I just needed to write this down

I'm going to make an intake with tapped holes for mounting and use set screws to put in place for that extra flush look. I was thinking about this as I have been using Tomos A3 headers to make intakes recently and they are such large OD that they require a good bit of filling to let a regular socket head cap screw pass. It was an intake for my loyal pp derbi, which is receiving a new metra kit jug. Upon removal of the stock jug, I realized it had a giant base gasket, leaving nearly two mm of gap between tdc and the head. No wonder that bike never seemed very fast, it was restricted to 20mph when I got it with an intake washer, and also had a bracket on it for an orange flag. I strongly suspect it was originally from Iowa before it made its way over to Nebraska where I picked it up. I might just throw the stock jug back on for the time being to see I'm correct on the speed factor. With 15SHA I and pipe I was only able to squeak 36mph from it.

Old things are better than new

Yeti in the New Year

After a nice 3 month break from working on mopeds, I'm back at it. A nice little vacation from fixing bikes left me with exactly one runner. I picked up two more Puchs at auction this January. One was a rigid free spirit, with which I have fallen into vibrat-y love. The full rigid is very enjoyable, and after removing the thick head gasket, upjet the stock 14mm bing and a proma pipe, it goes a screaming 33mph with killer low end, thanks to the 14x45 gearing. I've got a nice Demm Smiley tank to put on it as soon as the petcock arrives. This bike will be my rally backup, and guest rally loaner.

I spent some time working on Rickety Cricket, my freespirit with negrini tank. Got the hydraulic forks installed and the disc brake is ready to stop me. I'll finish the tank mounts soon, and begin to recover the seat. This bike should be blasting with a Kstar70cc kit and simo pipe.

The Derbi was coaxed back to life after the primary coil took a dump at bomb bourbon run. The pietcard cdi was pretty easy to install, although the timing didn't match up with the woodruff key, so I'm running sans key with the stator rotated about 45 deg clockwise. I had to hook up my timing light to get it at 1.8mm btdc. I might scoot it up a bit to 1.6mm, but for now it is working great.

The weather has been so warm that we have been riding bunches this January and February.
See you guys all in Nashville in a few more weeks!

The end of 2011 (as far as mopeds go)

2011 has been an interesting year for mopeds. I left Seattle and my daily moped commuting, and returned to Indiana to find my old friends still wonderful and interesting. The distance has been overcome many times this summer, to Louisville 4 times, Nashville via moped, Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Chicago, Grand Rapids, Kalamazoo, Ann Arbor and Detroit, Goshen 3 times and Seattle for a great weekend. The Brat has been my steadfast transport, racking up about 6,000 moped related miles, carrying a personal best of 6 mopeds at once. My long running blog seems to be dying out as it heads toward the inevitable fate of all moped blogs, but the moped adventures keep happening. The forming of the LafaYetis has been great and exciting, and while our Moped Mondays don't really hold a candle to Mosquito Fleet's, a regularly scheduled moped event is always a good idea and gives you a great way to start your week. I've purchased and sold close to two dozen mopeds this year, bringing my career long total to somewhere in the low one hundreds. I acquired two German imported only bikes at separate occasions, and put over 2,800 miles on my Derbi this summer, riding it at every rally. I fixed a moped for my Grandpa with which he promptly rode my Grandma doubles on. My new garage is a great space in which to work year round, and with the prospect of next years rally goings, the Yetis are starry eyed dreaming at the tales I tell of the glory of Awful Hen. Saturday is BombBourbonRun, a great end to rally season and a chance to see everyone one last time until the next last time a few weeks after that, and so forth and so on until before you know it, somehow it's rally season again in California so off we go for another year. The cycle of cycles.




"Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that's no matter -- tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther. ... And one fine morning ---- So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past. "

Tomos come in twos

My grandpa called me the other day and told me a nice long story about how he found two "Tow Mas" mopeds, and that the guy wanted $35 for the pair. I told him to go pick them up, and he said "I think I can get them for $25". I told him I'd take them regardless, and he said "we'll see." Anyway, he dropped them off yesterday at my place and let me know he did get them for $25 like he though. I've got a 94 Sprint, and an A3 whatever blue bike. Both frames and rolling stock are all in good shape. Both motors are stuck, but I've got the A35 taken apart so far without breaking anything. Cylinder and piston look good, no pits or gouges, it was just stuck from rust, which is confusing, because the motor was sealed up nice and tight. At some point it must have got some water in the spark plug hole, but the plug was in and tight. A bit of rust inside, and some under the coils, but once I removed the flywheel the bottom end turns over nice and smooth, which means to bottom end rebuild for this bad boy. The wrist pin was stuck real good in the piston, so I thought about how to make a puller real quick and pulled the pin right out. I used a spark plug socket and two cap screws. If I had one real long cap screw that would have worked easier, but I used two cap screws and a coupler nut. Then I was able to hold one cap screw in place and then tighten the nut on the other side, drawing the cap screw and the wrist pin with it. It worked quite well, so I set the cap screws aside for future use. I should be able to use this to press pins as well, but they usually go in without too much effort.

Misc Pics

Whisky Business 4

A much overdue post. The Lafayettis went to Whisky Business 4, and a good time was had by all. 6 of us convoyed, with the Brat leading the way, followed by an ElCamino and a ford ranger. The destination was awesome. A sweet rocky quarry. Swimming in a quarry is awesome, and I didn't die like my mother was worried about, so everyone should try it. I love moped camping, and even though I could have tossed my gear in the SAG wagon, I thought I'd just load it all up. Then on the way home Sunday, I happened to spot a Dodge Rampage. Nate and I quickly drove his Rabbit and my Brat over to the Rampage and took many pictures, as these are possibly the 3 best trucks ever made. This Rampage happened to have a for sale sign in it, so while waiting for the owner to come having called him, I proceeded to test the truck out. Katelyn of the Bropeds had come along and then she was like "I've always wanted an ElCamino, but this is way cooler" and boom, she bought it. What a deal! How exciting. It matches my UPS magnum so nicely, it makes me want to get a Magnum LTD to match my Brat. Looking forwards to GRKZOO rally, and I hope to see you all there!