$10 moped

What does a $10 moped look like? Well it looks like this...

In other words, it looks like a Kinetic Magnum held together with zip ties and bungee cords with an extra Puch E-50 strapped to it.

Oh and it also came with a box of random parts... Sort of random, but I ran into someone who used to ride mopeds who no longer does and they sold me this for $10. The engine turns over just fine, and if you didn't notice, its a variated Kinetic. Didn't know these existed. It's literally in pieces, so i'll have to put the whole thing together, but its in relatively good shape. The paint is good, the seat is pristine...in light of my recent accident, It might just be getting my old ciao setup...When I find the time that is...

Yellow Ciao...R.I.P.

Its with great sadness that I report that my humble, reliable yellow ciao has been destroyed. Late Monday night (early Tuesday morning) Elliot, Raymond and I went for a late night ride and none of our bikes returned...What started as an amazing ride ended in tragedy. Our last leg was to go up a large hill in Iroquois park to see the Louisville skyline. There is a gate for this road, which was thankfully open. Unfortunately this road is not intended to be used after dusk and so there were no street lamps. As we gained confidence by our tiny headlights we began to go faster and faster. And then it happened... Elliot was riding in front of me when I heard this loud POP! I saw his head light quickly point down. All I had time to think about was "what happened to Elliot" before I too wrecked; and Raymond behind me. I felt the impact on my shoulder and helmet (thank God we were all wearing them). At that point time had stopped. It was pitch black and as my senses started to return, all I could hear was the moaning of my compatriots laying on the pavement around me. While the gate was open, there was a downed tree covering the length of the road. We each hit the tree going somewhere between 30-35 mph. I flew the farthest (I won the moped rider throwing contest). I tried standing up but found myself lying down. As I stared up at the sky I realized that I was "spacing out" and in fact had passed out for a moment. I sat up and made Elliot keep talking to me. I was "out of it" but apparently "with it" enough that I directly Elliot in how to put my arm into a sling. The pain was excruciating. Nate Bandit came to the rescue and rushed me to the ER with what he thought was a broken collar bone. After waiting a while, the x-rays came back negative. I am lucky to walk away with only a sprained shoulder. It's still very sore and painful, although I regain some movement every day. Thankfully we were all wearing helmets and no one was seriously hurt. All of our bikes are toast (at least the forks and front wheels). My yellow ciao however (i am told) might be unrepairable. They aren't made from that great of material anyways. Here are the photos Nate took of the bikes in the back of his truck.

check out my front wheel...

How'd you break your moped?

So I got a sweet deal on a fully loaded grande; malossi hit, carb, pipe, variator...the guy I bought it from had been having trouble with it and when drill starting it, sucked the decomp into the engine. Apparently it wasn't put together correctly and shot into the cylinder. I knew that this wouldn't have caused much problems because it can't get passed the piston. I tried convincing him to keep the bike and that it was fine, but he insisted that he wanted to sell it. So i jumped on it at a unbelievable good price. The decomp situation should have been an omen... I took the engine apart and the first thing I noticed was that HE DIDN'T PUT ANY CIRCLIPS ON THE PISTON!!! WTF!!! Did he just forget? Did he think they weren't necessary? Who knows...sure enough on inspection of the cylinder there is a nice mark left by the piston pin.

It's not scored that badly and isn't raised. So other than a slight loss of compression, it should still run. Wheh! And then we get to the crank...notice anything wrong here?

let's give you a close up...

WHAAATTT??? That's right...you're looking at A BOLT that was WELDED on the crank. The crank must have been broken in the past and the "fix" was to just weld a bolt upside down in there. Unfortunately the crank is hardened and so the weld isn't actually welded. It's only a matter of time before it just breaks off. Other minor issues of note: no case gasket...just slathered some indian head on there...nuts for the front wheel were finger loose as well as the front fender... All in all however I'm getting this thing tightened up and rebuilt. Should be another reliably fast bike (fingers crossed)

almost...

A few weeks back Nichols helped me with the vespino. This thing has been such a pain in the ass...we worked it down to a possible problem with the decomp. The design of this bike is annoying at times (most times) because just to check the head you have to take so much of the bike apart...the engine is tucked up in there. So we used we used a car lift to hold the front of the bike up.
Unnecessary, yes...makes the job easier...yes. When we took the head off to inspect it, here's what we found...
Brand new metrakit head with a chunk missing from the decomp area. There's no way that the decomp will seal properly with that. We tapped the decomp hole and threaded in a bolt with JB weld to seal it up. I took it down the street and instantly it started right up. Unfortunately it had very little gas and I forgot the tank key at my garage...woof. A day or so later I got it doing wheelies UPHILL down my alley. Excitedly I rode it to moped Wednesday...it was running fine until about 3 blocks from the Monkey Wrench; it just slowly died. Soft seize? Nope. Compression still good? Yep. Turns out it was the bike lever cable that I installed. The cable came loose from the housing. Yesterday I replaced the cable housing and still no dice...vespino time out...again...

way cooler than mopeds...

real life

WB4 Teaser

hijinx

Still little progress on the vespino build as life seems so crazy lately. But I am finding time to hang out with bandits...just not working on bikes. The bandits have an EPIC 4th of July celebration every year with home made fireworks (bombs), etc. this year however, Kentucky law changed and we had access to all the fun things that we used to have to drive to Indiana to get. Here's a great idea for using full face helmets for something other than they were designed for:



Notice that Sean thought he'd cheat by using 2 roman candles...but he got what was coming to him. karma ladies and gents...karma...

life through the lens...

Experiments in analog photography thanks to the Diana Mini...

Holy Hole...and Peter's Piper...

The other day I was helping my friend Michael do some case matching for his Grande and dremeling we discovered a cavern in the his cases.

It's just some sort of casting flaw...I guess It'll be OK and we'll just have to smooth the transition into the case. Unfortunately he also blew through the wall of the cases and will have to add some aluminum and continue matching. Bonerjamz!

Also, a local moped dude named Damon bought a rare pipe from Italy.



I'd heard that the gianelli pipes were pretty sweet. So far the reports I get from him are that he really likes the pipe...although I haven't seen it yet myself. He's trying to keep his ciao stock and I'd like to think that this pipe is meant for something so much more...

Vespino the international moped of mystery...

Sometimes when you get frustrated with mopeds you just have to put them in "time out" for a little while..I'm just starting to get back into tearing into the vespino. After losing compression while going over the bridge, i was hoping that i just blew a gasket. After checking the head and cylinder however, the gaskets are still complete and brand new. my next thought was that maybe i blew a seal...but when inspecting the seal on the stator side it too looked to be in good shape. hmmmm. right now...
Marshal suggested that maybe I have a decomp issue. My decomp is not hooked up, but i guess it could have worn out (so was an issue he had with a moby head)... While I'm not convinced this is the case...I'm really taking any and all suggestions. The plan right now is to get it all put back together and run a compression tester (which is honestly what i should have done before tearing it all apart again)...Then proceed from there. Any thoughts out there?

More posts unrelated to mopeds: The Volvo Army

So I decided to put some regular maintenance into my Volvo so that I can hopefully have it for another couple years. I wasn't raised to work on cars and that's sort of why I got into mopeds. Mopeds just seemed like an easy way to get my hands dirty and pick up a little bit of mechanical knowledge. Now I can translate what I know about mopeds into figuring out issues with my car. First, I changed the spark plugs, distributor cap and wires. I also changed the oil and filter (ashamedly the first time I'd done that at home instead of just taking it to a garage). But the big fix involved my rear brakes. Nate Bandit noticed that there was a lot of rust on my aluminum rims...which didn't really make sense. With a closer inspection we found a huge problem...This is was your rear rotors are supposed to look like:

And this is what mine looked like...

COMPLETELY SEPARATED!!! The inner part of the "ring" was sharp enough to cut your finger. We found this out after we tried throwing them around the yard like Xena Warrior Princess. Needless to say I replaced both the rear rotors and brake pads as well. It's amazing how different it feels to brake with four brakes instead of just the front two.

Rain, Rain, Go Away...what to work on when you can't work on a moped...

So with all this rain we've been having I've been unable or unwilling to work on mopeds...why work on a moped you can't subsequently take out for a test ride? I went to to the garage to hang out anyway to find the lawn had turned into a swamp.

Thankfully I was able to back in and still work on my garden. Since I'm at an apartment in Old Louisville now, I don't have a whole lot of yard space. I opted for doing everything in pots. The lady at Lowe's suggested I use paint buckets for my tomatoes and I'm so glad I did. I drilled about 5 holes in the bottom for drainage and planted away. I'm growing two different varieties of tomatoes, green peppers, spinach, basil, and a few varieties of lettuce. I also started jalepenos, cilantro, and more basil.

Mullberry...Bandits...I love you...

Thanks Gabe for putting this video together from the most recent Mullberry hangout. More footage of the vespino (when it was running)...

What a great time.

The Vespino Aquatic...

I finally got my decals for the Vespino and I have to say that they really set the bike off...


Here's a shout out!

I'm off for spring break this week (first time in 6 years) and have been enjoying my time over at the garage. Jshay and Sean came over for some afternoon grillin. We made some nice eats.

Here's the boys comparing...meat swords...

Here's Sean working on his batavus...why anyone would want a batavus is beyond me...

In other vespino news...I have been unable to get the bike to run consistently. I don't know what the problem is. It will start easily and rip up and down the street...then the next time I go to start it, it takes FOREVER! I don't get it. I finally had it running to where I was happy enough to try and ride it to moped Wednesday. Unfortunately, I never made it all the way across the 2nd street bridge.

My bike just cut out and whirred to a stop about half way across...When I tried starting it again, It was obvious that I lost some form of compression...Soft seize? Blow a seal? Gasket? Who knows. My theory is that the problem involves the cool air coming off the river and all the wind blowing into my forward facing carb...Back to the fucking drawing board. Woof!

Crazy Vespino Videos

Well it didn't take long before I found these gems...
Wheelie

MORE WHEELIE!

Two engines

THREE ENGINES!

Dia de Los Vespino pt. 2

Here's the video that gabe put together from Saturday. Bear with the long drill start intro...

Here's some more photos from the day that I stole from Gabe's blog

Gettin' my hair did..THANKS MAGS!.

In bummer news, while cleaning out the rear wheel hub to hopefully improve my rear brakes, I noticed this...

A cracked mag! It's cracked almost halfway through. Here's a close up...

What a freaking bummer. Now I'm trying to source a new wheel. I know that I can get one from Spain, but I have a small lead on one in the US (strangely enough). Fingers crossed...The other option however is to try and weld this one back together. I'm told by Francesc from vespino.es that I can "solder weld aluminum" or so that's what google translate tells me he says. I'll have to look into that option as well.

Dia de Los Vespino pt.1

This weekend was full of cooking out, drinking beer, playing lawn games riding and wrenching on mopeds. Here's Sean and Neal playing ladder golf.

The most exciting news however was that I worked out the ignition problems in the Vespino! While checking for spark we noticed that it was sort of weak and orange in color. By Responsible John's recommendation I tried to adjust the coils a little bit so that they would run a little closer to the inside of the flywheel. After adjusting and readjusting I got them set just a little closer. We also used an existing timing mark on the stator and lined it up with the edge of one of the bolt holes. You can see the timing mark by the right screw...

This was a stab in the dark that paid off because the bike fired right up! I got to ride it down the street a little bit. The Metrakit seems like it has some good potential and feels a lot like the Puch kits. The circuit pipe that I have didn't really let me get up too fast (nor does the 14/12 carb). I still have a lot of tuning to do. Gabe took some video of the maiden voyage which he's editing together and I'll post up soon.

I still have issues however. The rear clutch is constantly engaged and kills the bike when trying to idle. After taking the clutch bell apart, reviewing diagrams, etc. I had an idea. Nate and Mark thought that I was missing a piece that holds the start clutch arms together mostly due to this image...

This photo makes it look like there's a piece that the little arms connect with...But I really dont't think there's anything missing.

Here's my take on the Vespino clutch:
1. It's a poorly designed system. It has two little spring like tabs that force the clutch out inside of the bell.
(picture from vespino.es)
2. It works as a "slip clutch". It's always engaged, but when the bike slows its allowed to slip backwards as the clutch bell spins. This means that when you try to push the bike forward its engaged; you can move it backwards with no problem...but forward is hard work.
3. However at idle or very low rpm's it doesn't know what to do, so it occasionally grabs and kills the engine.
4. With this in mind I realized the function of the bicycle mode. The original design for the vespino had a separate throttle on the left side that you twisted to engage bike-mode. This is necessary as it disengages the clutch and allows the engine to idle at a stop.

I tested this theory last night and was finally able to get the bike to idle. Because I was starting the bike without the decomp lever, I just used that cable and lever for the bike-mode.

All it all it was an awesome day. So glad to get this thing at least starting. Still needs work though. Venga!

Pictures from Friends

Been working in the garage after work most nights...Sam has been joining me as she has been trying to get her maxi up and running. She took these the other night and I figured I'd post them up here for historical record and whatnot. Sometimes I view this blog as a yearbook...

Try and try again...

The days are long at mullberry...

I've been putting in a lot of good time at the ole' mulberry garage...the other day I did some spring cleaning and things got a little messy...

You may notice the little monster in the middle there...

That would be if this...

and this mated...

Surprisingly more parts lined up than I thought would. It started as a joke when someone mentioned that I should do something with that little frame and it turned into something that might actually happen. It's going to be super short, and instead of foot rests will have shin rests. You'll ride it sort of superman style with your shins resting on planks. Not going to be fast...but going to be ridiculous. Here's the most recent mock-up sans fairing...

Speaking of monsters...if you want your foam air filter to turn into the incredible hulk, just spay it with brakes parts cleaner...

It get's all angry and expands to 3 times its original size. Watch as Adam Gruber make this mistake and can't put his air filter back together...

The solution...just give it some time to cool down and it eventually turns back to its original size. If your foam filter remains expanded for more than 4 hours you may want to consult a doctor...