TheScooterScoop

Here’s a bit of an extremely important question recently raised at the Huffington Post.

Is America turning into a third world country? That was the provocative topic of a panel I took part in last week at a conference sponsored by The Economist entitled “Innovation: Fresh Thinking For The Ideas Economy.”

Once upon a time, the United States was the world’s dominant innovator — partly because we didn’t have much competition. As a result of the destruction wreaked by WWII, the massive migration of brainpower to the U.S. caused by the war, and huge amounts of government spending, America had the innovation playing field largely to itself. None of these factors exist as we enter the second decade of the 21st century.

America now has plenty of countries it’s competing with — many of which are much more serious about innovation than we are. Just look at the numbers:

A report by the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation looked at the progress made over the last decade in the area of innovation. Out of the 40 countries and regions it examined, the U.S. ranked dead last.

If you get a chance please take the time to read the whole story. This is of critical importance! We’re a bunch of innovative people here; let’s SHOW IT! Support the Maker movement, the DIY movement, the garage inventors and local Fab Labs, the artisans and grease monkeys. The consumption era is over! Let the second industrial revolution BEGIN!

Icon Motorsports… You’ve heard me talk about them before.   I really love my Icon Superduty jacket… I’ve worn it for about 5 years now and it’s finally developed the perfect fit and a deep, rich, contrasting ring around the collar. I wore my bright yellow Icon Mainframe helmet until it fell to pieces… after I used it on my crash test dummy.  My Icon Pursuit gloves?  They look great in their light tan leather with sweat and oil embellishments.  My bright orange Icon MilSpec Vest is like a trademark. You can see me coming from a mile away.  Really, they’ve got some well designed, well built rider gear and I’ve always recommended them.

Well, they’ve got a giveaway going on right now so I decided to visit their blog to get the deets. That’s when I read a recent post on the Icon blog about their Seventh Seal jacket.   The second sentence said “There are some issues however.” Really? What is it? Issues with the artwork? The pigment? Defective zippers? No, according to their blog “if you wear this jacket and try to hop on a motorcycle that is less than 600cc, the jacket will take itself off of your pansy ass and BEAT THE CRAP OUT OF YOU for being a WUSS!”

Well, that IS a problem. The biggest “motorcycle” I ride is a 400cc scooter and while some of my favorite scooter folk are Wussys, I can’t say I hold that distinction.  But, you know what?  They DID say “motorcycle” so no foul on scooters, eh?  Actually…

“This jacket is not for a scooter! If you get within 15 feet of a moped, the jacket will spin you around and lasers will shoot out of the back, disentigrating the Vespa/Faggio.”

Oh! A mechanical issue that destroys scooters, mopeds and fictional scooters from Grand Theft Auto Vice City? That’s so unfortunate!

“That’s actually pretty cool, and I consider it a feature.”

AHHH!  I understand.  In a blatant attempt to confirm the “masculine overcompensation thesis“, Icon Motorsports decided their Seventh Seal jacket was a good excuse to point fingers and calls names at scooter riders. Now that’s a bit disappointing.

This could be a misunderstanding however… after all, Cornell University sociology doctoral candidate Robb Willer said he found “that if dyou made men more insecure about their masculinity, they displayed more homophobic attitudes, tended to support the Iraq war more and would be more willing to purchase an SUV over another type of vehicle”.  Robb didn’t say anything about a tendency to design laser wielding demon jackets that will “swallow your fat, nagging girlfriend from the back of your bike and spit out a hot, pierced chick covered in tattoos, wearing a school girl uniform”, who “won’t ride on a scooter either.”

After I read this part of the post I had to double check that I hadn’t accidentally stumbled across some 15 year old’s Icon fanboy blogger site, but sure as day the link to the blog came directly from the official Ride Icon website; so it’s official… Icon Motorsports is experiencing insecurity about their masculinity and as such behaving in an extremely masculine way as compensation. It’s going to be ok Icon.

If YOU have the urge to overcompensate, you’re in LUCK!  The official Icon blog writer has a Seventh Seal jacket that is too big for him so he’s  selling it for $200.00.  Much cheaper than, you know…  buying a new one… from Icon…

***CORRECTION***
My bad!  Scrolling back up to the top of the post I see:
“Straight from Craigslist Seattle. Just for the record – we didn’t write this – but we do very much approve.”
So, there you have it… not Icon written but Icon approved.

Rumor has it that Art Director, budding actor, and Editor of the popular scooter blog 2StrokeBuzz, Bryan Bedell, is expecting BIG things next year with his motion picture debut in Disney Pictures’ follow up to the family favorite, The Shaggy Dog.

Tim Allen was originally cast, once again, to play the lead character in the sequel but backed out during the first week of shooting.  When asked about the change of heart, Director Rob Reiner explained, “We are going for a more mature audience with this picture.  The audience who enjoyed the original Tim Allen picture back in 2006 are 17 and 18 now and they want something with more grit.  Tim just had a different vision for the movie than what we were looking for.”

Bryan, known for his rambunctious rabble-rousing and scooter shenanigans was an easy pick when

Leaked reference photo

Reiner reconvened with casting director Paul Webber on Monday.  Just two days later reference images and a poster mock-up found their way onto the internets and have caused quite a stir on the forums.

Neither Tim Allen, Bryan Bedell nor his publicist, Leslie Sloane Zelnick, could be reached for comment.  If these rumors are true then a big “Congrats” goes out to Bryan for representing the scooterati!

Jeff Holt/Bloomberg via Getty Images

Motorcycles are the primary form of transportation in Vietnam, and public health officials are raising the alarm about a new road hazard: texting while driving. Here, a man checks his cell phone while driving in downtown Hanoi, Vietnam, in January.

Click on this LINK to hear the NPR podcast.

The poor rockers wouldn’t have stood a chance against Colin Furze had he been around for the Mods / Rockers battle.

When Colin’s not riding his homemade wall of death or setting world records for “largest bonfire” and longest scooter, he’s building some real “WTF R U Thinking?!” contraptions. The one seen above is the third incarnation. Read the brief story at TheSun if you’d like or the long story at the Telegraph and be sure to watch the nutso video below!

His inspiration for the flamethrower?  Road rage.

I’ve been thinking about the Honda Ruckus lately.  You may have already figured out that Honda will not introduce a 2010 model, deciding instead to clear out their remaining 2009 models this year.  This move is not unusual for Honda, it’s only unusual in America.  In Japan model year isn’t such a big deal.  Today you might find a shop in Japan selling new bikes from 2008 and 2009 without anyone thinking much about it.  To make up for it, Honda USA is offering $200 in bonus bucks with the purchase of a new (old) 2009 Ruckus.  So what does that have to do with a little boutique shop in LA?  Well, Bowls LA isn’t just a boutique shop that will help you customize your wardrobe but they will also help you customize your Honda Ruckus (they do other custom stuff too)!  I watched one of their promo videos (below) and really, for me?  If they sold groceries they could be my one stop shop. I loved everything about the video.  The music?  Steve Miller.  The toys?  Star Wars and sweet custom skate decks.  The ride?  Custom Ruckus’.  They had Angel Jam Master Jay shirts and rare kicks (shoes).  I will make it a point to stop by their shop in San Marino the next time I’m out that way… preferably with a fist full of cash.

Anyway, here’s that video I was talking about:

You can follow them on Twitter and see more Bowls LA videos here.