Scooterfile

ScooterFile is dedicated to producing, curating, and sharing news, reviews and opinion in the world of scooters. Founded in response to a gap in two-wheeled news coverage, ScooterFile exists to specifically serve an audience of scooter enthusiasts. Press outlets abound to cover motorcycles and ATVs, but whenever these publications cover scooters (which is rare), this coverage usually comes from a motorcyclist point of view. Founded by a scooterist, for scooterists, ScooterFile exists to provide a new point of view in covering the two-wheeled world.

Behind Bars: Patrignani

Behind Bars: Simple Love: 1979 Vespa P200 Touring, and Reunion with Guest Author, Conchscooter from KWD.

The Scooterist

The Scooterist

Vespa Traveller: Bettinlli

Legendary Vespa traveller Giorgio Bettinlli died in China from a sudden illness on 16 September 2008 at the age of 53. He had lived there for 4 years, on the banks of the Mekong, with his wife Yapei.

Giorgio got his first Vespa in 1992 aged 37. Living in a village in Indonesia, a friend gave him an old Vespa which he promptly rode through the country. Upon returning to Italy he continued his Vespa adventures on a grander scale and it’s probadly easier to list the countries where Bettinelli didn’t travel, rather than where he did.

Travelling upon a simple Vespa PX, with his guitar and backpack, Bettinelli did things that many of us never achieve in our lives. Surprisingly, he had little mechanicals knowledge. When asked what he did if the Vespa ever broke down, he replied “ You wait. Someone comes, someone helps. Acar, a truck, a camel. An hour, a day. Someone comes, someone helps.”

The Scooterist: Giorgio Bettinelli – RIP

Vespa: Solex

Films & Architecture: “My Uncle” | ArchDaily

„In contrast, Uncle Hulot, the quintessential poète des terrains vagues, lives in a small old corner of the city. He is unemployed, and gets around town either on foot or on a rather tired VéloSoleX”.

JF Le Helloco » Balade en Solex sur les traces de Jacques Tati

 

Kaster: Appian Way

Robert A. Kaster, The Appian Way,

The Roman poet Statius called the Via Appia the Queen of Roads, and for nearly a thousand years that description held true, as countless travelers trod its path from the center of Rome to the heel of Italy. Today, the road is all but gone, destroyed by time, neglect, and the incursions of modernity; to travel the Appian Way today is to be a seeker, to walk in the footsteps of ghosts. Our guide to those ghosts - and the layers of history they represent - is Robert A. Kaster. In The Appian Way , he brings a lifetime of studying Roman literature and history to his adventures along the ancient highway. A footsore Roman soldier pushing the imperial power south; craftsmen and farmers bringing their goods to the towns that lined the road; pious pilgrims headed to Jerusalem, using stage-by-stage directions we can still follow - all come to life once more as Kaster walks (and drives - and suffers car trouble) on what's left of the Appian Way. Other voices help him tell the story: Cicero, Goethe, Hawthorne, Dickens, James, and even Monty Python offer commentary, insight, and curmudgeonly grumbles, their voices blending like the ages of the road to create a telescopic, perhaps kaleidoscopic, view of present and past. To stand on the remnants of the Via Appia today is to stand in the pathway of history. With The Appian Way , Kaster invites us to close our eyes and walk with him back in time, to the campaigns of Garibaldi, the revolt of Spartacus, and the glory days of Imperial Rome. No traveler will want to miss this fascinating journey.

Vespa Museum Pontedera

Vespa Scooter Museum in Italy - YouTube

Vespa Museum

In October of 2000 my wife and I took a tour of the Vespa Museum in Pontedera, Italy. Here you will see early prototype Vespa scooters as well as classics like the Vespa GS and 90SS. If you ever go to Italy and are near Pisa be sure to go see this excellent Museum!