TWO WHEELS GOOD

Whenever I see someone I haven't seen in a while, they invariable ask "What have you been up to lately?" I often answer "Nothing much..." (not always crazy about talking about myself). BUT, here are some photos for all of those people! Yes, in between the rainy days this past 6 weeks, we have been getting our scooters and mopeds "road ready."

I purchased a 1978 Puch Maxiluxe at the end of April. It is a 2 HP Austrian-built moped. Brownish/burgundy color, very well kept, not much rust on it.


It was not running, and right off I could see it was going to need a brake cable and a throttle cable, at the very least.



I put a new spark plug in, and a local moped whiz kid named Brett came over and generously spent about 2 hours with us showing how to remove the carburetor, take it apart, clean it, etc. He got the moped running pretty easily and used a wrench on the throttle to drive it up and down the street. On his way out of town (he moved to Seattle, boo-hoo) he dropped off the cables for me to install.


Easier said than done, but I finally did it and got it running pretty well now. So well that I am proud to say that I got the ped insured and registered today!

Aimsel has had her 1985 Puch Maxi for a couple of years now. I am amazed that the one I found is the same exact color as hers! She has the much-coveted motorcycle seat, but hers is *only* 1.5 HP. She tends to be really good at the body work and detailing the chrome.



We put a new sparkplug in and I adjusted the grips for her and she is ready to rock! We hope to join our local moped club, called 50:1.

I also have a 1994 Honda Elite scooter. This is like a new Cadillac compared to the Puch (which is more like a vintage Mercedes). It has an electric start - push button, yeah - and has all those panels that hide the guts of the bike. I have had it for a couple of years, it's good for commuting to work and for fun rides around town. I was never quite happy with the pickup or speed, though. It barely went 24 mph on a good day, and was very sluggish taking off from a stop. I was frankly ready to sell it once I bought the Puch.

In my travels on the internet, I found ways to modify the scooter to give it better performance. Never one shy to take something apart to see how it works (thanks, Dad!), I did just that.


I had scooter parts all over the house, and since it was raining so much of the time, couldn't move them outside.




Armed with the new knowledge from Brett about carburetors, the first thing I did was take that off and apart and clean it and put it back on. I realized that the Honda was much more complicated (oil hose, gas hose, electronic mumbo jumbo sensors) than the Puch, so I tagged all the hoses before I removed them.


Then, I took the muffler off. The factory installs a restrictor inside the muffler for this model sold in this country (or at least most of this country.) What I needed to do what get that out, and get all the gooky oil/carbon buildup out of the muffler.


So, who better to turn to than my father. He put the muffler in the drillpress, bored the metal washer out (this involved several methods and culminated in a crowbar and sledgehammer, I think). Then he put the muffler in his electic kiln and cranked it up to about 1000 degrees (I might be exaggerating a little bit) and cooked the stuff right out of it! It smoked and smoked until it was all burned out.


I refitted the muffler, put in a new sparkplug, had the battery recharged, reassembled the whole bike, adjusted the carburetor and air flow, and VOILA - better than new! This thing goes 0 to 20 like never before! It is such a joy to ride now.

Well, a long-winded post to tell you all what I (we) have been up to.

-TRA



Oh, and I suggest you use this stuff if you are going to be doing any kind of greasy work!