Like Vespa, cheap bike insurer offers a vroom with a phew!
Bikesite.co.uk offer cheap motorbike insurance. Thing is, you may not want cheap motorbike insurance. Simply because you have a scooter. Well fear not bikesiters - as Bikesite.co.uk also offer cheap motorbike insurance on your scooter too! Infact, Bikesite.co.uk can arrange cheap motorbike insurance for anything two-wheeled you may like to get your leg over. Anything with a motor that is. Bikesite.co.uk are on hand all day long to answer your cheap motorbike insurance questions. Or scooter queries. Bikesite.co.uk will fire the cheapest motorbike insurance quotes your way in minutes too - so be warned bike fans. Cheap motorbike insurance fans - that Bikesite.co.uk means business!
One of Bikesite.co.uk's cheap motorbike insurance bods, who writes a bit, puts on his party hat and celebrates a 2-wheeled classic..
Paul Weller. Mod. Axyl Rose. Rocker. Steve Marriott. Mod. Joe Strummer. Rocker.
Roger Daltrey. Mod. Gene Vincent. Rocker. Rodney Stewart. Mod. Jon Bon Jovi. W***er.
Music defines my generation as much as it did 40 years ago this week. However, in the early 60's you had but the two choices. You were either a mod, or a rocker. If you lived in the south, worked in an office, and twinned Pierre Cardin knitwear with Fred Perry polo shirts - you were probably a mod. If you were predominantly northern, worked with your hands, and favoured a leather jacket and scruffy denim combo - chances are you'd be a rocker. One common thread which drew the two spectrums together was their convergence, en masse, for a good set-too on Clacton , Margate or Brighton beachfronts. And, as to what was the means of transport that got the warring fractions there in the first place? For the bryl-creamed Elvis fans, it was a Triumph or something big and ugly. For the thoughtfully turned out mods, it was without doubt and Lambretta - the Vespa.
Turn forward the clock some 4 decades or more, and the same mods, with the exception of the former Jam front man Weller (who's permantly 45), have perhaps changed in appearance. Where once there was a hair style, now they consider themselves fortunate to sport hair follicles. And the fetching lamb's wool donned now, is to guard against chills (as a necessity), rather than as an optional fashion statement. But as far as La Mode goes, the iconic Italian scooter has stood the true test of time. And this month celebrates its 60 th.
That's right, long before parka-wearing musical misfits sat astride the 2-wheeled automotive design classic; and proceeded to ride into battle, the stunningly beautiful idols of a previous age, people such as Audrey Hepburn, Ingrid Bergman and Ursula Andress had already given the wasp (its literal translation from Italian) their seal of approval, and recruited an altogether different audience. The film 'Roman Holiday' made in 1953, starring thesps of the hour - favoured leading man Gregory Peck, playing opposite the comprehensively photogenic Audrey Hepburn - saw them spending most of the time cavorting around Italy's capital city. This indirect celluloid-exposure thrust the equally aesthetically pleasurable scooter onto the world's stage, and so becoming the must have accessory overnight for all romancing couples.
Created in 1946 - by Enrico Piaggio, (an aircraft manufacturer), and Corradino D'ascanio, (aeronautical engineer and helicopter designer), the passing of both war and fascism, gave rise to such an invention that could, and would inspire young Italians; and moreover allowing them the freedom to roam at an affordable price
As the 50's progressed Vespa's were being manufactured under licence in some 180 countries worldwide, including Britain . Where they instantly became de rigeur for the mod culture that was scheduled to hit our shores sometime in the early 60's.
Its universal adoration crossed the gender boundaries too, as women felt a degree of comfort around them. And men believed that its enduring appeal was never better illustrated than when calendars produced throughout the 50's and 60's showed female models in bikinis draped over them. Adding a certain something. Even Barbie toyed with her blue Vespa in somewhat provocative legs akimbo positions. (Well she did when I raided my sister's wardrobe)
17 million sales and 140 reincarnations down the line, and still the Vespa is as much an integral fabric of the rich tapestry of Italian tradition as questionable politics; indeed the much loved Vespa continues to play up to the 2-wheeled embodiment of La Dolce Vita. 40% of those manufactured come courtesy of the Piaggio plant, situated as has always been, at Pontedera in Northern Italy . And after those staggering 140 differing make-overs, which Italian women seem to embrace, the essential design elements remain unaltered.
It still remains as symbolic of fierce independence today as it did then, moving the region-famous Italian supergroup Lunapop, to pen a special ditty entitled 'Fuori Citta' (or 'Out Of The City' to those unfamiliar with Esperanto) enthusing and applauding its scootering-sway over famous and not so famous registered owners. Leading wordsmiths have committed to tomes exactly what place they believe it holds in the country's heritage aswell as its heart - contributing nostalgic essays to a book called The Cult Of The Vespa. Whatsmore, celebrations to mark its perpetual and undiminshing appeal, have culminated in spectacular fashion in Riccione this week, when an exhibition called 'Vrooooom' opened. And the star of the show? - An objet d'art hailed as an icon of Italian design and verve.
To the Italian connoisseur, what Bikesite.co.uk is to their English-speaking counterparts. The Italians may have their beloved wasp - but, in the cheap bike insuring world of Bikesite.co.uk - we Brits have the bee's knees. Let Bikesite.co.uk put you on the road signposted cheap bike insurance right now, by giving Bikesite.co.uk a call to see exactly what they can do for you.
Date - 24/10/2006