My name is Judge...

I picked up some euro vespa CDI from one of the Swoops and got a package deal...With the cdi came these cases.

Above is a picture of the small case side. You'll notice that there are gears headed into where the bearing is. Apparently there's also gears on the crank itself. So these gears grab and it spins the crank.

I was told that they were for a "kickstart engine" but after further inspection I'm wondering if its electric start.

Any thoughts? You be the judge. I'm not using the small case side, just the large one as it has the right mounting for the CDI. Last night I started breaking this engine down and adding over my components from my yellow ciao. On comparison between this CDI and the Kinetic CDI...its crazy. They're so different. I'll get photos of that soon.

Back on the Road!

During Whisky Business 3 my super ciao was running GREAT! It was the fastest its ever been. I made it through most of the long ride, but on the final stretch it started doing its strange extreme revving thing again. I pulled over and tried to figure out what was going on, but I couldn't really make sense of the extreme surge of power that was going on. I gave up waiting for chase and tried riding really slowly (since I was only a couple miles away from the end)...This however led to a soft seize...Bonerjamz. Just lost power and the engine whizzed to a stop.

The ciao has been in time out ever since. UNTIL this past weekend. I pulled it out of the basement, tightened a head bolt and an intake bolt (that were really only slightly loose) and fired it up. Runs great. No leaks. Its rich now however because of how hot and humid it is now rather than in may...But I'm not complaining. It must have just been too lean and had a tiny air leak which led it to seize. I'm just glad that I get to ride it again. Looking forward to bringing it to our weekly Wednesday night ride tonight. All of this has really reminded me however that I can't rely on this bike to be my everyday rider. It's awesome news though for sure.

Mission Peugeot 103

I realized that I need another reliable bike. After surveying the basement to see what was the "most complete" I decided to finally put the 103 together.

Yes...that's a seat belt holding on the seat. Don't ask me why...it came like that. The reed valve set up is so small. Each little hole opens up to about 8mm. Extremely limiting the bike.

At some point I'd like to put the 19mm intake on that I also got in the trade. I'd also like to toy around with the stock reed set up and see how far I can open it up and cut my own reeds. For now I'll look for a set up via treats, including a different intake. They're pretty reasonably priced. I'll probably just run a 14/12 dell for now. This will hopefully help with reliability...but then again it is French...

In other news. This happend to Mark Ryan this weekend. He seized his hobbit, took apart his engine and found this...

That straight thing in there is not a paper clip or a staple...its his cir-clip completely straightened out. SCREW THAT!

Paint by number

It's be a bit since I've updated. I've been super busy with non moped life related stuff...But about a month or so ago I went ahead and painted the frame and some fork pieces with white spray paint. I figured everyone looks at the tank anyway.

Snowstorm nose...

Best Buddies Kentucky

Painting: Phase 2 and Ciao sealed bearings

I have a few parts bikes that I'm trying to get up and running. One of which is a ciao that i got from Nate during the "French Revolution." I had some ciao wheels but i thought I'd seal up those bearings. I popped out the cup and took the wheel down to the bearing shop and found that a 6201 fit nicely.

Next I found a pipe that would work as a spacer. You need a spacer that will touch the inner races of each of the bearings. As you can see, my pipe is too long...

So you have to cut it down to size, you big dummy.

Is it getting hot in here, or is it just my crotch?

Now that my spacer is the right size, I decided to do myself a favor by packing the outside space with some shop towels. This will make it so that the spacer stays relatively in the same place when you take out the axle...which in this case will just be a bolt (pictured above).

All that's left is to pop in the bearing for the other side and wallah it's sealed.

In other news...I got my Sachs G3 tank and seat pan back from the sprayer...BLUE!!! At least there's Vespino cosmetic progress...

Whisky Business 3

I'm getting pumped. Whisky Business 3 is just about a month away. Here are some photos from last year that I just got from a coworker. He took them and then forgot to give them to me...until now.

Painting: phase 1

I got the opportunity to do some painting at the TBS ice cream factory this weekend. Most of the time was spent sanding down the frame and the fork pieces. Then it was on to the tank. TBS uses an old ice cream mixing tank for their spray area. You have to crawl in a little hole in the side of the tank (which is made out of 3 inch thick steal). The hole looks small, but you can fit a frame in relatively easily. Respirators are a MUST. You see in the video that once you get going it just turns into one huge paint cloud.



Here's everything post painting.



I used gray automotive primer. I'm going to paint the rest of them with automotive quality spray cans (since I'll be back in Louisville). I don't care too much how the frame and fork pieces look since most people don't notice them anyway. As long as they are one solid color with decent quality I'll be happy. I am however getting the tank and seat pan painted professionally for a good price. Larry the paint guy is hooking me up! More pictures to come as we progress.

A big thanks goes out to Paul for helping with the process and for the paint.

Parrrrrrrrts

So I've been at sort of a stand still on "actual" progress on the Vespino. I need to get some pretty important parts that are simply non existent in the US. I found my way over to vespino.es and was able to locate what i need. Even though at times there's a language barrier, they've been very helpful and haven't given up on me for being a stupid American who speaks little Spanish (or at least the Spanish words needed to talk about moped parts). It turns out that some of the Vespino community saw this blog and were following it on their forum! So rad! They even gave me a login which I happily accepted. They too have been a helpful resource. For now I'm finalizing my order and hope to get this put together for the upcoming riding season.

Top tank progress

Finally got the inspiration to get some more work done on the vespino. I picked up a square, steel rod at Home Depot for the crossbar and match the square frame.

Mock up and cut.

Nate gracefully welded it up. You'll notice that I also cut off the frame tabs for the gas tank. Won't be needing those.

Cut a seat post and welded it between the crossbar and frame for the tank mounts. Will have to wrap some tape on the ends to cushion it a bit more.

I had to make some adjustments when mounting because the fork tubes were hitting the tank. So I just dropped the tank back a bit creating a nice cup holder.

All together with the seat it looks like this.

Next up painting and decals.

Peugeot Test Begins

On my visit to handy bikes I came up with a very vintage Peugeotest which is supposed to diagnose those crazy electical problems (that seem to plauge the french). Here's a run down of the procedure.


Step 1. Unpack and assemble Peugeotest.











Step 2. Place lead in sparkplug boot. Attach alligator clamps to areas for testing. (metal clamp to ground, Red insular clamp to testing area)

Close up of Alligator Clamp (be careful, they bite)








Step 3. Turn on machine and count down to test...3-2-1, engage.



Step 4. Use diagram to determine if there's a problem and how to go about solving it. In this case we find out that it's the points!




Other than this, I've used it once to diagnose some vespa electrical issues. So far so good.

The French Invasion

Woah. So I traded Nate Bandit for a bunch of French that he (or I really) didn't want...but it was too much (good?) to pass up. Some of you might be asking yourselves, "huh, I thought I heard Jason blubbering about 'Italy or Die'?" And the answer is yes, I hate the French. But here's what I got anyway...

Complete Motobecane 40T
Complete Peugeot 102
Mostly Complete Peugeot 103 (missing front forks)
(Not pictured)
Garelli Eureka frame w/NOI Katika(?) engine
Fully Rigid Ciao frame
Motobecane 40T frame

All that traded for my Vespa Si. It hurts to let it go, but feels good to gain so much to sell and barter with.

I sold the 40T frame in 9 seconds on the buy sell; and the complete Moby sold today as well.

Move em' in. Move em' out.

Bandit Basement Shop Love

Thank you Santa for the new shop lights and for the new Shop Roomies who get me to clean up my space and make it more workable.
My new organized, well lit work bench.



My new fun loving basement shop mates. Lots of Bandit bike building love in 2010!