After months of thinking about my 2nd puch maxi: a rescue off of someone's yard where I rebuilt the engine and frame because it was free - I got around to rebuilding the wiring for it and putting the right carburator on it. Previously it had all the old wiring a puch maxi should have: for things like a horn, headlight switch, and brake lights, and those are long gone. In order to stop the bike I had to plug the carb with a finger because the wiring had gone wrong. At some point I tried to put another carb on it, a SHA, which might unlock more speed, but it ended up running wrong, so I left it as it for a while. Then finally today I was like "ok, time to get it back on the road" so I rewired it and put a 14mm bing on it. It does over 30 miles an hour but what's important is I haven't done any radical modifications on it. this is the "toot around the neighborhood and get groceries" vs my other bikes, which are build to leave the neighborhood on longer excursions and are much more involved and complicated. This is the bike I want to ride when I pop down to Ballard, for instance. There's a kind of freedom in being able to go wherever, which is what this bike has.
Farewell Cohost! :(
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RIP Dogbomb
1963 - 2019
in reply to @hellojed's post:
I used to have a Honda Express when I was 14/15 but gave up on it since it was horrifyingly difficult to register it as a vehicle in Columbus OH
But now that I live in Seattle I've been low-key considering another scooter/moped
(Been in the market for a CT90/110, but also wondering if something smaller might be more useful for going around town)
Would you mind if I picked your brain about this?
Yeah go for it. I have been riding mopeds in Seattle for like...7 years lol
Thanks
- how easy is it to get around places with em? Can you ride in the bike lanes or do you have to stay with traffic like a motorcycle?
(I assume I probably oughta avoid 99)
-whats registration like? (Do mopeds even need regged here? Insured?)
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how do you keep em safe/secure? Just bike racks and locks?
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any bikes you'd recommend? (Half considering another Express, or maybe a Hobbit, since that's an actual moped rather than a scooter.)
Thanks for your time!
The idea of having a bike I can hop on to bop around town with and go to Darrell's/Vulpine/parks has been been on my mind for a while, especially with the summer weather being so nice
- How easy is it to get around
Going from neighborhood to neighborhood is faster than biking or public transit and more flexible. A stock moped has problems on seattle's many hills, so I have special routes I take to get around this and all of my mopeds have some form of upgrades. Generally you want a bike to go 35-40 mph consistantly to keep up with traffic.
You can't go in bike lanes, but you can filter traffic at stoplights. I have taken my mostly stock moped on Aurora once...once
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What's registration like
Sort of complicated if there's no title. a lot of people don't run with plates because getting titles for things that are missing titles is complicated and long. They don't need to be insured IIRC. -
How to secure a moped
If you're out and about, securing it to a bike rack is a very good idea. If it's a place I know then I can just park it out front. If you're keeping it at home, it's a must that it should be secured inside a structure and not visible from the street. People will steal your bike eventually if you just keep it on a bike rack outside your apartment. They'll cut through the chain or ulock with an angle grinder. -
Bikes I'd recommend
The Express can get pretty quick! If you can find a Hobbit you can make those go super quick, and i know someone that commutes to work in Belltown on a stock Hobbit. Puch or Tomos bikes are also really good for commuting reliably and have pretty simple upgrades. Upgrading a Hobbit is a bit more involved.
While Magic Touch Mopeds is on ice since we lost our old shop space, there is a new community space to work on mopeds if you're interested. It doesn't have regular hours but I know everyone there, so if you want to swing by for an intro let me know
Thanks for all the info! I've been doing a bit of window shopping/research and keep coming back to reference this
(Albeit I can't actually pull the trigger on anything at the moment; gigs have more or less dried up for the summer and I'm struggling to find work)
As for coming by the shop, that would be rad!