A comment from the link by Scooter Rider:
"I ride a scooter and I like them, but I know that guys who ride them look totally gay. Guys cannot ride scooters without looking like a homo. I can't afford to buy and insure a l real motorcycle, so I ride a scooter. It's great for getting around town and going to work, and I'm married so I don't need to try to impress girls. Single, young guys should not ride one unless they want everyone to think they are gay. As an aside, a lot of scooter riders think they are the cat's meow, and that's just sort of pathetic."
I know a lot of the people that jumped on this hype are predominately Asian kids from here mainly in California. I have seen Rukus meets in the North East by NYC and NJ,they too are predominately Asian.The people that usually fix these scooters are hypebeast "Asian Americans" that claim they are fashionistas by shopping in Supreme,Bape,Stussy,Neighborhood and Uniqlo. These are the guys that hop on forums, sig some Import model of 9 races mixed with dog when she looks mongoloid and wants everyone's approval for every little detail on their so called build.
Case and point:
Watch the first 20 seconds, look who rolls in together:
Notice the lack of women in this picture and the rest of the videos, COME ON SON.
Riding Away Alone
7 comments:
Okay I gotta divide this into two posts because this is gonna be a rant:
Very good point. I always thought that scooters were kind of gay looking, well atleast Vaspas. I could never see myself or any man driving around on one of those. Would I buy a Ruckus? To be honest with you, yeah I would to fuck around and drive around where there arent many people and I just wanna drive it around for fun. Now would I drive around with 10 other dudes and go to a meet like a bunch of losers? No I wouldnt. Living in NYC, i dont really see myself driving one of those around here.
Im gonna get a little off topic here but as far as the whole "asian-american" thing goes, im speaking from a complete side-line point of view when i say this: It seems like its a cultural thing. If we're talking about "hypebeasts", the majority of them are Asian. Now, I wanna say thats because of Nike's marketting and Bape which helped give rise to the whole hypebeast culture circa 2003-2005 and giving rise to all these hypebeast brands. Now that doesnt explain WHY the majority of hypebeasts in Cali are Asians (granted that also has to do with the Asian population size in So-Cal). Its just a statement as to how the hypebeast trend grew. I think the reason why a lot of asians are hypebeasts its because it gave them an opportunity to be different because at that time, all these brands had so much undeniable asian influence that it gave asian kids their time to shine and thats cool and I can respect that. However, the problem is, this whole notion of wanting to be different is no longer valid because now everyone is dressing the same. Its gotten to the point where if you go to google and you type "hypebeats" the 3rd or 4th option down reads "Hypebeast Asians". Everyone has their own stereotypical style just as europeans are known for rocking A|X, Diesel, etc and Blacks are known for wearing Al Wisam and Champion hoodies. Now, Asians have became trend stereotyped as a result of their own successful clothing/style hypebeast boom. In consequence, these kids are a carbon copy of the next. Just as "AZN"s that you see in Flushing, NYC are a carbon copy one another or as "Bro"s in Astoria are all carbon copy of one another. Its one thing if your wearing something thats a norm like wearing uptowns and timbs in NYC or chuck taylors and dickies in Cali, but its another if theres 30 of you and your all trying to impress DUDES with your gear. Lets grow up and be different and be ourselves here folks.
I give you credit for posting this because I wont be surprised if someone called you a "hater". But you wont see a better prime example of overt consumption/brand-whoring (and I would also argue lack of morality in SOME cases) than a hypebeast.
Lets look at this picture for example: http://www.upyourstyle.com/files/images/drakehypebeast.preview.jpg
Im not even going to comment on his Tiffany Dunks and his LV sunglasses or that hes standing next to drake. I love Supreme, I been wearing Supreme for a while now but when I saw that they made these hoodies with the American Flag and the Saudi Arabian Flag/Crest with the words "HIGHLY DECORATED" above it made me angry. The only people that can wear this are people who think that American Imperialist occupation in the Middle East is a good thing or war vets. Hes definitely not a war vet so hes definitely wearing it because its by Supreme. I love supreme as a brand, dont get me wrong. But If Supreme put out a shirt with a NATO logo Id burn all my Supreme shit and if I saw this kid wearing it id punch him right in his face without warning. Whats all this got to do with scooters and your post? Its that Hypebeasts dont think about things like this. They dont care about if something is right or wrong or if 100000000000 people are doing the same thing as long as they fit in! They only wanna look "cool". Thats it. Its as simple as tying your shoe laces ;-) It doesnt matter if they're riding scooters, hella-flushing a civic, or riding a fuckin skateboard. Its one big game of copy cat. Meow!
Sorry if I turned your entire post into an anti-hypebeast rant but thats just my two cents. You gave me a forum to voice myself :-P
This branched off to a topic instead of a post. I feel like I stole a blog entry from you. They are all excellent points. Every ethnic group has a certain style that the majority fashion themselves in. The bros in Astoria, the Azns in Flushing, the blacks with Wissams and so on. The whole flipping popular culture has gotten to a point where it was ridciulous with the Saudi Arabian Supreme Hoodie. That kid looks like he has never even fired a rifle or has yet to speak to a war veteran. It's cool to pretend to wear these symbols just because the tag says Supreme. At the end of the day these people will do whatever it takes to be accepted
So now I'm sexually confused because I got a moped. Does it mean I'm into s&m and a hipster?
So confused I need someone to tell me what to think and buy.
Hey those scooters are nice to look at and in countries where you need cheap transportation, that shit gots a bicycle beat.
Well I'm in America and paying $2K for a ruckus seems like A LOT for a scooter. For the same amount of money I might as well buy a motorcycle and learn to work on it and drive it.
BTW- Little off topic, but that second video with the 'Gangstarr - Mass Appeal' back round music from motormavens. Maybe they should check the lyrics before using a rap song like that for an event that wasn't so much "underground", but was more aimed towards the mainstream.
"While they be losin' the race tryin' to chase mass appeal" -Guru
I dont think having a moped or a scooter or even a ruckus makes you a hipster or a hypebeast. I think that having a moped, scooter or a ruckus and dressing a certain way, acting a certain way, hanging with certain people, and doing certain things in a collective all combined with those added characteristics make you a hipster/hypebeast. Your definitely right about cheap transportation in certain countries. I tell you now in parts of Eastern Europe gas is expensive and scooters,bikes,mopeds offer cheap transportation in warm weather as well as cheaper registration.
2K for a ruckus is expensive but thats the marketting. You have to look at the demographic who buys them and how the marketting is targeted. Its like what Mike here in his post is trying to get at, its always the same type of person riding one of these. These same hypebeasts can afford to spend 500 bucks on a shoe so im sure its no big deal to them to spend 2k on a ruckus and strap on some extra JDM tight parts/stickers and stand next to 30 other dudes in so-cal that look exactly like them all wearing fatlace gear.
I think Marko has spoken for me.
I got what you mean , thanks for posting .Woh I am happy to find this website through google. vespa scooter
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