anyone got a flag spare tire cover?

[ScootLemont]

Just wondering if anyone has one of the flag spare tire covers like they have at scooterworks

http://www.scooterworks.com/Spare-Tire- ... P3850.aspx

thought it might look cool on my Stella

If you have one.... thoughts? Photos?

[ScootLemont]

I am just hoping for a shot of the entire scooter to get a better idea of the overall look

& should we tell scooterworks this is upside down?

[illnoise]

& should we tell scooterworks this is upside down?

And that Stellas are neither Italian nor British? : )

Along with my long-running campaign to get Genuine to make a Buddy 150 International "Taipei" model, I really think there should be a Pune Special Stella with hand-painted Hindi graphics, a fold-down passenger step, a huge windscreen/fairing, and Batik-covered saddle and buddy seats.

Bb.

[jasondavis48108]

yeah, maybe I'm just odd but I've never really understood the whole Italian flag thing myself. I mean I understand that Vespa is made in Italy but My Honda Fit is Japanese and I don't have a Japanese flag bra on the front of it or anything. I wonder why they don't make other more interesting spare tire covers, you know, like those welcome to Detroit T-shirts from the 80s with the yellow smiley face with the bullet hole in its forhead But in all seriousness, I'd rather have just about anything, including that grey stock cover, as opposed to the Italin flag. Just doesn't make much sense unless your Italian or maybe of Italian decent. Do they make other designs or are the Italian and Brit flags the only ones.

[ScootLemont]

For a lot of people its buying into the image
Yeah... my Stella was made in India but its Italian designed & styled
One of the things I really like about it is the vintage Italian design (otherwise I would have just stuck with my Rattler, which I like for other reasons)
I did have a 79 Fiat Spider in red & I liked that for the styling reasons (many of the same reasons I like the look of the Stella)

Could you still call it an Italian scooter? Maybe... is the new Camero an american muscle car? (built in Canada on a platform designed in Australia by Holden.)

As far as the flags as a style thing....
I think its a hold over from the 60s & early 70s in Europe
a lot of Minis used to have the Union Jack painted on the roof & you can order a new one that way (minis, by the way, made by a German company)
Ever wonder why Shelby Mustangs are often white with blue stripes? It the international colors for USA racing cars.... not that a lot of mustangs that you see in your town will ever be on a track in Europe.

Its just kind of a retro / vintage thing

I do see a few of the Asian kids with the souped up hondas having the Rising Sun logo on their cars.

about other covers - scooterworks also has:
-Vespa ones
-checkerboard
-mod target
-union jack

Its just one more piece of "flair" that is easy to install & inexpensive
& I think I like the look

[illnoise]

For a lot of people its buying into the image
Yeah... my Stella was made in India but its Italian designed & styled
One of the things I really like about it is the vintage Italian design (otherwise I would have just stuck with my Rattler, which I like for other reasons)
I did have a 79 Fiat Spider in red & I liked that for the styling reasons (many of the same reasons I like the look of the Stella)

Could you still call it an Italian scooter? Maybe... is the new Camero an american muscle car? (built in Canada on a platform designed in Australia by Holden.)

As far as the flags as a style thing....
I think its a hold over from the 60s & early 70s in Europe
a lot of Minis used to have the Union Jack painted on the roof & you can order a new one that way (minis, by the way, made by a German company)
Ever wonder why Shelby Mustangs are often white with blue stripes? It the international colors for USA racing cars.... not that a lot of mustangs that you see in your town will ever be on a track in Europe.

Its just kind of a retro / vintage thing

I do see a few of the Asian kids with the souped up hondas having the Rising Sun logo on their cars.

about other covers - scooterworks also has:
-Vespa ones
-checkerboard
-mod target
-union jack

Its just one more piece of "flair" that is easy to install & inexpensive
& I think I like the look

Sure, I get it, I just think it's kinda funny.

My favorite example: Japanese scooter shops sell an A-4 sized plastic plate with a large red "L" on it. You see them on every other vintage scooter in Japan. What are they? It's a british "Learner" permit, you had to display one by law in England in the 60s (maybe still?). Any 60s british kid would be embarrassed to stick one to their otherwise flashy bike, but the Japanese 'mods' of today see them in old pictures and want 'em!

I'm as guilty of it as anyone, I paid $50 for custom front fender license plates for one of my Vespas (I'm in the US), and as I was drilling holes in the fender, I was thinking, it probably drove british scooterists nuts to drill holes in their fenders to attach a fugly license plate back in the 60s. I even have an old "Tax Disc" holder with a fake 60s tax badge. And this was an Italian scooter sold new in the US, it's never been to England, and I'm not even into the Mod thing at all. We're just all silly.

The history of scootering in America is just as fascinating as Europe and Italy's scootering history, but it's a story far less told. The VCOA put out a double "Beat" issue of American Scootering with great stories from John Gerber, who was probably America's greatest scooter historian. John passed away a couple weeks ago, and it was a great loss to American scootering. I was lucky enough to work with him (I designed several issues of American Scooterist, including the Beat issue) and he really opened my eyes to what we've all been missing by just taking the Piaggio/Anglo version of the history of scootering as gospel. There are far more interesting and relevant stories to be told, and it's terrible that we lost the one man that knew them all.

There, I took a tire cover thread down a heavy path, ha.

Bb.

[Syd]

My PhotoShop (ok, my PhotoFiltre) skills suck, buy why not something like this?

[ScootLemont]

yeah... the flag of India is just not as cool as the Union Jack or Italian flag

[illnoise]

Nice! I'll take it. Now I just need a Stella.

[polianarchy]

TXHC

[ScootLemont]

Nice! I'll take it. Now I just need a Stella.

you could put it on one of your Vespas & just tell everyone it is really a Stella
maybe even get some stella badges & replace the vespa badges.

[mikeyb]

Alright, rather than start a new thread I thought I would append to this one since the topic is really close. The plastic tire cover is ugly and I am considering changing the color from the nasty gray to the body color. I am wondering if anyone else has done this? I guess a good paint designed to adhere to plastic would work? My local automotive paint supplier should be able to mix up some color matched paint to work on plastic.

Just wondering if anyone else has already done this?

Show some pics please.......

Thanks,
Mike

[ScootLemont]

I ended up taking mine off & just going with the exposed tire - I think it looks better than the gray plastic cover

[PeteH]

I was riding with the local club yesterday, and one gent has the Stella GB150. The Union Jack tire cover just looks... right... on that model.

[Lokky]

I'm Italian so it only seemed fitting to get an Italian flag

[ericalm]

TXHC

Hell yeah!

Unfortunately, the flag of India is very close in color to that of Ireland. I'm not getting mixed up in that.

I've a friend who un-rebadged his Stella 2T as an LML! You can get all of the badges on eBay for under $20. Pretty funny, I say.

[Mulliganal]

Contact L and N Products (Lee Hazelden) through Facebook and he'll make up something really nice for ya'. I really like my wheel cover a lot.

Here are some of his covers:

http://www.ebay.com/sch/any_thing101/m. ... ksid=p3686

[davekathi2000]

I ended up taking mine off & just going with the exposed tire - I think it looks better than the gray plastic cover

I agree!

[JSharpPhoto]

here's a better thing to do with your spare....


put it on a rear rack, and then fill that space with the 226 H-Bomb exhaust. People won't be able to see what flag you're waving, when you pass them doing 75mph.

[neotrotsky]

For a lot of people its buying into the image
Yeah... my Stella was made in India but its Italian designed & styled
One of the things I really like about it is the vintage Italian design (otherwise I would have just stuck with my Rattler, which I like for other reasons)
I did have a 79 Fiat Spider in red & I liked that for the styling reasons (many of the same reasons I like the look of the Stella)

Could you still call it an Italian scooter? Maybe... is the new Camero an american muscle car? (built in Canada on a platform designed in Australia by Holden.)

As far as the flags as a style thing....
I think its a hold over from the 60s & early 70s in Europe
a lot of Minis used to have the Union Jack painted on the roof & you can order a new one that way (minis, by the way, made by a German company)
Ever wonder why Shelby Mustangs are often white with blue stripes? It the international colors for USA racing cars.... not that a lot of mustangs that you see in your town will ever be on a track in Europe.

Its just kind of a retro / vintage thing

I do see a few of the Asian kids with the souped up hondas having the Rising Sun logo on their cars.

about other covers - scooterworks also has:
-Vespa ones
-checkerboard
-mod target
-union jack

Its just one more piece of "flair" that is easy to install & inexpensive
& I think I like the look

Sure, I get it, I just think it's kinda funny.

My favorite example: Japanese scooter shops sell an A-4 sized plastic plate with a large red "L" on it. You see them on every other vintage scooter in Japan. What are they? It's a british "Learner" permit, you had to display one by law in England in the 60s (maybe still?). Any 60s british kid would be embarrassed to stick one to their otherwise flashy bike, but the Japanese 'mods' of today see them in old pictures and want 'em!

I'm as guilty of it as anyone, I paid $50 for custom front fender license plates for one of my Vespas (I'm in the US), and as I was drilling holes in the fender, I was thinking, it probably drove british scooterists nuts to drill holes in their fenders to attach a fugly license plate back in the 60s. I even have an old "Tax Disc" holder with a fake 60s tax badge. And this was an Italian scooter sold new in the US, it's never been to England, and I'm not even into the Mod thing at all. We're just all silly.

The history of scootering in America is just as fascinating as Europe and Italy's scootering history, but it's a story far less told. The VCOA put out a double "Beat" issue of American Scootering with great stories from John Gerber, who was probably America's greatest scooter historian. John passed away a couple weeks ago, and it was a great loss to American scootering. I was lucky enough to work with him (I designed several issues of American Scooterist, including the Beat issue) and he really opened my eyes to what we've all been missing by just taking the Piaggio/Anglo version of the history of scootering as gospel. There are far more interesting and relevant stories to be told, and it's terrible that we lost the one man that knew them all.

There, I took a tire cover thread down a heavy path, ha.

Bb.

What is interesting to me is that American scootering also has an interesting parallel culture in the Beat movement in the 50's. But, very few if any American scooterists embrace that. There's a huge resurgence in Beat poetry, music and literature but it also seems kind of sad that all the hipsters that drove up prices on these bikes are totally ignorant to their popularity with the scene on the East Coast. But, much of the media of the era was either disposed of or destroyed so it's hard to get a full idea of much of the cultural elements of the movement, including the popularity of European scooters that didn't just include the Vespa.

[ericalm]

What is interesting to me is that American scootering also has an interesting parallel culture in the Beat movement in the 50's. But, very few if any American scooterists embrace that. There's a huge resurgence in Beat poetry, music and literature but it also seems kind of sad that all the hipsters that drove up prices on these bikes are totally ignorant to their popularity with the scene on the East Coast. But, much of the media of the era was either disposed of or destroyed so it's hard to get a full idea of much of the cultural elements of the movement, including the popularity of European scooters that didn't just include the Vespa.

Check out this photoset of images from a Beat-era Life magazine story about scooterists in SF and a proposed tax: http://is.gd/pi17Ub

[Tam Tam]

some of the huge windscreens in the photos look pretty cool!

[neotrotsky]

What is interesting to me is that American scootering also has an interesting parallel culture in the Beat movement in the 50's. But, very few if any American scooterists embrace that. There's a huge resurgence in Beat poetry, music and literature but it also seems kind of sad that all the hipsters that drove up prices on these bikes are totally ignorant to their popularity with the scene on the East Coast. But, much of the media of the era was either disposed of or destroyed so it's hard to get a full idea of much of the cultural elements of the movement, including the popularity of European scooters that didn't just include the Vespa.

Check out this photoset of images from a Beat-era Life magazine story about scooterists in SF and a proposed tax: http://is.gd/pi17Ub

Awesome pics!