scoop on Grammy Award-winning rock group Audio Adrenaline and their recent tour which included a fleet of Honda Ruckuses. Have you seen the Gymboree "When in Rome" baby clothes line? Check it out in the Scooter Collector. There's a lot more in this issue, so check it out at the Scoot! webiste.

Ride to Work Day- July 16

I just helped out with the annual Bike to Work day by hosting an Energizer Station for bicyclists. It got me thinking about the upcoming Ride to Work Day for motorcyclists/scooterists. Considering gas might be at a high point during the midsts of summer, I think this is a great opportunity to highlight the benefits of riding scooters. We can take a lesson from Bike to Work in that they make it a fun and supportive event. The energizer stations have literature, maps, and rider support information, as well as tasty snacks. It supports community and makes people feel welcome to something they don't often do. While Ride to Work doesn't quite have that infrastructure, I think it would be great if we could do something similar in tons across the US.

How can you encourage scooters & motorcycles to commute on RTW Day? Here's some ideas:

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.

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 clubs 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.

If you decide to try a Ride to Work day in you area let me know how it goes.

AMSOIL Releases New 4-Stroke Oil

According to a new press release, AMSOIL is offering a new oil for four-stroke scooters:

"New AMSOIL 10W-40 Formula 4-Stroke Synthetic Scooter Oil is formulated specifically to meet the special needs of today’s high tech air-and water-cooled four-stroke motorized scooters, offering unsurpassed wear protection and friction reduction for longer equipment life and cooler operating temperatures. Its exceptional shear stability ensures consistent viscosity protection and provides additional protection for transmissions and gear boxes, while its friction modifier-free formulation ensures wet clutch compatibility and smooth clutch operating. A special anti-corrosion additive package provides long-term protection during periods of inactivity and storage.

AMSOIL 10W-40 Formula 4-Stroke Synthetic Scooter Oil is recommended for air-and water-cooled four-stroke motorized scooter engines calling for a 10W-40 viscosity, as well as transmissions and gear boxes calling for a 10W-40 motor oil, including Honda, Kawasaki, Suzuki, Yamaha, Vespa, Aprilia, Piaggio, Benelli, Vento, Kymco, Tank and TGB.

Benefits of AMSOIL Formula 4-Stroke Scooter Oil include:
· Superior Wear Protection
· Cool Engine Operation
· Controls Lubricant Foaming
· Exceptional Shear Stability
· Reduced Oil Consumption and Deposit Formation
· Excellent Protection in Temperature Extremes
· Improved Fuel Economy
· Wet Clutch Compatible
· Long-Term Protection Against Rust and Corrosion

Available in quarts and cases."

[According to AMSOIL: MSRP = $6.20 / quart, $73.20 / case]


View the AMSOIL website

Whatcha got there ?

Could be..

Is it true?

Amusing story of scooting in India...

I ran into this story on the web. It's from a journalist with the Hindustan Times who took a two-person journey by scooter. It's a quick, fun read. Enjoy!

Read The Motor Scooter Diaries by Neha Dara.

P.S: Look to the July issue of Scoot! for another cool story of scooting in India.

Vespa PR Machine Gears Up For Summer

A recent press release by Piaggio USA is once again playing on high gas prices, the relative affordability of scooters, and the concern over automobile's part in global warming to sell scooters. While this may seem like no news to us scooter riders, these press releases aren't geared towards us. As much as we can say that scooter sales have been growing, they still are just a small part of the automotive market. The fact that Hummers still sell means that us Americans just don't get that our over-the-top lifestyle is at the expense of the environment and the world. It is for those people (especially the city-dwellers) that these releases are sent out. Piaggio is the big kid on the block so they take the lead. I wish other scooter manufacturers would get in on the action and make more noise, but for now, we'll be glad that someone is spending the big bucks to get the message out. Now, if only we could convince Piaggio/Vespa US to get their website to reflect these pushes as well...

Read the press release.