Scooterotica

bsso 78, good point made. I will email them today on the layshaft issue as seemingly there are more incidences and it would be good if scootering could get a 'materials lab test' done on old layshaft versus new equivalent to test for 'shear' / 'tension' 'pull out' / 'bending' etc to emphasise the shelf life of a layshaft and whether the issue is connected with eventual metal fatigue ,,

ArmandTanzarian wrote:They have to pay the bills somehow and that means adverts. I agree about the rally write ups though.

We set off from (Insert town name here) and after an eventful / uneventful journey (Delete as appropriate) we arrived at (Insert town name here)

Blah blah blah, Northern Soul, Ska great time, Custom show blah blah blah

Big thanks to (Insert names and scooter club here)

Add half a dozen near identical pictures of blokes in flight jackets, a middle aged skinhead woman and or modette and a couple of scooters.


To be honest you could read any rally write up produced over the last 25 years and the only thing that would change would be the weight of the people in the photos

Could send them my write up from Yarmouth 1982..........here you go in advance !!! "got home from work on the Friday, mate says shall we go Yarmouth for the weekend....ok then I says........so with small bag on back of a Series 3 TV200 we scoots to Yarmouth, but it rains on route, then we pitches our tent in the dark in the lowest lying land on the campsite, then wakes up engulfed in water" .......

I got back into scootering (riding, restoring and buying the mag)in year 2000. A 48yr old man who took out a subscription and was genuinely excited when it came through the letterbox. I bought every issue for around six years.
With the best will in the world, after about 70 issues, i began to find the content a bit samey. Hardly surprising is it? Scootering is very much a niche interest, It becomes difficult to make each edition stunning and different.
So i let my subscription run out.
I still buy it occasionally, mainly if a particular item is of interest to me. I bought the July issue to read about the Lambretta twin cylinder engines. I'll continue to choose when I buy, if at all.
But i thank those responsible for the mag and I hope it continues. I do believe it is an important addition to the scooter world.

I do sympathise with the editors. After all, what else are they going to put in the mag? A rally is a rally. You ride there (or these days take your caravan with the scooter on the back and pretend you rode) You pitch your tent (or get your four room, canvas house out of the back of the car). Get pissed, look at some scooters and then reverse the procedure.

Good product tests cost a lot of money and take a lot of time. Your advertisers (i.e. one of your prime sources of income) aren't going to be too pleased either if their product gets a poor review.

ArmandTanzarian wrote: Good product tests cost a lot of money and take a lot of time. Your advertisers (i.e. one of your prime sources of income) aren't going to be too pleased either if their product gets a poor review.

What they don't review might be almost as important an indicator as what they do.

I think if it went Bi-monthly it would allow for less advertising and more features..........just a thought.

We could always pay more
But is there really any new products or interesting rallies to report on ??
So a bi-monthly magazine £6 a copy or perhaps £10 if we want fat scooterists in combat clothing airbrushed thin and smartened up

mick1 wrote:I think if it went Bi-monthly it would allow for less advertising and more features..........just a thought.

totally agree bi monthly with classic scooterist. One one month the other the next, must be my lucky month mine hasn't arrived yet.

I stopped buying it about two years ago, too many ads and I am not interested in how to guides of basic repairs.