Modern Vespa

but IMHO, these are very nice....

Normally I don't like a scooter that's soooooo different... but these are sooooo incredibly different, it's hard not to stare at them anyway. 8) What make and model are those scoots? I know I've seen the photo of th one with red seats before, somewhere.

Rumi Formichino

"Reflect" is an interesting choice of words!

I thought an all chrome painted scooter would look pretty cool until I saw one here on Tortola. To me, it just makes an otherwise cool scooter look cheap. Sorry, but I don't care for the look. Nice scooters though!

If the sun was to reflect of that thing at just the wrong moment, there could be a hell of a wreck. But, all in all, I kind of like it.

personally, i think it is the ugliest scooter i've ever seen, ever. it's just awful. i'm making a blech face right now. cheers for posting it

That looks like a mirror crossed with a HD motorbike and then crashed into a vintage Vespa of some sort.

It's actually quite an ingenious bike.

It's a Rumi Formichino ( formichino means "little Ant" in italian... likely because some ants release formic acid when they bite you, blah blah )

Anyways, this particular one is owned by a dude in So Cal, and is a one of a kind Rumi. They were normally twin cylinder engines ( pretty odd in scooters )... i think this one is a 150cc engine, where most were 125cc. This one is a prototype for the new engine they were going to put out ...that's why it's polished / chromed everywhere. Normally they were painted. They go like a bat out of hell, though.

Also, IIRC, the motor is part of the actual structural assembly of the frame. It's got a front section, which is bolted to the engine, which is bolted to the back section. Something like that - i can't remember... but it's a pretty awesome bike all the way around.

I dont' know what's not to like - i think it's completely kickass.


There's an odd amount of them in South America for some reason... they're very rare regardless.

Love the Rumi. Love love love it. Thanks for posting.

Great description, which means it would be called - Art, but not an Art style for me.

I LOVE IT!

This is what they usually look like. ( a normal 125cc rumi formichino )

It looks better with a regular paint job.

There seems to be little 'middle ground' on this one, LOL. As I stated earlier, I like it, and would call it 'oddly attractive'.

Here's a few more shots of painted specimens from my Ginormous archive of interesting stuff....





For the Vespa 'hyperbling' lovers out there, there's always this...(Though that Italian tri-color one to it's right is very very nice)



And thanks to Rover Eric for adding some history to the first scooter and riding to the defense of the unique little bike in general.

now that, i can live with. it's not the bike per se that i object to, it's the all-over chrome. all that reflectivity doesn't show off the shape of the scooter to its best advantage - it looks weirdly amorphous and top-heavy. i'm just not a great fan of chrome, i'm afraid.

Reminds me of the Tin Man from the Wizard Of Oz.

I could enjoy that bike muchly.
I would treat it kindly.

Agreed, the painted versions are much more attractive. The whitewalls on the blue one rock!

.... and i just now got the pun in the title

More pictures

This one's supposed to have been restored to original condition & color in Italy:


This is supposed to be a racer, doing around 100 mph on one:

OMG I love that blinged out Vespa. I want one of those!

I generally like anything truly unique, if it's done well. I think they're beautiful, chromed and painted alike.

Well the chrome one looks like something out of a Terminator movie, just add a red headlamp...

But the painted ones are weirdly alluring...
Sort of like what would happen if a motorcycle marries a scooter and had a kid.

I saw one like this as well as GOLD metallic when I was in Puerto Rico. I never had a camera when I ran into them though. The gold one was a modern maxi

Thanks for posting the picture, and thanks to Rover Ric for letting us know what the heck these things are. They are unique looking and because of that I like the way they look!! I hope to see that one from SO-Cal someday in person.!!!

T5bitsa69's worst nightmare.

First I would like to say hello to this forum, I'm new here.

I saw that this topic is about the beautiful classic scooter Rumi Formichino. I'm the proud owner of one of this little scooter, and I just wanted to show you it here.



I don't have any Vespa, classic or modern, but I like them, who knows, perhaps one of these days

If you feel like to see more photos of my little beauty, you can see it here [url]www.formichino.com[/url]

Sorry for my bad English, this is not my native language.

Lovely, the white looks so crisp.

They are great - I have seen two in the flesh as it were. Fast, I think because the body is aluminium.

The original sports scooter!

i think that they are beautiful. i think that the chrome one is absolutely amazing too.

but... i have no desire to own an oddscoot. sourcing parts would be a bitch.

Yes, the body is cast aluminum, and depend which model, can be really fast. Same base of engine (two-cylinder, two-stroke 125cc) was installed in many models of RUMI, but with different between them. Some of the Rumi motorbikes was really fast. Yes, the chrome one is beautiful, the chrome with red seats (online are many photos) is from a guys "Mario" from US, he made an amazing job with his scooter, is amazing.

Yes, sometimes find spares for this bike is not easy, specially in US, in Europe and Argentina is easier that US, but also a bit complicated.

Gorgeous. Really like the white!

Don't know if I'll ever see one of these in person, but I'd like to.

There's something futuristically prescient about the design and how it combines aspects of a traditional scooter and a motorcycle. It straddles or challenges many definitions of both (which was recently discussed in some thread here...). Motorcycle: tank is in front, higher than seat; forward engine. Scooter: step-through design; floorboards; small wheels. It's clearly both and neither!

Either way, it's beautiful.

We drew an actual owner to the forum.  Excellent!    Welcome to MV!

The chrome pictures are all gone from photobucket apparently (and thankfully, I think), but the painted models are beautiful.  I especially like the orange color posted by Rover Eric.

There are pics of the chrome one up here:
http://www.southbayscooterclub.com/sbsc/membersbikes/mrumi/mrumi.html

This belongs to Mario from South Bay Scooter Club; he's already a member here, GRX Scooter. I'll shoot him a message about this thread.

That chrome one looks like Mario's.
erich

This belongs to South Bay sc Mario aka GRX.

The original poster removed the photo.

I love it, especially the chrome one.

Oh my gawd, it's so good looking

Thanks
One of the most amazing things that this scooter has is the sound, it's really amazing, to me it sound like a 125cc motocross 2T motorbike. The sound is very characteristic on Rumis, everybody love it. Thanks you for your welcome

Yes lostboy, I'm trying to join all Rumi lovers in the world and have a place to talk online. Bit a bit the forum is working, there are people from everywhere. We are not many user like in this huge Vespa community online, but also the numbers of Rumi in the world is not very high. Anyway we are a few members and we are finally knowing and helping each other. If you want to have a look:
http://www.formichino.com

This is another photo of my Formichino.

Welcome and enjoy this site, weve enjoyed looking at your scoot.


Ride Safe

manny

Wow - I love it. Beautiful.

Thanks snapshot05 for the welcome, I'm glad that you are enjoying my little scoot. Me too Kam, me too, I'm crazy for this beauty, actually some kind of RUMI virus is inside me and now I'm thinking to buy another


Here another photo of my scoot