Honda Forza gets new toys for Christmas, Reflex gets lump of coal

Dudel took some time out from unwrapping gifts to scoop us on the Forza updates. Looks like the fanzy Forza Z in Japan has undergone a full model change yesterday for launch in spring 2008. Besides the fancy key card, seven speed s-matic transmission, and optional cute kitty compartment, the all-new FORZA will be equipped with an audio system.

It's American cousin, the Reflex, is of course discontinued. Honda's biggest selling "lightweight motorcycle" is not available here. Honda's biggest selling vehicle of all time, the Cub, also not available here. *steve kicks a dead horse*

UK Police already watching you, can now sneak up on your arse.

(The Vectrix has a whole new career and uniform to match)
David D. sent over this scoop from London Bikers (title link). Looks like the Hampshire police force has put a couple of these babies on the road for a 6 month test run. Their goal? Reduce carbon emissions, save money, sneak up on your arse like a MF'in NINJA!

Click on the title link to read the story, watch the video, let your stomach settle from your third helping of glazed ham.

***UPDATE***
Looks like the NYPD is joining in on the fun in 2008 as well... the funny thing is that the news networks titled the story as either NYPD Goes Green or Strange News. Why is it strange?

And I know Bryan is getting a kick out of this one titled "Freeze or I'll Scoot!", hehe, get it? Hahaha, SCOOT? He he h... erm. Nevermind. At least it's fresher than THIS one, or THIS one.

Bajaj to return! But, will that mean the return of the Chetak?

(photo found at Trivial Matters)
This morning, while chomping away at my daily pancake and sausage dog from the corner 7-11, suckin' down a Popov/Pace Picante bloody mary and flipping though my copy of the Hindustan Times I caught this little tidbit. It appears that Bajaj Auto, makers of the famous but almost completely unavailable Chetak (Vespa clone... I think they are down to their last 80 here in the USA) are planning a comeback.

Right now, as the title link story states, Bajaj is holding their cards close to their chest for the time being. Maybe it'll mean something good for BajajUSA.

I'll be interested to see what their hand looks like, I mean, they WERE the biggest producer of scooters in India producing and selling 1 million vehicles in 1995 and 4th largest producer of 2-wheelers in the world.

My guess is that it will be powered by a KTM 4-stroke 125 or 250cc engine, whatever it is. I just want to see a 250cc AutoRickshaw! (from the looks of it, we will see SOME sort of new Rickshaw from Bajaj). They need to do SOMETHING to pull themselves out of this 10 month slump they've been in.

I think they have a cream for that...

Scooter with circular red stripes
Originally uploaded by qwurky

qwurky shares this photo from Spain of a Chinese scooter with a bad case of the moto-measles, at least that what I thought at first. Closer inspection shows a URL of www.pepemoto.com which leads you to a vehicle rental service.

So, if you find yourself in Spain and needing a butt-ugly 125cc scooter for the day, be sure to check out Pepemoto!


Pants not included. Oh, and thanks to Woody for the scoop!

Happy Holidays scooter fanatics!

Couldn't you use a new photo album for all those cool rally shots of Emily blowing up Corazzo condoms or Josh scooting in the buff? Then maybe this Christmas scooter shopper photo album will do the trick.


You more of a Hanukkah kinda guy/girl? Maybe this Vespa looking menorah is what you're looking for, OR if you''re down with Kwanzaa, just drop in seven candles instead of nine, call it a Kinara and you're DONE!

We're glad you've stopped by, even though the news has been a bit thin lately. We're looking forward to a fantastic scooting year in 2008. Come on back for MORE cool scoops from the scooter world. Happy Holidays!

Well, see? There's your problem right there.

Jay and Bonnie wrenching before Jay's off on a ride
Originally uploaded by Jay&Sally

This super cute photo comes from Jay&Sally and is titled "Jay and Bonnie wrenching before Jay's off on a ride". I'd say she's almost as young as the Vespa mechanic we used to have here in Austin.

It's great to see a girl just lay down on the pavement and get in there. Much respect! Thanks for sharing!

Humans aren't the only ones who dig the cub

Nha Trang - Good Driver
Originally uploaded by aj.slater

No, AJ.Slater's photo shows here that man's best friend is a fan too. It's easy to understand why the cub is the number one selling vehicle in the WORLD.

Genuine get's a fresh coat of paint!

"So fresh and so clean" clean. Genuine Scooter Company has sanded down, powder coated, accessorized and updated their site to include photos and data sheets on their bevy of beauties. Why don't you go check it out HERE and peep the 2008 Buddy, Buddy International, Rattler, Stella and Roughhouse!

They've come a long way from 2002 when they sold "only one model".

What better way to show your love for scooters than...to... decorate your toilet?

While roaming through the site Hell For Leather (see title link), I found a link to an interesting product from Etsy. If you haven't heard of Etsy, its a neat little place where you can buy independently created works and products, like the one above. This is a vinyl toilet graphic. It allows to you finally customize your crapper with something other than... flowers... or fish... or those fuzzy tank covers from back in the days.

Now unfortunately, as of today, Vital is sold out of this product... but maybe if you use the "contact this seller" link at the bottom of the page, you can find out if there will be another production run.

Oh, AND if you're more interested in the toilet than the scooter... you might want to get a book instead. No, I don't have a toilet fetish... but I am intrigued. Maybe I'll visit the exhibit... I mean, I've already seen the video.

The Scooter Scoop has some new fans... Hummer owners!

(secretly they REALLY wish GM would come out with a micro Hummer)

You know... I've always wondered what Hummer owners would say about TheScoop. Would they respect our love for small displacement? Would they care what was going on in the world of micro riders? Turns out that last week I got to find out!

A certain Hummer forum (with over 5,300 members) was recently turned-on to TheScooterScoop and judging by the number of hits we received and the comments in their forum I'd say there were HUGE FANS! and... if by "fans" I mean "fanatical haters of all things small", then you'd know exactly what I meant. Now I'm not going to post a link to their forum because I don't wanna start a flame war AND I don't want to reciprocate the hits... But I'll give you an idea of what's going on over there.

The whole thing started out harmlessly enough. One guy was searching for Hummer Fingers and found an old post we did about the death of the H1 called "So long Humvee H1". He got a good laugh out of it, but THEN came the follow ups with comments like "Scooter Fags!", "That has to be the most stupid site I have seen yet.", or "That was depressing and stupid."

Depressing AND stupid? Wow, TheScooterScoop has been called "depressing" and it's been called "stupid", but NEVER in the same sentence... this is a new low for the scoop. Now, don't get me wrong... not all the posts were violent attacks, there were other discussions as well that were harmless and even funny. I just thought it would be interesting to see what some of the others thought about us (the scoop).

At the end of the day, and when the dust is all settled, I didn't learn anything I hadn't already surmised. Hummer owners don't like the fact that most scooter fans don't dig hummers and so to be fair Hummer owners don't like scooters (or microcars).... which is too bad, because the real issue isn't about hating each other's vehicles but about getting people to see the benefits of smaller vehicles on the road ESPECIALLY when it comes to commuting (yourself) to work or school. Unless your job is farming, construction, landscaping, archeology, forestry or military OR you're part of a car pool, you just can't beat a microcommuter to get your to your destination.

...though, there's a group of Japanese who would disagree.

Do moped riders have to wear protective gear?

Thanks to reality-fan who is sharing this photo from his flickr account (title link).

Here Sonya Olson makes one ponder... Do mopedists reallly need to wear protective gear? I mean, she can't be going THAT fast, right? You know... as long as she promises to stay at less than 10 MPH and only ride on the bumpy hills (What?! You know... "stay off the main road"), I would let this one slide.

Most badass lid ever?!

Wow! I'm not sure what it would look like strapped to your dome, but there's a good chance it would look badass... unless you've got the jawline of Bill Gates, then you may wanna stick with something a little less... Skeletor.

Our good friend Pedro in Portugal found it while checking on the BoingBoing. I'll wait for the full face version that has the jaw bone to protect my jaw bone... and maybe the glowing eyes accessory would be nice too. If you've got $one fiddy ($150) plus shipping, it can be yours! (title link to order)

Please! Someone with a Honda Spree buy one of these things!

Evolution of the MP3 as designed by... Italjet?

(Poldino taking his tilting test unit to the track)

I've been doing a little digging around lately and discovered some interesting facts. The Piaggio MP3 and Gilera Fuoco 500 have been creating quite a buzz since the MP3 first touched down in 2006. Did you know that the features found on these modern tilting 3-wheelers are courtesy of Italjet founder and designer Leopoldo Tartarini?

Yep, the man who brought you such classics as the Italjet Dragster and Torpedo had been toying with it for some time. As a matter of fact his son, Massimo, used a version of the tilting mechanism in his folding, tilting, electric scooter (no doubt popular in Japan) called the JACK from BlueEnergy back in 2001 (seen below).



Later, in cooperation with Piaggio (using a Piaggio motor), Leopoldo Tartarini created what you see below... It's the "SCOOOP" scooter, which would have definitely created some confusion for our site here had Italjet not bowed out before it could be put into production. Sure, Piaggio had been considering a 3-wheeler for some time. Back in 1983 Wolfgang Trautwein created a prototype called the PK3, but the more modern design with independently tilting wheels didn't show up until now (see the sweet Video).


After the Scooop, Piaggio picked up the ball and started testing THIS Mad Max looking prototype, which I kinda liked as it is. This was just the beginning.


Later Piaggio busted out their prototype called the Los Angeles (below). Kinda big and bulky, not as refined looking as the Scooop... actually it was kinda hideous. I was referring to it as "the gorilla bike" (still a concept).


Which finally became the sweet three wheelers we know today, the MP3 and the Fuoco 500 and I'm sure it will spawn even more varieties in the future. Just think, if it wasn't for the work of Leopoldo Tartarini, you wouldn't be able to do this:

Adiva TO 400 - Commute scoot perfection?

(Cyberscooter.it (title link) caught some things that few others noticed)

Whew... It's been quite a long break, eh? Sorry about that, I've been working out a few things here at the home front... can't say what right now, but there's definitely some good stuff in development for myself. I'll keep you posted.

Now then, back to the topic... ADIVA. Don't search too hard... You're not going to find them in the USA. The closest thing you'll find here is the Diamo Velux and you're not going to find a huge variety in Europe. Looks like they have one model that comes in 2 sizes... the 125 and 250. From what I can tell, Adiva has split off from Benelli (who has a spacey concept of their own) and speaking of "concepts", what you see in the photo here is some photo scoopage from Cyberscooter.it.

Take the roofed Adiva, stick a 400cc motor in it and graft a front wheel configuration from the MP3 on her and BLAM! What could possibly be the perfect commuter scooter. Retractable protection from the elements... get up and go... crazy stability... CHECK!

This could be a big seller in Europe and Japan, where it may actually be available in 2009. Keep an eye out at EICMA 2008 for developments.

Click on the title link to see a couple more photos of the TO 400.

Need help spending $39,000? Buy a 50cc hybrid moped

"Far out" cannot sufficiently describe this baby. What we have here is one of five in existence. It's a Pi X Plug-in Hybrid 500cc 50cc (I don't know how that extra "0" got in there) moped. What's so special about it, is that it was built for and tested for Bonneville speed trials... that and the fact that it's as expensive as a used Lexus hybrid. Chances are you WON'T see one of these on the street, but at least you did see it here. Click on the title link for more info.

CNNmoney calls it a gadget to die for.

Lloyd's polish gives gunk the smackdown!

(This is the "after" shot. Isn't she PURDY? Let's see how she got that way.)

Tis the season. Time to winterize the scooter. Empty the fuel, pop off the cowels or body panels (unless you ride a Ruckus), clean off the mud and gunk from another season of two-wheelin' (unless you're going for the rusty look). Luckily for ME Terry, a dealer for Lloyd's Cleaner, took it upon himself to send some samples my way. What better way to prove your product works than putting your money where your mouth is.

What we got was 3 different products, each with it's own specialty... Lloyd's Wolfshead Polish, Lloyd's Degreaser, and Lloyd's Bug Remover. Let's look at them one at a time. This story will be about Lloyd's Wolfshead Polish.

It is advertised as "The Words Finest Polish!".
To be that it would have to satisfy a few requirements. It would have to actually polish my scooter to a mirrory finish. It would have to be easy to use. It would have to be gentle on the skin, lungs and scooter and, most importantly, it would have to be gentle on the environment.

Could a polish with such a medieval name accomplish such modern goals?

I gave it a shot. First off, I wanted to use a waterless product... to save water and to prevent flooding my delicate scooter electronics. When you've got a 21 year old scoot, chances are you have a leaky seal somewhere. What I got was a 27 oz. spray bottle and a microfiber cloth with a very simple set of instructions. Spray on, polish off. Ohhhh kay. Let's see what it can do for Leia (my 1985 Vespa T5)... the play by play is here:


Well then... how did the Wolfshead Polish stand up to the "Worlds Finest Polish!" test? Did it polish my scooter to a mirrory finish? It did a great job at removing the gunk. It worked on every part of the scooter from the plastic to the metal, to the glass to the (p)leather and I didn't have to squirt it with a hose. But was the result really mirrory (I know I keep using this made up word)? To some degree, but it didn't really REALLY shine until I hit it with some McGuires Wax (or your favorite wax). According to Lloyd himself, it's to be expected from older paints. You will notice an improvement but it's the newer plastics or paints with a clear coat that don't need a wax once you hit it with the Wolfshead. It's supposed to offer UV Protection and help prevent oxidation as well. I'll give it a shot on a modern scooter soon, to be sure.

Was it easy to use? Yes. Spray... wipe... admire. It was all very quick and easy and the less crevices your scooter has the quicker and easier it is to clean. No serious elbow grease required.

Was it gentle? Absolutely. It took out the gunk and poop and smudgy stuff with no problem and left my skin, nose and lungs completely intact. When I was done I just washed my hands with soap and water. Didn't experience any residual smell or effects (dryness, etc). It didn't hurt my 21 year old paint, plastics, chrome or glass at all... and you should take a close look at how well it shined up my glass and plastic. Breathtaking.

Is it gentle on the environment? To see I grabbed a copy of the Wolfshead Polish material sefety data sheet. Here's what it said:

"No Hazardous Components as defined by OSHA". Sounds pretty safe to me.

So, would I recommend Lloyd's Polish? Absolutely! I mean, spray? wipe? admire?! How easy is that? You can even get a smaller, more portable bottle to take along with you on the rally. There's nothing wrong with this product. It cleaned and polished in a very short amount of time. If you wanna see more then click on the title link to go to the Lloyd's website. I'll get back to you on how it worked out on a more modern paint job or plastic fairings when I get a chance.

(Wolfshead Polish get's the "thumbs up" in the "worlds finest polish" category.. a little wax doesn't hurt when it's all said and done.)

***UPDATE 12/17/07***
We've gotten a number of emails and comments asking where to score a bottle.
You can get it directly from the manufacturer HERE.

Can a microcar compete in a scooter gymkhana?

Yes... and probably win. I love the way he finishes it off.

Central Texas gets new Vespa representation

A proper scooter shop should have these five properties:
-Wide selection of quality scoots
-Friendly, helpful and knowledgeable staff
-Scooter miscellany (parts, accessories, clothing, rider gear, toys)
-On site service and repair
-Socially active with the scooter community

New owner of the San Antonio AND Austin Vespa shops, Fred McGinnis, has written these five elements to their relaunch plans beginning with Alamo Heights Vespa in San Antonio and then the new Vespa of Austin opening around January 2008.

I took a trip to San Antonio to get a glimpse of what to expect for Austin in the coming year and from the looks of it I'd say "good things!". I spoke with owner Fred McGinnis for about an hour, discussing the new shop. Everything is in place, they will have Vespa and Piaggio scooters, lots of miscellany, service and repair AND plan on sponsoring weekly rides that launch from the shop on Sundays. This is all very exciting. All we need now is to make sure they come up with the "friendly, helpful and knowledgeable staff." I have faith that they'll be able to pull that off.

We plan on covering the grand opening right here on TheScooterScoop... so stay tuned for the announcement and we'll see you at the party!

If you want to find out MORE about their plans, check out the great little article at MySA.com.

Evel Knievel passes on to that stunt track in the sky

An excerpt from his website:

Friday, November 30 marked the end of what will forever be remembered as the longest and most courageous battle between one man, a man we all know as the world's greatest daredevil, and death. Robert Craig "Evel" Knievel died in Clearwater, Florida, finally succumbing after nearly a three-year bout with the terminal lung disease, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. He was 69.

His death was preceded by more than 40 years of constant battle against the persistent pain of broken bones and severe trauma after jumping and crashing motorcycles like no man had ever done before. In addition, he fought to overcome the tremendous obstacles of diabetes, hepatitis C, a liver transplant, numerous surgeries and two strokes.

Knievel's legacy as America's Legendary Daredevil, Last of the Gladiators, and King of the Stuntmen will undeniably live on among millions of fans, past, present and future.

As a kid I was a huge fan. I had Evel bed sheets and curtains, dragsters (with parachute) and motorcycles. He will be remembered... before fancy computers and high tech composites were developed to take all the uncertainty out of a stunt, Evel Knievel was making jumps like this:

Rider airbags starting to appear. It's about time.

Here a stunt man takes one for the team, the Dainese team; developers of the Dainese D-Air Racing vest. It's really looking promising! Tie this to Yamaha's crotch airbag and scooter wrecks start looking more like a ride on the bouncy castle.

Two wheeled car pooling

How do you get 6 grown men to work if you've only got a motorcycle? You wouldn't believe me if I told you. Video quality is kinda crappy, but it gets the point across.

A most expensive way to roast marshmallows

So you're a young kid and want to roast marshmallows but, what do you do when you've got more money than sense? Buy an expensive crotch rocket and twist the throttle until something cool happens. Keep watching... it takes about 50 seconds to get to the good stuff.

Rise of the electric - Mitka the electric oddity

Vanenbrink is Dutch for "kickassed design" or at least "Out-there design"... don't believe me check out some of their other projects.

Here's how they describe this little environmental oddity:

Mitka: a New Mobility concept for individual transport at short distances.

The Mitka is a new environmentally friendly vehicle, which has been developed in a joint research project (TU Delft, TNO, Gazelle, Nike) for future mobility. It is very suitable for distances between 5 and 20 kilometers, and has been tested by Nike Europe.

The Mitka has several innovative design features, such as a rain protection system, power assistance ('going by the wind') and a three-wheel chassis design for natural corner leaning. The intelligent dashboard provides a palmtop-computer for travel information.

Concept design by Vandenbrink.

Cool enough. I'd definitely like to give her a test ride. Thanks again to Jo B. for the scoopage!

Rise of the electric - Japan's wild EV-X7 and talks of a 2008 product release

Our good friend Jo B. wanted to scoop us on some new developments from Japan's Axle Group. You may remember their electric / magnetic hybrid scooter (above) from back in the day. Looks like a sweeeet electric and I'd love to see it on the road... the question is "will we?".

No word on the EV-X7, but the Axle Group is planning to sell a mini-scooter version of the magnetic-powered bike next year, which will be priced at about $2100. Read more in the title link from TreeHugger.

Go here to keep tabs on Axle Group.

Rise of the electric - Emax's new mass producton Silicone Lead Acid scooter

I don't have a whole lot of details here, but looks like Germany's Emax is kicking up a new Silicone Lead Acid battery scooter for 2008. Here's what AutoExpress (title link) had to say:

The battery-powered twist ‘n’ go machine has a range of around 60 miles when travelling at its restricted top speed of 30mph – and the maker claims it costs only 1p per mile to run.

Even better news for motorists is that the Emax is classed as a moped – so drivers who passed their test before February 2001 can ride it on their car licence. The scooter has an LCD and analogue dashboard display, while the custom frame has been designed to carry batteries rather than an engine.

The system incorporates four 12V/60AH silicone lead acid power packs – and Emax says these can be completely recharged within three hours.

Thanks to our good friend and reporter David Steiner (who provided our coverage on the Vectrix) for the scoop here.

Rise of the electric - MIT / SYM / GM's electric origami

Mr. Mystery scooper (as well as S.A., and even my wife) pointed out this bit from MIT. These are from their "Smart Cities" project. MIT's dream is that by 2020 you'll be able to rent one of these electric scooters (built by SYM?) on the street to get you around town. Expect to see even MORE details on these as well as their electric, folding microcar (from GM) at the 2010 Shanghai World Expo.

Here's what a press release at ScienceDaily had to say about the project:

From Taipei to Saigon and from Florence to Madrid, to say nothing of the Vespa revivals in New York and San Francisco, the streets are buzzing with scooters. Although they burn less gas than cars and take up far less space, they're not without their problems: white laundry in these towns requires extra attention, and riding behind one invariably leads to coughing.

To solve this, MIT Professor of Architecture and Media Arts and Sciences William J. Mitchell and his students in MIT's Smart Cities Group have come up with an electric scooter that houses motors inside the wheels itself. The design retains the space efficiency of a traditional scooter sans the emissions, and reduces costs and parts. "A typical gas scooter has about 1,000 parts, but ours only has 150." The lack of a conventional engine also enables the scooter's folding design, increasing its urban appeal.

The forward-looking Mitchell and his team have also thought about how the scooters could be presented to the public, as cost-efficient rentals.

Exciting stuff! I'd like to see how things turn out for the first of these "Smart Cities". I wonder if Austin is on the list.

Google is investing tens of millions of US $Clams on advanced informatics in the category, and two of the previously mentioned prototypes had examples of such informatics in their designs. Developments are moving fast in this arena, now lets just hope the vehicles do too.

Rise of the electric - iMobility LEV

(Wow! Very spacy design. Looks like it was drawn up by Honda.)

Again, my masked scooper pointed us toward some EICMA Milan 2007 coverage. This time from CyberScooter.it (title link), we see the iMobility Light Electric Vehicle.

This fully enclosed, three-wheeled +1 (1 in the front, 2 on the sides and 1 in the back), electric vehicle will tilt into the corners at 35 degrees (can you say "Wheeeeee!"?). The motors are incorporated into the three mail wheels developing 3kW of power at 48volts. The Li-Ion set is positioned at the bottom of the vehicle to lower the center of gravity and can be charged to 50% capacity in just 15 minutes.

This concept really pushes the envelope with its ergonomic seating, video monitor "mirrors", lifting jet-cockpit door. Probably not affordable as it stands, but definitely fanciful.

This is a project of the Industrial Technology Research Institute based in Taiwan and Cyberscooter.it suspects some interest from Kymco or Sym. I suspect IF you see this baby on the road it won't be until 2010.

Click on the title link to see more cool photos.
Even MORE great info, photos and a video HERE.

Rise of the electric - Electric Buddy?

This week I want to give a little update on the world of electric scooters. Why? Well, our email box has been crammed full of electric scooter news and scoops over the last couple of weeks. So, without further delay here's what we've got:

A good friend of ours, who's name we shan't reveal, gave us our first round of news bits. One of these items was exceptionally interesting and that was a news bit found floating around www.scoot-infos.com (title link). What we are looking at in the above picture is the PGO electric Bubu concept or as we know it, the Genuine Buddy. This is from the recent Milan show, and while it says "concept", it seems it is in production right now for a possible Spring 2008 release in Europe? Does that mean we could see a lithium-ion battery powered, twin 300 (or 500) W hub motored, electric Genuine Buddy at the end of 2008? Well, I would pay close attention to the Genuine booth at the Indi Dealer Expo coming up in a couple of months.