Calgary Vespa enthusiasts join nationwide 70th anniversary celebration with group ride

The often underestimated Vespa turns 70 this year, and Calgary aficionados of the Italian motorbike will join all of Canada in a simultaneous anniversary celebration. 

Vespa riders in Ottawa, Montreal, Halifax and other major Canadian cities will embark on a 70-km ride through their respective cities, beginning at 10:30 MT Saturday.

Calgary's leisurely group ride will end with a shared meal at an Italian restaurant.

"The whole point of this ride is to break away from all the clubs and stuff and just get Vespa riders out together, enjoying themselves and get the opportunity to admire each other's bikes as well," said Darren Ward, Calgary organizer.

The history of the Vespa

The original Vespa emerged after the Second World War, when the Italian Piaggio factory that supplied Italy's bomber aircraft was forced to cease its fighter plane manufacturing.

An aeronautical engineer named Corradinio D'Ascanio was working on a solution to get the Italian population mobile at the time, and sold his design to Piaggio. 

"One of the original designers was actually a helicopter designer, which is why the Vespa has some fairly unusual engineering behind it, compared to most bikes," Ward told CBC's The Homestretch.

"It uses a lot of aerospace type technologly, surprisingly, for what is considered a low-tech bike."

'A slight obsession'

Ward bought his first Vespa in the mid-'80s and has been riding and collecting the unique bikes ever since. 

His Vespa 50 special was "painfully slow, but it was freedom and transport for me back in those days," he said.

His collection has since grown to include eight of the Italian bikes, two of which are art pieces displayed in his home. 

"It becomes more than a hobby. It becomes almost a slight obsession after a while," he said. 

His current model of choice is the GTS 300.

"It's my high-speed commuting bike that I use and abuse down the highways of Calgary," he said.

His older vintage ones are leisure bikes. "They keep me occupied in the workshop, trying to keep them running and maintained," he said.

'Hugely economical'

Collector's appeal aside, the Vespa is an amazingly practical mode of transportation, despite being "very much a love or hate type of thing," Ward said.

"I go to work in a suit. I can do that on a Vespa. I couldn't do that on a motorbike."

"They're easy to park, A little Vespa will just tuck in anywhere," he said.

"On the environmental side, they're hugely economical. I spend probably $5 a week on fuel, whereas if I go in my car, the same journey's probably costing $50 a week on fuel."

The Calgary ride begins at 10:30 a.m. at Rosso Coffee Roasters in the southeast and ends at approximately 1:30 p.m. at Nicastro's Pub in the northeast.

With files from Tracy Fuller and The Homestretch