60 Tahun Vespa

Written by Nino & Anton Luwe

Dalam rangka peringatan 60 tahun kehadiran Vespa, Minggu tanggal 3 September 2006, pecinta Vespa dari berbagai club, komunitas maupun privateer di Jakarta berkumpul di dekat Masjid Pondok Indah. Ada sekitar seratus lebih vespa yang hadir. Hebatnya, semua varian ada disitu, dari angkatan 50an sampai vespa keluaran terbaru. Dari remaja tanggung sampai oom-oom yang usianya mungkin seumur dengan vespa. Sekitar pukul 6.30, rombongan meninggalkan masjid Pondok Indah menuju restoran Raffless, Cibogo. Melalui route jl. TB Simatupang-Depok-Sentul-Bukit Pelangi dan berakhir di Gadog. Sepanjang perjalanan banyak Vespa yang mengalami trouble. Tali gas Vespa saya sendiri putus di daerah Lenteng Agung. Malah, banyak pecinta vespa yang rela mendorong Vespanya karena tidak kuat menapaki jalan menanjak, juga kecelakaan yg menimpa seorang scooteris karena remnya blong. Namun itu semua tidak menyurutkan hati para peserta untuk berkumpul di tujuan akhir yaitu Cibogo. Sekitar jam 10an rombongan tiba di restoran Rafflesia Cibogo.Peserta langsung disuguhi makanan yang sudah disediakan oleh panitia. --bersambung-- Disambung lagi nih... setelah acara makan siang dan saling bersilahturahmi, rekan2 scooterist disuguhkan dengan sedikit acara yaitu sambutan dari scooterist-scooterist yang telah sepuh namun tetap cinta dengan vespa, pemilihan kostum terbaik, dan doorprice, dan doa bersama rekan-rekan scooterist. pukul 15.00 seluruh peserta bersiap-siap untuk melanjutkan perjalanan selanjutnya melalui rute Gadog-Ciawi-parung-UI Depok, sepanjang perjalanan dilalui dengan kemacetan panjang yang menyebabkan beberapa scooterist tertinggal jauh dari rombongan. kemacetan baru dapat dihindari setelah rute parung. seluruh peserta tiba di UI depok pukul 17.00 untuk pembagian peneng "60 tahun vespa"still sexy at sixty dan acara ditutup dengan foto bersama dan berjabat tangan seluruh peserta touring ulang tahun vespa. terima kasih kepada semua pihak yang telah membuat acara ini sukses, semoga acara seperti ini dapat dilaksanakan setiap tahun dengan mengedepankan kecintaan kita kepada vespa keep on burning the vespa spririt..!!!! Bravo scooterist

The Lambretta Museum

Weston-super-Mare

Now separated from Weston Scooter Parts, which Nigel sold to the Scooter Emporium in London, the museum is still however located in the same building. The first thing that struck me, despite the amount of visitors milling about, was the increased floor space one had to move around and look at the scooter exhibits. Yes it’s still cramped and of course not on the scale of London’s V&A museum for example, but a definite improvement on before.

Next was how uncluttered the walls looked. Now the museum is no longer a scooter parts shop too you don’t have the excess of spares and accessories hanging from every available point around the place. While some may mourn the loss of the rare and (some) beautiful accessories hanging upon the walls from those days, their absence does allow one to appreciate the numerous advertising posters and other similar items now covering the wall space. Besides, you’ve always got the Isle of Wight rally for your fix of bolt-on chrome stuff.

One major addition to the museum is Stuart’s business, Scooterproducts.com which will eventually move in, lock stock and barrel once the refurbishment has been completed. Certainly during the rally this seemed to work well with Stu and his team busy throughout the day as museum visitors searched for an ideal scooter related souvenir to take home with them.
While all this was obvious on the surface, I took a brief lull in the crowds as the ideal opportunity to go ‘backstage’ as it were with Stuart to look at what he has yet to put on display and quiz him further about the museum…

sumber :www.scootering.com

Vespa Museum

Pontadera, Italy
(at the Piaggio factory)

Has everyone heard of Scooterworks, in Chicago? They have been around forever. There is another Scooterworks, in London, as well. There is no connection between the two except that they share the same passion for getting Vespas back on the road.

In anticipation of our upcoming vacation to Scotland and England, I jumped on the Internet to contact anyone I could find there who had anything to do with scooters. Not much luck. A place called Scooterworks UK had a nice web site and the owner wrote back inviting me to visit his shop when I arrived.

The Vespa Museum
At the Piaggio Factory
Pontedera, Italy
By Alan Dollar

Most scooter enthusiasts know the story of Piaggio developing the Vespa after World War II as a means of affordable transportation to aid in the re-construction of war torn Italy. The industrial history of the Piaggio Company actually began sixty years earlier in 1884 when they started making interiors, cabinets and fine woodwork for luxury liners and other sailing ships.

Twenty years later the building of the Italian railroad was becoming a booming industry. The Piaggio Company diversified from woodworking to metal work. In 1908, they started producing a variety of railway cars and streetcars. Detailed, of course, with the same luxury interiors they had designed and produced for ships.

In 1924, they branched out even further, adding an aeronautical division to their company. It was located in Pontedera. To aid the efforts of World War I they produced entire aircraft including engines.

It was during that time that Enrico Piaggio and aeronautical engineer Corradino D’Ascanio, the two men who would later be responsible for developing the Vespa motor scooter, joined the company. Piaggio was in the forefront of airplane and engine development with many technical achievements to their credit. Did you know that D’Ascanio, that the man who designed the first Vespa, designed the first successful hovering helicopter in 1930?

Such innovations ended during WW II when the Pontedera factory was demolished by allied bombing. Recovery from this devastation was the driving force that led to the invention of the Vespa!

The first prototype MP5 (Moto Piaggio 5), developed in 1945, became known as the Paperino (Donald Duck). The design did not pass muster with Enrico Piaggio. He directed D”Ascanio to design a innovative vehicle for transportation based on aeronautical concepts. The resulting MP6 was labeled by Enrico as the Vespa because it looked to him like a wasp (vespa in Italian).

The aerodynamics and monocoque (integrated) body were straight from airplane design. The front suspension was designed after the trailing link rear wheel of an airplane’s landing gear. The wheels were mounted on one side of the fork and engine to make it easier to change flat tires. The gears where shifted by twisting the grip where the clutch was located. All of these design innovations were firsts in the field of two-wheel transportation.

That design led to a new direction for the Piaggio Company in 1946, and to the mass production Vespa scooters. It is a design and mechanical icon that has captured the imagination of people around the world for fifty-seven years!

A number of enlightening books have been published in the last few years that include nice pictorial displays of the entire model line of Vespa. After reading all the books and studying all the photos, I, like many others, wanted to see the real thing, in Italy. So, Tony Garbarino and I cashed in our frequent flyer miles for a free flight to the homeland of Vespa, where we set off for a week to see nothing but scooter stuff!

The plan was to see the Piaggio Vespa Museum, some private collections, parts suppliers and finish with the annual swap meet at Novergro. Tony, who knows Italy well, navigated us through his preplanned course like a seasoned rider through a Gymkhana. We did it all in a whirlwind, 8 days, 7 cities, and 6 hotels.

We took one side trip from our scooter path in Pizza, to visit the only cultural site we would see while in Italy. The magnificent leaning tower had just reopened to the public after twelve years of construction to stabilize its tilt. It was a magnificent experience to stand on top of such a historic and beautiful structure. At the same time that I was in awe of my surroundings my mind kept saying, today we see Pontedera. I must be obsessed.

At mid-day we found the sprawling Piaggio factory in Pontedera. The factory complex is larger than I imagined with rows of large concrete buildings, projecting the same appearance as pre war photos. The museum itself fills a small part of one building yet the display seems enormous.

Rolf Soltou, former Piaggio representative to America, told me he was at the factory for a week of training later that month. He was shown almost all aspects of the grand facility. (Wouldn’t it be great to read an article about that experience?)

The first scooters one sees upon arriving are the ones parked in front, ridden to work by the employees. On display outside the scooter museum are a commuter train and airplane, built by Piaggio before WWII.

When we first arrived a chap in Piaggio overalls was outside preparing a newly acquired Vespa for the museum display. The original red Pentaro had been in service as a fire engine! Later during our visit, he drove the Pentaro fire truck into position in the display, complete with original axe, fire hose and siren. I spontaneously gave him and the Pentaro a rousing applause. He seemed pleased by that and motioned at us to follow him into the back room for more unique displays.

The half-day we spent there flew by as if it were minutes. After leaving a lot of money at the museum store and receiving an armload of free goodies and posters, we were ready to embark on the next phase of our journey.

As we walked to the entrance, a side door burst open and the jovial mechanic came out. He stuffed another handful of goodies into my bag and shook my hand. We had made another scooter friend, as so often happens when people who love Vespas meet!

Sejarah Vespa

Permulaan

Piaggio didirikan di Genoa, Italia pada tahun 1884 oleh Rinaldo Piaggio.Bisnis Rinaldo dimulai peralatan kapal. Tapi di akhir abad, Piaggio juga memproduksi Rel Kereta, Gerbong Kereta, body Truck, Mesin dan Kereta api. Pada Perang Dunia I, perusahaannya memproduksi Pesawat Terbang dan Kapal Laut. Pada tahun 1917 Piaggio membeli pabrik baru di Pisa dan 4 tahun kemudian Rinaldo mengambil alih sebuah pabrik kecil di Pontedera di daerah Tuscany Italia. Pabrik di Pontedera inilah yang mana menjadi Pusat produksi pesawat terbangnya (baling-baling, Mesin dan Pesawat) Selama Perang Dunia II, pabrik di Pontedera membuat P108 untuk mesin Pesawat dua penumpang dan Versi Pembom.

Bangkit

Enrico Piaggio mengambil alih perusahan ayahnya (Rinaldo). Enrico memutuskan untuk fokuskan perhatian perusahaannya pada masalah personal Mobility yg dibutuhkan masyarakat Italia. Kemudian bergabunglah Corradino D’Ascanio, Insinyur bidang penerbangan yang berbakat yang merancang, mengkonsep dan menerbangkan Helikopter Modern Pertamanya Piaggio. D’Ascanio membuat rancangan yang simple,ekonomis, nyaman dan juga elegan. D’Ascanio memimpikan sebuah revolusi kendaraan baru. Dengan mengambil gambaran dari tehnologi pesawat terbang, dia membayangkan sebuah kendaraan yang dibangun dengan sebuah “Monocoque” atau Unibody Steel Chassis. Garpu depan seperti Ban mendarat sebuah pesawat yang mana mudah untuk penggantian ban. Hasilnya sebuah design yg terinspirasi dari pesawat yang yang sampai saat ini berbeda dengan kendaraan yang lain. Saat melihat kendaraan itu, Enrique Piaggio berkata “ Sambra Una Vespa” ( terlihat seperti Tawon ). Frame depan dirancang untuk melindungi pengendara dari debu jalanan. Pada Akhir 1949, telah di produksi 35000 unit dan dalam 10 tahun telah memproduksi 1 Juta unit dan pada pertengahan tahun 1950, vespa telah diproduksi di German, Great Britain, Prancis, Belgia, Spanyol dan tentu di Italia. Selama tahun 1960-an dan 1970-an Vespa menjadi simbol dari revolusi gagasan pada waktu itu. Dan cerita terus berlanjut saat ini dengan model generasi baru Vespa, mempersembahkan Vespa ET2, Vespa ET4, Vespa Granturismo dan Vespa PX150. Vespa bukan hanya sekedar Scooter tapi salah satu Icon besar orang Italia.

Vespa

Vespa adalah merek sepeda motor jenis skuter yang berasal dari Itali. Perusahaan induk dari Vespa, adalah Piaggio. Pada awal kedatangannya Vespa mempunyai saingan berat skuter Lambretta, sekarang otomatis Vespa sebagai motor skuter konvensional tidak mempunyai saingan lagi. Pasar sepeda motor Indonesia yang unik tidak memberikan kesempatan kepada Vespa untuk menjadi besar. Merek yang diedarkan oleh PT Dan Motor Indonesia ini mempunyai penggemar fanatik, dan klub-klub penggemar Vespa (terutama Vespa klasik) menjamur diberbagai kota di Indonesia, Juga sering disebut Piaggio Kodok karena mirip VW Kodok.