Scooter in the Sticks

Exploring life on a Vespa Scooter and Royal Enfield Himalayan motorcycle.

2008 MBI Riders Choice Awards Announced!

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The winners of this year’s Motorcycle Bloggers International (MBI) 2008 Riders Choice Awards were announced and there were a couple of interesting results. The awards, voted by thousands of motorcycle riders in 77 countries, recognize significant achievements and serious lapses in judgment during 2007 by motorcycle and related product manufacturers, persons and organizations.

Piaggio continues to ride a wave of success with their new MP3 400 scooter which is nice to see. Someday I expect to ride one of those machines. And Lois Pryce won an award for her adventures on two wheels. You may remember her from an earlier post I did. But most interesting to me was the big thumbs down for the idea that Loud Pipes Save Lives. I was surprised to see voters around the world vote this way. I sort of thought that loud machines were the order of the day for most riders. Shows how much I know.

Here is a list of this year’s winners:

MBI Riders Choice – Star Awards

– Object of Lust — Ducati Desmosedici RR
– Best Concept Motorcycle or Scooter — Honda Evo 6
– Best Manufacturer’s Website — BMW Motorrad
– Best New in 2007 Scooter — Piaggio MP3 400
– Best New in 2007 Motorcycle — Triumph Street Triple 675
– Most Environmentally Friendly Motorcycle – ElectricMoto Corporation Blade XT
– Wish We’d Thought of That — KTM Bread Toaster
– Women Riders Booster of the Year — Lois Pryce (20,000 mile solo ride, Alaska to the tip of South America on a 225cc bike)
– Thumbs Up — Ewan McGregor/Charlie Boorman ( Enhanced image of motorcycle riders)

MBI Riders Choice – Fallen Star Awards

– Most Disappointing Motorcycle – Suzuki B-King
– Thumbs Down — Loud Pipes Save Lives
– What Were They Thinking — Babecage
– Worst Manufacturer’s Website — Cycleport/Motoport

The Riders Choice Awards are unique in that the nominees and winners are chosen by every day riders around the world, not by professional journalists. The awards reflect the judgment of the motorcycle buying public, not motorcycle industry insiders.

Anyone could vote, there was no restriction on age, gender or country. Even non-riders could vote. No registration, nor email addresses were required. However, a system of storing and analyzing IP addresses was put in place to minimize duplicate voting.

About MBI
MBI (whose motto is “Riding and writing is what we do”) is a group of 161 international motorcycle weblog authors from China to Chile.

Membership is open to any motorcycle rider who maintains an active motorcycle-related Internet weblog or news web site with original commentary. With a combined readership over 5 million readers per month, the awards represent a true feeling what lives amongst the biker communities. The awards are not given by professional journalists, commercial publications or companies, but by the public.

More information about MBI, its members and the complete list of nominees will be found at the MBI web site http://www.mbiweb.org/.

3 Prints Project: February 17, 2008

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Another week and more film through the camera and darkroom. Three rolls of Ilford HP5 35mm film, one more than my weekly goal. And I actually made 9 8×10 prints. But I’ll burden you only with three that reflect the ongoing winter weather last week that has kept my Vespa in the garage. It has to stop sometime right?

80 plus year old neighbor rides by on his bicycle.

This man rides relentlessly year round. I was standing out in the road trying to decide if I should ride to work. He went by and I drove the car. I’ve lost my winter riding edge.

Bench in park down the road from our house

Apple tree in backyard

I’ve gotten into a photographic flow. Shooting, processing, and printing is easier though the last batch of prints came out of the wash water at 1 AM. I must be reliving my energetic youth. A focus is beginning to emerge that can be best described in words provided by my friend Frank Armstrong — pictures of an ordinary life. After thinking about it that is what I photograph; the ordinary moments and places that appear in front of me as I live each day. I do the same thing with my riding. I ride in the places here where I live. We’ll see how it turns out.


DON’T FORGET!

It’s that time of year again when you can choose the best and worst of the motorcycle and scooter industry. The motorcycle industry is starting to take bloggers and blog readers seriously. Your vote will matter and who knows what that might mean down the road.

To view the nominations and vote click—-> 2008 Riders Choice Awards.

Motorcycle Bloggers International: Time to Vote

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It’s that time of year again when you can choose the best and worst of the motorcycle and scooter industry. The motorcycle industry is starting to take bloggers and blog readers seriously. Your vote will matter and who knows what that might mean down the road. Personally I am hoping for a price rollback to pre-1976 levels and a motorcycle that a 16 year old can afford on a summer job mowing lawns.

Anyways, to view the nominations and vote click—-> 2008 Riders Choice Awards.

Thank you for your active participation.

PS. It is still the worst riding winter. I was planning to ride this morning but freezing rain is on the way. I’m getting frustrated…

Nominations for 2008 Riders Choice Awards

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It’s time to make your nominations for this year’s awards sponsored by Motorcycle Bloggers International, a group that I am a member. If you have strong feelings about something related to machines or activities you may want to visit the site and add your nomination. It’s pretty simple. The link below will take you right to the site.

MBI Nominations Site

I checked the nominations this morning and it seems like nothing is happening in the scooter world. I’m sure there are more good scooters out there worthy of note.

Here is a time schedule of what will happen and when. Mark your calendars so you can vote when that opportunities role around.

No Best Blog category this year.

With so many good blogs out there in a wide range of languages MBI could not figure out a way to fairly handle this category so it won’t be there this year.

So check out the site and have fun!

For a little background on MBI:

MBI is an association of riders who write motorcycle (and scooter) blogs. Members reside in many countries and live in different cultures but they have at least one thing in common—a passion for riding and writing about riding.

Every year MBI conducts the Riders Choice awards program. Riders around the world are invited to participate by nominating and voting for the awards. New motorcycles or related products, services, events and actions by an individual or organization are eligible for awards in one of several categories.

2007 Riders Choice Awards Voting Now Open!

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From now until March 12th public voting for the 2007 Riders Choice Awards is now open. These awards are sponsored by Motorcycle Bloggers International, an organization of bloggers creating original content from around the globe. It is a chance to vote for the best and worst of the motorcycling world for the year 2006. You go to your voting ballot click HERE.

Now I feel weird saying this next part. Scooter in the Sticks is a finalist in the Best Motorcycle or Scooter Blog category this year. Many thanks to those of you who nominated me! The competition is good with some exceptional motorcycle sites on the ballot. I feel fortunate just to be in the running as a writer about my Vespa riding experiences.

Check out what’s on the ballot!

Latest Ride


I managed to get out this past Monday for a last ride before the snow started to come down yesterday. I planned to do a non-stop 60 mile run to test the effective duration of my non-electric riding gear but the temperatures soared to 29° F and I already knew it would be fine at that temperature all day long at 55 MPH. I want to try it around 15° F though.

The reality of my riding is slow with many stops to take pictures. I almost never ride continuously. I am always stopping to take pictures or look around so it is hard to know how good my gear would be for a long-range commuter.

Until the temperatures drop I will continue to ride through this area to get a better feel for the GTS and slowly work my way through the 600-mile break in period. The sun was out and it was a relaxed ride.


I did manage to get the scooter stuck in the snow at one point trying to run down an unplowed farm lane. I felt kind of stupid for a second thinking I would not be able to get it out. Kicking snow and pushing instead of riding did the trick!