Lafayette Indiana's got a new moped gang

Meet Travis, one of the Lafayetis who has finally been converted from those silly tomos mopeds to the simplicity of the Puch E50. He kept bugging me about the black maxi frame in my basement, so I finally let him start to assemble it. He has been coming over and working for a few hours every couple days for the last week or two.


After a bit of guidance from me, some hard work, a bit of time, a lot of looking at his phone and staring off into space, he has finally rolled this bike out of the basement. A clean bike is all about cable management. It's got new bearings and seals on the stock crank, with a good #2 Aluminum cylinder & 14mm bing with a Jammy pipe.
The plan is to mill the head later and lighten the clutch a bit, but for now the idea is to just ride the bike around and enjoy it. Perhaps now he can finish a ride, or spend some real time trying to fix one of those Tomos mopeds that he has.

Chicago & Flat Tires

Chicago rally was this weekend, and I hate to say it, but if you were not in attendance, than you missed out. The HNR compound is perhaps the coolest clubhouse I've ever seen. It really does feel like a castle, with a courtyard and parapet wall. Garage space located away from living space, secret and secure alley access and more secret rooms than you can shake a stick at. I had a rally break down of sorts. P@ and I were riding doubles on the Derbi and suddenly I heard the tube pop and felt the tire get loose. So I pulled it over, to discover the cause. A 2 inch self tapping screw decided to stand right up as I ran it over and punctured my 2.5" Shinko knobbies, the tube, AND THE RIM! The tire was nailed to the rim! I had to hammer the bolt out. If you have to get a flat tire, I suppose this is the way to get it. The screw missed both spokes perfectly, centered in the rim, thankfully, so it is still useable.