How to make a waterproof boombox backpack

If filling your vespa or stellas glovebox with speakers, cables and an amp doesn't suit you, maybe you should check out this awesome waterproof boombox backpack.

Link via make.

Yahoo! to include traffic reports on maps

Hopefully it's more accurate than weather reports, but Yahoo! is now including traffic reports on their maps. This could be a great help in choosing that route to wherever you'll be heading on your scoot. I know the traffic in my town is so bad right now due to construction, there will be some ridiculous type of road work on every street you try. Such is life, eh?

Link via lifehacker

Las Vegas High Rollers Rally Feb 16-20

There is much need to rejoice! The High Rollers Scooter Rally will be taking place in Las Vegas February 16th-20th! This will be my first year in attendance, and I am tickled. Expect a slew of new posts featuring photos, events and products. How many of you will be able to attend?

The Greatness of eBay.co.uk

I figure since the Vespa movement in the U.K. was so big, I'd give eBay UK a shot to see what kind of vespa items I could find on there. I found a lot of great items! Items I've never seen on the U.S. eBay. Wacky accessories, all sorts of helmets and almost every spare part you could imagine. You have to consider the exchange rate when bidding, but many of the items you can still get for a good deal, and a majority of the sellers ship worldwide. If you're having trouble finding that part, I'd give the UK eBay a shot.

Piaggio won't buy DaimlerChrysler's troubled Smart unit

I would never really buy anything from Daimler Chrysler, at least the things they release in the United States. Personal bias I guess, but it looks like Piaggio was given an offer to purchase their smart unit, and declined due to it having problems "far to expensive for them to tackle."

via thescooterscoop

Vesputer

It brings me great joy that one of my favorite blogs, engadget, posted our submission about the vepsa stereo mentioned before. We also found a sweet link on their site about a Vespa with an installed computer and webcam. You can check it out further here.

Stereo System for P-series Vespas and Stellas

The fine folks over at scooterworks have released a complete Stereo system for P-Series Vespas and Stellas! It includes everything you need to get your system bumping those tunes. 2 4" speakers, gloveboox door with precut holes, amp, ipod cradle and connection for ipod and other mp3 players. If anyone get's their hands on this, please let us know how it sounds!

International Motorcycle Show

Looks like the International Motorcycle Show has been going on for awhile now, since november. Right now the show is in New York and will be heading off to Ohio next with three more stops in Minneapolis, Chicago and, Atlanta. Can anyone tell us of any cool new products they have seen there that we could use on our vespas?

Link

Vespa Releases New Accessory

It's a bag that is designed to be used inside the standard case. Expect it to be nice, and expensive. Looks like you can only get this through your authorized local dealers for now.

Link

Vespas 4 Sale

Old School Vespas seem to have from pretty nice vespas available for those who have the money, but not the time to restore a scooter of your own. With a warehouse in California and a 90 day warranty, it sounds pretty promising. Has anyone had any experiecne with them? Let us know.

Vespa and Lambretta shirts galore

I came across a nice site selling cool Vespa and Lambretta shirts in all sorts of styles and colors.

History of Vespa

Gizmag is featuring a nice article about The history of the Vespa. It includes stories about records that have been made on Vespas, in movies and elsewhere. They also have 23 pictures showing some on the rarest and pinnacle points in it's history.

via vespaquest.

Scoot.net is Excellent

Since this is a new blog, and maybe a few of you out there are new to the scootering scene, I want to tell everyone how great scoot.net is for an all around scootering site. It has great classifieds section with an occasional rare item you can find. Scooterist profiles, ride calendars, jetting database and more. I have found useful things on there numerous times. Check it out if you haven't yet.

Vespa Releases new GTS 250 in the U.S.

Kinda old news for some but...Vespa has released the new 250cc GTS here in the states meaning:
You can pass up plastic 49cc scooters even faster
You can intimidate Harley Riders?
You have a good reason to max your credit card (it helps the economy grow, right?)

Whitewall Tire Paint Application How-To

I finally found time to paint my tires with the whitewall tire paint mentioned earlier. I was pretty impressed with the results.

Materials needed:
1 can tire paint by Örn Sigurðsson
Flathead screwdriver (to open the can)
Goo Gone (for cleaning tires)
Paintbrush - I used a 1.5" from my hardware store
Stirring stick
Turpentine - for cleanup

I started by taking off the tires and spraying them down with my garden hose, then I dryed them with a lint free cloth and cleaned the brake dust and grime using the goo gone.


I applied one even coat to each side, setting a bowl inside the tire to elevate the side that was already painted, so it could dry horizontally rather than taking the risk of having it dry vertical and drip. Remember to wait 24 hours inbetween coats and before riding. It may also help to use some kind of spray tire protectant like armor all or black magic.


I painted 2 coats, but there was some browning of the paint as mentioned by Orn. Adding a couple more coats should cover up this problem and will make your nice scoot look that much classier.


I suggest throwing the brush away and using a new one for the time inbetween coats. The paint is an oil/rubbery base, so water will do nothing to it and it will leave you with a nasty mess. If you must keep your brush though, use turpentine to clean it.