Scooterworks
Encyclopedia
Scooterworks USA is a Chicago
-based retailer which operates through mail order and a local storefront. Its primary business is parts and accessories for motorscooters.
The company is a local dealer for Kymco
, SYM
, and Genuine Scooters
brands of motorscooters; it is a sister company of Genuine. The service facility does repairs on most makes of vintage and modern scooters. The mail order business sells parts and accessories for vintage and modern Vespa
scooters, as well as accessories and performance items for many other brands of modern scooters such as Yamaha
, Honda
, Kymco
, Malaguti
, Aprilia
, TN'G
, and Genuine.
. Piaggio
, the manufacturer of the Vespa, had left the US market in 1985, leaving a market opening to supply parts and support the scooters. The company began by buying and selling vintage Vespa scooters locally, doing repair work, and eventually publishing a black and white catalog. The mail order business proved to be very popular, and has continued to be the mainstay of the operation. Scooterworks quickly grew to be the largest scooter-based business in North America.
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
-based retailer which operates through mail order and a local storefront. Its primary business is parts and accessories for motorscooters.
The company is a local dealer for Kymco
Kymco
KYMCO KYMCO KYMCO (trade name for the Kwang Yang Motor Co, Ltd is a Taiwanese company that manufactures motor scooters, motorcycles, and ATVs for worldwide distribution. Founded in 1963, the company originally made parts for Honda. The company built its first complete scooter in 1970 and began...
, SYM
SYM Motors
SYM Sanyang Industry Co., Ltd. was founded in Taipei in 1954 by Huang Ji-Jun. The company's headquarters is established in Hsinchu, Taiwan and SYM's three major production bases are in Taiwan, China and Vietnam. The company manufactures and sells scooters, motorcycles and ATVs under the SYM brand...
, and Genuine Scooters
Genuine Scooters
The Genuine Scooter Company is a Chicago-based producer/distributor of motorscooters, most notably the Stella and Buddy models. It sells scooters and accessories through a network of over 150 dealers in the United States....
brands of motorscooters; it is a sister company of Genuine. The service facility does repairs on most makes of vintage and modern scooters. The mail order business sells parts and accessories for vintage and modern Vespa
Vespa
Vespa is an Italian brand of scooter manufactured by Piaggio. The name means wasp in Italian.The Vespa has evolved from a single model motor scooter manufactured in 1946 by Piaggio & Co. S.p.A...
scooters, as well as accessories and performance items for many other brands of modern scooters such as Yamaha
Yamaha
Yamaha may refer to:* Yamaha Corporation, a Japanese company with a wide range of products and services** Yamaha Motor Company, a Japanese motorized vehicle-producing company...
, Honda
Honda
is a Japanese public multinational corporation primarily known as a manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles.Honda has been the world's largest motorcycle manufacturer since 1959, as well as the world's largest manufacturer of internal combustion engines measured by volume, producing more than...
, Kymco
Kymco
KYMCO KYMCO KYMCO (trade name for the Kwang Yang Motor Co, Ltd is a Taiwanese company that manufactures motor scooters, motorcycles, and ATVs for worldwide distribution. Founded in 1963, the company originally made parts for Honda. The company built its first complete scooter in 1970 and began...
, Malaguti
Malaguti
Malaguti is a family-owned Italian scooter and motorcycle company based in San Lazzaro di Savena, founded by Antonino Malaguti in 1930.-History:...
, Aprilia
Aprilia
Aprilia is an Italian motorcycle company, one of the seven marques owned by Piaggio, the world's fourth largest motorcycle manufacturer.Aprilia started as a scooter manufacturer, but has more recently come to be known for its race-winning sportbikes...
, TN'G
TN'G
Formally Twist N' Go, TNG is a motor scooter brand of CMSI, an importer, assembler, and distributor in the United States with more than 150 dealers and service centers. CMSI imports motor scooter components from China, Taiwan, Japan and the U.S. It assembles and tests its products in Preston,...
, and Genuine.
History
Scooterworks was started in 1990 by Philip McCaleb, a Chicago native who had become familiar with Vespa scooters while living in EuropeEurope
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
. Piaggio
Piaggio
Piaggio based in Pontedera, Italy encompasses seven brands of scooters, motorcycles and compact commercial vehicles. As the fourth largest producer of scooters and motorcycles in the world, Piaggio produces more than 600,000 vehicles annually, with five research and development centers, more than...
, the manufacturer of the Vespa, had left the US market in 1985, leaving a market opening to supply parts and support the scooters. The company began by buying and selling vintage Vespa scooters locally, doing repair work, and eventually publishing a black and white catalog. The mail order business proved to be very popular, and has continued to be the mainstay of the operation. Scooterworks quickly grew to be the largest scooter-based business in North America.