In the fashion capital of the world, a real beauty was on show at the EICMA motorcycle expo. This Vespa GS was created out of carbon fibre and is really breathtaking.
According to sources, this carbon fibre Vespa will be limited to only 10 units! Somehow i don’t think i will be to afford it.
This carbon fibre Vespa was not the only carbon fibre bike on show as the Bimota DB7 Nerocarbonio was also unveiled at a price of $52,000!
Ok so your probably don’t expect a post on handheld vacuums at modvespa.com but bear with me. My Vespa will generally get a good clean every week but i find it really hard to clean the inside chamber and inside the seat. It got me thinking that maybe i could use the same handheld vacuum i use in the car on my vespa!
Amazingly when i used my handheld vacuum on my vespa, it cleaned it in half the time it normally took.
Ok, so this is not something that will change your life but it still saves me ten minutes when you could be out scootering!
I checked out a hand-held vacuum comparison site to find the best vacuum cleaner for my scooter.
At hand-held vacuum cleaners.com they believe that the Eureka 71B, Dyson DC16 are the top handheld vacuums on the market today. I went for the Dyson DC16 because we already had a dyson and it looked cool he he 
As part of the latest marketing campaign for Vespa, Piaggio have launched a number of radio stations on the online radio station: Pandora.
You will be able too listen to the Vespa radio station at the start of June.
Part of The "Vespanomics" campaign, its all about pushing the environmental benefits of Vespa ownership.
"Turns on a Dime, Runs on a Nickel"
"Smart Looks, Smarter Purchase."
If you register with the Pandora Vespa radio station then you will also get a chance to win a new Vespa S50. I think we also saw the possibility of getting a vintage Vespa t-shirt but i am not sure how you do it.
The main stations are called:
“Vespa Mods and Rockers” – Which i can only assume will have some decent mod mod music – I will listening to this one.
“Vespaliscious” and “Vespa Liberate” – Will wait for the stations to go live, to find out what they play on here.
“Vespa indie channels” – Obviously this will contain some decent indie music so another decent station.
When the music channel goes live, i think it would worth checking out to find out what Vespa related tunes they are playing.
You might have read recently about Valentino Rossi winning his 7th world grand prix but did you see his helmet?
The helmet was designed by Aldo Drudi and has the shocked face of Valentino Rossi looking out the top. I will keep you updated if any helmet manufacturer starts to offer this as an option.
If you are looking for more cool helmets then Oddee has 15 Creative Motorcycle Helmets for you to check out.
Piaggio has just confirmed that the Piaggio MP3 hybrid will be released in the United states in 2010.
According to sources, the new Piaggio MP3 Hybrid will have a 125ccc engine matched with a lithium battery. It’s expected that this combination will achieve the same performance as a 250cc machine. As shown with Auto hybrids, the fuel efficiency on the MP3 Hybrid will be around 140 mpg which compares favourable with the current 70mpg available using current petrol driven scooters.
Whilst i personally don’t find the Piaggio MP3 a particular attractive scooter, the move towards hybrid is a good sign. Scooters are finally getting the mainstream recognition in the United States thanks to efficiency awareness. The Hybrid model will create a stark comparison with the gas guzzling SUV’s that infect our highways.
As with most hybrid technology, the MP3 Hybrid will not be cheap. This summer the MP3 hybrid will be released in Europe with a $10,000 price tag.
We can expect to see the MP3 Hybrid at the start of 201o for the USA and in the next few months in mainland Europe.
Question: What sounds better than a music tour around the California coastline?
Answer: Use Vespa’s to do all tour traveling!
That is exactly what Jason Reeves will be starting today. As part of the Vespa experiment, they will be on tour around the California area until the 8th May.
Vespa scooters where chosen because of their smaller impact on the environment. As we blogged about before, a 10% switch to scooter in the United States, would save 15 million gallons per day!
If you are around the California are then you check if you can make any of the following dates:
* 4/30 Carlsbad, CA, The Museum of Making Music**
* 5/1 Costa Mesa, CA, Sutra Lounge
* 5/2 Hermosa Beach, CA, Saint Rocke
* 5/3 Los Angeles, CA, Roxy
* 5/5 Ventura, CA, The Lodge at Zoey’s
* 5/7 San Luis Obispo, CA, Downtown Brew
* 5/10 Monterey, CA, Monterey Live
* 5/12 San Francisco, CA, Café Du Nord
Let’s hope we see more musicians choosing to tour with Vespa’s
While the rest of the worlds auto companies are looking at impeding bankruptcy, Vespa bucks the trend. The global scooter manufacturer amassed a 60% increase in growth during 2008.
The Piaggio group which also includes such brands as Vespa, Moto Guzzi and Aprilia managed to shift over 20,000 scooter and other motorbikes in the United States alone.
Whilst the amount of cars being sold is dropping each day, the cheaper scooter is managing to become a better alternative to consumers. Some of the reasons for the increase in popularity of the Vespa scooter is:
The United States scooter market still has a lot of catching up to do with Europe. Currently over 600,000 scooters are sold in Europe compared to the total figure sold in the U.S being 220,000. When we compare the US market in 2000 where 20,000 scooter where sold this has meant an increase of 200,000!
Since arriving in the US in 2000, the amount of vespa dealerships has gone from 0 to 325 today.
Currently the main scooter on offer from the Vespa brand are priced from $3,299 to $6,199 with some of the piaggio branded bikes going up to just under $9,000. The price difference when compared to most cars means that the amount of Vespa’s sold is set to continue in the coming months.
It’s not just your wallet that will be saved from switching to two wheels. As the latest “vespanomics” advertising campaign pointed out, if 10% of Americans moved to 2 wheels 14 million gallons of fuel would be saved per day!
I have had a Vespa through the good years of the economy but now that its taken a dive for the worse the decision to switch should be a no-brainer.