Modern Buddy

BuddyRaton wrote:

ericalm wrote:What the locals told me was that they'll get an afternoon shower, usually for 30-45 minutes, then it quits.

Aww who cares...it's only water!

I know my scooters could definitely use a good wash. It's been super-dry in Oklahoma for weeks.

The great big librarian conference is happening in NOLA the weekend after Amerivespa, so Fodor's has made some of their quick-pick guides available for free download.

"Fodor's Choice New Orleans" 12 page PDF
http://www.fodors.com/pdf/fodors-new-orleans.pdf

"Cajun Country: Small Towns, Big Fun" 6 page PDF
http://www.fodors.com/pdf/fodors-cajun-country.pdf

lmyers wrote:

BuddyRaton wrote:

ericalm wrote:What the locals told me was that they'll get an afternoon shower, usually for 30-45 minutes, then it quits.

Aww who cares...it's only water!

I know my scooters could definitely use a good wash. It's been super-dry in Oklahoma for weeks.

And of course it has to rain buckets a couple of hours later while I'm out on my friend's Symba. The good news is the tires on that thing are pretty good in a mini-monsoon.

Can't wait to see you all again in the next couple days!!

Ya'll be safe out there, and hope you guys arrive in one piece

ME TOO OMGGG



http://www.weather.com/weather/tenday/USLA0338
w00t!

(Over)packing. Three shirts for each day, just in case, right? Going to be sweaty. Can't pack this shirt, I think I wore it at Amerivespa 2 years ago…

(Mostly) kidding. LET"S RIDE.

I'll be rocking a Buddy 150 again this year, representin'.

I think the full moon immediately preceding the start of Amerivespa can only mean you're all in for one wild ride of a weekend!

ericalm wrote:(Over)packing. Three shirts for each day, just in case, right? Going to be sweaty. Can't pack this shirt, I think I wore it at Amerivespa 2 years ago…

(Mostly) kidding. LET"S RIDE.

I'll be rocking a Buddy 150 again this year, representin'.

I know a bit about NO and I'd pack a few face cloths to carry throughout the day; you'll need them. You can almost pick up the air with your hands due to the high humidity. Frequent showers will be the norm.

I wish I could make it down; it sounds like it will be a blast.

Mulliganal wrote:I know a bit about NO and I'd pack a few face cloths to carry throughout the day; you'll need them. You can almost pick up the air with your hands due to the high humidity. Frequent showers will be the norm.

I wish I could make it down; it sounds like it will be a blast.

"We're from Texas...."

And yeah dude, I go nowhere without my paño. /Boricua

WHY AREN'T YOU COMING?!?!

polianarchy wrote:

Mulliganal wrote:I know a bit about NO and I'd pack a few face cloths to carry throughout the day; you'll need them. You can almost pick up the air with your hands due to the high humidity. Frequent showers will be the norm.

I wish I could make it down; it sounds like it will be a blast.

"We're from Texas...."

And yeah dude, I go nowhere without my paño. /Boricua

WHY AREN'T YOU COMING?!?!

My wife and son are out of school (wife is a teacher) so they would love to go, but for me, it's financial year-end which is a crazy few months for me. This time around I'll just have to live vicariously through all the great photos (please take lots of photos) that you all share with us.

Everyone have a blast and ride safely TO New Orleans, as well as IN and FROM. Eric, who's scooter are you riding with? Keep us posted with pictures. I wish I was able to have gone, we'd probably be in Eastern TN or Northern AL by now. I can't wait to hear where next years venue will be.

I have a group of friends riding in from the DC area. It's been rainy and somewhat slow going, but a beautiful ride, I'm sure!

I'll be riding a loaner Buddy 150 from Big Easy Scooters in NO.

For next year, I'm guessing East Coast, Chicago or—long shot—Vancouver.

Why not Phoenix? It's the perfect time of year, the hotel rates and greens fees are low and all the snowbirds have gone home!

Syd wrote:Why not Phoenix? It's the perfect time of year, the hotel rates and greens fees are low and all the snowbirds have gone home!

Aside from weather and decent hotel rates, to pull off Amerivespa there have to be very strong and active local clubs to organize and plan it. This was a huge benefit for AV 2009 in Los Gatos, which was amazingly well organized. AV 2010 in San Antonio suffered from disorganization, partially because of a lack of ground troops to keep things running smoothly. (There were also some local politics involved; no sense rehashing all that drama now.) New Orleans has at least 3 solid clubs planning rides and events and helping with the logistics.

This is one reason we couldn't do it in LA. We have maybe 3 good clubs, but one is all-vintage, we don't collaborate much, etc, etc. Just don't have the organization and leadership to pull off something like this.

Rosa and I are new orleans bound. If everything goes as planned, we should arrive at the hotel at 3pm today. Can't wait can't wait can't wait!!!

I'll be in around 4:30-5:00pm, then maybe rushing out to Big Easy to get my scoot!

For those who haven't met me, I look kinda like this, only will likely be sweatier and much more casually attired:

Have fun in NO everyone! And don't forget to check out Mulate's in the Warehouse District, close to French Qtr for some great Cajun food. Mm, their meat pies are goo-ood!

Perkussion and I will be trailering in tomorrow! We are VERY excited!! We will get a good day of riding in on Friday and then it down to the business of vending on Saturday and Sunday!!

We can't wait to meet all the Modern Buddies!!

Just checked in!!! Buddy peeps, where are you guys at so we can meet up

Edit: also, if you trucked or trailered your scooter to NOLa, get ready to get slammed with the parking fees!

This morning we had breakfast in the French Quarter

Y'all have fun. I enjoyed last year in San Antonio and agree with Eric about it being disorganized. Hopefully, there will be a twitter feed for updates and they won't decide to start the main ride an hour earlier than posted.

Mmmm... Cafe du Monde... so good.

I have to work tomorrow or else I'd be on the road right now!

Im going to come over from mobile on Friday. Is the scheduled ride thru the neighborhoods and the bowling what everyone is going to do? Or, is there an insiders guide to the event?
It is my first AV, and first rally with a scooter. I'm looking forward to a fun day. Wish I could hit up Saturday too, but work calls and I need to do it.
Thanks
Chris

Meeting a lot of people who say they're MB members but mostly lurk/read and don't post often. Introduce yourselves! I'll give you a free MB patch.

craho wrote:Im going to come over from mobile on Friday. Is the scheduled ride thru the neighborhoods and the bowling what everyone is going to do? Or, is there an insiders guide to the event?
It is my first AV, and first rally with a scooter. I'm looking forward to a fun day. Wish I could hit up Saturday too, but work calls and I need to do it.
Thanks
Chris

I know there's going to be an unofficial ride Friday, but it's leaving from the Rock & Bowl.

ericalm wrote:Meeting a lot of people who say they're MB members but mostly lurk/read and don't post often. Introduce yourselves! I'll give you a free MB patch.

craho wrote:Im going to come over from mobile on Friday. Is the scheduled ride thru the neighborhoods and the bowling what everyone is going to do? Or, is there an insiders guide to the event?
It is my first AV, and first rally with a scooter. I'm looking forward to a fun day. Wish I could hit up Saturday too, but work calls and I need to do it.
Thanks
Chris

I know there's going to be an unofficial ride Friday, but it's leaving from the Rock & Bowl.

Two questions.....When/where diid you have a mug shot done because that picture couldn't be voluntary? And where's my patch?

teacherquinn wrote:

ericalm wrote:Meeting a lot of people who say they're MB members but mostly lurk/read and don't post often. Introduce yourselves! I'll give you a free MB patch.

craho wrote:Im going to come over from mobile on Friday. Is the scheduled ride thru the neighborhoods and the bowling what everyone is going to do? Or, is there an insiders guide to the event?
It is my first AV, and first rally with a scooter. I'm looking forward to a fun day. Wish I could hit up Saturday too, but work calls and I need to do it.
Thanks
Chris

I know there's going to be an unofficial ride Friday, but it's leaving from the Rock & Bowl.

Two questions.....When/where diid you have a mug shot done because that picture couldn't be voluntary? And where's my patch?

Burbank. A few weeks ago.

I'll give you one when I see you! You actually get 3, one for each rider in the family.

There's a much higher % of Genuines & Buddys this year compared to previous two. I usually bring a stack of patches & bring half of them home. This year, I've given out quite a few!

Lots of pics of Buddys, riders and MB members to come!

Genuine owners really rocked this year!

By my estimate, we had the largest % of Buddys this year if any Amerivespa. Add in the Stellas and Genuines we clearly the #2 most popular scoots once again. Probably more Genuines that non-Vespa Piaggios.

Added to this, there were several Buddys & Stellas I the slow race and gymkhana. It was a lot of fun watching KrustyBuger, Buddy Raton and other MBers on the course.

I have lots of pics, which I'll post later. One more night in NOLA, then heading back to Cali.

Eric,

I'm surprised you didn't mention that Amerivespa will be in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin next year.

Did they make any announcements about dates? The weather should be acceptible but the dates will determine whether or not I"ll be able to go.

I talked to jim (co founder of genuine) yesterday and he told me maybe the weekend of june 21

Amerivespa announced on their facebook page this morning that it would be the weekend of the 21st-24th of June.

cdwise wrote:Eric,

I'm surprised you didn't mention that Amerivespa will be in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin next year.

Did they make any announcements about dates? The weather should be acceptible but the dates will determine whether or not I"ll be able to go.

I posted it to Twitter about 10 seconds after it was announced.

Interesting (to me), I picked up over 100 Twitter followers during Amerivespa.

There should be a HUGE Genuine presence in Lake Geneva, about 80 miles from Chicago. I'm sure we'll be planning something big for Genuine owners that weekend. I'm hoping to ride to Chicago and Scooterworks!

ericalm wrote:I'm sure we'll be planning something big for Genuine owners that weekend. I'm hoping to ride to Chicago and Scooterworks!

Sounds like you're already throwing your hat in the ring! I like it! Won't make any promises or guarantees, but Southern Wisconsin is a lot more feasible from here than N.O. I have no idea what's in Lake Geneva, is it a camping town, resort town, or both?

ericalm wrote:

cdwise wrote:Eric,

I'm surprised you didn't mention that Amerivespa will be in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin next year.

Did they make any announcements about dates? The weather should be acceptible but the dates will determine whether or not I"ll be able to go.

I posted it to Twitter about 10 seconds after it was announced.

Interesting (to me), I picked up over 100 Twitter followers during Amerivespa.

There should be a HUGE Genuine presence in Lake Geneva, about 80 miles from Chicago. I'm sure we'll be planning something big for Genuine owners that weekend. I'm hoping to ride to Chicago and Scooterworks!

80 Miles from Chicago? Hmmm....

If I could convince my good friend with her VBB (purchased in parts and restored from Scooterworks) to undertake an epic ride from Phoenix AZ to WI, then hit up Chicago to meet up with my wife who is from Chi-town. Then, take the Amtrack back to Flagstaff and ride back to Phoenix...

Yes. It just may be possible.

I think I know what epic adventure I am going to be planning for next year. This has potential

I'm looking forward to riding to Lake Geneva WI next year! The best thing I heard from Scooterworks: "the weather at Lake Geneva today (19th) is 70 degrees"! THANK THE LORD!!!

ericalm wrote:

cdwise wrote:Eric,

I'm surprised you didn't mention that Amerivespa will be in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin next year.

Did they make any announcements about dates? The weather should be acceptible but the dates will determine whether or not I"ll be able to go.

I posted it to Twitter about 10 seconds after it was announced.

Interesting (to me), I picked up over 100 Twitter followers during Amerivespa.

There should be a HUGE Genuine presence in Lake Geneva, about 80 miles from Chicago. I'm sure we'll be planning something big for Genuine owners that weekend. I'm hoping to ride to Chicago and Scooterworks!

Possible Route 66 scooter trips next year?

I will soooo be at lake Geneva next year
That's great news
I would expect a huge Chicago area turnout

Have fun in N.O.
Try the scooter et tu fey

Jackie F wrote:

ericalm wrote:

cdwise wrote:Eric,

I'm surprised you didn't mention that Amerivespa will be in Lake Geneva, Wisconsin next year.

Did they make any announcements about dates? The weather should be acceptible but the dates will determine whether or not I"ll be able to go.

I posted it to Twitter about 10 seconds after it was announced.

Interesting (to me), I picked up over 100 Twitter followers during Amerivespa.

There should be a HUGE Genuine presence in Lake Geneva, about 80 miles from Chicago. I'm sure we'll be planning something big for Genuine owners that weekend. I'm hoping to ride to Chicago and Scooterworks!

Possible Route 66 scooter trips next year?

I worked it out: minimum 5 day ride from LA. Odds I will have 10 days to spare on top of time at AV are pretty low! Others are luckier then I am and can take that kind of time.

For those who do plan on riding long distance for something like this: Give yourself a buffer of a couple days just in case something goes wrong. Riders coming into NOLA suffered all kinds of breakdowns and incidents that could have meant extra days in the city for some.

Me and my best friend have already committed ourselves to ride from Phoenix to Amerivespa 2012! There is a nice route that runs just over 1,800 miles, and with 7 days we figure it gives us enough wiggle room to ride and to take a day or two for repairs or recuperation on the road if we push it too hard. She gets her VBB in August about the same time I should be getting my Buddy 125. She's never ridden before, so that gives her a good solid 9 months to work up. But, she's done women's roller derby for years and is quite mechanically inclined so this will be a breeze for her! I have already ridden from Phoenix to Vancouver on the Vespa GTS 250ie and various in-state treks that have run several days. But, this is a big one!

It's kind of odd planning this far out, but after being off a bike so long I just NEED to do this! Even my wife is behind the idea (and will probably just meet us there in a car with bike trailers for the journey back). And, bouncing over to Chicago afterwards to Scooterworks sounds fun

Of course, there is quite a bit of planning to do, but anyone else feeling brave in '12?

It's never too early to start planning. I'll be requesting the time off tomorrow.

never been to Wisconsin before.... Or Chicago. Just had layovers @ Ohare and Midway. DC should be an easy 2 or 3 day ride. I can't wait to meet Phil and buy him a beer.

Does anyone know if the AV2011 photo page is up on scoot.net? I swear I saw someone's photos on there the other day and now I can't find it...

KRUSTYburger wrote:Does anyone know if the AV2011 photo page is up on scoot.net? I swear I saw someone's photos on there the other day and now I can't find it...

http://scoot.net/gallery/2011/06/amerivespa/

KRUSTYburger wrote:Does anyone know if the AV2011 photo page is up on scoot.net? I swear I saw someone's photos on there the other day and now I can't find it...

First I uploaded to Flickr. Then I noticed everyone uploading to Facebook and tagging, so I uploaded all of them there, too. Past 2 days were the biggest tagging orgy I've ever witnessed. And I still haven't uploaded to scoot.net…!

Some shady characters showed up at AV 2011

Finally, I am back in town and catching up on some of my normal internet reading so I wanted to chime in on my Amerivespa.

I met Eric (thanks for the patch!) and a bunch of other good people during my friday day-trip to NO. It was a blast. Not sure if Lake Geneva is in the cards for me (my work has a big gathering every year around the same week) but if I can make it happen, I will.
Looks like White Sands Mayhem will be my next rally.

Also, thanks to Jeff from Terminal Scooter Club in Atl, the guys from Sounders Scooter Club in Seattle, Jamie- the guy on the black vespa on the cover of the NO paper, and Joel and Jeni from Stink Eye in San Antonio. It was great to have people to hang out with all day since I was solo...you all helped me feel welcome at my first rally.

Peace
chris

Well, it's official that me and my good friend will be riding to (and probably back from) Amerivespa from Phoenix for 2012!! Yep, that's 3,600 miles to prepare for. We also have infected a few of our other friends with the scooter bug. At this rate, we may end up starting a whole new club without even intending to Of course, a detour to Scooterworks in Chicago is planned.

It's still a year off, but she needs to get her riding skills up for such a trek and there's still PLENTY of logistics to account for. Either way it's going to be expensive for us so we're preparing and planning early. Who knows: If this goes well perhaps a Europe rally or a scooter trip to the LML factory in India will be in the cards next off-season?

<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/CPee5MENa74" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

neotrotsky wrote:Well, it's official that me and my good friend will be riding to (and probably back from) Amerivespa from Phoenix for 2012!! Yep, that's 3,600 miles to prepare for. We also have infected a few of our other friends with the scooter bug. At this rate, we may end up starting a whole new club without even intending to Of course, a detour to Scooterworks in Chicago is planned.

It's still a year off, but she needs to get her riding skills up for such a trek and there's still PLENTY of logistics to account for. Either way it's going to be expensive for us so we're preparing and planning early. Who knows: If this goes well perhaps a Europe rally or a scooter trip to the LML factory in India will be in the cards next off-season?

If you haven't seen already, here's a great documentary series you can rent or netflix to get motivated. After seeing Charley and Ewan ride around the world, and the sequel from Scotland to CapeTown, S. Africa, the ride to Wisconsin will look like a piece of cake!

<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Yk_Qkz_5ti8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

BootScootin'FireFighter wrote:

neotrotsky wrote:Well, it's official that me and my good friend will be riding to (and probably back from) Amerivespa from Phoenix for 2012!! Yep, that's 3,600 miles to prepare for. We also have infected a few of our other friends with the scooter bug. At this rate, we may end up starting a whole new club without even intending to Of course, a detour to Scooterworks in Chicago is planned.

It's still a year off, but she needs to get her riding skills up for such a trek and there's still PLENTY of logistics to account for. Either way it's going to be expensive for us so we're preparing and planning early. Who knows: If this goes well perhaps a Europe rally or a scooter trip to the LML factory in India will be in the cards next off-season?

If you haven't seen already, here's a great documentary series you can rent or netflix to get motivated. After seeing Charley and Ewan ride around the world, and the sequel from Scotland to CapeTown, S. Africa, the ride to Wisconsin will look like a piece of cake!

<iframe width="425" height="349" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Yk_Qkz_5ti8" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I am a huge fan of Charley Boorman and have 5 of his series on my hard drive (Both Long Way Round/Down, Both "By Any Means" and "Race to Dakar). Honestly during my surgeries and brief but disastrous bout of radiation treatment, they kept my spirits up while being flat on my back for months. Some hardcore tourers (like my father) love to bash them for being rich kids with not enough "true" adventure, but they're fun and they get you thinking.

It would hardly be my first long distance ride, but Phoenix to Wisconsin and back is a long stretch by any bike, moreso on 150cc's. I've done Phoenix to Vancouver on a GTS250 and that was a blast, but that was also a nearly new Vespa with alot more money in my pocket and alot more time. I have no doubt my Stella (when it arrives in my hands) will make it. I am a *little* worried about her '71 Vespa, but I'm told it's getting an LML motor installed new and all new cables and rubber. So, I'm sure it will do just fine. She's a former Roller Derby girl, so she's tough enough!

But, I need to get back into the scene in a way that I can enjoy it. Never really fit into it before since it was a small club that I just sort of came into as an outsider when I got into scootering before. This may just be the thing to get me back onto a vintage style scooter and we're both thrilled to be starting the planning. Even got inspired to set up the blog for it, and me and the wife have already been thinking ahead to financial situations to put us in line to really enjoy it as well. She won't be riding up with us, but probably will be road tripping it with a mutual friend of ours to WI to join in.

Tulsa to Grand Lake WI is just over 800 miles, depending on how you go.

As long as the new job works out, I plan to make it a 2-3 day ride next year (yet to be determined whether I'll take the 170 or the 125)! Looking forward to it!