Moped Problems...

Moped is acting up, I hear a load, high pitched noise when I'm up to speed but anyway I'll figure it out. I assume its either exhaust, clutch, or I highly suspect the carb. I haven't put on the new sprockets because of this issue, I also have a new high flow foam air filter.

I plan on taking off and putting on a new exhaust gasket, take off and put in new carb gaskets and seals, and probably replace the tranny fluid. If that fixes it, I'll probably put on sprockets and the high flow filter. If that fixes it I'd be happy and there'd be great rejoicing!

Sprockets!

Today I just received 3 sprockets, 2 for the front and one for the back. I don't plan on making my gearing that tall, the highest would be 18:42. Basically what I bought was a 17t and a 18t sprocket for the front and a 42t sprocket for the back. With the 16:45 setup I can have 6 different setups which means I can only go up in speed.

Many might think this is a stupid idea but with my Proma GP pipe on the stock engine my power band is really nice. I can basically beat everyone off the line and probably to 25mph from there on out my top speed is lagging. So in a effort to boost my speed I plan on exchanging some bottom end for some top end. Either I'll find a happy medium or I'll just have extra sprockets, if successful I'll have a good top speed and a happy off the line accel.

As for the hot weather, its quite humid and the dewpoint is high, which makes me hitting my top speed nearly impossible. Seemed better on top of a hill on Burlingame for about a few blocks. Didn't really matter this Monday on the weekly GRGR ride, it was all city streets so I blasted off from stop to stop while everyone with their top speed tuned bikes were struggling, though they did buzz past me when I hit the 20's.

Hopefully tomorrow I'll have some time in the morning to work on changing out my front sprocket, don't really know how to do it but I hear there is a snap ring. Maybe I'll take a few pictures and make a tutorial on how to do it.

'82 Murray is almost done....

Well at first I bought the Murray thinking I'd throw a kit on it but after riding it I became attached to it. Its like with cars, you have one for awhile and it grows on ya, while others you just wish they'd die so you could sell it for scrap. Speaking of which, does anyone want a '96 Taurus?

Either way, I've tinkered with it abit and have it cruising 35mph+ and hopefully with some sprockets will make it go 40 and thats pretty much how fast I want it to go. I learned alot, everything from tires to cables, to exhaust and up jetting. I think this summer I'll just add some bearings to the engine and maybe tune the clutch and thats it for this moped.

The only question is what to get next? I know the GRGR like the E50 engine and can mod the shit out of them but I'm kinda looking at a Tomos LX, now I know that probably made a few people shudder but its a moped that I've wanted for awhile. Sure they are gay because they are what they are but I like the top tank look and want to make it a mini crotch rocket. I haven't seen one that goes 70mph yet and would love and try to make one go that fast with a 70cc or 75cc or even a 80cc kit.

Right now I'm just waiting for a cheap moped to go on sale nearby but they always go the same day and my schedule would have to align with the stars in order to make a sale go thru.

Sapporo Moped Contest Continues...

With less than six weeks remaining to submit a picture, there really hasn't been a whole lot of great photos. Most are of scenic landscapes, others with just a person on them, while others are just random things. People don't really seem to try a whole lot except for one community. Said community has a lot at stake, if you can't guess this community then you fail at life. Well maybe not if you said photography but the community I'm talking about is the moped community. The scooter community is opening up too....

When Sapporo has a "show your star moment," and there is a random dog in the photo, it really just indicates that the person put to much thought into the photo. There are also those photos that look good but don't really deserve to be in this contest. Some photos are very creative but again don't follow the stated primus of the contest.

Anyway here are some of my favorites that I found, I didn't get to cycle through all the photos but I probably went through a couple hundred, maybe more. Even so I think these are pretty awesome, I didn't put them in order of awesomeness either because they are all pretty awesome. I also added annotative opinions because I thought I'd do something different.

Mopeds and fire, the only things that are missing are beer and tits. Either way the glare and shadows of this photo are pretty amazing. The silhouette created in the foreground with the giant fire in the background, along with the motion is pretty sweet. 

With the colors and the moped the thing that brings this photo together is the two people on it. Having a girl on the back puts a image of love and something most guy would want. The heads being cut out also makes it great in the sense that it could be anyone with their girlfriend or possible perspective girlfriend. (by far my favorite one out of the mix)

This photo probably wouldn't mean much outside of the moped community but riding in style at the Dorais race track with graffiti has a certain weirdness about it. Yet its a awesome image, even with the contrasts between the rider, the track, and the crowd the colors kinda bring out the most.

Rally pic=instant favorite, especially with such a awesome picture. The road goes off into the distance but its covered up by the guy in the foreground so its a well balanced picture of super awesomeness.

Moped in a bowl is out of place and yet you can imagine the amount of fun it could possibly be.

This photo just has vintage appeal to me and with the simple jump makes it somewhat classic...

Boston, Dirtbikes, and Bastards

The press has decided to print a article about "motorized bikes" which painted a bad picture about anything with two wheels with a motor that isn't a motorcycle. article here

To summarize, some individuals decided to ride dirtbikes and quads in the city and off road in a park. This is illegal, then a shooting happened. Police complained that it affected their jobs, so now the mayor of Boston decided to put a ban on unregistered bikes and crack down on those who operate "motorbikes."

This is a video of what is happening in Boston, this is in Baltimore tho, different location, same shit...

What this means is that the mayor is making something thats already illegal, illegal again. In other words, wasting time doing paper work when this should have been quashed long ago. Why is the mayor doing this? From the little research that I did, I mean real little, I mean like a google search and some youtube videos later, I found him to be a liberal retard with the speech of a 5 year old who suffers from mumbling to the extent where you can barely understand him. Not to mention he's been mayor there for 10+ years and has no real big accomplishments.

Overall this situation is one big fuck up, you have guys in the hood doing some rad shit. The cops haven't done a whole lot to curb the guys riding around at all or at least tried to stop it. Then when a shooting happens  and the mayor has a idea about banning something thats already illegal, hosts the media, and looks like hes doing his job when he really isn't doing anything but putting pressure on the police. Then you have the fallout of idiots online like this individual(link here).

What should have been done was a crack down by the police a longtime ago. Now everyone with a legal moped, scooter, street legal dirtbike, or small motorcycle is going to suffer from this. Is it the police's fault? Yes and no, they didn't act on illegal activity and should have. Yet its also those guys who rode around in the streets, they need to know that its illegal.

Laws aside I think its cool that they ride together off road in the park. Doing illegal stuff like this off road away from the streets is no big deal for me. No harm, no foul. Of course they gotta be responsible for their actions, no helmet and a accident is your own fault.  As for the crap they do on the road, I don't like it and the cops should shut them down there.

In the end it doesn't matter to me since I don't live in Boston but we don't need more reasons to have more laws passed for moped/scooters. Even if they affect very little, less laws are better and idiots like this will screw up shit for the rest of us who go about our business the legal way. It also reflects badly on us, its disrespectful, and will only make things worse.

I like the moped community as it is right now, even though I'm new to it, there is plenty of new things that I learn about mopeds and moped culture every week. I'd hate to see things change and I don't need to hear negative shit from strangers...