Scootermania, by Josh Sims book review

with 4 chapters that cover the scooter world,
History and Design
Scooter Style
Clubbing/Racing
21st Century Toys

and 12 special features
The Collector, Robin Spaulding
The Vespisto, Ashley Lenton
The Club Man, Nick Robins
Scooter Boy, Ian Grainger
The Rally Patch King, Paddy Smith
The Fanatic, Paul Robinson
The Trial Rider, Peter Burley
The Custom Scooter Artist, John Spurgeon
The Custom Scooter Engraver, Adi Clark
The Experimenter, Craig Vetter
The Dealer,  Colin Shattuck
The Designer, Marco Lambri

This is a cool book that takes a look at scooters, all of them, and how they've influenced culture in Italy, England, Japan, and the United States, and how those various cultures adopted scooters as their own.

164 pages, 137 photos about 1/2 black and white

I learned a hell of a lot from this book, it took me about 4 or 5 hours to read, and it was full of interesting things I didn't know, but went to this book to learn.

Cushmans, Lambrettas, Vespas, Hondas, Salsbury, Ducati, Moto Guzzi, Harley, BSA, Mitsubishi, Fuji, and lots of companies I've never heard of that struggled to cash in, but missed the mark.

I found the research to be thorough, and the inclusiveness of the many lesser and unknown scooter manufacturers to be just what I was looking for, instead of a Vespa focused book. I've liked Cushman and Salsbury for a long time, and though I would prefer to acquire an early 60's Vespa, I was glad to see the Cushman and Lambretta and other scooters discussed nearly as much... because I want to learn about all the interesting things about who made what and why.

Some cool stuff I learned:
The Cushman Airborne model 53 had 6"tires that would interchange with aircraft used as spotters for the Air Force
Vespa means wasp, for the buzzy motor and tight waisted shape of the design
The headlight went on the handlebar due to English regs on headlight height on the Douglas built Vespas, and the head office decided it was better than the front fender
Scooters originated engineering motorcycles later adopted like direct gear and shaft drive
Piaggio survived not from sales, but because Piaggio's daughter married Agnelli's son.
Scooters were exempt from taxes in Italy, which helped their sales and popularity
DMW named two scooter models Dumbo and Bambi
The most successful countries in scooter manufacturing were the losers in WW2
the Honda Super Cub, is the best selling vehicle ever made. Pizza delivery!
Motobecane was bought up by Yamaha, Montessa was bought by Honda

You can flip through the 1st 20 pages online http://issuu.com/bloomsbury/docs/scootermania