While Glenn’s enterprise does rent Harleys, his real focus is something on a smaller scale than Harleys, and adjunct of Route 66 Riders and under a separate banner, by the name of Route 66 Modern Classics. That would be scooters, both the sales and rental thereof. “Our scooters are booked for two months straight,” says Glenn. “It’s mostly Italians coming to Southern California on vacation and they just have to have a scooter, because that’s what they ride at home, Rome or otherwise.”
Glenn Bartels believes in hi-conspicuity. His scooter has more lenses than a giant mutant Wolf Spider. And yes, Glenn also has bunches of Harleys. Apples and oranges, yin and yang, dogs and cats, republicans and democrats, etc., etc. At some point after these photos were snapped, a guy came in and bought the scooter including all the lightning options.
Inside Route 66 Modern Classics, located at 4161 Lincoln Blvd., a main thoroughfare slicing through the west end of L.A. along the Pacific coast, you’ll find 50’s and 60’s Vespas restored to new and some done up custom a la Quadrophenia-style, and more recently scooters equipped with sidecars so you can pack friends, groceries, Fido, whatever.
Says Glenn, “After buzzing around Rome on a friend’s vintage Vespa, I got bit by the scooter bug and fell in love with these little, Italian rolling sculptures… they have a classic, timeless shape, they make cool sounds and vibrations, they get 90 miles per gallon, and girls love ’em. What else can I say!”
Glenn got hold of a ’66 Vespa and started playing around with it, jazzing it up with new paint and found people coming into his store to look at Harley’s were attracted to the scooter and asked if they could get one for themselves. “At the point scooters weren’t even on my radar, but all of a sudden now I have people pouring in the door in need of scooters because of the gas prices so I had to find a newer style, good quality, automatic version as opposed to the vintage twist-gear set-up on the older scooters. That led me to Genuine Buddy Scooter and a Chicago company that brings them from Taiwan, Genuine owned by the company that originally made all the parts for Vespas back in the 1970s. It’s important to note that there’s big difference between scooters built in mainland China and Taiwan where the quality is definitely higher and why we chose them after considerable research. It’s our number one brand and people love them. They just came out with a new retro looking model called the Stella, a 150cc four-stroke with a 4-speed gears you shift like a motorcycle, and it goes 60mph and still gets 140 mpg. It’s also freeway legal. The Buddy scooters come in a variety of displacements from a 50cc two-stroke to 125 and the 150 cc four-stroke models. Prices range from about $2600 to $4,000.”
Asked about having one foot in the Harley world, another in scooterville, Glenn Says, “If I’m going to ride my Harley, I’m going to ride far. On the other hand, our commutes are becoming intra-city or neighborhood commutes. A scooter is my choice for those short rides and the only way to get around, the only way to park. I also found out that different kinds of chicks dig scooters, to ride on them and to ride them. And six bucks will take you 150 miles. People don’t seem to notice that gas prices are creeping back up. $4 and even $5 a gallon, I think is inevitable. And as far as our sales, our scooter customers are split 45-55 between guys and girls and anyone from 17-year olds to 75-year olds.”
While “attitude” is a major ingredient for Harley riders, scooters are stepping up in that category as well as seen on the showroom floor at Route 66 Modern Classics. Case in point, an 110cc two-stroke model called the “Rattler” that features a “fat” rear tire, a remote reservoir adjustable shock, digital instruments, front disc brake, and obvious nimbly handling. Price tag is about $2600. And yes, they do pull “wheelies.”
Scooters are definitely high on the “Go-Green” score card. Says Glenn, “Many of us won’t give up our SUV’s, but did you know that simply by switching just 10% of your annual commuting to a scooter, you can help to save 15 million gallons of fuel per day and reduce carbon dioxide emissions by as much as 325 million tons. Call that good karma.” Besides speaking the universal language of scooterese, the Route 66 Modern Classic staff is multi-lingual, for example, Leo, the shop’s Operations Manager, originally from Amsterdam speaks Dutch, German, French and English…all without any accent. It serves well since a large proportion of the rental customers that book both Harleys and scooters from the shop are from Europe. Back in the shop, Mike, the ship’s tech experts, speaks Ferrari, having been an exotic car restorer for many years and now more interested in less stressed working conditions. He fabricates custom components including melding sidecars to scooters, doubling the fun factor. Handling the vintage Lambretta scooters is Todd, while Sarah Rudoy handles scooter sales.
