By Joanne Duncan
Motor scooters -- the chic, Euro-style mini-motorcycles with the engine beneath the saddle and the step-through design -- are especially chancy. The same engine is used in Aprilia’s Atlantic 200, a supersport-style scooter that makes up in sleek futurism what it lacks in retro cachet. By the mid-1950s, according to the company, Vespas had turned up in more than 60 films. The company put Vespas in the hands of celebrities and cross-marketed with Neiman Marcus, Sharper Image, Saks Fifth Avenue and Starbucks. AdvertisementBoth the Vespa Granturismo and the Aprilia Atlantic 200 have push-button starting -- no kick starting.
