the armadillo scooter blog

We have updated our Camovision product page with two excellent, impartial, videos recently added to the MRP YouTube channel.

See their review and an explanation of how the Camovision jacket works:

http://armadilloscooterwear.com/products/view/camovision

Armadillo’s range of scooter wear was recently given a thorough testing by the lads over at MRP.

They took one of our hoodies and threw it out of moving car at 45mph with 220lbs behind it. See how it got on in the video below:

If you’ve never ridden a scooter before, Rome isn’t a place I’d recommend as an induction location. At the tail-end of my European adventure last year I hired a Vespa for 24 hours and had a great time flying about from one famous sight to another, but crikey, those Italians are complete mentalists when it comes to the roads.

I had hoped to get hold of a proper old vintage Italian classic but they were awful pricey so I settled for the trusty PX 125 in sky blue, anyway after not having been on a scooter for quite a few months by that point it was just nice to smell the 2-stroke and hear the engine tick-over.

Then it was a baptism of fire and straight out onto the Roman cobbles and tarmac. Road rage is relatively common in the UK and with the constant beeping and cursing (all be it in a very stylish manner, obviously) you could easily make the mistake of thinking that it is much worse in Italy. But there doesn’t appear to be any malice or personal abuse in it, it’s just part and parcel of the complete chaos and actually becomes quite good fun getting involved. Rules seem to be few and far between and it’s basically a case of every man, woman, child and pet for themselves. Splendid. I dread to think how insurance works in Italy though, a large proportion of scooters I saw had some serious scratching and/or denting on the side-panels.

If you’ve got the stomach for it, I heartedly recommend Rome on a Vespa, there is no better way to see the city. Further details are available here.

Dan Bowen
Scooterist
http://sendthebuggerback.com

The Lateranense Obelisk

I came, I saw, I conked out

Trevor's Fountain

Clutch was a bit flakey but other than that a little beaut

Col's Museum

Just a quick post to update you on some GREAT news. The armadillo jacket is featured on the latest Think! campaign pushing Car drivers to notice motorcyclists on the road by thinking more about the person riding the motorcycle.

The armadillo Camo night vision jacket is worn by the character Tom ‘the shy retiring type’ its a nicely styled ad.The campaign’s message is that motorcyclists are a wide range of people, with names, personalities and families just like car drivers.

The new campaign aims to take this idea one step further, by exploring the notion that awareness of motorcyclists can be increased by making drivers think more about the person riding the motorcycle.

Apparently research uncovered by Dr David Crundall, of the University of Nottingham, shows that empathy with motorcyclists is important. Drivers with relatives who ride motorcycles have been reported to have fewer collisions with motorcyclists and have better observation skills in regard to motorcycles.

We are glad to be a part of it and road visibility is something we are very conscious of when developing our current and all future collections.

Watch the advert in full here:

It’s a simple blog post this week, little chatter but lots of shiny scooter goodness. The 25 photos below are some of the finest I’ve encountered in the last year or so, plus a few that don’t quite fit in that category. My own scooter may or may not also be amongst them, ahem.

Dan Bowen
Scooterist
http://sendthebuggerback.com

Naples

Manchester

Berlin

Ohrid

Boston

Bordeaux

Manchester

Rome

Naples

Berlin

Toronto

Zaragoza

Berlin

Naples

New York

Ghent

Zagreb

Bari

Manchester

Rome

Zaragoza

Manchester

Verona

Philadelphia

Naples

Last June I was in Boston at the tail-end of a 3 month trip around the United States of America (and a bit of Canada) and I met up with some chaps from the Boston Stranglers S.C.. I’d meant to hook up with a few different stateside scooter clubs while on this tour but didn’t end up doing for various reasons. As soon as I saw this lot’s website though I knew I wanted to get involved, the people and scooters looked very cool.

Jon ‘Roadkill’ Rhodes was the bloke I was communicating with and he offered to give me a tour of the city on my favourite mode of transport. Having not been on a scooter for about 12 weeks by this time, I of course jumped at the chance. Jon has a decent collection of 5 or 6 scoots in different stages of restoration, I got to go out on a very nippy little 1992 Vespa PK50 with a Pollini 133 kit while Jon himself was on a gorgeous standard 1968 Vespa Primavera.

The weather was mimicking Manchester rather too well in that it was leathering it down but this is not something a hardcore scooterist snivels at, we had a great blast round Boston anyway. We headed off from the Jamaica Plain neighbourhood over to Eric’s (another club member) scooter repair shop, Metropolis Scooters. That was a cool place that I enjoyed mooching about and after a quick chat with Eric and check-over of the scoots we were on our way again. We went through a fair few towns before heading up the Chickatawbut Road (I love that name) through the Blue Hills directly south of Boston, from here we should have been able to go up to the overlook which would offer good views of the city but it was closed for some reason. So instead we went out onto the peninsula connecting Nut Island (I love that name too) for some happy snaps. In the city we went past JFK Library, Boston Garden (where The Bruins and The Celtics play), Castle Island, North End (basically Little Italy, that was the best bit for me), Mass Ave bridge and MIT to name a few. Then it was time for a couple of pints at the pub for the weekly meet-up of The Stranglers, a good set of lads they were too. It was a thoroughly enjoyable day and night. Cheers Jon.

That was the first-time I’d ridden a smallframe and it handled really well, I do not intend it to be the last.

I met up with Eric again the following night and he took me to a punk night near Harvard, after that he showed me a couple of garages where he stores his scooters. I couldn’t count them all, it was a veritable treasure trove. There was all sorts of rare and vintage stuff that he’d imported from Europe, including some Maciolettas which I’d never had the chance to see in the flesh/metal before. Here’s what I’d envisage they might look like once fully restored.

Be sure to get in touch with these guys if you’re visiting Boston and have a leaning towards all things 2-stroke, they’re very kind and hospitable so I’m sure they’d welcome any other scooterists from around the world in the same way they did me.

One other thing I wanted to say; American scooterists (and the the Boston Stranglers particularly) deserve a fair bit of kudos really, the amount of miles they rack-up on their journeys to domestic far-flung rallys is ridiculously impressive. The Stranglers are often visitors to rallys on these shores too, long may it continue.

Dan Bowen
Scooterist
http://sendthebuggerback.com

See, I like Lammys too

A couple of smallframes

Me taking in the views of the city, well I would have been if it wasn't all foggy

Recently a number of fellow Lyons (including our most famous member, Mani of Stone Roses and Primal Scream fame) were jammy enough to make it on to the set of Channel 4’s Shameless as extras in an episode with a mod vs rockers theme. If I hadn’t been busy gallivanting I might have got in on the action myself, doh.

It’s episode 9 which should mean it gets an airing on the 23rd March so tune in to see some smart scoots and the lads in leathers getting what for. There’s a few photos below to wet your whistle and some more are available on a friend’s YouTube feed here:

Claire Dodd from the club assures me that the bloke who plays Frank Gallagher (David Threlfall) is a very well spoken chap which in my book makes him a proper actor rather than just someone who sounds exactly like they do on the telly, off the telly. Well there you go.

Dan Bowen
Scooterist
http://sendthebuggerback.com

The Lyons outside a boozer, well there’s a rarity

Posing on scooters incurs greater costs due to the purchase of replacement centre stands, it’s worth it though

Those greasers look a bit outnumbered to me

A few months back during my 4 month tour of Europe (not on 2 wheels) I found myself in Tuscany armed with the information that the Piaggio Museum wasn’t much over half an hour away via the train from Florence where I was staying, result.

It’s situated on the grounds of the factory in Pontedera and it’s directly on the way to Pisa which most tourists end up visiting while in the area. It’s also free entry in. So if you’re into scooters and round those parts, it’s a must.

The Vespas they had on show were mouth-watering, some absolutely mint classics as you’d expect. I’m thinking of planning an elaborate heist at some point in the future, the Italian Job if you will. If anyone wants in then give me a shout.

See below for pictures.

Dan Bowen
Scooterist
http://sendthebuggerback.com

An impressively well travelled PX

The forthcoming hi-tech 'Stealth Vespa'

Feast your eyes on this little lot.

A stunning GS

This is why you don't mess with Vespa owners.

Ding dong

Salvador Dali signed this bad boy in 1962

The iconic Piaggio emblem

Hello fellow scooterists,

I’m Dan, a keen scooter enthusiast and member of Manchester Lyons S.C.. The folks at Armadillo have kindly asked me to do a bit of blogging on scooters and scootering around the World and I’ve happily agreed.

To start us off I’ll briefly recall my mini-adventure last year from Manchester into the Scottish highlands on a unmodified (at the time!) PX125 complete with girl on back and various large bags and camping gear.

Kirkwall in the Orkney Isles was my ultimate destination and we got there succesfully via lots of pretty towns and cities and some gorgeous scenery directly through the centre of the highlands. The photo is of some firth or other. I can’t remember if it was the first, third, fourth or fifth firth we had seen. Blimey.

I didn’t see a single other scooter in about a week and half but there were lots of motorcyclists touring and some of them couldn’t believe we were doing this on a 125 with 10′ wheels, neither could I at times. One German couple on a fancy BMW bike were that amazed when we spoke to them that they actually tailed us from Taigh Iain Ghròt (or John o’ Groats when I’m not spitting) for a couple of miles with the girl on the back taking pictures of us from a variety of angles. It was the first time I’d ever been ‘papped’ and a very unusual experience.

One snapped clutch cable in a dodgy Glasgow suburb while on route to my cousin’s wedding reception was the only techinical issue encountered, not bad for a 1000+ mile round trip eh. She also held up well on the steep gradients for the majority of the time, the only really hard-going bit was a paricularly nasty stretch of the A9 near Aviemore where a few more CC wouldn’t have gona amiss. Vespas, great until you tinker with them.

It was a fantastic trip and if you can get the good weather as we did, it’s a wonderful country for a wee bit of scootering.

If the fancy takes you, you can read more of my travelling tales (sadly not all scooter related) at http://sendthebuggerback.com.

Dan Bowen
Scooterist
http://sendthebuggerback.com

I just wanted to blog about the commercial we released this month and also shout about the brilliant extended cut that we are releasing today.

we think its a beautiful piece of film, we hope you like it

www.armadilloscooterwear.com/toughenough/gauntlet