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A lone mechanic revs the engine of a red, dirt-spattered scooter as fumes pour from the muffler into every crevice of the dark garage. He reaches into the depths of the engine, checking the nuts and bolts, and twists the handlebar, a cigarette crushed beneath his boot. Meet the “Vespa Whisperer,” aka “Sweet pea.” Or you can just call him Sean Campbell.
Campbell is the co-founder, co-owner and primary mechanic of Blue Smoke Garage, an alternative-transportation repair shop that focuses on vintage scooters from the ‘50s to the present. Campbell primarily does tuneups and repairs, although the shop sells a few bikes for commission.
Scooters consume less gas and are easier to ride than motorcycles.
Most of the scooters Campbell repairs are used for transportation, although some are race bikes and one was designed for driving down mountain trails to hunt elk and javelinas.
Campbell said many people buy old scooters because it is fairly simple to install a motor that is more powerful than the one the bike came with.
“It’s not only being able to switch engines, it’s really a love for vintage styling or the vintage machine,” he said. “When I got into scootering, the vintage bikes were a lot cheaper than buying a brand new bike. I was able to work on them myself; I was able to get parts for them that were more in my budget.”
The shop is a year and a week old, and Campbell said he receives more work than he expected to get when he opened the shop. There is currently a two-week waiting list for scooter repairs.
“We are getting a lot of work from other people because they’ve had problems with the other shops, and I’m not saying any names, but the customers show up here and then they get it fixed,” shop manager James Landry said. “If anybody can get it fixed, Sean can.”
Every customer in the shop Tuesday said the reason he or she bought a scooter was because of the gas mileage the vehicles get — usually around 75 mpg. But Landry said he likes them for more than their fuel efficiency.
“They’re a lot lighter, so you can just drive like a moron sometimes,” Landry said. “Zipping in and out, I love it. I love the fact that you can toodle on UNM campus. The first time I saw it I was like ‘You can’t do that, can you? I’m not walking to class — I’m just going to park right here.’”
Landry said he has driven down the Yale Parking Structure at night, cutting corners, and the security guards don’t mind. Plus, Campbell said many people who don’t want to ride motorcycles will get a scooter because the center of gravity is lower, making it more comfortable.
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“It’s more user-friendly. A lot of people are scared of big bikes, and it’s a psychological thing mainly, but they are,” Landry said. “More people on two wheels is less congestion, and scooters, I think, are that stopgap that’s going to bring more people onto two wheels and use less gas, and that’s stuff we’ve got to start thinking about as a country.”
Landry, a UNM student studying fine arts, said he would like to open his own custom scooter shop where he will add artistic flair to bikes. He said the Japanese artist Chicara Nagata, who spends about 7500 hours handcrafting one motorcycle, is his hero. And the art is not static.
“This isn’t just a statue or a replica or anything like that; it’s a motorcycle that’s wicked fast and if you see it, you don’t even have to like motorcycles, you’re like ‘What was that?’” he said. “They’re just beauty.”
Nagata’s bikes can cost up to $1 million, but Landry said vintage bikes are still artistic and more affordable. So why buy an old bike if you can get a new one for the same amount of money?
“The thing about vintage is they’re steadily increasing in value,” Landry said. “As soon as you drive a new scooter or motorcycle off the lot, the value drops, almost by half sometimes. If you take care of a good old bike, the value only increases. New bikes are only worth less and less and less every year.”
And the “Vespa Whisperer” should be in Albuquerque for a while.
“Sean’s a great mechanic, he really is, he’s probably the best person toodling with scooters around here,” Landry said. “I’ve held up parts before in a baggie and he’s like ‘That’s for a 1969 small frame.’ I’m like ‘How do you do that?’ It’s a bolt. It looks like a bolt to me.”
