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Top level
Scoot Culture
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Author: N/A
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Publishing date: 02.13.2003 09:29
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A Brief History of the 'Mods' and the 'Skins'.
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The ‘Mods’ (modernists) originated in England during the 1960s and were closely associated with scooters. The movement was a backlash against the greasy raucous Rockers of the ’50’s and was exemplified by clean cut Italian suits, neat haircuts and smooth soul music from Tamla Motown. The pop movement of this era was greatly influenced by the Mod fashion and bands such as The Who.
Scooters became associated with this movement because manufacturers such as Piaggio with the Vespa and Innocenti with the Lambretta were producing good-looking, affordable transport for the young men who yearned for independence and a strong identity. They were to claim the scooter as their icon and a stylish way to be seen as a ‘face’ around town, and gather at the south coast of England, all on a reasonable budget.
Customization was a big part of owning a scooter for a Mod. They added chrome accessories, lights and mirrors - the more the better.
Favourite scooters at the time were the Vespa Sportique 150 from 1961, the Vespa GS160 which followed the next year at the same time as the classic Lambretta TV175 Slimstyle, and the faster Lambretta TV200 (GT200) which appeared a year later. See the scootered.co.uk history section for more information.
More recently there was a resurgence of all things Mod - and hence a boom in the scooter market - after the release in 1979 of the cult film Quadrophenia.
The ‘Skins’ (skinheads) descended from the mod sub-culture in England. They adopted at first ska music and later on punk and have also always had close associations with scooters. Skins sadly developed a neo-fascist/racist reputation due the associations of a small but highly visible minority. Within the peaceable scootering community at large, such ‘bonehead’ Skins are not tolerated. Skins typically wear their hair short, dress in boots and braces, have many tattoos and go for cut-downs, choppers and high performance scooters, which they race hard.
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Comment List
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Tim Lowell
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03.12.2003 13:16
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I live in Taiwan and as far as I know, Taiwan has the highest ratio of scooters to citizens in the world. Why do you focus so exclusively on Europe? I drive a scooter over here and it is a very exciting means of transportation. The young people on these things (150cc max) are really skillful on the road. I have never actually seen an accident in the past six months, but they do happen with probably a fare rate of incidence. However, despite the seeming madness of the driving, inside the traffic flow it actually makes sense. There are so many scooters that the drivers have to watch for them at all times. Most exciting is evading the ancient busses that lumber down these narrow streets with murder at the wheel; I liken them to easily irritated elephants of the Serengeti. The Taiwanese have so much of their population on scooters that they seem to have many subcultures emerging from it. I will write more as i ask more questions-- and thanks for the interting articles.
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