There has been plenty said and written about scooters over the years,
but until now there has been no definitive look at the culture
surrounding the riders' chosen way of life. Many authors have written
about mods and the infamous and often over-hyped beach battles of the
1960s, but hardly any have tried to capture the atmosphere of the modern
scene in print.
The original mods are still responsible for fuelling the imagination of
past, present and future generations, and for leaving a rich scooter
heritage behind them. Although the mod way of life was the spark which
lit the fuse for many of them, the majority of scooter riders have
evolved into lifestyle scooterists.
As the author says "We may not dress in a particular style, our scooters
may not be adorned with lights and mirrors, but we still burn with the
same passion as our scooter riding ancestors. It's over sixty years
since the first Italian scooters rolled off the production lines, but
there is still a buzzing and vibrant lifestyle surrounding them. The
small capacity machines have overtaken the lives of thousands of us,
often to the detriment of everything else we hold dear. Careers,
relationships and families have suffered for this overwhelming and
expensive addiction. An addiction to which there is no cure. We live and
breathe the sickly sweet smell of synthetic two-stroke oil and worship
at the altar of our chosen gods, Lambretta and Vespa (or occasionally
Gilera and Italjet). Our hands are permanently ingrained with the oily
'tattoos' of a thousand engine rebuilds, and our major organs have
suffered the long term effects of our hedonistic lifestyle."
Including interviews with well known scootering personalities, over 150
colour photographs of award-winning custom scooters, best-selling
scooter models, and information on rallies and events, Scooter
Lifestyle is a must-have for anyone interested in these fun machines.
