Hey, I Need a Little Love out Here

SAVE UP TO 50% ON SOME OF THE HOTTEST PARTS FOR YOUR BIKE JUST IN TIME FOR SPRING RIDING!

So if you are looking for great, affordable ideas to get you thinking “riding season” and some of the best deals around, you just found ‘em in our RED TAG sales department at Metric Thunder.

Red Tag Sale items are below the every day low price at Metric Thunder, so hurry while supplies last! So Click and save on great stuff for your ride!

Pump up your ride from brand names like Kuryakyn, Cobra, Barons, Hard Krome, Roadburner, Saddlemen, Bub, Willie & Max and more! Take a look before the supplies run out.

Can You See the Vespa?

A New Look for 2009

In looking for scooter attire I found this tasty website of models from around the globe. It took me a while to find the Vespa in the picture.

Now, we can’t condone her riding attire. We favor leather boots, jacket, gloves and a crash helmet. We do however, support her enthusiasm for 2 wheels.

I believe it is the only motorbike on the site. Enjoy.

The Green Scooter

A Natural Vespa

The Vespa scooter has a classic shape that just about everyone likes. Portuguese craftsman Carlos Alberto managed to fashion one from laminated hardwood… Perfetto!

Click here to see the gallery of the Vespa Woodie Scooter.

Video for “Throw a Kit” Performed by Hollywood Holt featuring Million Dollar Mano. The video was shot, directed, and edited by Thunder Horse (Taran Allen, Alex Gvojic).

Scooter to the Rescue

Fire Truck on 2 Wheels

From the Morton’s archives located across the pond and was first published in The Motorcycle on April 9, 1953. On the reverse of the photograph, a press release was found with a publication date of April 1st of that year.

The release stated:

“To reduce the costs of the municipal fire brigade, the city council of Düsseldorf decided upon the acquisition of 24 Fire-Lambrettas. These are derivatives of the well-known NSU Lambretta motor-scooter. Instead of a pillion seat, a 60-litre water tank is installed whose capacity can be used in the absence of a direct water supply. A rotary pump, powered by the scooter’s engine, delivers the necessary pressure. The extendable ladder is supported by two poles to provide sufficient stability. The Fire-Lambretta is employed in house fires up to the first floor. Higher and bigger fires remain reserved for the common fire trucks.”

Jeremy Clarkson Hates Scooter

If you are into performance on 2 or 4 wheels then you might have run across this guy, Jeremy Clarkson of Top Gear television from the BBC. He and a couple of his mates talk automotive performance.

SO it was a surprise to find him on TV beating up on a defenseless 250cc Vespa GTV. The machine makes about 22 HP and is capable of reaching 76 MPH.

They say that the fat, balding Top Gear presenter’s hatred for motorcycles and those who ride them is well known. But Clarkson, 48, once caused outrage by suggesting in his newspaper column that the number of motorcyclists should be cut by stretching cheesewire across the road… Blasphemy!

The Daily Mail captured pictures of Jeremy Clarkson riding a Vespa GTV around his village in the Cotswolds.

Vesa – Vintage Look from the 1940′s

What sets the GTV apart from the closely related GTS includes a rounded, simple, vintage analog gauge cluster with low profile windscreen, a split leather seat, a complex metallic paint scheme, naked chrome handlebars and a fender mounted headlamp in the heritage of the original Vespa of the 1940′s. It’s all very classy.

As with all Vespa scooters, the GTV is built as a steel body, monocoque frame. Having a monocoque (single shell) design allows for lighter, more ridged construction than a typical welded pipe frame covered in a non-load-bearing fairing. The added rigidity maximizes tracking and control while reducing vibration. Many changes and advancements have been seen in 60 years, but the frame remains the same.

Handling

The Vespa GTV 250 is one of the lightest scooters in its class, weighing in at 322 lbs. It also has one of the shortest wheelbases at 54.9 inches. These two attributes combine to make this scooter one of the most maneuverable two wheelers available. A 40 mph slalom around potholes and pedestrians are all part of the fun.

Old School Buddy Black Jack.

The Buddy Black Jack 150 gives you arm-stretching, eyeball-popping acceleration and still sips fuel like a bird. It is available from The Genuine Scooter Company, a Chicago-based company that started life out with Stella, a 150cc scooter with manual transmission and vintage styling.

It looks like an old-school chopper-scooter from back-in-the-day. And you immediately love or hate it. Love those gangsta white walls!

The Black Jack comes with an 150cc 4-stroke, Forced Air engine with a variable ration automatic transmission.

Scooter on Roids

The brake and suspension bits are name brand, top-shelf, race-tuned and beefed-up. The transmission is primed to launch you from stop lights. The Black Jack goes like heck, corners like a go kart, and stops on a dime.

Buddy Black Jack

The dealer-installed accessory performance pipe (off road, closed-course use only) booms out the music.

You can reserve your Buddy from AMerica’s SMallest SCooter COmpany… Genuine Scooters

Just in from the SaboCatGirl. She took a spill on the mean streets of LA, this is her story…

From the SaboCat:

One of the dangers of driving a scooter is not making it home from work because some idiot in front of you doesn’t know how to drive.

Web Traffic – A shout out to http://alphainventions.com/ – Thanks for the traffic.

Sourced from The Scooter Scoop

Web Traffic – A shout out to http://alphainventions.com/ – Thanks for the traffic.

The Burgman 400 R - Race Scooter

The flashy GSX-R inspired Burgman has a dose of Superbike graphics and a simulated MotoGP exhaust canister to make a ver cool and slammed race scooter.

Some of the 400 R Upgrades:

• B-King handlebar with controls
• Instrumt pabel painted GSX-R blue
• Custom Seat
• Rear spolier with braake light
• GSX-R600 Muffler
• Blacked-out brake calipers and engine cases
• Painted GSX-R blue & white
• GSX-R600 side mirrors and turn signals
• Slammed

The Suzuki Burgman 400 R Scooter is Not Planned

The Burgman 400 R Scooter is not currently planned in the 2009 ~ 2010 Suzuki lineup.

The Burgman 400 R - Race Scooter

Burgman 400 Production Details
The Burgman 400 is the intro scooter model from Suzuki and retails around $6,000. It offers a comfortable ride with a plush suspension. The aerodynamic fairing that provides excellent protection from the wind.

A stepped seat and an easily adjustable backrest for the rider provides comfortable seating mile after mile. And concave floorboards offer you and your passenger plenty of legroom.

For exciting performance, its liquid-cooled engine offers strong acceleration, while an advanced fuel injection system provides crisp throttle response. It also has an automatic clutch and V-belt drive for smooth power delivery.

Have some cargo you need to stash? No problem. The Burgman 400 has a lighted underseat storage compartment that accommodates two full-coverage helmets, matched by three front compartments with lids that allow quick, easy access to smaller items.

The Burgman 400 R - Race Scooter

Viva Vespa... Fun, Fun, Fun!

The 40′s era motorbike manages to stay cool by being just what it is… Fun. Here are a few fun facts about te origin of the Vespa.

• Cushman Scooters were an inspiration to the design
• It was designed by an aeronautical engineer
• Vespa means wasp

Aeronautical engineer Corradino D’Ascanio was the man commissioned to design the original Vespa. D’Ascanio couldn’t stand motorbikes, which may explain why the Vespa looks the way that it does.

The inspiration for the design of the Vespa dates back to Pre-WWII Cushman scooters made in Nebraska, USA. These olive green scooters were in Italy in large numbers, ordered originally by Washington as field transport for the Paratroops and Marines. The US military had used them to get around Nazi defense tactics of destroying roads and bridges in the Dolomites (a section of the Alps) and the Austrian border areas.

It’s essentially a two-wheeled form of transportation without the noise and the exposed engine. The Vespa was designed to lend itself to Italy’s unique post-war social climate.

The zippy engine and little wheels help you nip through back alleys and traffic jams. The splashguard stops your stylish trousers from getting speckled with mud in the winter; the nice comfy seat prevents chaffed buttocks. Buy the optional windshield and your hair stays bug-free for an evening at the jazz club… Ahhh, The Italian Lifestyle!

The Vespa has evolved from a single model motor scooter manufactured in 1946 by Piaggio & Co. S.p.A. of Pontedera, Italy — to a full line of scooters and one of seven companies today owned by Piaggio — now Europe’s largest manufacturer of two-wheeled vehicles and the world’s fourth largest motorcycle manufacturer by unit sales.

MP5 Donald Duck

The first prototype was given the initials MP5 (MP standing for MotorPiaggio) and baptized “Paperino,” the Italian name for Donald Duck, a nick-name given to it by the workers because of the strange shape it had. Enrico Piaggio did not like the design and asked D’Ascanio to redesign it – which he did with a more aeronautical-derived aerodynamic look.

When the second prototype called MP6, was shown to Enrico Piaggio and he heard the buzzing sound of the engine he exclaimed: “Sembra una vespa!” (“It resembles a wasp!”) The name stuck.

From their inception, Vespa scooters have been known for their painted, pressed steel unibody which combines a complete cowling for the engine (enclosing the engine mechanism and concealing dirt or grease), a flat floorboard (providing foot protection), and a prominent front fairing (providing wind protection) — into a structural unit as well as a singularly endearing and enduring shape.

As the first globally successful scooter, the Vespa has enjoyed prominence in popular culture and has come to symbolize stylish personal transportation.

With its elegant lines and classic aesthetics, the Vespa is recognized as the epitome of Italian design.

HERE
In recent years, many urban commuters have purchased new or restored Vespas. A shortage of available parking for automobiles in large urban areas and the Vespa’s low running costs are two reasons for the increase in Vespa (and other scooter) popularity. The cultural use of the scooter as a recreational vehicle with a sub-cultural following in the USA/Canada and parts of Europe & Japan has also contributed to the rise in Vespa ownership.

THERE
In contrast, the Vespa is considered a utilitarian vehicle for hauling products and sometimes up to 5 family members in much of Asia and Mexico.

Web Traffic – A shout out to http://alphainventions.com/ – Thanks for the traffic.

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