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October 16, 2008

Bad Day At The Scooter Track

By Jen Dunnaway

Editor

No matter what he does, this poor guy can’t seem to keep his unruly scooter from getting the best of him. Sometimes, everything just sucks. Watch!

August 2, 2008

Beware of Imitations: Fake Chinese Tomahawk

By John Coyle

Editor

The Dodge Tomahawk was one of the coolest concepts ever, and I’m still a little pissed Ma Mopar never brought it to production. Sure, the Viper-powered uber-bike would have reduced most of the folks brave—or foolish—enough to ride it to bloody clumps of freeway hamburger. But damn, what a sexy beast! And while the idea of a company making a knock-off is kind of appealing, when I first saw the "Tron Bike," I just thought; "No. No. Not like this. Jesus, No." Not only is the powerplant a measly 150CCs, but this piece of garbage looks like it’s made out of siding scraps and painted with hair dye from Hot Topic. And am I the only one that thinks that cheap-ass mesh looks like leopard print? Yuck. Five more pics after the jump. ATV Discounter via Autoblog

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July 8, 2008

Scoot! A Magazine for Scooter Enthusiasts

By Rich Truesdell

Automotive Traveler

Since reading Rob’s post about parking the SUV in the garage and buying a scooter for your daily commute, I’ve discovered a magazine that serves the two-wheeled scooter community, Scoot! The issue I picked up at my local Barnes and Noble says #45, but up until last week, I’d never seen a copy.

Scoot! a Magazine for Scooter Enthusiasts

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June 29, 2008

Fox Business Says Keep Your Truck, But Consider a Scooter

By Rob Einaudi

Editor-in-Chief

Actually, their argument is similar to the one I made last month. If you have a gas guzzling truck or SUV and are freaking out, be sure to do the math before making any rash decisions. And if you need a cheap way to get around for short trips and errands, scooters are cool. Fox Business.

Jimmy

June 11, 2008

Yamaha C3

By Ralf Becker

Chromjuwelen

Sick of the daily search for a parking lot for your jalopy? Bothered by climbing gas prices? Then how about using a scooter for daily driving duties? They are small, they are cheap and they can be really cool. Just think about the Honda Ruckus, which comes with an injected four-stroke engine and a ton of custom parts. Another fresh candidate is the Yamaha C3. It might not seem like the best basis for a custom bike, but the guys at Tokyoparts created a real monster out of it. Just watch their movie.

Yamaha C3

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May 16, 2008

Some Background on the Tuner Scooter Scene

By Evan

NWSilverado

As we saw today with Ben’s post, building up little 50 cc scooters is big business in Japan. I guess that in a country of 127 million people, there isn’t a lot of space for cars. John wrote a little while ago about the CarDomain office manager’s new Honda Ruckus, and it looks like over in Germany they’re already modding them. In Japan, the kids are taking it one step further by building low-slung scooter machines decked out with bodywork, chrome, neon and LCDs! I just can’t believe these little machines would even clear a pebble, let alone a speed bump or a curb into a parking lot. But with the rising price of gas, I think we’ll be seeing more and more scooters popping up on local streets–and where there’s popularity, as with any vehicle, aftermarket options are sure to follow.

In my home town of Victoria, a company called Scooter Underground hasn’t been able to keep much stock in its store. People are apparently taken by these little commuter machines and are snapping them up as the price of gas climbs. One of the scooters they sell actually looks like a miniature motorbike. Now, all that’s left to do is come up with a cool buzzword for these tiny rides. Scooter-tuners?

Scooter-Tuners?

May 15, 2008

More Big Scooter Madness

By Ben Schaffer

Bulletproof Automotive

Last time I posted I said that I wasnt sure if I thought these were cool or not. Since then I’ve been starting to dig them. Still very odd, but maybe that’s why I like them. It takes equal parts balls and stupidity to actually show up somewhere riding one of these things. More pics after the jump (and you can’t tell me the exhaust in the second to last pic isn’t badass).

More Big Scooter Madness

More Big Scooter Madness

More Big Scooter Madness

More Big Scooter Madness

May 4, 2008

Riding the Ruckus!

By John Coyle

Editor

Guy, our office manager, just picked up a Honda Ruckus. And while I’m generally not a fan of scooters—zero power, no noise to alert all the drivers trying to kill you—I think this is probably the coolest looking one on the market. After a few minutes of standing and looking, I was goaded into taking it for a spin. Since the last powered two-wheeler I rode was a Suzuki TL1000R—which sports an engine 20 times larger than the little Honda—I wasn’t floored by the speed. But I did manage to coax it to 40MPH, and was pretty impressed with how the suspension handled Seattle’s crappy roads. Overall, the little ride around the block just made me want to get another motorbike. Sorry, Mom!