Houston Scooter Battalion

Please help Mr. Projector!

2008-10-09T20:16:00.000-07:00

We are raising money for our friend and Battalion member who was injured during the hurricane. Aaron (some of you might know him as Mr. Projector) had a 1 vehicle incident, obtained some nasty road rash, and was released from the emergency room on crutches. One week later, Aaron was unable to move and was back in the hospital with crippling pain. He developed a rare and very serious Staphylococcus infection that spread to his kidneys, heart, and brain. The doctors performed a risky open heart surgery to remove as much of the bacteria as possible. He has now been in the hospital for over three weeks and is expected to be there at least another month. Aaron's hospital bills are already piling up at an outrageous rate (close to $500,000). Aaron has no medical insurance. We are asking for any assistance you are able to give, if that be money (check or cash), fundraising ideas, or expert advice on the medical system/billing process. We will be passing around a donation bucket at this Sunday's ride. Please help if you can.

Not going to the rally this weekend?

2008-10-03T07:15:00.001-07:00

The Flower Man Needs Our Help
Saturday, October 4th
10am to 5pm

2305 Francis Street
(two blocks south of Dowling & Alabama)

Unfortunately, Hurricane Ike did a number on The Flower Man's house and we need help putting it back together! Please join us Saturday, October 4th starting at 10am as we work to help Cleveland "The Flower Man" Turner restore his wonderful Third Ward landmark.

Some of the tasks include: staking up the fences, removing a large dead tree, fixing the leaking roof, repairing the front room ceiling and clearing debris from the yard.

The Orange Show will provide materials for general clean-up and restoration but please bring tools and work gloves, if you have them. In particular, we need pruning shears, at least one chain saw and a shop vac. If you have any additional tools that may be helpful please let us know. We will also have plenty of cold drinks and water available.

Austin Rally: November 7-9th

2008-09-29T20:42:00.000-07:00

Registration is now open. This rally is vintage only. Sorry, I didn't make the rules. The Dead Milkmen are also playing that weekend. It should be a lot of fun! Click here for details: http://www.pistonbrokesc.net/itinerary

August Ride Photos

2008-08-21T15:43:00.000-07:00

I will now be posting our monthly ride photos using the fabulous Picasa. You can check them out HERE.

So many rallies . . . so little time.

2008-08-19T09:48:00.000-07:00

Its that time of year again! 4 big rallies in 6 weeks.

October 3-5
3rd Coast Scooter Rally IV (3CR4)
San Antonio, TX
www.thirdcoastrally.com

October 24-25
Harvest Classic European and Vintage Motorcycle Rally
Luckenbach, TX
www.harvestclassic.org

October 31- Nov 2
Scoot & Spook Scooter Rally
Conroe, TX
www.rbsc-armadillo.com

November 7-9
Y'all Can Go To Hell I'm Goin' To A Texas Scooter Rally

Austin, TX

website TBA
*European, vintage and shifters only

Dawn's Scooters Recovered

2008-08-13T15:01:00.000-07:00

After six weeks of searching, Dawn's famous scooters were recovered in San Antonio with minimal damage. The thief was arrested (due to a tip from his suspicious girlfriend) and is now in jail. Thanks to all of those who kept on the look out for them. We look forward to seeing her scooters at the 3CR4 Rally in San Antonio the first weekend of October.

Scooterist Event in Dallas this Friday!

2008-07-29T08:17:00.000-07:00

Party at SoHo this Saturday!

2008-07-16T21:14:00.000-07:00

Scooters Stolen - San Antonio

2008-06-28T07:12:00.000-07:00

Dawn's two scooters were stolen yesterday in San Antonio. She saw the brown mid 70's Ford truck drive off from her apartment with both scooters in the back.

They are easy to identify. One is la lone sirena (Vespa p model with
Robert Tatum art work of a cowgirl mermaid) the other is her off green/blue Servetta with the Vespa front fender.

If you see the thieves who stole them, call the police and say a report has been made on the stolen property, get a license plate id or an address and report it right away.

Let's all hope she gets it back! We all know what those scooters mean
to her.

Scooter T-Shirts

2008-06-25T21:57:00.000-07:00

At our last ride Scootersmith talked about getting the Battalion official club T-shirts. First off, we need to decide what logo to put on them. Are you interested in creating our logo? You don't need to be a professional graphic designer....just send your creativity our way at scooterbattalion@gmail.com.

On a side note: My friend from high school, now artist living in London, has produced some cool scooter t-shirts. I thought you might want to check them out, maybe even buy one or two. Click HERE to view them.

Monthly Ride Date Changed - SUNDAY JULY 13th

2008-06-23T14:22:00.000-07:00

Because of the 4th of July holiday weekend, we are changing the date of our monthly ride to July 13th. Meet at Beer Island at 2 PM and ride at 3 PM.

Charlie will be leading the ride. We will be traveling trough the city in search of the Houston's largest trees. I hope the shade will keep us cool!

June 1st Ride - Outdoor Sculpture Ride

2008-05-31T08:08:00.000-07:00

Dmitry (here wearing bomber jacket) will be leading the ride this Sunday. He put a lot of thought into this route, so I hope to see a great Battalion turnout. The stops include: the Art Car Museum Memorial, MFAH Sculpture garden., Herman Park, Menil Colection, and more. I will post more details here on our forum.

The River Rally Rocked !!!

2008-05-20T17:14:00.000-07:00

A big thanks to Erika, Lester, Gary, Mark, Dawn, Martin and all for putting on such a great rally. There were over 75 scooters and 100 attendees. Beautiful weather, rides, food, camping, races, river soaking, and plenty of debauchery. You can view and share your photos at scoot.net!

There was also an exciting announcement about 2 upcoming rallies:
The North Texas Rally on Jun. 13th-15th, 2008. For more info visit here.
Scoot & Spook 2008 will be held in Conroe, TX on Oct. 31- Nov. 2. It will be put on by The Royal Bastards SC - Armadillo chapter.

Now I Am REALLY MAD

2008-05-19T15:30:00.000-07:00

The Houston Art Community sadly lost a influential member on the night of the Art Car Parade. Tom Jones, the museum curator of photography, was killed and two others were seriously injured after being struck by a piece of shit drunk driver. I am angry not only because an innocent person was killed, but this accident happened 100 yards away from where I was also hit by a drunk driver last year. Same time, same day (Corner of Waugh and Washington at exactly 2 AM). For all of my fellow scooterists: Please do not ride at the witching hours on Friday or Saturday. And please don't drink and drive...its not worth it! Battalion members have dropped off flowers and pieces of their art car over the past week. I think it would be nice if we added this memorial as a stop to our next monthly ride.

River Rally is ON. Website is back UP!

2008-05-08T07:12:00.000-07:00

Register now HERE !!!!! There is also detailed info about the itinerary, other attendees, resources and contacts. I am so excited. It is going to be GRRRRRREAT!

The Ultimate Geek Scooter

2008-05-07T10:47:00.000-07:00

Two dudes and their step by step geekiness HERE.

Don't be a Dumbass

2008-05-05T16:02:00.000-07:00

This week in Austin I learned an important lesson:
1) Don't be a dumbass
2) If you are going to be a dumbass, make sure you wear the appropriate gear, helmet, jacket, etc., it will hurt less.

Dumbasses also have bad luck. You change two tires in two days.

Ride this Sunday May 4th

2008-05-03T09:04:00.000-07:00

Nick is leading the ride this Sunday. Meet at 2 PM at Beer Island. Free keg afterwards for riders wearing helmets. Yes, I know there is very ironical.
Thanks to Robert Fox for the photos!

Help Out A Fellow Scooterist

2008-04-27T13:03:00.001-07:00

Our friend Casey from the Austin Hooligans SC was in a bad wreck last week. You might remember him as wining Best Custom Scooter at SandBlast Rally the past two years. The Hooligans and The Scooter Scoop wrote detailed description of the accident and his condition. There is a Get Casey Back Riding Fund set up to help him out. The Scooter Scoop is graciously sending gifts for your donations. For $5 you will receive a patch and for each increment of $20 you get a raffle drawing to win an awesome scooter gift basket. Thanks Guz! So please help out with anything you can.

Update: And the raffle WINNER is...

2009 SandBlast Jousting

2008-04-25T10:31:00.000-07:00

Scooter Jousting at SandBlast

2008-04-23T07:50:00.000-07:00

Everyone remembers Team Go Nadz.

I was almost hit by my own scooter here.

The River Rally Returns

2008-04-17T07:19:00.000-07:00

After a 3 year hiatus the River Rally is finally back! Scheduled for May 16-18th in New Braunfels, TX (located between Austin and San Antonio) you will be camping along the Guadalupe River. This year Austin's clubs (Piston Broke SC and Austin Hooligans SC) are taking the lead in organizing the rally. The pre-registration cost is $40, and Erika assures me that price is well worth it. Registration includes, camping for 2 nights, 3 meals, a rally bad (with T shirt and patch) and much more. For details please visit the Piston Broke SC homepage. Please be patient with their slow website.

This is one of my all time favorite rallies. The scenery is spectacular, and the rides are too. You are camping a feet away from the river, so you can always take a quick dip to cool off. This is also the one rally where Texas scooterists really become United!

Disclaimer: If you are accustomed to fine dining, soft music, 250cc touring, this rally may not be for you.

SandBlast II = SUCCESS!

2008-04-16T12:53:00.000-07:00

We had 4 amazing days at the beach with beautiful riding and camping weather. Over 200 scooterists attended the weekend's festivities. Many told me it was the best rally that they had ever attended! Even though we didn't have Abby the monkey, Ben's comedy act entertained us to pieces. The gymkhana was simply insane and is currently toping the YouTube charts (see videos below). Please share your rally photos by uploading them to scoot.net.

Thanks to all the scooterists that came out from all over the country. We also couldn't have done it without our generous sponsors. I want to thank my fellow organizers and other volunteers who worked so hard to make this the best SandBlast yet!

SandBlast II - Extreme Gymkhana

2008-04-14T14:59:00.000-07:00

This one will go down in history!

April 6th Ride: Last day to Pre-reg for SandBlast Rally

2008-04-06T03:38:00.000-07:00

We look forward to seeing you at our monthly ride this Sunday, April 6th at 2 PM. We will meet up and end at Beer Island in the Heights. There is a free keg at the end of the ride graciously provided by our friends at Beer Island.
Also, April 6th is the last day to pre-register for SandBlast II Rally. You can pay in $30 cash at the ride or online at www.sandblastrallytx.com . We are also offering Saturday passes for $15. Everyone is very excited about this year's rally. There are already 100 scooterists registered. It is going to be a big one!