Maxi Taxi 2.0

I've finished the green bike, as you saw earlier, and now I'm putting my attention back to my Yellow Maxi. I cracked the case and swapped out the stock crank for a Puch Roller crank from an 86 maxi. As I was sealing the case back up, I noticed that the threads on the clutch side of the crank were slightly damaged and the nut wouldn't thread properly. For once in my life I did the right thing and didn't try to force it on, only making it worse. Instead, I found and ordered an odd Die size 10mm x 1.0 and it arrived today, with which I straighted the threads after about 10 minutes of work. So the engine should be solid by tonight, but I am waiting on a shim for my PHBG. I was tired of 15bing on my Metra, so I bought an intake from TreatsHQ (no relation) and now I need to replace a shot plastic intake bushing that was on the 19 PHBG that I salvaged off a scooter. It is on the way from Seattle mopeds, so that will be the final piece in this puzzle, I hope. I converted my Motobecane mags to the bike, and I think it has a very Euro look to it. I like it, but I think I will drop the long seat a bit like I did with the Red Maxi. I do want to leave room so I can still run my saddle bags, as I intend this to be my daily rider in Seattle.

Oh yeah, I got some good pedals for the bike too, I need to swap those on.

I'm also going to be working on my GPS mount, and I'd like it to be swappable between my bikes if easy, so a little bit of a puzzler there.

Shutter

I had my friend Ryan take some pictures of my peds with a nice camera. Here are a few of my favorites. I also fixed the horn on the green maxi so it doesn't honk constantly.

Spoke too soon

I had been trying to true up the rear wheel on my polished rims and I was not having any luck, I kept finding dead spokes, and as I would tighten them I would break the nipple's threads, so I realized that of course, I had all of them way too tight. I took them all lose and started over only to discover that I had cracked the rim. Wow. So I took it off, and replaced it with another that I had sitting around. I spent a good amount of time to today messing with the wheel, but I got it together and as true as I could ever make it, and promptly took the bike on a 30 mile ride. It runs great, that number 11 cylinder and single ring piston make for about 34mph with good acceleration. I'm quite pleased with this bike, and I'm willing to bet I can get a trophy for this at the car show. Thus ends the majority of the work on this bike, (I need to rewire the switch to fix the horn, waiting on a chrome boss pipe) and I've begun giving the Maxi Taxi a redo. V2.0 on it's way.

Puch #11

A stock 3 shoe clutch, but a bushing crank, and a single ring piston in a #11 High Torque cylinder. Odd?

Pictures!

You might remember a few posts ago when I said I picked up a Bravo. Well, I have it, and haven't done anything with it, and wouldn't you know it, I soon found another one, so I just had to get it. It's been so long since I've had twinsies that I just needed to. So I'm back up to 7 mopeds after moving with only 4 and 1/2. :) I don't plan on keeping them, but bringing them to Seattle and letting them go. Although, I was looking at some of Benji's goodies for Vespa, and that 64cc kit seems to look pretty tempting, I do like the lines of a Bravo, and you just can't be a variator, so who knows. I'm sure I'll sell one, but I might have to keep the second one and kit it. It has 288 miles on it, and is in very very good shape. It's missing the left rear cover and the tool kit, but other than that, seems very complete. When I was in Seattle visiting, someone had a really nice red Bravo (I think, I'm not too learned on Vespa yet) and it was quick and had about half a dozen mirrors or so. It makes me want a nice quick little vespa, even though I do have the Maxi Taxi (which is undergoing some revisions shortly, as soon as I finish up the Green maxi). How many Puch's does a guy need, anyway? And since I've moved back home for the summer, one of my old high school friends (who has a nice two stroke RD400 that he has put a lot of work into) said to me "My cousin has a moped, I'll bet he would give it to me." He said he picked it up and it wouldn't start, that it had been setting for about 10 years, so I gave him a little Italian moped advice about wiring, and he came rolling up to my shop today on it. He says "How big of a cylinder can we put on here?" which was music to my ears. Looks like it's time for a fast Motron!

Passing Time

"What has this guy been doing" you ask? Why, he has been spending 5 minutes per spoke polishing his wheels. There isn't too much to do in Nebraska where I live at the moment. 36 spokes x 5 min per spoke x 2 wheels = way too much time, but the end result is I have a nice set of wheels! I've also learned how to true a wheel decently, and while I had them apart, decided to repack the bearings anyway. My wheels for my current project are nearly finished. Then it's time for the wiring harness, and then, rebuild that engine!
Oh, you know what else takes up time? Cutting the tits off of Michelin Gazelles. Only about 13 minutes per tire. It's all in the details, I guess. I want to win at the car show on July 12th. I think I have a chance, the bike is turning out very well.

The Opie Machine

It's story time. When I bought my first Puch on ebay for $150 buy it now, I called the guy for directions and asked if he had any other mopeds. He said he had a few here and there, so I told him to find them and I would buy them all. I arrived to find my Brown & Gold Magnum MKII. I drove home with 3 peds for $400, and I was very excited about the Magnum. I fixed it, and rode it around quite a bit, but then I was in need of some money, so I sold it to my friend Opie for a small profit (having no idea what a UPS magnum is worth to some people, being I was a moped newbie). After many rides together, and about a year and a half of missing my Magnum, Opie says "hey, my chain came off" so I went to look and he had lost all his rear sprocket bolts, and stripped the threads. So I made my move, and offered to trade him a red XK, fixed up with a go-fast motor and help him paint it, and we traded back, and this is the result of his and my work. Way to go, Opie!