What is your favorite Moped, and why?
- Thread starter MTVR
- Start date
The 1969 Vespa Primavera is not a moped- it has no pedals, for starters. The word "moped" means MOtor and PEDal.
In addition to that, it's engine is over 50cc, it's over two horsepower, and it's top speed is over 30 mph. Depending on what state you're in, it may be defined as a Motor Scooter, but most states are going to classify it as a Motorcycle. Either way, it's going to require a Motorcycle driver's license, Motorcycle insurance, and registration with license plate...
No worries. It can be complicated. Especially when the federal government recognizes "e-bikes" (of certain wattages and speeds) as separate classes of vehicles, yet many states do not.
This became messy really quickly - not sure how it happened. Let's enjoy the moped ride pls.
Alloy
Well-known member
We are lucky in Canada. The bikes I see with 50CC engine on the trails has dropped to zero as more places adopt the law that was enacted in 2000. The law says an E-bike has to be pedal assist and max 500w / 20mph.
AeroNautiCal
Explorer
This brings back memories!
My Motorcycle Workshop was a London Tomos Warranty Agent at a time when Tomos were the best selling bikes in the UK!
Woolworths sold them, as did the large catalogue brands and they were invariably sold to people that had absolutely no mechanical understanding of their bikes, resulting in many otherwise completely avoidable recovery journeys to my place of work!
The premix oil lubrication was something that frequently resulted in seized engines, (once reported as "the brakes locked on as I was riding") not because the system didn't work (it did) but because of owner mistakes, my favorite being "my mate who knows 2 strokes told me to only put in 2 DROPS of oil per tankfill", this coming from the owner of the brand new bike whom complained about the brakes locking on!
Longevity was not their strong point and they absolutely ate throttle cables, solved with some filing of the throttle cable housing.
Somewhere, I still have gazillions of new old stock parts.
I once attended the London Motorcycle Show as a guest of Tomos and was somewhat surprised to see a large poster on their stand of boaters with a Tomos outboard motor on a lake.
For reasons unknown, the boaters were actually rowing their boat, which struck me as a really bizarre way to demonstrate the reliability of their outboard motors!
STREGA
Explorer
Puch made a 2 speed moped that when it shifted into 2nd gear and with a well timed pull on the handlebars you could get it to do a wheelie.
Back in the late 70's I worked at a Suzuki dealership that sold Puch mopeds and on saturdays after we closed we would have speedway races in the parking lot with the Puchs that got very competitive, the boss didn't care that we did it but we had to fix or replace the parts we damaged, we had a blast.
Back in the late 70's I worked at a Suzuki dealership that sold Puch mopeds and on saturdays after we closed we would have speedway races in the parking lot with the Puchs that got very competitive, the boss didn't care that we did it but we had to fix or replace the parts we damaged, we had a blast.