Scooters that time almost forgot roar on the street again
Scooters that time almost forgot roar on the street again
Like Volkswagen beetle and Harley Davidson motorcycle buffs,
scooter owners are now racing each other to dress up their
vehicles. Scooter clubs, which disappeared for years, are roaring
back in many big cities. K. Basrie of The Jakarta Post filed this
report after meeting with scooter enthusiasts in Bandung and
Jakarta.
JAKARTA (JP): Around 70 colorfully customized scooters were
parked inside the Ragunan Zoological Park in South Jakarta last
Sunday, stunning the crowd of weekend visitors.
On that day, some of the 200 members of the Jakarta Vespa
Club, or JVC, had gathered at the city's favorite zoo for an
annual meeting.
The zoo was chosen because one of the club's executive members
is a manager at the zoo.
Stunned by the dazzling decoration of the bikes, which in the
old days were the main means of transportation for teachers and
elderly men, some of the visitors got up close and took
pictures.
The scooters, mainly Vespas produced in the 1960s and 1970s,
were rebuilt, remodeled, painted and accessorized.
One of the club's favorite symbols, most of the bikes' seats
were missing. The mufflers were extended, making the scooters
look like ducks. Some had spare tires set on special stainless
steel crates on the back seats.
The colorful images on the bodies included Mickey Mouse and
Spiderman. But the star that Sunday was a 1961 Vespa, with a side
car, heavily remodeled by participant Warsito. He replaced the
handlebars with a model produced in 1948. He put his own homemade
lamp in 1950s style on the front fender.
The front wing-plates of several Vespas were chiseled into the
forms of stars and blitz raids. An artillery shell was put on the
front part of the side car, which also housed a complete audio
system. The 125cc scooter, named Commando, was painted army
green.
Old timers
Marwan, 73, a war veteran visiting the zoo, commented: "This
Vespa is a combination of a scooter and an old war vehicle in the
1940s. Only a talented hobbyist could build such a work."
The owner, Warsito, spent around Rp 2 million (US$832) on his
bike, which someone once offered to buy for Rp 4.5 million,
though Warsito refused to sell.
"It's not for sale," said the owner.
In February, Warsito, his wife and child, used the bike on
their Idul Fitri holiday trip to their hometown in Brebes,
Central Java, about 300 kilometers east of Jakarta.
According to Ronny, leader of the club, the rebuilding of old
scooters and the establishment of clubs in the capital has become
more popular in the last few years.
Several scooter clubs established in the 1980s woke up again
after sleeping for many years, he said.
"Besides JVC, there are 30 other clubs with hundreds of
members in this city," said Ronny.
JVC was founded at Ronny's service repair shop on Jl. Wijaya I
in South Jakarta in 1978. It came back to life last year.
The JVC, which holds sports and social events every year, also
supervises two other clubs, Ayama and Vespa Rest Clubs.
"The big problem is not looking for sponsors but mobilizing
the members," Ronny said.
In Bandung
A day earlier in the West Java capital of Bandung, about 40
members of the famous Scooters Owners Group (SOG) gathered at
their home base on Jl. Nangkasuni, waiting for Saturday night.
Judging by their decorations and attributes, the Bandung
enthusiasts are more creative than their comrades in Jakarta.
They also have built contacts with several clubs overseas,
such as those in Britain and Spain.
"We want to make Bandung the center for scooter clubs in
Indonesia," said SOG leader Beno Hendarin.
The scooter paint jobs ranged from an apache Indian, a giant
cobra, fox, the Lion King, a black panther and Frankenstein.
Each rearview mirror was different, some even used those from
Harley Davidsons.
The sexy, old-style headlamp rims were also favorite
attributes. The other SOG style was the removal of the back cases
and the plating of the engines with chrome.
The seats varied. Some owners covered them with biker-style
leather seats and others pulled the back seats out.
"Except the SOG logos and black cloth uniforms, the drawings,
color and accessories always differ from one scooter to another,"
said Boy Yanuar Ariska, a senior member of the club.
The other impressive thing about the two-year-old SOG is the
names of the scooters, including Scooter for Blues, Embea
(referring to the noise a goat makes), Flipper, Apache, Don,
Green Cobra and Disneyland.
The ambition of the SOG members to make Bandung the home base
for all-Indonesian scooter clubs might not just be a daydream.
"Everybody knows that scooter owners in Bandung are more
creative than those in any other city," said Nonot Marsono from
the Jakarta Vespa Club.
According to SOG leader Beno, the club now has around 700
members, including 50 females, in Bandung. It also supervises 440
members from three clubs in the nearby towns of Sukabumi, Subang
and Garut.
"Hundreds of our members can be seen hanging around along
Bandung's main street of Dago (now called Jl. Juanda) every
Saturday evening," Beno said.
The SOG members are often "hired" by private parties, such as
companies and recording firms, for commercial activities.
"We hope the construction of our new office on a 2,000-square-
meter plot at Pasteur in western Bandung is completed by August
this year," said Beno.
Besides Jakarta and Bandung, there are still hundreds of
scooter enthusiasts grouped in similar clubs in other cities,
such as Surabaya in East Java and Bogor in West Java.
The Vespa Club in Bogor has 800 members, said leader Lukman.
Each club has its own prerequisites and scooter
specifications. The clubs have set monthly membership fees of
between Rp 500 and Rp 1,000 per person. Any age can join.
"But it's funny for an old member like me to paint my scooter
with colorful drawings," said Akbar, 65, of SOG.
On the weekends, the members normally gather at certain places
to show off, or just exchange information on the latest
accessories.
In Jakarta, for instance, the scooter devotees have chosen
Monas park in Central Jakarta and Blok M plaza in South Jakarta
as their meeting places.
Many scooter enthusiasts spend their holidays exploring
several cities to look for the required scooters or accessories.
As a result, the prices fro certain timeworn models,
particularly Vespas made in 1961, have skyrocketed from Rp
300,000 then to around Rp 2 million today.
If you have one at home, then you probably have a good deal!