Woah! A list!

• Unpack and find a space to set up shop
• Put pedals and handlebars back onto my mopeds
• Rebuild E50 for the Green Maxi
• Tear down wheels and polish spokes and hub for Green Maxi
• Paint side covers for the Green Maxi, add pinstripes
  
• Replace throttle cable on the Magnum
• Adjust Magnum Estoril for kickstand clearance, replace kickstand, pedal chain
  
• Replace Bullet with Boss on the Maxi Taxi
• Rebuild Motobecane mags for use on the Maxi Taxi
• Upgrade 50v to 15:15, maybe add Variplus
• Find time to play with my Bravo
  

Motobacon

I'm back from my honeymoon. Expect an update in a week, or so.

Weddings and such

My wedding is 3 days away, and when I return from the honeymoon, we are very much packing up and moving. I really should be packing all my stuff, but instead, I've found myself assembling the old Gold Maxi frame that I got from TimR of TBS. That bike had the nastiest tank I've ever seen. I shook a pile of debris out of it large enough to fill a coffee filter, and the debris looked like coffee grounds. Very rusty coffee, some pencil shavings,a bit bark and cork. After the sandblast and powder coat, I shook another handful of that stuff out of there. I can only imagine the entire tank was filled with some organic sponge, and the fluid capacity of the tank would have been about .3 gallons. So anyway, I gave it an acid job for 30 minutes at full strength, and that seemed to do the trick. I've not done acid on an in-frame tank before, and that was scary. I keep thinking about how weak the frame could be since it has obviously lost some material from the inside of the frame. At any rate, it is finally clean now and it seems sturdy enough. The bike is coming together quite well, and if you love stock Maxi's as much as Dean does, you will flip out when you see this one! Lime green with a cream seat, fender, side panels and saddle bags, with a large helping of chrome. I won't have time to tear the wheels down and polish them, or even rebuild and clean the motor until June some time, but I'm just happy to put it together. I'll snap some pictures, but be patient, as this is the last update for about two weeks.

Feel free to give me a wedding present of a 1977 mopeds gift card. ;)

Motion Wet?

The Elkhart moped rally was great. I love those guys and gals of Indiana. Here is a picture of my Maxi Taxi with a Balloon that they gave me at the restaurant. I asked for yellow, and was granted it. The balloon didn't take the 40mph air pressure too well, and leaked out slowly over the next hour. This amazing and fast Swinger2 used to belong to me, and I'm glad to see Devin put it to good use. The 2 speed Gilardoni rips, and once it hits that powerband in the pipe, its crazy and loud. That is the fastest moped I've ridden, but I have no idea how fast it goes. If you ever get a chance to meet Devin Biek, you won't regret it. I met him in 2003 when he sold my buddy a moped. I took him a Polini kit, and he made my Swinger2 a beast, and I learned quite a bit from him about performance, and then I started to do my own work. Now I build good stuff, and his peds have moved up to another level. I would like to say that I do give him a lot of ideas, but he pulls them off better than I do. Here is me on Brian's cool bravo, wearing a wookie costume (which everyone should take camping for warmth), and finally me with my good friend Nate Bandit, who is one of many moped friends I've made in my few years in Indiana. To clear up some confusion, I'm packing up my bags in two weeks, and moving to Nebraska for the summer to work, and then in August I'm headed out to that lovely Emerald city called Seattle, to attend school for no less than 2 years. Wish me luck!

Bravo! Bravo!

I got a lucky strike today on Craigslist. A mostly complete (missing side covers, tail light cover, front fender and rear signals, as far as I can tell) Vespa Bravo. I have never had a little Italian charmer that carries the name Vespa, but when you see it sitting there for $150, it's like a little apple hanging on a tree, begging you to pick it and eat. It never hurts to search Nebraska craigslist. Are the Bravo's variated? What else is missing? Will I regret this? Vespa peds seem to be quite addictive.

Motion What?

I had my last ride as the leader of the Apocalypse Ponies last night, and it was fun and bitter sweet. There was 12 of us, and we rode all over Anderson, downtown and our traditional out of town routes, and had a good time. I've left Dane in charge, as he seems to know the most about mopeds, but the outlook appears to be grim for the 30+ mopeds I've brought into the community here and put back on the road. It is difficult to be a leader of a group and try to get people enthusiastic about something you love, and to take ownership and be excited about the process, not just the riding.

We were racing around the cemetery like usual, when a cop pulled in. We all saw him, and I was going to go talk with him, but then everyone else panicked and turned around and headed for the secret exit. I'm not going to be the only one explaining to the cop why we running from him, plus I can out run all of those guys, so I turn and we all dart. We split up and take a confusing way back to my garage, where I see a police car waiting for us. "Crap" I think as we all stop our bikes, and I approach the officer. I walk up to the young cop, and I say "I'm the one who is responsible for this, what's the problem?" The cop looks at me and is silent. My roommate speaks up and says "Actually, thats not true. The police are here because our neighbor was masturbating naked in his window while watching us standing outside."

"Oh. Well, then I retract my statement, officer."

I did get accepted to grad school. So now, I have to figure out if I can afford it. Seattle might have to wait a year, but I want to be there, so we will see what I can make happen.

WhisKY Business

Hola, Mi Amigos. Been a while since I've rapped at 'ya. This post is mostly about the Louisville Moped Rally, and all pictures are stolen from flickr. I just simply don't know how anyone could ever go to a moped rally and not have a good time. The Bourbon Bandit's rally in 07 was my first Rally experience, and it was amazing. I didn't know anyone, and I made a few friends, rode mopeds, and had a blast. The thing I didn't realize, as I headed off to Cincinnati for my 2nd ever moped rally, was that many of those people would be there. I was thinking to myself, "Hey, I'm not making new friends every city, I'm meeting old ones!" What a realization! The summer was spent traveling to different cities, and meeting old friends, making new ones and riding mopeds. Even for a guy who isn't big into partying, there is always something fun to do at a moped rally. I try to explain to people who don't know about rallies, and it usually goes something like this. "So you just ride mopeds the whole time?" "No, we do ride, and it is usually a major part, but mostly we just hang out." "And just talk about mopeds." "Some talk, but mostly, talk about other things and play games and just be friends." "Games?" "Yeah, like kick ball, or red rover, or climb trees, just do what ever with fun people." "Why do you have to drive 4 hours to do that?"