Apologies for the lack of news over the last few days, but that’s because my scooter has taken two of the most important rides of its life this past week.

OK, I realize that I have now officially become a whiner, when it comes to the weather, and it’s effect on my scootering. But I have to say, I was seeing the light (or the warmth) and the end of the tunnel, and now..

Following the torrential downpour of rain on Saturday, this Sunday turned into a pleasant – if a little windy – day for stretching beyond regular scooter commuting in search of that must-have piece of missing hardware.

If it’s an inevitable fact of life in New York City that your scooter will get knocked over, when is owning a nice ride a liability? Scott muses inside.

According to Big Apple transportation advocates Streetsblog, that’s exactly what could happen if the bean counters have their way. The city’s Independent Budget Office (IBO) has reported to the Major’s office with some compelling numbers that could be leveraged to address the city’s budget deficit.

Well this one completely slipped us by. We’ve had such a busy past month or so of posts now that the weather is clearing up and the northern hemisphere is turning its attention back to scootering that we clean forgot our anniversary.

I have to admit, my vintage Vespa is my baby. I bought it from a guy who treated it as such, so when it finally arrived in my hands, there was really nothing to do to it, cosmetically. I wanted my first scooter to be a good running machine.

The good folks over at Orange, NJ’s Scooters Originali have announced this year’s date for its annual swapmeet – Sunday April 17th from 11:00am until 6:00pm.

I believe it was Kenny Rogers that said, “you’ve got to know when to hold ‘em, know when to fold ‘em, and – central to my argument – know when to walk away.” When the weather turns south, that’s a lesson to be learned.

The importing of vintage scooters restored oversees has been a hotly debated topic with a lot of detractors, but it’s an arena in which Kevin has worked hard to prove the cynics wrong, working through several generations of improvements to get to the best restoration he can. We conclude our interview in part two.