March 2012 – Wreck Rebuild Repeat

March 14, 2012

Hobbity Goodness

With the Green 103SP running great it’s on to writing about my other winter project, The Hobbit! I haven’t come up with a good name for it yet but I’ll come up with something. I’m sticking with the yellow and black look but Bumblebee seems so overdone these days…hmmm…moving on…

So I got this moped from my buddy Ben and he already had some nice parts on it; Parma Kit and Weekends Pipe. The moped looked stock otherwise but ran great just like a stock hobbit should. Of course I want something I can really blow up so I started cutting!

I’m not a fan of the stock seat, so off it came and I mounted up an old Peugeot seat nice and low. I had a Tomos Streetmate front-end that fit right on, the shocks from Old Blue and found some cheap clip-ons on eBay. I slapped it all together to see how the riding position felt and I like it!

Insert project delay (wedding, honeymoon, work insanity, etc…)

I then scored a ton of Hobbit booty!

I’m pretty sure I can build something from all of this!

I wanted to rebuild the rear wheel as the stock rim was pretty rusty and now narrower than the Tomos front wheel. I found the width I wanted on Treats and disassembled 2 rear wheels to find the best (rust free) spokes I could. With a little polishing and some photos of the old wheels lacing I built this.

I don’t have a truing stand but 2 Allen keys and the hobbit subframe work pretty well!

All done and tire mounted.

Next up some engine clean up in the living room…only attempt this when your wife is out of town!

Bring on the engine tweaks:
1. Malossi 21 intake with Dellorto PHBG 21
2. Boyenson dual reeds
3. Removal of the starter clutch
4. Doppler springs
5. TJT with the lightest weights
6. Replaced all the stupid Phillips screw with Allen screws.

Everything goes together really easily. The hardest part was the clutch springs but the using snap ring pliers trick works great. I need to find the video that explains it but you’ll get the idea.

Then put it all together.

Next up is making this guy a top tank and wiring up the HPI!

March 5, 2012

Wheels for the Wife

Between work, my 10 million other hobbies fly fishing, paintball, rock stardom, backpacking, etc… and moped parts blowing up see NYC Streets vs French Pipes I seem to always have some past moped project to write about. With this post I might actually be caught up to the present completely!

My dad once said that his favorite hobbies were the ones he shared with my mom…mushy I know, but if you’re going to spend forever with someone you might as well spend time together doing fun stuff! So I’ve been trying to get Leah (my wife as of Sept 17…now it’s in a blog so I can’t forget the anniversary) to ride almost as soon as I got my first moped. On a trip to the fabled HandyBikes in Columbus, OH, I found a near perfect Tomos Silver Bullet sans engine. I picked it up planning to build it for Leah. To my delight she said she wanted to build it herself! Then we moved to NYC and the moped sat disassembled in a closet for a couple years…mopeds aren’t quite the priority for her that they are to me but this past year she got things underway…

and soon learned that putting tires on sucks!

but she got the rolling chassis together in an afternoon with minimal help from me…one of the many reasons I married her…that and she asked me!

This past summer she rebuilt the engine from the ground up. She only has to put up on a pipe and wire it up. She hasn’t built it quickly but she knows everything about that moped. In the interim she’s been riding The Tomonstr but my mopeds are a bit over the top and the riding position doesn’t really suit her.

That got me thinking that I’d build her something and my friend Johnny had the perfect bike. A nice clean Moby 50V. It took a little while of working on him to get it but he eventually relented to my groveling. He hooked me up with a 70cc Parma kit and a 15/15 SHA! So I cleaned up all the chrome, kitted the engine, and tuned it up (still a little rich for break in). The moped runs great and the orange is Leah’s favorite color win/win! On to the goodies.

She had mentioned that the collapsing saddle baskets on bicycles were cool so I ordered a set of Wald 582 Folding Baskets with basket liners. I think these look great, are built really well, and they were easy to mount up. All in all I think the moped turned out great!

I was going to make this a Christmas gift but I couldn’t stand to wait so it became a Birthday present! Leah thought I was going to show her something I bought for myself. After I finally convinced her that the Moby was for her I was pretty sure she liked it.

and considering she wanted to go for a ride ASAP…

I’d say I’m positive she liked it. I have a ninja pipe sitting on the shelf for when she’s ready!

I’ll keep you posted for when her Bullet is finished as I’m sure it’s going to be a mover too!

March 5, 2012

NYC Streets vs French Pipes!

I took The Green Machine out for a couple of rides and its running even better than before! The NYC streets are still essentially the surface of the moon (why are my taxes so high?). I’ve heard of Doppler silencers falling off but never expected it to happen on a busy street! I pulled out, the bike hesitated, and then I was riding a monster chainsaw!!! I pulled over and turned around just in time to see the guts of the silencer hit by a car! Great!. Then as I pulled out to go get that part, the actual baffle cylinder got launched another direction and promptly squished…

NYC streets 1 Doppler welds 0!

After getting back to the garage it was time to rebuild this thing. Two hours of hammering things back into round, grinding off bad welds, and I was almost there. Luckily, my garage is next to a motorcycle shop who’s owner is a great source of info/and he welds! So the 3 spot welds were replaced with one nice weld the whole circumference of the baffle mounting plate. A little repacking of the baffle material and some M6 nuts and bolts and I’m back in business. Screw you NYC roads! This thing is solid!

PS..it broke off again…I’ll need to re-engineer this thing…ugh.

March 4, 2012

The Return of the Green Monster

I’ve finally found the time to assemble the Gila + Polini cases engine and with a little bit of this…

this case should be sealed up tight!

I wanted to use the Polini spring that came with the cases but I’m sans the hardware to mount to the case. I cut up an old 103 engine mount and created a mount myself. It ended up looking pretty good but I have no idea if it’s putting this mount in the correct location. I’ll have to see when I get out to the garage…I’m guessing it’s a tad off…hmm

I’ve never used a launch level but it sounds like fun and it comes with the case so what the hell!

Next up add my trusty Multivar and the old 2 coil points. I’ve heard horror stories about these points but I’ve never had a problem (other than some flywheel slipping) so I’m going to run these until they self-destruct.

I have to get better lighting in my work space. These pics are a bit dark…sorry about that

At the garage it quickly became apparent that the Polini spring is not going to work (crap) I was so ticked off that I forgot to take a pic of the mess…I need to look at some cases to see how the spring fitting/exhaust mount fits/looks so I can copy a set. Until then then the launch lever is coming off and the old Doppler spring is going back on…I have another lever somewhere that might work…I just need to remember where I put it…

I can wait on the launch lever so I decided to button this project up!

Gave the moped a push an it started right up. It’s still a bit rich (95 jet) but its still pretty cold here in NYC so I’ll leave it alone until April.

Bring it Spring! I’m ready!!!