THE REGULARS' RALLY According to upcoming publishing dates, I'd better spend some time telling you all about the upcoming Twin Cities Scooter Rally being put on by The Regulars Scooter Club or you might not hear about it until after it's done! The idea of holding a rally here in the Cities has been playing around in our collective brains for several months and earlier this year we decided that we had to give it a go. This is Minnesota, after all, land of 10,000+ lakes, valleys, trees, rivers and corn. Land of hardy riders who brave the elements to cruise on two wheels. Land of hotdish and jello. We had to share the experience. The rally, officially known as "Skooter Du - Everything Falls Apart," will be held August 11-13th, 2000. I think this date was picked to prove to visitors that the snow does indeed stop falling and that the equator actually migrates up to Minneapolis for a few weeks of scorching heat and humidity. Friday night will kick off with participant registration and casual hanging out and partying. Saturday will be the big day with the group meeting up for breakfast/brunch after which we'll tour our amazing metropolis. With a very scenic route planned through town, visitors and citizens alike will see the city from a new perspective. Round about 5:00pm we'll all gather downtown at Grumpy's Bar and Grill for the usual rally events: contests, give-aways, music, food, drinks, and general merry-making. The evening's entertainment is being headlined by The Conquerors! Also featured will be DJ sessions provided by All Systems Go and local fashion designs in the 60's style from Dada Die Brucke. Sunday morning will no doubt require much coffee and food so we'll meet once again for grub and then hop on those scoots for one more ride before the rally ends and our guests have to return home. The Regulars invite all scooter owners in the region to join us for this weekend of fun. Tune up those scoots and take part in the festivities! Get the latest rally updates on the website at: http://www.moonpost.com/vespa THE EVER-CHANGING WORLD OF SCOOTERS Wouldn't you just know that things in the scooter world have changed yet again? This is a good change though, as yet another scooter manufacturer has entered the USA market. This time it's from the Asian region (Taiwan) and the company is Kymco. I have to disclose that while I love my Vespa, I also really like Kymco scooters. I had the fortune of renting one while on vacation overseas earlier this year and I loved that amazing scooter. I was eager to get back home and find out who was a dealer. Unfortunately, there were none until about June 1st of this year. Kymco has been around since 1963 and has produced over six million motorcyles/scooters to date, with most of their 35+ models between 50cc and 250cc sizes. Most of their machines are fully automatic, liquid-cooled, electric start, feature disc brakes, have pretty cool styling and all this in a very affordable package (a little over $2000). Their smaller scooters are 2-strokes but the rest are all four-stroke engines. The model I rented was their "Top-Boy 100" and it was quite the amazing ride. Very smooth handling along with extremely smooth and consistent acceleration with no flat spots (no doubt due to their excellent Continuously Variable-speed Transmission or CVT). I buried the speedo needle at approximately 75 mph and it was still going. I'd say that's decent performance for a 100cc scooter. The big question: Will we have the opportunity to see them around the Midwest? As of this writing it seems Florida is the lucky region, but they can be shipped up here for under $200. THANKS TO READERS/RIDERS In closing, I'd like to send out a big "Hello" and "Thanks" to all the new people who have written letters or attended a recent scooter club meeting. We have members ranging from those just starting college to retired individuals and it is always a fun time comparing stories and experiences as well as checking out each others' scoots. It's funny to observe how other scooter owners check out a new member's ride: glancing, touching, examining in more detail, circling around. I'm sure there is some sort of dog analogy lurking in there somewhere. As usual: I'd love to hear from you, two-wheeled reader, so drop me an email at meddlinkid@excite.com or stop by one of the meetings of The Regulars Scooter Club. Ride safe - Ride often. The Twin Cities' Vintage Scooter Club, The Regulars, meets on the first and third Sundays of each month at Bryant-Lake Bowl in Uptown Minneapolis (Lake St and Bryant Ave) at 2:00pm for socializing and riding. Their website is http://www.moonpost.com/vespa   M.M.M.