Episode 16 - Denver Scooter Shops and Going Home

SHOWNOTES - This week I have gone from Seattle to Denver to
Richmond, which means that I am still blogging and producing
SCTRCST on my laptop, with a radio shack mic held together with
wire and chewing gum. Along with meeting Orin ONeil of Scootin Old
Skool this past week, I have been scouting out the Denver scoot
shops and have been amazed by the scooter growth in the this city.
Denver is where I first got the scooter bug about 10 years ago. For
those of you who have never been to the mile high city, it is a
picture postcard of parks, trees, big city buildings all with the
back drop of the snow capped Rocky Mountain. Erico is an authorized
Vespa dealer and the show room is packed with new ETs, GTSs and a
variety of other motorcycles. The shop is in lower downtown and
sports a fashionable Euro feel with a decidedly race inspired
theme, punctuated by high powered Ducati, Moto Guzzi and Triumphs.
The staff are welcoming although many sport super-bike leans, they
are very open to talking scoots and old school bikes. There is a
complete Vespa Boutique, if you are into the high priced Vespa
fashions, and they have a variety of Ducati and Triumph race duds.
What was more interesting to me is, right next door is Casa
Lambretta. In contrast to Erico it has a small warehouse feel, an
oil and gas smell and numerous partly restored Lamberetas lined up
next to the tool bins. Make sure you stop here and check it out, it
is what scooting and scoot repair use to be. Denver was a want-a-be
big city just 10 short years ago and the landscape began to change
as the population began to grow and the town began a
revitalization. I wont venture to guess what sparked all of this,
but back then, a little upstart of a scooter shop was opened by two
Denver scooter legends, Colin Shattuck and Adam Baker, it was
called Sportique Scooters, The business has grown from one Denver
shop to three including one in Boulder and another in Colorado
Springs. This is a far cry from the small shop that Colin and Adam
opened in 1998 in a run down gas station on Denvers seedy west
side. In going back there, I was glad to see that the shop still
sports that rat-bike feel, with the head mechanic adjusting an old,
rusty Vespa 125 out in the lot, among all the new and shiny Genuine
Buddys and Kymcos. If you have not seen it yet, look for Colins
scooter book Red Eyes, Whitewalls and Blue Smoke it is a great read
on the evolution or de-evolution of scooters in the US. The short
story on Denver is, get there when ever you can. With 300 days of
sunshine it is a riders paradise and whether you enjoy city riding
or touring in the mountain, there are plenty of fellow enthusiasts.
If you are wondering what I mean, when I say plenty of fellow
enthusiasts, think about attending Mile High Mayhem, the last week
in July. With hundreds of scooters, scoot activities and parties it
is one of the years best destination rallies in the United States.
Many thanks go out to SIP-Scootershop for including SCTRCST in its
newsletter. Do not forget to go to Amerivespa.org and register for
the rally. This not only gets you all the Amerivespa perks, but
will cover you in participating in all the city and Vashon Island
rides that are planned. Since I have been out of town, I have not
had a chance to speak with Bryan Bedell of 2strokebuzz about riding
the Lake Erie Loop, but I try to check in with him and have
something for you next week.