Press for Scooter Bottega

Joy Rides: By Katherine Wheelock

Time Out New York: Issue 375: December 5–12, 2002

A Vespa and Lambretta

Hard-core scooter connoisseurs—or those who must have the very scooter they saw in La Dolce Vita—need not suffer the modern renditions. Travel back in time via six-month-old Scooter Bottega (65 Union St at Van Brunt St, Red Hook, Brooklyn; 718-858-4667; www.scooterbottega.com), a retail shop and infirmary for vintage Vespas situated on a desolate corner in Brooklyn. In a red, slant-roofed garage, proprietor Alberto Bruchi lovingly refurbishes old Vespas and Lambrettas (scooters akin to Vespas made by a now-extinct Italian company) to their original glory. Bruchi is as qualified a Vespa doctor as they come—he was born in Pontedera, Italy, the town where Piaggio has manufactured the scooters for more than half a century, and he labored at the Piaggio factory before coming to New York four years ago. He can tell you when Piaggio began producing Vespas with round headlights instead of square ones (1969), what year the company began making some models with plastic instead of aluminum panels (1978) and from what year restored old scooters can be truly reliable for everyday use (1962).

Bruchi returns to Italy every few months to hunt for classic Vespas from the 1950s through the 1980s. Recently, a sparkling, pale pistachio-colored '62 Lambretta was showing off on the sidewalk, aching to cruise the streets of Nolita. Under a sheet in the back of the shop, where Bruchi keeps some 30 scooters at a time, was a cream-colored, curvaceous '51 Vespa with the space-age look of a 1950s Chevy. All of Bottega's bikes have manual transmission, which Bruchi says is more authentic—and more fun—than automatic; they cost from $2,500 to as much as $7,500 for something like that '51 gem. It's a small price to pay for such a stunning piece of history.

See the full article here Time Out