How To Kick Start a Scooter

Batteries tend to be the Achilles heel of any scooter so all owners will at some point need to use the kickstart on their bike. Andrew shows how it's done on a Vespa. This may seem obvious to hardened scooter riders, but we all need to learn!

Tucano Urbano Figaro Jacket review

The Tucano Urbano range of scooter jackets is the current market leader with fashionable designs that keep you safe. The Tucano Don Giovanni jacket has recently been complemented by the addition of the Figaro. Both are wool scooter jackets which are teflon coated for waterproofing and come with CE approved armour in the elbow and forearm.

The Figaro is available in two finishes. Our favourite is the grey herringbone, however the navy looks very smart too. As well as being waterproof, the scooter jacket has a breathable membrane making is suitable for use in warmer weather too.

The Figaro sits alongside the Libeccio, Parka-T and Urbis-T as the bestsellers in our store.

You can buy the Figaro in our online store or at our central London store.

Salesman of the Week

If you venture down to the store this summer, you will have the pleasure of meeting Toby, our summer 'intern'. He is helping us out over the busy summer months and has amazed us with his charm in dealing with the public, so much so that he has been honoured as 'Salesman of the Week' and doesn't he look happy about it!

Moving forward we will be featuring customers, suppliers and those involved in any capacity with Urban Rider. There are some real characters!

Custom Vespa Paintwork: Series 1

The advent of summer means we get to design and produce custom Vespas for customers. Owning a bespoke scooter is not an expensive affair, a full re-spray costs £350-£450 depending on complexity and type of paint. Over the coming weeks we will post up scooters that we have customised recently.

This Vespa Granturismo 200cc has a two tone Gloss Black and White colour scheme. The wheels, mirros, levers and rear rack are Matt Black. We think it is in keeping with the retro styling of the Vespa.

The Champagne Lifestyle

GH Mumm, the world's 3rd largest champagne producer came to us to get some kit for a promotional shoot. We gave them a Belstaff Tourist Trophy to use from the Belstaff motorcycle jackets range.

The photographer is Greg Williams, known more recently for his reportage behind the scenes of the latest James Bond films.

We love this shot because it gives a pretty accurate representation of today's motorcycle culture in central London. Retro motorcycles are extremely popular, so the Royal Enfield in the foreground is an excellent choice.

Motorcycling is becoming ever more mainstream in the UK, so it's not unusual to see someone arriving back from the office, clutching their chosen poison, having just stepped off their ride. Black cabs are for wusses!

Belstaff, wear it with pride!

One of the hottest jackets in the shop this year has been the Wax Cotton Belstaff Tourist Trophy, based on the original Belstaff Trialmaster worn by a certain Mr McQueen.

A customer came in recently to have his re-waxed after a year of use in the centre of London. If it were me I'd keep it like it is, some people pay good money to get the 'used' look!

Belstaff Tourist Trophy

Givi, the most innovative helmet manufacturer?

Up until a year ago, most of us knew Italian company Givi for their luggage products only. Their helmet collections were largely anonymous in design. Their attitude towards production has been germanic in its attention to detail but lacking Italian flair with regard to design.

However during the last year with the release of the X.01 modular helmet and more recently the HX06 Xplus they have become the most innovative and forward thinking of helmet manufacturers. Their new designs offer 2/3 helmets in one and allow the rider to modify the helmet depending on weather conditions as well as environment, be it the city, country lanes or motorway.

Who knows that they've been feeding their designers but it's clear they have really listened to the needs of riders and taken big risks with their design concepts. As someone who is passionate about design and motorcycling it's so refreshing to see. Most manufacturers churn out the same models with small revisions or new graphics year on year, not Givi. They regularly fly out to shops like us to enthuse about what they are working on in the design studio and get our feedback on designs.

If you are in the market for a new helmet we strongly recommend you check out the X.01 and XPlus.

Vectrix does Stealth

The woes of electric scooter manufacturer have been well publicised of recent. In a nutshell they designed and built a maxi-scooter which they expected to sell en masse for upwards of £8k. If only they had built a moped style scooter for half that price we may see more of them on London's streets.

Still, one customer customised his with an awesome matt black paint job. Stealthy and silent, we love it!

Long Way Down - the ultimate riding jacket?

After many months of waiting, our limited edition Belstaff Long Way Down jackets landed in the store.

We plumped for 'Fog Green' for our jackets, it look great in khaki.

This jacket was worn by Ewan MacGregor and Charlie Boorman on their trip from the tip of Scotland to the tail of South Africa. They designed it in conjunction with Belstaff and it is packed full of features. We have created a series of pictures and a video attempting to explain the main design points.

Suffice to say this jacket can cope with any conditions thrown at it, be it a high speed crash, artic weather or desert heat. It has 3 separate layers which can be used in different combinations to cope with varying environments.

The jacket is £599.99 and the matching trousers £229.99. We have one jacket in each size: M, L, XL, XXL so if you are planning a trip this summer, better hurry!

UPDATE: No availability on this jacket at present. March 2010.