Twist & Go magazine

I've had a quick flick through the old Twist and Go but I haven't bought a copy yet. Thing is I don't really "get into things" if you know what I mean. I ride a scooter and like to have a little look at what's about but I don't get that excited about them. As for technical bits and customising whilst its all good fun it ain't my cup of tea. Might get a copy when I go off on hols with Mrs Jenksy in a couple of weeks though for a bit of light bedtime reading (that will please her no end!). I'm the same with most things. I'm a life member of Hampshire Cricket because I like cricket but I don't get that worked up about it. I like the odd wargame with miniature figures and go to 2 or 3 shows a year, but I don't want to be in a club! The Sym forum is about the only thing I've ever "got involved" in and I do enjoy it. Nice to chat and swap stories and that and hopefully get to meet some of my fellow Symites at some point. Hope your keeping dry . I'm just finishing work and getting in the CAR to go home. If its half decent tomorrow I'll get the Symply out, it's much better fun. Have a nice weekend!

Having not been a big magazine reader i popped out an hour or so ago and picked up a copy of T&G. First thoughts were, ok it's not purely a auto scooter mag.Can imagine when it was first published they captured the market as small capacity auto bikes had a bit of a boom when fuel prices rose and the country slumped a bit.Would guess with time though the articles/write ups/ regarding purely twist and go scooters probably slowed down a bit so branching out other types of machines with smaller capacity engines was probably required to keep the publication going.

Another note is probably the UK itself.I don't think the British have yet to fully grasp the smaller bikes as an accepted way of transport, most are seen as an obstacle in the way on the road rather than a vehicle.When you consider throughout Mainland Europe weekend meet ups, ride outs (in large numbers) are seen as a normal sociable way of life and is excepted and enjoyed by many of all legal aged riders. Afraid i do not see the UK road users 'getting that' on that scale as there is just too much snobbery on UK roads.Bigger is better and my cars better than yours type attitude.

Just a thought
Cheers

housey

I think T&G also lost a few auto scooter readers when half the mag was donated to bikes. I remember there were many grumbles from readers about the inclusion of bikes at the time. Personally, I still find it a good read. I wonder if they have done a story to find out what their readers actually ride.

I also think remarks about the UK attitude are spot on. The original scooter boom in the pre-Mod days of the 1950's was completely social, as attitudes must have been different back then. Scooter clubs would meet Sunday runs, gymkhanas, navigation road trials etc. This did continue with established clubs throughout and beyond the Mod era, but I think attitudes definitely changed during the late 1960's.

I think the original T&G could have helped nurture an auto-scooter scene similar in some ways to the original 1950's clubs. The problem was auto scooter riders on machines such as SYM's or Yamaha's etc would ask for something, and the cry from some would be 'It's splitting the scene, join an established scooter club'. Only some were not really into the traditional music/fashion/custom influenced scooter scene, and many clubs would not cater for autos which were not from the Italian Piaggio or Italjet stables.

Attitudes are bad in the UK as you say, but hopefully groups like ours can help change that attitude.

I agree Housey. I suppose the readership they are trying to aim at is the two wheel commuter market and create a magazine for that. Whether this will work long term we will have to wait and see. Like I say, it would be interesting to see what the readers actual ride, and I expect the vast majority would be auto-scooterists.

As for the traditional scooter scene, like your near neighbours I was into that scene for many years and went all over the country back in the early to mid 80's attending rallies. I did get back into it for a while more recently, but despite still loving the music, I just wanted to do something different, and by this time had also developed a love of MZ's and eastern bloc iron.  I still feel there can be an active auto-scooter scene and like I said in an earlier post something possibly hailing back to the original social scooter scene of the 50's as opposed to more music/custom focused scene of latter years.

I think as an owners group and forum we will get there in the end. It will take time but there is massive potential.

I'm a subscriber. The move towards geared bikes isn't much interest to me, I spent an hour trying to master one during a CBT a few years ago but couldn't get it at all. Still like the magazine though. Does anyone remember the laughable few months when they tried to turn it into some kind of lads mag, still have nightmares about some of those "models" !!

Interestingly the T&G forum which used to be well used and interesting is a bit of a wasteland now.