Photograph courtesy of Carbon Negative

The folks behind Vespa SoHo and Williamsburg’s McCarren Motors are expanding their empire further into a concept store they’re calling Carbon Negative.

Recognizing that there is a national appetite to go green (and potentially save money) Vespa SoHo has also recognized that a motorscooter isn’t necessarily the right transportation fit for every New Yorker.

Carbon Negative unveiled at the formerly McCarren Motors location in Brooklyn is busy prepping itself for the 2010 riding season and will stock bikes in categories Gas, No Gas, and 100% Human. In addition to the Vespas and Kymco Scooters already stocked by the company, the store is branching out into the world of electric bicycles and traditional pedal powered commuters.

The store will continue to offer a wide-range of services including scooter maintenance, damage repair and storage.

Will be bringing you more news on Carbon Negative over the coming weeks. In the meantime, for more information, visit CarbonNegative.com, Carbon Negative’s twitter feed, facebook page or YouTube channel.

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The event is free and is taking place at Vespa Soho‘s Croby Street location, tomorrow Saturday, Sept 19th 1pm -2pm. Space is limited, so a RSVP to Cvera@ridemss.com is necessary. MSS is still running it’s three-day Basic Rider Course until December 15th so you still have a chance to get your license this year, especially with the news that test-waiver certificates no longer require a wait period.

Vespa Soho will also be offering 20% off all accessories during the event.

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Photograph by Francesca Tronchin, Flickr

The fine folks at New York’s Motorcycle Safety School and Vespa Soho’s sister store McCarren Motors/Vespa Greenpoint have joined forces to put together an upcoming lecture on the basics of preparing your scoot for the “off-season.”

A Vespa Greenpoint mechanic will be on hand to walk you through the dos and don’ts and, handily, McCarren Motors are putting their accessories on sale at a 20% discount during the event.

The two-hour lecture starts at 1pm on Saturday October 17th. Space is limited, so to RSVP for event, email Cvera@ridemss.com or call 718-599-1079. McCarren Motors is a block away from McCarren park on the Williamsburg, Greenpoint border.

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We’ve just reported that Vespa Brooklyn is offering a 25% discount on in-store Alpinestars jackets until the end of September. Well it appears that Vespa Soho is going one better with up to 35% off their line of Fall/Winter jackets through their online store.

Vespa Soho stocks the Alpinestar Space, (left) and the Alpinestar Neo (right) in sizes from small to XXL. And this is New York City, so they come in any color you want as long as it’s black.

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Photograph by Marcos Vasconcelos, Flickr.

Wen and Zach over at Vespa Soho and Kymco Brooklyn have informed us of their recent conversations with the NYPD Auto Crime Unit who have been visiting local scooter dealers to educate new scooter buyers on the seriousness of altering or outright removing VINs to foil parking attendants.

Below, is an important message to NYC area scooterists from Vespa Soho:

VIN ENFORCEMENT ALERT!

Dear fellow scooterists,

Many in the community have the practice of removing license plates to avoid parking tickets and plate theft. This is an equipment violation punishable by a fine.

Others have gone farther and removed or altered the external VIN on their scooters to further hinder parking enforcement. Of course, if your scoot is towed, you will never find it in the system, but that’s not the reason to avoid this practice. For those of you thinking about altering or removing your VIN, DON’T DO IT! VIN tampering laws were written with organized crime in mind, and the consequences can be very severe.

We recently spent a long time speaking with a NYPD Detective from the Auto Crime Unit who informed us that a task force is confiscating scooters and motorcycles that have altered or missing external VINs (“the public VIN”). This task force will wait for an owner to return to their vehicle or come to the pound and then arrest and charge the owner with a FELONY – tampering with a VIN – when they come to claim their vehicle.

For Vespa owners who have removed the VIN plate from their bikes, you must re-install the plate with factory style rivets. For those who have altered, damaged or missing public VINs, there is a process through the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles where you can make an appointment to have your vehicle inspected and DMV will issue a new external VIN.

We contacted the Division of Field Investigations (518) 474-2019 and they told us the following:

1. Visit a NYS DMV office and obtain a 272.1 form (Application for Vehicle Identification Number), fill it out mail back to the Division of Field Investigations along with a $25 fee. Unfortunately the form is not online.
2. Upon receipt of the application, the Division of Field Investigations will assign a new VIN and set an appointment to have the vehicle examined for $150.
3. On the day of the appointment, an inspector will physically examine the vehicle and affix a new external VIN plate and provide a receipt.
4. The owner then needs to go back to a NYS DMV office with old title, receipt from Division of Field Investigations examination and new insurance card to amend the title to reflect the new VIN for $50.

The Detective also told us that they are now clipping locks of scooters that are tied to poles or fences in order to impound them. NYPD is taking this very seriously and has already impounded dozens of vehicles and will continue to aggressively do so.

We wanted to give everyone a heads up on this important issue. Ride safely.

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…offering great deals on our assortment of used bikes, scratched and dented models, discontinued colors and late model scooters. All models (except for used bikes) come with a full factory warranty.

Let us know if you hear more details. Could be one of the few times they’re open to negotiation.

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Personally, for all my love of scooters … because of my love of scooters … I’d never been before.

Guitar store experience has taught me, don’t go visit unless you intend to spend money. I knew that visiting Vespa SoHo would be like a trip to the dog pound. It would be impossible to walk out of there without giving one a new home.

Plus, I have to say they keep odd hours. I’m always tied up on a Saturday and they’re not open late in the evening or on Sundays when I have the most time to shop.

Why the trip? To prepare for my upcoming Basic Rider Course. MSS do let you buy or rent helmets on the day or buy gloves but I figured if I’m serious about buying a Vespa then the first place to start was to buy some gear, so Vespa SoHo was my destination for a helmet and glove fitting.

Daniel at Vespa SoHo steered me to a Z1R Phantom helmet which met my requirements for a full-face helmet (something a colleague pointed out was an “olive branch” to my girlfriend”) and not too expensive.

Frankly though, colleague’s comment aside, there’s no way I’m going to ride with anything less than full-face. Sure half and three-quarter vintage helmets look cool, but Proficient Motorcycling’s chapter on helmets demonstrated that most impacts take place to the chin. A half-helmet might save the brain but it won’t save my good-looks.

I also picked up a nice pair of AlpineStars gloves.

More importantly, Vespa SoHo was where I first laid my eyes on an orange s150 in the flesh and I started getting that dog pound feeling. Could I really buy one right here and now? What a bike.

I fought temptation. Let’s see how this whole Basic Rider Course goes before I go down that path.

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