Thankfully MTV have not forgotten that scooterists like a bit of two-stroking. Who knew that Dusseldorf was so much like Miami Vice-era Florida?

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The LX150 remains the Vespa marque's most popular scooter this year.

Back in 2008 Piaggio North America had one of its best years ever as skyrocketing gas prices provoked commuters to think twice about their chosen form of transportation. The scooter business was booming and everyone set to profit from the growth was smiling from ear to ear.

Then gas prices fell, and so did scooter sales. Established dealers were left with models on the floor that nobody wanted, and many new dealerships that had sprung up in response to scooter fever found themselves closing as quickly as they had opened.

Now, a couple of years later, US scooter sales are once again on the rise as gas prices (and the economy in general) prove challenging.

The LA Times business desk released a story yesterday highlighting scooter sales for all the major manufacturers are now up close to 30% over equivalent quarter sales from 2010. Importantly, according to the Motorcycle Industry Council, this rise in sales is above and beyond any other category of powered two wheeler.

A quick glance at Piaggio’s Vespa USA site certainly confirms that the brand is going after cash-strapped commuters in a big way with the brand continuing to push the daily savings provided by, “Vespanomics.”

Also of interest is that Piaggio in particular are seeing a rise in larger-capacity sales with scooters in the 150cc-300cc seeing significant growth as, one assumes, consumers look to bikes that can get them off the back-streets and out on the highway without making the transition to a higher capacity motorcycle.

The Times also leverages the article to introduce its coverage of the scooter exhibit currently on show at the Petersen Automotive Review. You can see photographs and read our review of the exhibition here, or click on through to the LA Times photo gallery of the show for more.

For the full LA Times article, click here.

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Image courtesy of The Genuine Scooter Company.

Motorcycle.com doesn’t just reserve its love for the humble scooter’s more burly brother. On occasion it dishes out its admiration in our particular category.

The website has just unveiled its awards for the best of 2011 and has declared the four-stroke iteration of the much-loved Genuine Stella its scooter of the year. The dot-com have picked up on the bike for the same reason scooterists the world over have: It’s seemingly last way to ride a modern bike with all the benefits of a four-stroke power plant, but with a geared transmission to keep you engaged in the ride.

In second place, honorable mention goes to Kymco’s GTi 300 edition of the “People.” With its generous capacity, fuel-injection, and sixteen-inch wheels, the GTi demonstrates some serious muscle on the road.

Head on over to Motorcycle.com to read about all the winners here.

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2 Stroke Buzz continues with more Lambretta LN 125 finds that spin both sides of the battle over the prestigious brand name.

From the red corner we have the Lambretta LN manufacturers first jab in the ring, as their PR agency Life Longari & Loman brings their heavyweight teaser video to the canvas. I have to say, I think the video does a fantastic job of romancing the lines of the bike and playing up its continued heritage in Italian design even with a Taiwanese engine under the hood. It’s certainly raised an unexpected eyebrow here at NYCS Towers:

From the blue corner, defending the all-important Lambretta title comes the Lambretta Consortium in the ring to fiercely defend their title, and ownership of the brand name. It would seem that the LC is very unhappy about the handling of the brand name. The consortium are claiming that the LN and accompanying LS models are “unapproved and unlicensed for the global market as a full inspection of their authenticity and quality has not yet been conducted by Lambretta Consortium.”

The consortium is warning dealers to avoid taking a financial stake (e.g. stocking) these models at this point in time with the Lambretta name allegedly being used illegally. No doubt legal action will soon follow which may impede the expected European launch.

We’ll keep you posted as the battle continues, so stay tuned.

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UPDATE: We’ve referred to the Lambretta LN as a “Plastic Lammy” several times now. The new PR video for the bike reveals that the chassis/frame is actually a metal monocoque steel construction along the lines of Vespa. While for purists this moves away from the tubular steel approach to the original Lambretta, an all-metal chassis for a modern Taiwanese bike is to be commended.

We’ve reported on this before following it’s appearance at last year’s EICMA show in Milan, but now the Lambretta LN 125 rebirth of the Lambretta brand has moved one very very significant step closer to reality.

The Lambretta brand name has floated around a number of owners since Scooters India Limited (SIL) broke production in the Nineties and has since appeared on everything from socks to (shock) the occasional scooter, always much to the chagrin of die-hard Lambretta enthusiasts. What makes this week’s news different is this is the first time an attempt has been made to build upon the much-loved aesthetic of the original range of bikes.

Love it or hate it, enthusiasts will soon have something else to argue over as 2 Stroke Buzz have unearthed the initial French coverage of the official European dealership unveiling of the Lambretta LN 125 in Paris this past week.

We’ve known for some time that this is essentially a plastic “interpretation” on the classic Innocenti Lambretta Series 3 design covering an Asian power-plant. We now know that the bike is essentially a SYM scooter under the bodywork and powered by a SYM Fiddle engine, itself a stylistic “interpretation” of the current Vespa LX range.

The new photos reveal more of the bike’s details, in particular showing that the Lammy looks like it’s put on a little weight since we last saw it out on the road with a wider profile more in keeping with a Vespa P-series than a Lambretta slimline. Taste is subjective of course, but personally I hate the headset which feels needlessly large in its effort to enclose both the master cylinder for the front disc brake and the turn signals. I would have rather seen those elements sit exterior to the headset even if they complicated the lines. Also, using an independently turning front fender flies directly in the face of the classic Lammy fixed fender.

The Lambretta LN 125 will hit French dealerships next month at 3799 Euros (A shockingly high $5400 USD.) No word yet on whether the bike will make it stateside at that price or any other. No doubt its success or lack thereof in Europe will be closely monitored before a move to the US is considered.

We’ll keep our eye on reviews as French riders get to test out the beast for real in a couple more weeks. In the meantime, you can click on through for more photos.

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So, this is beyond ironic, and really quite sad.   At a helmet law protest rally in Central NY State, a motorcyclist riding with a group of like minded protestors (helmet-less), hit his brakes, fishtailed and flipped over the handle bars.  Pronounced dead at the hospital, this avoidable death reminds us that defending our civil liberties is one thing, protecting our skulls is quite another.  The police say that had he been wearing a helmet, he most likely would have survived.

I think through the pages of NYC Scootering we have been clear about our preference for quality, protective gear.  But a story like this bears repeating.  Stay safe, and always wear the best protective equipment available.  Senseless death is avoidable.  We deal with enough mayhem on the streets already, no need to make matters worse, by not adhering to a strict policy of safety.

The full story can be found here.

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Here’s a scoot I’ve been passing every few days over the past couple of years that’s been slowly rotting away on 2nd Avenue. I’m normally passing by on two wheels so haven’t had an opportunity to snap a photo until now.

Judging by the horncast poking out of the shreds of its cover, it’s a Vespa P200. If that’s the case then this is one of the most loved scooters of recent times left to rot. At this point the bike is missing its front wheel entirely, its tool box, and who knows what else.

Is this a barn find within the city limits? It’s chained to the post behind it which is no doubt what has saved it from the sanitation department so far.

Does anyone know anything about this bike? Did the owner skip town?

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Cheer up those Thursday blues with Vespas and pin-up girls courtesy of YouTube user andrasjokuti:

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For the most part the content of the site remains the same, but one thing of interest has cropped up and that’s the addition of a series of official Vespa videos. Many of them are the promotional videos that they’ve used here and there over the past year and have now corralled into one place but there are also some interesting additions that haven’t surfaced before and talk about the features of the four-stroke family to incite new buyers.

We’ve included a couple of interesting ones below. You can watch the entire set over at Vespa USA’s video page.

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Straight out of the crate in Los Angeles last week. Photograph courtesy of snapshot05, Flickr.

It’s been a long wait, but forum chatter, photographic evidence, and local dealers have confirmed that the first shipment of Genuine Scooter Company four-stroke Stellas has indeed finally hit our shores after a painful series of delays during 2010.

While the Genuine Scooter Company were quick to hit the buzz when the bike was first announced early last year, there has been no official announcement from the company this week, rather Genuine has left it to local dealers to confirm arrivals (and sigh relief) as the bikes have shown up on their doorsteps.

The new 50 state emissions compliant bikes landed in California last week (appropriate given it was California’s strict emissions laws that put the Vespa PX to bed in the US) and have been gradually making their way East over the last few days. Philadelphia Scooters are proudly showing off the new arrivals on their Facebook page and a quick call to local dealerBrooklyn Powersports has confirmed that they are now very much in stock in New York City. Williamsburg’s sister store to Vespa Soho Carbon Negative have not yet received shipment but as a recently announced Genuine Scooters dealer are expecting them any day now.

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