Vespa is trying to promote its scooters to a younger generation. Will it work? https://www.vespa.com/en_EN/landing/vespa_tour_2019.html
I have a self tour in mind over there (in the Balkans) if anyone has interest? No, I'm not in the younger generation...
I'm so old , they all speak too fast for me , but I'm not the demographic they are hunting. My German grand kids really like the hip hop , and I admit it is ok in smaller doses. I think the people who put this marketing campaign together are very sharp . Don't know how well it would work here, but in Europe I bet it is big .
I'm thinking of a doing a European tour with my girlfriend in a couple of years. We've taken the Bernina Express train from Chur, Switzerland down to Tirano, Italy a couple of times, and the scenery is awesome. We'd like to either buy a scooter over there or fly my Burgman 650 over, and recreate that same trip. There are many nice little villages along the route, and you travel through several epic valleys and high Alpine passes. We may even make a little run to Lugano, Italy after arriving in Tirano. I think we could easily stretch a trip like this out over 3-4 days, and then either park the scooter with friends in Switzerland when we're done, or fly it back home to America.
We're looking into a Tuscany vacation. There's a small group, guided scooter tour(many companies do them)but we're looking at this company's tours. https://www.edelweissbike.com/en/touren/?c=2TU
edelweissbike has been around a long time. I know several people who have done their motorcycle tours, first class outfit from the reports.
That's a nice video, I wonder when they made it ? I have been to Paris and driven there, and never saw traffic that light.
I realize Europe has many places and cultures that are different from the U.S., and I applaud people living however they want so long as it isn’t harmful to others. But watching videos of those two hotboying around on an electric Vespa doesn’t make me scream “I want in on that”
I have toured Tuscany, Greek Islands and Catalonia on a scooter over the past three years. Heading to Portugal in September for another ride. These are wonderful rides. These are great places with fun roads, fine food, nice people and sights that make for a great trip. We have avoided the big cities, only riding in Barcelona among the larger cities. The small towns we visited were all very scooter friendly. You can park anywhere, walk around, then remount and head to the next town. I highly recommend taking the plunge. As for Vespa's ad campaign, seeing them riding that electric scooter makes me want one. It would be perfect for many of my local rides. Bill Returning to the hotel as the sun set on Milos was magical.
I am sure the riding is great. My comments were more about the ad campaign. As for the scooter itself, it has a long way to go. 62 miles of range is low and can only be achieved in eco mode, which further reduces top speed from around 32 mph to 20. My Chevy volt takes about 3.5 hours to charge approximately 12 Kw into the battery at 220 volts. The Vespa takes 4 hours to charge a battery 1/4 of the size at 220 volts, and a lot more on a standard home outlet. I think Vespa could really do something with this once the electric vehicle industry makes improves energy density in their storage platforms.
Check out The Vesoa Trip https://thevespatrip.com/vt19 I’ve heard good things about them a d more reasonable prices than the Edelweiss trips. They give you the option of staying with the tour guide or using a GPS with route pre loaded if you want to ride at a different pace than the group.
I love the energy they put into these films. Hope the younger bunch finds them and get's involved in the sport.
I have done several Edelweiss tours and can highly recommend them. They really do a cracker of a job to make your trip a memorable one.
Travelling around in Europe is generally very easy, and as @CashCow showed us, you really don't need some company to set it up.. We just got home from 3 weeks in Ireland, Denmark and Sweden, and we set up everything using Booking.com and AiBnb for places to stay. Everywhere we went this time, and in the past too, language was not a big problem as long as you are able to wave your hands and point to stuff and keep a sense of humor about the whole thing. We had some great meals, some memorable street food and some crappy meals, but all in all it's very do-able. Google maps worked for us everywhere and if you use T-Mobile as your cell phone provider everything except voice over the phone is free. And our credit union ATM card worked everywhere.
Maybe to the EU youth. In the US it's all about electric bicycle packages. Scooters, electric or gas, seem to be be dead except to old men and those with a lost DUI liscense.
Dang Buttler, that's a bit harsh coming from someone who makes a living selling maps. It may be factual bu it stung a bit for this old man. ( who still has a driving license) at least for a while.
In the San Francisco area the interest is in electric stand up and sit down scooters that you rent by time interval and abandon anywhere in the larger downtown area. A lot of the use seems to be local running around, not so much commuting daily.