Northwest scooter club links

Los Gatos Gordos Seattle AND Portland group, famous for annual Paseo con los Muertos ("Ride with the Dead") rally.

Retroactive SC - Boise The Retroactive gang welcomes new and vintage bikes.

Minions of Boise Not affiliated with us...just some freaky namin' coincidence.

Bombastic SC - Richland Currently, our closest allies, despite Dr. Strangelove's advice.

Scooters of Bellingham Great new club in a great town, just south of Canada.

2% Scooters - Coeur d'Alene Inland-weird like us...but on a much larger scale.

Vespa Club of Seattle It's a Vespa club, in Seattle. Who needs fancy names?

Belladonnas - Seattle All-girl club. Viva Belladonnas!

Flying Monkeys SC - Seattle Seen the WWW's monkeys fly? You've seen these guys ride.

Wussys - Seattle Old-school, secret society stuff here. But Wussys don't bite.

Oregon Scooter Club Large, well-organized, all-Oregon club. We like their style!

Twist & Play - Portland What, more rain? Time for more beer!

The Orphans - Portland New, and hard at work on that Bad-Boy reputation.

Capital City SC - Victoria, BC Just a little cooler, in every sense of the word.

In the News (Other Clubs)

As we cruise the Internet, lots of stories crop up about scooterists and scooter clubs in other cities. Whether they’re fairly close to home - when we can maybe identify with the place, or perhaps know a little about the club from an area rally – or if the story is based in a city we’ve never visited, it seems riders and clubs have a lot in common.That said, here are four articles we’ve culled recently, most posted for different reasons.
The first is actually an older story concerning the Portland scooter scene. First published in 2005 in the Mercury, the article presents a tale of two (or three) clubs in the Rose City, one focused on old-school imbibery, the other about riding – and doing so safely. Opposites, as it were, astride the same vehicle.
The second is a more straightforward take on scootering in another city much like Spokane – and in this case, a club with a name strikingly similar to ours. Of course we’re talking about Boise, and the article, published in the Idaho Statesman in April of 2006, concerns the Minions of Boise. (BTW, see the nice post by MOB's Jay about Spokane Scoot 2007!)
Number three, like the MOB article above, is a short piece about Boise's second club, RetroActive. "Motorcycles are cool," founder Karen Nelson is quoted as saying, "but scooters are cute." (Hard not to be in Nelson's case - since she rides a pink sidecar-equipped Stella peppered with Hello Kitty! stickers...)Finally, we’ve posted a link to an article published by the University of Arkansas Traveler, about a small club doing a nice bit of work raising money for a children’s shelter by raffling a donated scooter. Our group has certainly talked about doing something similar, perhaps becoming an annual thing, but things haven’t jelled yet. With the Minions tripling its membership between June and October, maybe it’ll happen next year?
Enjoy.
"Vespa vs. Vespa" (304 Kb, Acrobat® file)"Scooters are a Gas" (252 Kb, Acrobat® file)"Scooters Gain Devotees" (68 Kb, Acrobat® file)"Club Raises Money" (Arkansas Traveler, weblink)

posted by Minions scooter club.

Where Fireballs Come From

What does Ferrara Pan's Atomic Fireball candy have to do with scooters? Not very much, actually.
But for some reason - and we're glad it happened - a couple years ago the marketing gurus at the Chicago-based Genuine Scooter Company and the Chicago based candy company got together to produce the special-edition Stella scooter, the Atomic Fireball edition, of which only 150 were produced. The bike came with loud and proud yellow flame graphics over fire-engine red paint, flame-embossed handgrips, a striped mudflap and a whole bag of the cinnamon-flavored jawbreaker candy to fill the bike's coin tray with. Maybe it's the audacity of the bike itself, or maybe it's just candy nostalgia, but we think the Fireball is the best special edition Genuine ever made.
It should be pointed out that we've got another bias, namely that two of our members own a Fireball Stella. In fact, it's the one given away at this year's Amerivespa.
But this blurb is about the scooter and the candy.
First, in the heat of trying to find a five-pound bag of fireballs for this year's Spokane Scoot, we came across some interesting (to us, anyway) trivia about the candy itself on the Ferrara Pan website - namely, that each and every jawbreaker starts as a single grain of sugar that is "grown" to the grape-sized finished product inside a rotating drum. Check out the GIF animations on the process at the link below (no one has to know you're a candy geek!) Want some of those red-hot candies, or a bag of another Ferrara Pan favorite, Lemonheads? You can order vast quantities right from the factory.
Second, we noticed that Genuine still has a couple of pages up about the Fireball Stella. Kinda surprising, given the fact that these were last available in 2005, but kinda cool, given the fact that one features several shots of the bike, and the other contains a special registry and photo gallery for Fireball owners - though there are far fewer than 150 such owners listed so far. Hint, hint, Paul and Marla?
Finally, we're looking forward to seeing some of the new Genuine Scooters - including the long-rumored return of the Stella, in a special pea-green color - at the home of our new friends at RPM Motorsports, Spokane's only Genuine™ dealership. When they come in, we'll be sure to post an update.
Fireball Candy Tour (Ferrara Pan website)Fireball Stella registry (Genuine Scooter website)Fireball Stella info (Genuine Scooter website)"Candy Store" Ad (Image file)

thanks to minions of spokane scooter club

The not so good things about Scootering

like all mechanical things they break and almost always when you dont want them to.

Which in most cases is any time they break at all.

Today is sunday and we were going to meet up, to ride. Tom's scooter seems lately to be running very well untill today 2 miles from home ,sommething broke and it's down again major drag.

He will call me soon and let me know, what is going on .

I hope he will soon get things back and running.

November is here and cold is moving in

Try to winterize the fire ball and motto kitty, this weekend and put more mile on snoop.All seems well with the new motor,will do plug chops this week and set it up for a little better gas mileage . only about 60mpg or less since motor

install.sorry no posting during Halloween and the end of the month post again soon

It's Alive (Snoop dog Stella).

Its true its back on the road after over 45 days with no scooter hard to belive it has been so long and right at the end of riding season, on memorial day weekend.

Soon after Toms scooter again had motor problems, John quit at A1 and soon after sold his scooter Uly had accident in the middle of the summer and Larry last month it seems we had a rough summer but I think we grew alot.

This year we ofically became a club Karen as president Tom as Vice President and We had our first rallie Scooterpalooza and we went to Seattle, for Amerivespa our first of many other rallies we will attend.

In all Iwill always prefer to repair my scooter than me, and I hope it always stays that way.

Snoop Dog Stella back from the grave .

less than a week before Halloween and just about done.

all the parts on and hooked up adjustments and final checks left be done be on the road soon.

The cool things about a scooter club

Top 5 reasons why i love being in a scooter club

5) always more fun to ride with others.

4) rallies.

3) learning about other scooters.

2) meeting other people with similar interests

1) hanging out with the people in the club

Thanks to Larry,Tom,and tony for helping my get my scooter back on the road.

you guys are the best.

History of the RASC part 1 3/4 How long does it take to make a pink scooter?

How long does it take to make a pink scooter?
In our case it was almost 2 months for a lot of reasons listed below. Then basically you get ignored after you buy it.
First word of advice, don't pay for anything in advance it just seems the control goes out of your hands and directly into theirs.
Next thing, check out the dealer before you buy check with the BBB and/or call the manufacturer
and get some background on the dealer before you buy.
Last but not least, buy a product you have heard of, name brands don't exist unless they do something right.
Finally, contact the local scooter club, yes, us, and others in your area. They probably have already been down this path before and they will be more than happy to aid you and in my case, steer, you in the direction towards what I think.

Now on to reasons...

Financing our scooter took about 2 days and a little bit of negotiating to get a rate that was acceptable to us. It took about 8 days for the finance company to get the check to the scooter shop. They didn't even order the side car until they received the check that they knew was coming. What motivation do they have if they have your money?! According to the scooter shop, Scooterworks had the pink sidecar in stock. By the time they ordered it, got it paid, they still had to paint it and ship it to Boise. This also took a few weeks. Bottom line, don't pay until you play! Life is only fun when you can play with the toys you've payed for.

Finally their service department sucks. It took them 2 weeks to put it together when they got it. Did I mention, their service sucks!! More about that later.

Finally when she picked it up and she was ecstatic. I could feel the glow even through the phone. At first, the joy of just having it even over shadowed the pain of purchasing the scooter from them.

The RASC Boise Moscow and Kona

I received a post from Tony today on our forum.
It seems his wife did get a job on Kona, a island in the Hawaiian
chain, and will be moving just after the first of the year.
I really enjoy him and his attitude sometime i get the feeling he is frustrated, about something maby it's just the pressure of change in his life. his wife had gastic bypass surgury,last year and has been going
to collage at the same time. that is alot of chainge in a short period of time. he also has 2 children one about 10 and one about 6 both girls really nice kids but even my kids alone will cause me a great deal of stress and the chainge comes fast i hope this move will give him the quality of life he is looking for.
I wish him the best and hope enjoys his new life.

History of the RASC part 1 1/2 purchasing a scooter

I know you will find this hard to believe but purchasing a scooter

is not as easy as you would think.

Besides picking one you like, it seems there is an attitude and/or

obstacle to overcome before they come home.

I will break this down to 3 parts: 1) picking a scooter,

2) overcoming attitude or obstacle, and 3) the way it should be.

So lets begin .

1) Picking a scooter (wife's example first).

The pamphlet she brought home was for a Stella scooter. At this time I had not heard of it but it looked like a Vespa. So I asked her if she wanted a scooter like a Vespa, why not buy one? This was my first experience in a scooter or motorcycle store and wow, what an experience it was! We went in to the Vespa dealer with a pamphlet on a Stella, which was a clone of a PX Vespa. They had none and did not even mention if they could get one. Next they said they could not see how or why you would want to put a side car one on such a small bike. After some thought and discussion I finally convinced my wife to compromise and buy a Grand Turismo 200 or at least ride it. After asking 11 or 12 times to test ride it, we finally left dazed and confused. Was our money not good enough? Did we smell bad? My wife still looked hot to me! Maybe we just didn't need to buy a scooter there.

On to the trip to Honda (I did not go on this trip) if you want one they will sell you one. Overall they were nice but for them scooters are a sideline or novelty. As a side note, in 2008 Honda dropped the Helix, Elite and Reflex lines from production in the US. It seems they thought it was a sideline also.

At Snake River Yamaha we finally had someone with a good attitude! They will sell you a scooter and have been very helpful every time I have been in the store. Their line up: The Morpheus is a little wild for our needs. The Zuma is a good scooter but it's small frame is only good for one person and won't accept a side car. The Ruckus is pretty cool but a little rough for our needs at this point. We were just looking for the right scooter. They did do a good job and I would recommend them.

Scooters of Boise

Upon arrival at the store, it looked cool and these people had a lot of choices. My wife showed me the black Stella with a side car sitting out front. Going inside they had a few a Stellas and many other scooters. We talked to a lady named Valerie, she was the one that Karen got the pamphlet from last time she was there. Karen showed me the pink one she wanted. It was the same color as cotton candy (Pepto) and it seemed to be made really well and out of metal, not plastic. The look on her face was awesome. This was her scooter and all the looking in the world would not change that. She talked about getting mint green or tangerine but I knew it was pink.

So we filed out the paperwork and ordered all of the accessories she wanted. It cost almost 7000

dollars. Maybe I should have bought her a 2 carat diamond but diamonds make people think you're rich, not make you smile. This scooter makes people smile and it makes her smile. For her it was love at first site, just like when I met her.

Part 1 history of the RASC

remember this blog is about me, and how things are in my impression.
the comments are how it relates to you.
part 1 .
in High school in the early 80's there were a few Honda Elite 80's running around and at the
time this was one of my goals was to obtain one.
Had a really expensive Floval Flyer from the not so old days of racing BMX bikes and
i was working at Deja'vu A teen dance club in downtown Boise. so many idea's so little
money.
a lot of things still came true for me i had a goal of starting my own DJ business it is at least
successful in my eyes . 5 years at Deja'vu 12years and running at Double Tree Riverside
in Club Max 22 years of weddings and private party's 21 years doing The Festival Of Trees
for Saint Al's and still going strong."the name of my company came from the logo for S E Racing
and comic book called the Spectrum "his super powers he can control the spectrum of light and
sound". my company's name is Spectrum Enterprises, and S E racing company was very similar long story ask me some time. "notice the S E is the same in my name also".
just a little history about one part of my life.

Back to scooters, If you didn't know I married my high School sweetheart (Karen Hicks)
a nicer more honest person you will never meet. (and she's hot.) "must of had my game on that day".
We Always liked scooters, and we tried to purchase 2 Honda Elite 150s in 1987.
but just getting married and no credit kept us away.
Our love for scooters never stopped for years we both identified with the English Mods (Quadraphenia), and the passion for scooters was always there.
In 2006 I was asking my wife if she wanted to look at rings for our 20Th anniversary,
I thought we would wind up with a really pretty 1/2 carrot ring but, to my surprise she came
home with a pamphlet on a scooter and said this is what she wanted.
keep in mind we were coming up on our 20Th anniversary and to my knowledge my wife has never asked for anything. at least not other than food and (back rubs) "better get on this".
I didn't ask her why but i did wonder how it just seemed to pop up i said OK. and ring shopping was over.

Sunday 10-21-2007

Sunday is always a nice day no work is alway's a good thing.
trying to get some things done at home isn't as easy.
had a sucssesfull show on wednesday at the grove (Go Red for Women luncheon).
my wife and my friends Tom's wife Sarah attended.
more to come soon.

Snoop Dog Stella .

Update on my white stella. my friend Larry helped repair my case on my scooter,go to our photobucket acount for all of the pictures, more to come soon.start assembling the motor tomorrow. 10/21/2007 try to have it running by wednesday.keep your fingers crossed for me .

Snoop Dog Stella .

This is the first picture i have

of my white stella, I purchaced it at the Scooter Lounge

in Provo Utah not far from where i was born in Sandy

I feel this was just the start of our connection it being black

and white brought on the idea of the first snoopy sticker

and finaly the licence plate (snp dog ) . was way to funny.

kinda got that gangsta feel to it but really i like the dog not the

rapper it get's a lot of attention.for many reasons.

Snoop Dog Stella .

Lost my large end bearing labor day weekend. after our ride to Givens hot springs and back.
About 6 miles from home . heard a scraping sound and then she seized up, lucky i had read the post on stella speed pulled in the clutch and pulled over not a whole lot of warning.
but i and the scooter will pull through.
it is been over a month since my last ride on my scooter all the parts are in and soon it will rise from the grave, most of the info i got on the repair and upgrade's to my scooter seem's to be very conflicting . but basically i leared there are three choices in scooter repair. and tuning.
Law of two stroke tuning: a: Fast b: Reliable c: Cheap Pick any two. i went for reliable and exspensive hopefully this will help.

Day 1

Decided to do a blog about my ,life my scooters,and how this wonderful new thing in my life ,
has altered my attitude my relationship with my wife and kid's and my new friends.