Do not give into temptation this winter like this guy did.

(click to make the story bigger and funnier... I'm just glad the guy survived to ride again.)
Thanks to HDSpeedy3 for sharing this somewhat familiar tale. It definitely warms the cockles... if it didn't just burn them right off. This winter you might be tempted to roll the scoot into the warm and cozy living room, so you can... lube your cables or check your spark plug. This story says "Don't do it".

Hahaha... wait.

Got a tickle from reading this comic at first... "Haha! Cats taking over the world. That's rich!"... then I looked at the traffic in the background. Cat on a Vespa!? HEY! That's not funny! I've got two cat's and they BOTH like sitting on my Vespa T5 seat. Now I'm on to them.
*note to self... get rid of cats for coveting my scooter*
(example of cats plotting to take over right HERE)

Tiny Post: Japan vs. China

Interesting observation on their differences HERE.
(slightly off topic... but not completely)

How to make the world's roads bigger...

Caught this while stumbling through the internet. The image shows how much space it takes to transport the same number of humans via car, bus and bicycle. Look how that traffic jam clears RIGHT on up. You could substitute scooters for bikes in that last shot... or at least mopeds. See how much bigger the road is now? Nice.

Ouch my eye! YEEOUCH my WALLET!

Mark B. was scanning the Craigslist today with his normal keyword of "Vespa" and THIS thing popped out and stuck him in the eyeball... to which he responded "YEEOUCH! Steve'll get a kick outta this."

I think initially he was struck by the hobgoblin paint scheme, until he saw the asking price... $4400 US! I mean, it's a '66 and looks to be in great shape... but you gotta be IN LOVE with that paint to spring $44 Franklins on her. I know there is SOMEONE out there who'd go there. Is it you?

Stellas are on the way!

Just got word from a VERY reliable source that the first few hundred 2008 Stellas are expected in January with more arriving later in spring. How exciting is THAT?!

Look for them in these delicious flavors: Tangerine, Red, Black and new for 2008 POWDER BLUE (seen here) and AVOCADO with whitewall tires (to be seen soon). I understand that tangerine, Red, and White sidecars will be available in limited quantities, so you'll wanna get on that list early if you're down with a little sidecar action. Here are some more highlights for the 2008 Stella:

Cleaner emissions
Improved paint
New Halogen Headlamp
New improved shocks
Zippy 1 Continental tires
Italian Grimeca Disc

The expected MSRP is $3399.00

I also understand that only a select group of dealers who have been trained specifically on
Stella at Genuine's service school will be involved. Spiffy! You'll have a place to go to get service!

One more glance of the Powder Blue beauty before we go!


***UPDATE 11/29/07***
Illnoise over at 2strokebuzz is in Genuine's neck of the woods and has even more nitty gritty details on the Stellas as well as what's up with the Blur, and an introduction to a new edition to the family. Go here to read up on it.

Vespa child seats - certain to make someone faint

Howdy folks! While trying to kick start TheScooterScoop again after a long Thanksgiving break we ran into some cool posts elsewhere, including some accessories that are sure to scare some people (including myself). I personally can't stand the thought of sliding down the pavement on my butt / chest / side, but the thought of my little munchkins doing it chills me to the bone. Now I present to you, the modern Vespa child seat as discovered by 2StrokeBuzz (title link). If you want one it'll cost you over $300 US and ALL of your parental cred. You can order it from the appropriately named ScooterCrazy website.

So, what do you do if you have a classic Vespa? Buy this:

Found it on eBAY some time ago. This folding child "novelty" seat sold for $110.00.

R/C Scooter in time for the holidays

I'm a bit confused by this one. It's a remote control scooter... but it's from the UK and the package says "Mod Moped". Huh?! There are not pedals on this motorbike... well, that's beside the point. This little toy is available from Gadgets & Gizmos in the UK for about $41 US and is described on their site like this:

Scoot along in style with this radio controlled Mod Moped! If you ever did that Mod / Rocker thing, like The Who and either owned or wanted to own a Vespa, then this is the product for you!

Might provide hours of fun, at least until the snow melts and you can get back on your real scooter. Thanks to S.A. over at The new Cafe (racer) Society for pointing us over to GeekAlerts for the scoop!

Ugh... REPRIEVE! We need a break from the stomach bug!

(couldn't find an image of a barfing snowman)
I know it's been kinda slow around here lately and I'm WAY behind on my emails (sorry), but I have an excuse... the whole fam has a gut bug that's reeking havoc on the Steve household. I even had to cancel a caving trip for tonight. I'm hoping I'm back in the saddle by Thanksgiving and posting again shortly after. I don't wanna miss out on all the grubbin' and I don't want YOU to miss out on The Scoop!

Biggest honkin' windshield EVER

Vespa
Originally uploaded by makototaipei

Ok, it's not as big as the MP3's winter getup... but if you are looking at the shield to scooter ratio... it's MASSIVE!

This shot is shared by makototaipei and was taken about 5 years ago in Taipei, Taiwan.

It looks like someone just screwed a riot shield on the front of their Vespa.

Subcompact, Mini, Microcar get's reviewed on BBC's Top Gear!

Awww man! Big shout out to Jo Borras for scooping up this baby. This video comes from a link found on AutoblogGreen (click on the title link if you don't mind the annoying, growing NEC projector ad). This is definitely the cheekiest video to ever come from Jeremy Clarkson. It shows the 6' 4" giant cramming himself into a Peel 50 (2 stroke 50 with 4hp and squeeze bottle window washer), the world smallest production car. If you have a Genuine Buddy, you've got more than twice the power of this minuscule motorcar (which means to me, TUNING TIME!). If someone ever tells you cars are safer than scooters, you can point to the Peel 50 and say, "No they're not!".

For more Peel (and Trident) fun, check out this video:

If you watch carefully, around 10:02:43:00, you'll see a wad of something flying at the Trident. Did someone spit at it? Did the camera operator laugh and nearly choke on his chewing gum? I don't think I'll ever know.

***UPDATE 11/16/07***
I'm definitely not saying this is the BEST car ever created. I'm just glad it didn't make the Top 50 WORST cars of all time list. *UPDATE*** D'OH! Genwaylaid cold busted me here. The Peel DID make the worst car list. I guess I was so busy looking at the worst from the 70's, 80's and 90's that I completely missed out on the worst of the 60's. There, as plan as day, is the Peel Trident. Good catch my man!

Also, it looks like Illnoise over at 2StrokeBuzz got his hands on a new book. Go HERE to read his informative review of the "A to Z of Popular Scooters and Micro Cars" book from Veloce. With Illnoise's background, he has quite a critical eye for design and content... he's not going to give it the cursory pat on the butt and sent it on it's way. I don't wanna give away the ending, but I have a feeling it's going on my shelf next to my "The A-Z of Classic Scooters" book from Haynes.

Vespa's Go Green Challenge winner is well deserved

Congrats to Rex Hermogino of San Diego, CA for the win. Rex is quite a talented dude. Wrote a fun and catchy song, made an entertaining video AND he as good drawer... drawing guy... drawist, he's good with a pen and a white board.

Thanks to Scootin' Old School for the scoop! (title link)

***UPDATE 11/15/07***
IF you're available Friday, November 16, at 7 PM you can see Rex perform the song live at the San Mateo County Event Center. You'll probably also get to drool over his brand spankin' new Vespa GTS 250. Lucky dog.

New campaign makes a strong case for wearing a helmet

Found out about this campaign from the "Asia Injury Prevention Foundation" through Motoblogger.it (see title link).

It address these three logical statements:
1) I won't wear a helmet, it makes me look stupid.
2) I don't like wearing a helmet, it ruins my hair.
3) I never wear a helmet, they don't look cool.

The only helmet I know that really makes these statements ring true is this one:

Ok, and maybe the one from SweetyPrize, which will definitely mess up your hair (not DOT approved). So... wear a helmet, please.

If these three posters don't slap some sense into you, I don't know what will. Click on them to make them bigger and ickier and scarier, then maybe you'll change your mind.

Oh Noes! It's the Roketa Lambretta!

What happens when you take a Roketa scooter...

and silk screen the "Lambretta" logo on the engine cover? You get the Roketa MC-42. Can't you see how much faster and more stylish this scooter is with "Lambretta" on the side? All I know is when you see a posting on CraigsList for a "Lambretta", be sure to go take a look at it before you PayPal over the money. I'm just sayin'...
Thanks to Matthew J. for the scoopage!

Does this helmet make me look silly?

My friend, Peter Pinetree in Portugal, was browsing the BBC News' "Day In Pictures" and found this wacky new prototype helmet to be used by Joint Strike Fighter pilots. It would have been cooler if the eye tracking system used red lights instead of green... and if the pilot was making "mean eyes", then it would have been REAL cool. Anyway... a TheScooterScoop jacket patch goes the the first person who sends in a photo of them on a scooter with this helmet on... making mean eyes.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle... all in one scooter

First, reduce a Honda Elite down to it's bare essentials. Next reuse old street lamp covers, vacuums and what have you. At the end you have recycled a bunch of garbage to make a one-of-a-kind creation. The Junk Scooter! Sculpt Meister, and friend to found-parts, Nemo Gould has decided to take his work on the road, so to speak, with his new creation. He and Rich Humphrey are going to have a lot of 'splaining to do when they roll up to the rally in this thing.

Hit the title link if you wanna see how this project started or check Nemo's latest update is here if you want to catch up with it's progress. Thanks to Kuroneko for the cool scoop!

Nemo G's life is probably what would have happened to Anakin, had those meddling Jedi not showed up with their "Hokey religions and ancient superstitions".

***UPDATE***
Looks like Illnoise and I were on the same wavelength today.

Austin rally round up

(weeee! It's a myspace shot!)

Once again, another great rally experience. The PBSC did a great job putting together this one. We had nearly 100 people show up from all over... Dallas, Houston, Lubbock and more.

I didn't take nearly enough photos, but I found some that others are sharing, with more to come. I think the key to what made this rally such a success was the rides. Hours of hills, twists, turns with hardly an incident. Sure, there were a couple of scrapes and some broken egos, but overall it was a bang-up ride. Big-ups to the ride organizers and to the sponsors, Austin Mopeds, The Royal Family (who's site is experiencing a bit o' difficulty as of this minute), ASC and TheScooterScoop (can you big yourself up? I suppose so).

We didn't go ALL out with the Gymkhana, but we had a slow race. "The Dude", from the Austin Hooligans Scooter Club took home first and Jeff got second. Congrats guys. Next year's rally promises to be bigger and better!

Some photos I shot are HERE.
Other shared photos are HERE at Scoot.net
Coffeedrinks photos are HERE

EICMA Coverage from Akisan - Italjet Dragster 250 photos

Our good friend, Aki Hasegawa, in Japan has brought us the scoop on EICMA 2007. First here's what he had to say about the show:

Hello Steve,
I just returned to Japan from Milan. This year I don't have any interesting news from Milan other than Italjet showing the Dragster 250 and some other models (see photos).






I don't have many photos from Italjet. Perhaps many visitors could not find Italjet in the show because they had a space on the second floor of the pavilion where the East Asia manufacturer's space was. People would not expect to see Italjet there. There was only one Dragster and it was kept in a small side space (see photo).

The biggest shock to me is the Italian fuel price, 1.3 Euro per Liter, which is equivalent to US$7.229 per Gallon!

Even in Japan it is 140yen per liter which is about US$7.23 per gallon.
In Japan fuel price about 140yen/L =about 4.82US$ per gallon.
Diesel fuel price about 105yen/L =about 3.62US$ per gallon.

Thank you,
Aki

No, thank YOU!
He also sent us some shots of a couple of Dragster sprinters on the floor:


Aprilia showed off its Cargo Bike:

(it's the ultimate grocery getter, eh?)

Arigato for the updates Aki! Great scoops!

Oh, one more thing, he found this interesting little scoot. Looks like a DiBlasi. I really dig the matching trailer! I'm sure it's a historical piece.

Piaggio one step closer to making a car

Adam gave us a little scoop on some new MP3 accessories from Piaggio. I'll let him tell you about it:

Yes, official Piaggio, apparently announced at EICMA. The press release described the roof as a "prototype", along with a trailer, named the MP3 Wagon. No pictures of that one yet, far as I've seen. No release dates, either.

Hrm... A roof AND a trailer? Weird, wild stuff! I wonder if they will have a 4th wheel accessory and the pair-o-doors accessory next. Hehe, just teasin'. Thanks for that scoop Adam!

***UPDATE***
Here we see the MP3 Wagon (official Piaggio trailer accessory) that Adam was talking about along with the new, roof attachment:

Arigato to Aki for capturing this image at the EICMA show!

Just Gotta Scoot Interview is posted - Steve manages to NOT choke

Here's to David Harrington, host of the Just Gotta Scoot, for taking the time to let us plug this here scooter site.

Click on the title link to select any of the 31 fascinating and fun filled episodes or download Steve's long winded episode #31 HERE. No, seriously... It's the longest episode on there.

Will post more about the interview tonight after night 2 of Austin's "Go to Hell" rally.

***UPDATE***
Ok, it's 12:39am right now. I decided to head home early so I can make it through the day tomorrow. It was an interesting night tonight. I met some cool people, I caught up with some old friends, I made amends with other friends. The vibe felt a bit tense at first, but it started to mellow as the night progressed... that is until we rode past UT. If you like to fight, it's as simple as riding a scooter on "the drag" after 9pm on a Friday or Saturday. You are GUARANTEED to hear at least 2 girls say "whoo hoo!" and at least 6 guys say "hey scooter fag! yeah, I'm talkin' to you pussy" (or something there abouts). I know it's not very peaceful of me, but I really do restrain myself from pulling up to one of these young, little wads of testosterone and "talking it over with them". I think the only thing that really stops me, is the fear that they will kick my scooter over. That would be very sad indeed.

Tomorrow should be an even better day.

So, the interview. I really had fun! David H. is a very confident podcast personality. Very easy to talk to. I'm glad he didn't ask me too many hard questions. If we would have gotten into geography or mathematics, I would have had to have hung up. Another thing about the guy is that he's prolific! When we talked, he was JUST finishing up a prior podcast. Today, if you listed to one episode a day, it would take you at LEAST a month to get though all of his work. Makes my 3 videocasts look happenstance... like an accidental event... like "AHHHCHOO! Ooops, I made a video cast." I hope I can pick up the pace, so I don't get left behind in the -cast world.

Keep up the great work Dave!

Just Gotta Scoot interviews Steve from TSS (now)

If you wanna hear me blab about TheScooterScoop, check out the JustGottaScoot web interview NOW (it's live).

Don't miss out on the scoops!

Hey! We've had a deluge of scoops lately, so that means new scoops could be sliding off the page. If you think you've missed something, don't forget to click on the November archive over on the right. It will display ALL the posts from the month and you can be sure you've seen 'em all. If you're still not sure where to click, just go here. It's the same thing. Enjoy!

Mini Subcompact Microcar makes SMART look huge

I don't know what this is. The only marking I see is "classic" on the side. Looks like a single passenger car with scooter handlebars. It's smaller than a SMART and probably about as safe as a Honda Spree. It's cute though... and that's good for... looking cute and stuff.

Thanks to buypurina2000 for sharing!

***UPDATE***
I think this was taken in Vevey, Switzerland (Lat. 46°27'32.06"N, Long. 6°50'49.78"E). From the rest of the photos and a brief trip there via Google Earth, the place looks stunning!

Here's that wacky winter windshield in the wild

3 wheel piaggio
Originally uploaded by keavy

Whew. Keavy shares this photo of the Piaggio MP3 with the winter package installed. Well, I don't see the heated hand warmers, but the BIG honkin' windshield is obnoxiously visible. Looks like it's nearly a roof. They should have just went the distance. Thanks for sharing Keavy!

When your scooter configuration exceeds the footprint of an SUV

heinkel_kurt_eggers
Originally uploaded by scooterworld

This photo titled "heinkel_kurt_eggers" is from the scooterworld collection. Here we see a Heinkel WITH a sidecar WITH a trailer. Wow! That's one BIG scooter setup. Just gotta figure out how to mount a trailer behind the sidecar.

Speaking of side cars and trailers, if you like that kinda stuff, click on the photo and check out the rest of scooterworld's photos.

This collection ALSO contains a photo of the wackiest handle bar configuration I've ever seen on a Honda Helix. You really gotta see it for yourself. It's over HERE.

Ruckus scooter-cam, the perfect rally accessory

iso scooter cam view.
Originally uploaded by djmase

DJMase has some shots of what looks like an indi film shoot. In his photo collection there are a few shots of Jamo enjoying a vanity ride, then squeezing off a few glock rounds. A big sack of beef jerky and it would have been the perfect day. Thanks for sharing Mase!

Worlds most frightening Vespa

Vespa Bali
Originally uploaded by Satu Lagi

Wow! You'd be hard pressed to make a Vespa more scary than this Vespa from Bali. Stretched, welded, ratted out with an animal skull on the front fender. Even the bikers at your local Harley hangout would be a little taken aback when they saw it.

Thanks for sharing Santu Lagi! Click to see it bigger and scarier! The rolled up, black, nap mat ties the whole thing together and says "THIS crazy MF ain't afraid to just... sleep anywhere. That's right! I'll sleep right here on the GROUND! I don't play! BAM! Right here on the GROUND fool!"

Worlds most environmentally friendly motorcycle

This is either the greenest motorcycle I've ever seen (with a tree growing out of it's gas tank), OR this is the rare motorcycle eating tree (related to but not to be confused with India's "cow eating tree"). What is that? A Honda? Thanks again to motoblog.it (title link) for their cool photo-of-the-day.

Video of the Honda DN-01 in action

Caught this video over at one of our favorite sites, Motoblog.it (title link). You can finally see a tiny example of the DN-01's road physics. Still no good example of how she sounds... unless she sounds like a generic, rock music bed. *hopes not*

Vespa S / Honda Aero 50 - Seperated at birth?

Gabbo over at the Burgundy Topz SC forum made this interesting discovery. Seems Honda may have been on to something back in 1983 when they made the Aero 50. Sure it's not as sleek and isn't a metal body, and won't be as fast as the new Vespa S, but it was still pretty stylish (I wouldn't kick it outta my garage).

We're getting closer to the SMART arrival date

(William Dudley poses with his cute little micro. SOURCE)

Got a little news on the SMART straight from their communications director, Ken Kettenbeil (no, not Kittenball or Kitten Ball). The completely recyclable microcar, available in 6 fantastic flavors... er... colors is expected to start selling in January. That's right, at the up coming LA Auto show (next weekend) SMART is expected to announce where their dealerships will be located (I already know we have one scheduled for North Austin / Round Rock). You can then expect to see SMARTS showing up at those dealerships about 45 days later.

Did you reserve yours? I wonder how much a SMART car salesman makes a year. Hrm... *looks up and taps chin*

Anyone wanna bail out a fellow scooterist?

Sin City badass and award winning actor with nearly 60 film credits has found himself in a Miami prison last night for riding his green 2007 Vespa whilst under the influence. I don't usually post scooter crimes, but this one was kinda funny. Mickey Rourke was stopped and got off his scooter stating, 'What the f--k did I do?" after which he proceeded to fail a sobriety test and was last awaiting someone with $1,000 to bail him out. Hope he doesn't mess up the 2009 release of Sin City 2.

Thanks to Alexey, you remember him from the unofficial Buddy commercial, for the scoop!

***UPDATE***
Well, Mickey is out as of this morning. I don't know why, but I watched the raw video of the release. What did Mick learn for all this? That he needs to get to the gym. Tisk tisk. He needs to
learn to get a sober friend to drive his drunk arse back from the bar!


(Hey! Mick! There's a cop behind you!)


(What the f--k did I do? Your shirt looks like a glazed donut. source)

Austin's "Go To Hell" Rally starts TONIGHT!

Well, it says tomorrow... but those in the KNOW, know to meet at Whole Foods (Austin's theme park) at 8pm tonight. More evening events tomorrow at Home Slice (8pm - 'till) and the big kick-off going on Saturday at 10am (Jo's on Soco).

This promises to be a kick-arse rally... after all, we haven't had an Austin rally in AGES. My only word of warning is "please ride cautiously on the big ride... it's NOT for the faint of heart"... oh, that and "don't pass out drunk while Lester is in the room... especially if he has markers, shaving cream, an electric shaver or warm water". That's it! Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, Oklahoma City, Nola, Arkansas, New Mex... we wanna see you there!

PS> It's an open rally... all classics and plastics are invited! Just click on the title link to get to the official Piston Broke SC / Rally site.

Federal agency unveils action plan for motorcycle safety

(Secretary of Transportation, Mary Peters, is b b b bad to the bone)

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has unveiled a new motorcycle safety initiative built on an "action plan" designed to guide the federal agency's policy over the coming years.

The federal plan, unveiled November 2, was accompanied by a television public-service announcement featuring Secretary of Transportation Mary Peters (shown in a still photo from the PSA), herself a rider, relating her experience with a motorcycle crash that left her with a broken collarbone (See the TV spot at the NHTSA website.) The accompanying action plan calls for a focus on six areas. Click on the title link to see what those are.

No word if we'll see Mary in her mod gear on an old Lambretta, but we'll keep you posted.

Little Ruckus is BIG in Japan

DSC_0621
Originally uploaded by sanjuro62pt1

What you are looking at is a COMPLETELY tricked out Honda Ruckus (Zoomer in Japan). I couldn't even guess what the customs cost, but I but at least 2 to 3 times the cost of the scooter (if it were purchased new).

Sanjuro62, from Houston, is a BIG fan of the Ruckus and has managed to make some trips out there to score some custom parts of his own, including a drive train from a Grand Axis that should take his HP from around 4 HP up to 9 HP, allowing him to run an easy 70 MPH ($3,000 mod).

If you want to see more glorious Ruckus customs (phat tires, chrome rims, water cooled heads, custom paint, lights, upholstery, carbs, etc) then click on the image to check out Sanjuro62's flickr shots, OR you can read people's responses to these photos on the TotalRuckus forum.

***UPDATE***
If YOU have a Ruckus you wanna add that custom touch to her, check out these great resources!
BattleScooter - USA's Source for Japanese custom parts
BOWLS - Cali's eclectic scooter parts
SouthTEK - Australian in Japan, shipping stuff to America. Details here.
Thanks again Sanjuro!

***UPDATE***
Wholly Smokes! Here's an example of a Silverwing power train in a little Ruckus as mentioned by Bryce and Sanjuro. It is flat-out SICK!

(only 5 seconds long *boohoo*)

Presenting, Babyfoot!

Don't know what it's really called, but it's funny to watch.

Scheduled outtage tonight 11pm PST

(Please don't write on your monitor with mustard and ketchup)

Just wanted to let you know that we're having some "standard maintenance" being done tonight, so get in all your reading before 11pm pacific time. I imagine we'll be back online by the morning.

Before we go, remember this... ALWAYS make sure to take the keys with you.

Little girl takes off on her dad's scooter - Watch more free videos

Smart - Dubai edition (I'm kidding)

Aving.net had posted some images of what appears to be a gold plated SMART car. As a matter of fact, anywhere you see the image you'll see someone refer to it as the gold plated SMART. Further research shows that they used a SLC (no, not Salt Lake City) "Surface Like Chrome" process. The German company, Durovib, have a patented process of applying a chrome-like surface on plastics. A tint is applied during the "chroming" process to make the surface appear any metallic color... gold, red, silver. Looks like you could just put it on a chain and wear it around your neck.

Piaggio sales up for 2007

The Piaggio Group’s net motorcycle and scooter sales have both increased for the first nine months of its fiscal year in comparison to the same period a year ago.

The manufacturer reported a 12.2 percent increase in motorcycle net sales ($337 million) and a 3 percent rise in scooter sales ($1.04 billion) in its third-quarter financial report. There was no mention of how its North American market sales have faired in comparison to last year.

Overall, the company sold more than 560,000 vehicles in its first three quarters, a 4 percent increase over the prior year period.

For more on the Piaggio Group’s third-quarter report, see an upcoming edition of Powersports Business.

Hrm... a way to make money with your scooter?

IMG_2330.JPG
Originally uploaded by GregoryH

GregoryH shares this photo of a p-series kiddie ride. This was shot in Barcelona, so I doubt that there's one in your city. Whoever figures out a way to mount their scooter on one of those motion platforms might have a way to pay for their gas while they are parked at work.

Best sidecar ever?

vespa
Originally uploaded by brazov1971

Perfect for someone who is torn on getting that classic Vespa or getting the classic car. This pair is about as hip as it gets. You know what would be real cool? If you could walk across the platform and control the steering from the car.

Anyway, thanks to brazov1971 for sharing!

Diver driver on a Vespa

i polmoni del futuro
Originally uploaded by oreundici

This photo entitled "i polmoni del futuro", or "lungs of the future" was shot in Italy. Maybe this is how riders in LA will need to travel if smog levels don't drop. I don't know exactly whats going on in this shot, but how often do you see a scooterist with a pair of air tanks on his back? Gratzi to oreundici for sharing!

Non Petroleum based "Green Motor Oil" = G-Oil

(There she is G-Oil! Not to be confused with Olive Oil, who is Popeye's "goil" as he would say.)

Found this over at the Kneeslider (see title link) who caught it on the Popular Mechanics site. Seems a new company, Green Earth Technologies, has come up with a way to render motor oil from beef tallow (rendered bovine fat). Sure, it's not perfect... it's not like it is made from dirty diapers, but it IS better than standard motor oil. Why is that exactly? Well because when you have to dispose of the used oil, all you have to do is mix it with their product "Disposoil" and pour it down your sink's disposal. The broken down oil is then available for consumption by other microorganisms.

It's American Petroleum Institute certification should be issued shortly... now awaiting word on a 2-stroke version. MMMMM! The smell of burning beef fat... like a 2-wheeled BBQ.

Here's their site.

***UPDATE***
Hey! An anonymous posted found Green 2-stroke oil in the Marine section of their site, HERE. Does anyone else put Marine oil in their 2-stroke scooter?

Half the problem with oil is disposal and that's not a big deal with 2-stroke. They're is nothing to dispose of. So, the only real benefit is less oil dependence and it's biodegradable if you spill a little. Still no word if you'll smell like a rolling beef stroganoff OR if they have plans for a Pork Tallow version in the future.

Tokyo Auto Show - Lesser known exhibits

Some company was showing off an exterior airbag system (as well as a laundry basket of dirty clothes in the background?). The idea is that pedestrians (scooterists?) that get smacked by a car will have a better chance of avoiding a trip to the ER.

Also on the "lesser known" tour was Dunlop's Enasave 97. Not sure if they have plans for scooter tires, but a set for your car will help reduce CO2 and oil dependency (they are made 97% petroleum free). Looks for these to hit stores in Japan in Q1, 2008.


Another item brought to our attention (Arigato to Aki for these) is the Toyota concept car with a Sony / Toyota developed micro-segway sorta gadget. You'd be better off watching this video to understand what I mean. It's a scooter, just not the type we usually see around these parts.

One last thing that Aki brought up was some new Harley Davidson financing in Japan. It seems they now allow SUPER long term financing... by that I mean TWELVE years. That's $35/mo with 2 additional $150 payments each year. Usually, a car loan in Japan is around the same length as a loan in the USA, around 5 years.

Yamaha's long and low cruiser concept - Luxair

(Thanks again to Skorji for the shot!)
Not to be confused with Yamaha's 2004 Tokyo Boat Show special exhibition model BOAT called the Luxair, the 2007 Tokyo Motor Show's special exhibition model luxury model cruiser scooter is much cooler. I just wanted to show you a couple of photos of this concept. If you want to read about it's hybrid drive, you should click on the title link.


Another couple of shots from Juergen Specht can be seen here and here and here.