Bobb Todd edges ahead on his C70 - complete with slow moving vehicle sign.

The Mad Bastard Scooter Rally started as all good things start, late at night over several bottles of fine Scotch. Back in 2004, CMG Grand Fromage, Editor 'Arris and staff photographer Mr Seck had the problem of trying to work out what to do with a long term Honda Ruckus that they had manage to snag from Honda Canada for the summer.

It's a fifty scooter, what can you do other than ride around town and pick up groceries? The best of a bottle of Laphroaig later and the idea of a long distance ride was hatched. "Another dram Mr Seck?" and with that a long non-stop ride was conceived. "Shame to put the rest of this bottle away, another Mr. Harris?" and we now had a route around Lake Ontario that just so happened to tally up to about 850 km. The first ever Mad Bastard Scooter Rally had been born.

Costa Mouzouris departs at dawn on his Motobecane. Sadly he didn't get far from the parking lot before mechanical problems forced him out of the Rally.

Accompanied by Iron Butter (as in arse, not shaken cow's milk) Bobb Todd, like (twisted) minded Gary Davidson and another guy who heard about the rally on CMG and thought he'd give it a go, we set off at the break of day, heading east to the border crossing at Kingston. I won't go into the details here and now, 'cause you can read all about it below, but about 22 hours later we got back to where we started and had just completed the inaugural Mad Bastard Rally.

The following year we did it again but this time with an organized hotel and a Yamaha scooter up for grabs as the main prize. Realizing that this was going to only get bigger, we decided to make it an every two year event (the odd ones of course) and in 2007 changed the route to start out of Belleville, Ontario and loop up to Ottawa and back.

Although this is all now history, we've covered each an every rally in the pages of CMG and had some outside coverage to boot. Following is a breakdown of all the write ups so that you can relive or just plain laugh at the madness that has gone before us ...

MBSR 2004

'Arris assumes the position ...

Rally write up (CMG Online)

The original Mad Bastard Scooter Rally with a ride around Lake Ontario. I think we had about five people, but it was epic none the less.

One was a journo from an Ontario motorcycle magazine but he didn't finish and the mag went tits up soon after. You'll have to be happy with just the CMG write up!

MBSR 2005
 

Clown suit gets extra points in 2005.

A year later we tried it again, this time with a sponsor and a new Yamaha scooter up for grabs. Turn out was up to around 20, but the route remained the same.

Rally Write up (CMG Online)

Editor 'Arris' take.

"Canadians Gone Wild, 2005 Mad Bastard Scooter Rally" (Gus Breiland, Minnesota Motorcycle Monthly)

Gus was one of the Mad Bastards of '05. Here's his account of all things mad.

"Mad Dogs and Scooters" (Mark Richardson, Toronto Star)

Mark Richardson, the editor of the Wheels section of the Toronto Star, was also committed to the '05 rally ...

MBSR 2007
 

After the 2005 rally we realized that we'd have to make this a once very two years event in order to be able to devout the time it needs to do it properly. 2007, was the best turn out to date with over 50 entries – some of which were truly mad!

Early morning send offs in Belleville in 2007.

Rally Write up (CMG Online)

Editor 'Arris gives the administrators take on the event

In Pictures (CMG Online)

The best of the submitted pics 

660 at 60 (PDF download courtesy of Inside Motorcycles magazine)

Hobie Post takes his classic Vespa 125EX through the rigours of the Mad Bastard.

Going the Distance (PDF download courtesy of Cycle Canada magazine)

The once Editor of Cycle Canada, Costa Mouzouris, is a Mad Bastard fan. In his first attempt he hardly made it out of the parking lot before his aging Motobecane broke down. Thankfully for 2007, he does most of the rally and has a great story to tell as a result.

800 km on 49 cc – are you mad? (Wheels.ca)

2005 rally winner and editor of the Toronto Star Wheels section, Mark Richardson, tries to retain his title as maddest bastard of them all.  

MBSR 2009
 

It just seems to get bigger and better. In 2009 we took the rally to Gatineau, Quebec and devised the most rural route to date. Everyone loved this sell-out event (save for maybe a couple who wiped out on the gravel section ...) with 75 riders leaving the start.

Lots of turtles came out to cheer on the scoots!

Mad Bastard Scooter Rally 2009 - behind the curtain (CMG Online)

Editor 'Arris give his account of all the fun and games that happened at MBSR HQ.

Mad Bastard 2009 – a rider's perspective (CMG Online)

Rider Jamie Leonard tells of his tale of woe as he tries to get up some big hills on his Tomos moped.

In Pictures (CMG Online)

The best of all the submitted pics - downloadable from Smugmug.

When good scooters go mad (Wheels.ca)

Toronto Star scooter columnist Andrew Meeson recounts his adventure alongside 05 rally winner Mark Richardson.

Dirty Girls ride report (dirtygirlmotorracing.com)

Andrea Goodman of Team Dirty Girls on Hondas does a ride report on their rally. Mhhh, dirty girls ....