The Irish Motorbike and Scooter Show 2011: The Scooters

Visiting the show, I made the conscious decision of saving the best until the end of the show. Well, what I considered the best anyway i.e. the scooters. As in the last show, the nicer scooters on show came from a joint exhibit between the Vespa Club of Ireland and the Lambretta Club Ireland, courtesy of Ace Cafe London.

Although the scooters on show by the two clubs seldom disappoint, I was left feeling a bit frustrated by the lack of any other scooter-related exhibits or traders. Yes, there were the odd modern scooters thrown in by the Japanese makes on show as well as a full stand of Vectrix electric scooters but other than that, there was really nothing else scooter-wise. I knew full well that LML and Vespa were going to be no-shows given that the local distributors, Bikeworld seem to shun the show but maybe, I was still half hoping that some new LMLs would pop up at the show (I ruled out seeing the new Vespa PX completely though).

Anyway, there were still some very good scooters to see with Mick Ayre's Star Trek-themed Cosa (as seen in Scootering magazine issue #296) being at the top of my list.

Now, let me get this straight, I am no Klingon-speaking Trekkie. The reason I like this Cosa is because its unique and because I admire the understated quality of its paintwork (I am told that it was done by Liam Finnegan and my pics don't actually do it justice). And yes, I don't see why the Cosa needed a head transplant (that's a T5 headset on the scooter, if you hadn't noticed already) but if it adds to its uniqueness then, why not?

Of course, there were other scooters on show too. Here's a few of the rest...

I don't know what it is but I just love the look of trailers on scoots. I also noticed a couple of scooters with very nice looking white wall Schwalbe Weathermans. I had considered getting myself a pair of these tyres some time ago but couldn't justify the extra €10-€20. Having seen them in the flesh this time around, I might just go for them as soon as the Heidenaus that I currently have needs replacing.

One can't just ignore the Scomadi (above) and no self-respecting scooter exhibit would be seen as complete without the obligatory Mod scooter (below). And, that brings us to the end of the scooter bit to the Motorcycle and Scooter Show. Hopefully, it went well enough for the organisers and the exhibitors to convince them to make this an annual event (it was certainly more impressieve than last week's car show if that's anything to go by).

Thankfully, the scootering calendar's only beginning so, there'll be more than enough to keep me occupied for the next few months.