Vespa or Lambretta  

"Iamagine how very cool you...
"Iamagine how very cool you would look , and you could consider yourself a real mod"
Looking cool is such a funny idea. What is this need to be identified with something? A mod? I don't want to consider myself a "real" mod. Design is for humans ... not mods. I would like to consider myself a real human, which automatically squelches the need to be identified as anything further.

which brings me to this
Where exactly did this "mod" title come into play.? It would seem it's simply a nickname for modern (as in architecture + design) but it seems to be a false assumption.
I mean, do you really think that Pete Townsend or Ray Davies gave a damn about Craig Elwood and Richard Neutra? I don't think so, plus didn't this title popularize in the 60s when modern design had not only already been established in popular culture ... but had begun to be moved passed into the realm of postmodernism?
Where did the bulls-eye wearing, moptop adorned vespa mods get their title?
It's funny because several years ago the kids my age (yes, I'm in my mid 20s) tried to revamp the mod thing. I found it pretty funny. To me, this "mod" thing is inferior to the (assumed) originating source (modernism). Yet none of them know about modernism in regards to design. It seemed like a buzz word that no one knew the definition.
Perhaps I am wrong about "mod" and it was an absolutely important movement ... convince me. It seems it was just another fad (the antithesis of modern).

Didn't
When I asked the question about the vintage scooter designs I wasn't looking for a debate about the mods.I was asking if anyone had views on the design of these differing brands.These scooters are 20th design icons ,and thought maybe people would have design relate views towards the to brands.I did obtain a wonderful response ,and very much appreciate the view.However; I was trying to avoid a rumble on the beaches of Brighton.

In two-wheeled vehicles where you ride determines everything...
If you ride in places with widely varying traction at speeds over 20 mph (most places), most persons eventually go down.
I went down three times on exceptionally well designed motorcycles over ten years of riding--once stopping on sand/gravel I couldn't see, once on gravel I could see, because antilock brakes started pulsing, and once braking on oil coming up through pavement on a 95F degree day--oil that looked no different than all the other oil I had seen that day. I was riding between 5 and 50 mph in these three cases.
I love motorcycles. I love scooters. I love bicycles. Anything with two wheels I love. I was a safe, responsible and well-trained rider. But there's just nothing most persons can do about the tendancy of two-wheeled vehicles to fall over in low traction conditions.
There are a few persons who never fall on two-wheeled vehicles, just as there are a few persons who don't get cancer when exposed to high levels of toxic substances. We can learn increments from both, but for the most part, we can't expect the vast majority of persons to learn how to stay up ALL the time, or learn how to tolerate high exposure to toxics.
Until standards require traction control and gyroscopes, or something comparable, two-wheeled vehicles are risky. And it doesn't matter what else is on the road (though riding with high speed vehicles weighing vastly more than you certainly worsens the risk of riding two wheeled vehicles).

In two-wheeled vehicles where you ride determines everything...
If you ride in places with widely varying traction at speeds over 20 mph (most places), most persons eventually go down.
I went down three times on exceptionally well designed motorcycles over ten years of riding--once stopping on sand/gravel I couldn't see, once on gravel I could see, because antilock brakes started pulsing, and once braking on oil coming up through pavement on a 95F degree day--oil that looked no different than all the other oil I had seen that day. I was riding between 5 and 50 mph in these three cases.
I love motorcycles. I love scooters. I love bicycles. Anything with two wheels I love. I was a safe, responsible and well-trained rider. But there's just nothing most persons can do about the tendancy of two-wheeled vehicles to fall over in low traction conditions.
There are a few persons who never fall on two-wheeled vehicles, just as there are a few persons who don't get cancer when exposed to high levels of toxic substances. We can learn increments from both, but for the most part, we can't expect the vast majority of persons to learn how to stay up ALL the time, or learn how to tolerate high exposure to toxics.
Until standards require traction control and gyroscopes, or something comparable, two-wheeled vehicles are risky. And it doesn't matter what else is on the road (though riding with high speed vehicles weighing vastly more than you certainly worsens the risk of riding two wheeled vehicles).

i don't want to get into...
i don't want to get into the middle of DCWilsons manifestos.
I would not want to stop that boy when he is at the key board!!!
But mod started right there in London
on Caraby street in the 1960's during
The days of John, Paul, George and Ringo.
they were the first to be called mod,
by the British Press, in the clothes that they wore. That started a new Revelation in Fashion the MOD look.

vespa accessories
Can across these bits and pieces when i was at maison et objet in Paris this year. I love the desk lamp and they have proven very popular with our customers
http://www.forme.it/vespa/PDF_catalogo/PEZZI_STOR.pdf

To look cool or Mod
To paraphrase Clint Eastwood regarding risking death to look Mod. "Dead's a helluva price to pay for looking stylish" As to the 405 at 4:30, the reality is that would be the one place you would actually be safest on a scooter. All the traffic is going the same direction (north or south) and it's all moving at about 6 to 13 miles an hour at best. Plus you have the added benefit of not having any vehicles coming at you from the side through intersections and getting steamrollered. Or as in the case of that kid on the Honda scooter on city streets, it was "Man down, Man down and he isn't getting back up again."

Dead is not Mod.
Hey I'm all for live and let live, but to paraphrase Clint Eastwood: "Dead's a Helluva price to pay for being stylish" Statistically 3 out of 4 operators of motorcycles and scooters will get into some form of mishap on one of these devices and fully 100 percent of those 3 out 4 will carry a permanent reminder of that mishap, be it a scar, a limp or 6 feet of grass above them. I guess I hold some bias against these machines as my best frien was killed in '76 on an old Kawasaki. And as previously mentioned I saw a kid get creamed in LA a few years back, in fact it was more like "Man down, man down for good" They could have literally used a mop to clean this individual from the road. To; LRF, the 405 is actually safer for a scooter at 4:30. Traffic is moving at that hour at about 8 miles an hour and one would not have to worry about someone running a red light and broadsiding you, so you could probably make pretty good time, it's once you got off your exit and onto city streets where you'd need to worry. All of that said, It would be a much cooler world though, if everybody were on scooters and micro compact cars, better gas mileage all around and less pure "Bulk" on the roads, blocking the views of great modern architecture that line the roadways in my utopian modern fantasy.

look at that video that...
look at that video that mary ann provided that was a typical Ass on motor bike going 100 mph. for the life of me i could never understand why some dumb teen had to try to break a land speed record on a motor bike . and try to loose his life, what is he/she trying to prove ?
My bother the doctor tells me every time he sees a idiot speeding down the highway on a motor cycle he calls them kidney doners. on a murder cycle .

I see your point.
I see your point as to the safety aspect ,and the dangers involve.However; as to the video these are some pretty skilled kids it would take quite a bit of engineering know how to make a small frame Vespa do 100mph!!