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!

Photoshop mock up

Here's a very poor photoshop mock up of the direction I'm going for.


Subtract Rust, Add clip-ons.

Team Zissou!

It's cold as balls and time for new a winter project...

Christmas came early as at my door two large bike boxes arrived. Brad investigates...


I got the bike sent from the land of the cuperteens and in hopes that this rare bike wasn't in as rough shape as I feared...

I soon came to realize two things:
1. This is a really bizarre moped
2. It needs A LOT of work!

History Lesson: Vespa opened a factory in Spain that birthed the Vespino. It was widely popular throughout Spain but few were exported outside the country. This one came to California in a shipping container.





The case...huge transfers, case inducted that comes up from the bottom of the engine. I'll take better photos of of this engine mounts soon you can get a better idea.





Reed Cage...Rusty old, two petal...honestly it seems like a lot of material that restricts what could be a HUGE intake.









Frame: Sort of ugly, hollow tube frame that hides cables and wires, forks use sealed bearings and have a weird scooter type fairing (which is being ditched)








Wheels...Awesome! Sealed bearing 5 stars.











Rear Clutch...Big and thin. Here it is compared to the stock vespa size. Looking forward to what sort of power I can get out of that.


Other things...The bike came with performance variator and metrakit. More on those later. I was looking for a winter project and I got it.

Raiders of the lost Ark...Handy Bikes

There's a lot of updates coming shortly, but for now I'd like to tell you a story about the giant ass moped warehouse that everyone knows about but doesn't REALLY know about because if they did, they'd crap themselves. That's right, I'm talking about Handy Bikes. It looks like this:


Look familiar? That's because it's the warehouse from Indiana Jones: Raiders of the Lost Ark. Seriously! I swear it looks JUST LIKE it...Except instead of state secrets and ancient religious artifacts, it's full of new old stock moped parts. Every nut, bolt, and rare part you've ever lost while working on your moped at night or in a low lit area can be re-discovered in this warehouse of mystery and intrigue. Shelves and shelves of forks, fairings, fenders, clutch parts, CEV electrical components, throttle assemblies, tanks, carburetors, engines, decals, pedals, and other parts, parts, parts!

While the the ark of the covenant could not be found here, the wheel room that's bigger than my apartment blew my face off.