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VULCAN SCOOTER SECT
All Over The World
Established since 1986 in France
England – Florida – Belgium – Holland – Celt – Lutece
THE OFFICIAL STORY
The Vulcan Scooter Sect : A Scooter Club apart …
50 years after its first appearance, the scooter remains a highly popular machine, ideal for getting around busy cities, it continues to appeal the young and not do young alike, as much for its practicality as for its looks. For a long time, passed over in favor of the motorcycle or the car, the motor scooter has made somewhat of a comeback over the last few year.
Recently all the major manufacturers have brought out their range of scoots : Peugeot, Honda, …etc. But nothing it seems can depose the mighty Vespa, a veritable icon, along with Lambretta, of European scooterism. The large rallies of the fifties and sixties have been succeeded by more modest events (in France !!), but one finds the same type of “aficionados “. Following the example of the English, Scooter Clubs have started to flourish in France, Spain, Germany… among them the Vulcan Scooter Sect, more as a group of friends than an official organization. Despite a certain ” Couldn’t care less ” attitude, This club has managed to put on a number of events, Scooter runs, races, evening do’s, concerts and Custom Shows… The Vulcans are not therefore unknown. Nevertheless, most people ignore the origins of the Scooter club, an unforgivable state of affairs that these few lines will attempt to put right.
The birth of the « Sect »
In 1983 a bunch of 17 years old friends (Mods & Skins) Lionel, Toth & Christopher were already involved in a scooter club “The Smart Boys SC” and all used to travelling to events together mainly in France, until Lionel went to the Isle of Wight in 83 and discovered what was called a Scooterboy ! The Club disappeared due the lack of interest from some of the members. From then, the creation of a new club was a mere formality. In December 86, with some more friends it was decided to start a new club, nothing too serious to understand. The idea was above all, to structure what already existed in order to form a basic framework.
It became possible to put on our own events, the club tags lending a certain credibility to everyone efforts. The creation of a club as such, proved to be relatively simple, after all it was only a question laying down some guidelines an deciding on the people to organize things. that said , as far as rules goes, there was nothing really to decide. Meeting invariably finished in beer and spaghettis parties, and decisions were made in an very informal way. All that had to be done, was to decide on a name and a logo.
The repeats of ” Star Trek ” were all the rage at he time, and the general consensus was for the name “Vulcan ” with, of course, the famous ” Mr. Spock ” being the best known figure. At the same time the usual tag of ” club ” was dropped in favor of ” sect “, judged more original by the various members.
The choice of the club, sorry, Sect logo
Taking inspiration from the record sleeve of French singer Gilbert Becaud, Fabien designed the first T-shirt. Only thirty examples were made up, and twenty patches, just enough for the new comers, Dzig & celine, Pascal, Fred and Laurent, all from the provinces, with Vincent and Aymard from capital. Accustomed to the English rallies, all gradually became friends. From this point on their integration into the Vulcans seemed logical to everyone. However, it is worth mentioning that the Vulcans only wanted good mates as members, with this in mind any candidate had to be approved by 80 percent of the membership. The only criterion for selection was to get along well with the others as a whole. So as the Vulcans became virtually a national club, the most motivated members soon started to organize our own French rallies.
The First Scooter Runs
Dzig, Vincent and Laurent started off with the first Perpignan scooter Run, which took place in July 87, (and again in 88, 89 and 90). The year after some of the Vulcans took part in Eurovespa in Aix-les-Bains (1988). It was a good opportunity to show off their customized vespas.
They presented some extremely varied machines, Dzig ‘s ” Excalibur “, Vincent’s ” Columbia ” and Lionel’s “Sauterelle”. Their efforts were rewarded by five trophies, an exploit which was repeated in 1989, as they left Eurovespa with three more trophies. At the same time Laurent held the first edition of the Saintes Rally “, held annually from 1989 to 1992. One has to admit that the Frenchies were really pulling out all the stops. Two rallies started up in consecutive years, was a great achievement. Even the English, despite being well catered for in Runs, rightly made the trip (more than 3OO). This also gave them the chance to discover or rediscovered the hugely photographed ” Gremlins ” scooter belonging to Lionel.
Compared to the British Rallies, the French ones weren’t quite up to scratch, with lower attendance and less activities. Despite their carefully nurtured lack of organization, the Vulcans remain an active Scooter club. At least – a handful of active members, with the rest just carried along, which doesn’t stop them using their veto when hey dislike some proposal or other. After all the right to veto needs to serve some purpose. Anyway a good organizer is one who wants to get stuck in. All though are game for a run out in France, England or indeed the four corners of Europe !
The Vulcans and the A.N.S.R.
In order to simplify things, Dzig, Vulcan member & owner of the famous « Scootermania » scooter shop in Perpignan, started up the ANSR (Association Nationale des Scooters Runs) in 1989, a French counterpart to the British NSRA. From this point on French clubs could obtain an official NSRA membership card , to facilitate access to campsites and do’s in the UK, (without mentioning reductions). The ANSR disappeared however in 1991.
The Vulcan today, The European & ” All over the World ” dimension !
We are not a 1% MC even if we have many chapters … So not without it’s problems the Vulcans has carried on its merry way. The small family has got bigger, up to fifteen members proving to the slaggers, that the club isn’t as elitist as they make out. Patches were even made up with ” Associate Member ” on them, (perhaps intended for eventual groupies – who knows !!!) And despite all that, the Vulcans appealed to the English. Alex Pease, our mate from the rallies and a grand specialist on France’s wine treasures, took the initiative to start the English Vulcans in 1991. Meanwhile Chris Newton created the US version of the Vulcan in South Florida, with the Belgium and Dutch Vulcans being created in 1995, run respectively by Alexandra Cools and Christian Dozy). From the off the English Vulcans numbered seven members, while their French namesake was down to twelve. To celebrate the worldwide spread of the club a new T-shirt was conceived (yep, its just like having a baby and almost as long). Lionel Designed a new logo where Mr. Spock lost his smart image and took on a special rally look, a bit less ” chic “, but altogether more practical (as if old pointy ears could care anyway). The Vulcans have become a club of International proportions, well perhaps that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but we did and do keep relations with English clubs, as well as with the Belgium, German, Dutch , Spain, and USA clubs. Without taking on the appearance of a multi-national, the Vulcans have enjoyed a somewhat notorious reputation in Europe, which can surprise certain members.
The last months of ’98 have seen the birth of Vulcan Scooter Sect chapter in California (Berkeley area) … In 2OOO a new chapter was formed in Brittany : Vulcan Celt SC… Whereas 2OO2 was the creation of Vulcan SC Lutece (Old Paris) with new & old blood from the Paris Scooterist Scene that wanted to be part of our family ! In 2003 a Spanish chapter was created and in 2004 some more members from the North of France join the ever growing family, while an All Girls Chapter is about to see the light ! The story goes on and is spread all over the world.
All these Vulcan Chapters « All Over The World » are alive & kicking ! They are part of the Scooter Scene & you’ll see them « All Over The World » … For the little story : have you seen these Vulcan SC Paris members riding down their scooters in Daytona Bike Week almost everey year, side by side with greasy bikers riding their Harleys !
The Paris Scooter Show & Future Objectives
One of the more recent club objectives has been to organize scooter races. Vincent helped by Eli and Joachim, both lucky enough to own a Scooter shop in Paris (Avenir Scooter – Porte d’Orleans- PARIS 14th district) got the ball rolling. From May 1992 on (ASCC – RIP – ed), it was possible to attend both scooter speed and endurance races.
October 1996 and November 1997 saw the 1st and 2nd PARIS International Scooter Custom Shows in the Paris suburb of Chaville, to celebrate the 50th anniversaries of Vespa and Lambretta respectively. These two events were sponsored by Piaggio France , Michelin France and other manufacturers and distributors of accessories and parts such as Pinasco-Fam Corot, Polini-Montuori France etc !! The attendances were good from both French and foreign clubs, with over 650 visitors in ‘98. In 1997, we noted the attendance of the custom Lambretta ” Betty Blue ” from the Nice’n’Sleazy SC Scotland, who came by road in forty-eight hours, or others from the Tribesmen SC, Vintage Motor SC in ’98, as well as the massed participation of the Scooter Club du Sud Est…
Thanks to the positive response from those scooterists present in Chaville these years, we are already working on the organization of the next edition of the Paris Scooter Show. The best thing for us was the title of 1st Continental Custom Show, voted by Scootering Magazine reader’s review in ’97… A title we’ve promised to keep alive.
In order to mark the next Millennium and the second decade of the club we want to organize a Euro-Scooter Run in the coming years so our British and all over Europe mates can rediscover the French rallies of old, like Saintes 90, and Parthenay 93… 1998, saw also the creation of support wearing by the creation of Reservoir Scooterwear, and parties organized by Los Gringos.
The Vulcan is Electronic on the web … ready for the new 2000 Millennium
The Vulcan Scooter Secte France has now the chance to have his own website, created by our webmaster and Grand Guru Mr. Toth. The French website displays all info concerning the club, rallies & others events calendar, useful links for example with Vulcans in Florida, Holland, Spain…. We also reports events like Scooter Rallies, Custom Show, various Rides out or Photo/video shootage. There’s also a Guestbook where many web surfer & friends can give their impressions about our site & club. Faster than a real scooter, the web is illogically, as would have said Mr. Spoke, the way to enter the new 2000 Millennium.
The Resume
Since 1986, the assessment is, all things considered, a positive one. Some members have obviously gone their own way, but what the hell, the Vulcans have remained a group of mates determined to carry on in a committed way. in France the majority of the active members are in France (Lionel, Vincent, Toth, Olivier, David, Thierry, Jeff, Riquet, Raphael, Bruno, Cedric, Toth, Stoggie, Mimi, Fabrice, Stephane, J-Sex, Jerome, David, Nicolas, Christophe, etc). The attendance is not perhaps as regular as at the very beginning for the old guard members, but all are always willing to make an effort to come to a party. Whatever the Rally, Do or event, you can be sure that one of the members is there somewhere. It’s this, in part, that explains the success of the club. Its hard to find a more passionate lot. For some scooter plays a predominant role, where as for others, it has become more of a hobby than an activity of prime importance. But all this works together. The indifference of some compensates for the sometimes excessive attitude of others.
Written by Marie-Pierre « Mimi » ( for Magnetik’Scooter 1992 )
Updated by Olivier « Support your local Gringo » in 2002 and in 2004 by Lionel & Toth
