My favorite moped of all time is a Peugeot 103SP in green…any of the shades of green! After riding Jeff’s from sHs I wanted a French variated moped but I just figured they were had to find. I was skunked twice on Craigslist deals in the Pittsburgh area and mostly gave up looking. Then the move to Brooklyn happened and having no job was a great way to keep me with only one moped.
Once a job was acquired I was always looking for a 103SP or a moped with a Minarelli (I wanted to play with the 90cc kit). The Orphanage had exactly what I wanted but not anywhere near what I could pay. I’d saved the picture as a benchmark for my search but nothing turned up. Then I found an orange General top tank in nice condition, so I picked it up.
I bought some new tires and set to work stripping and cleaning the moped. Winter struck and the NYC moped scene slowed down (except for a few of us who where thermals under our jeans as we are nuts). I then started getting mystery text messages about someone lusting about my General. Little did I know that Cliffy wanted one more than me!
I was picking up tubes from the Orphanage and while talking with Ryan mentioned that I couldn’t believe the 103SP was still there. I was sitting on it imagining when I’d get one. To my surprise Ryan asked what I’d pay. I apologized ahead of time as I knew my offer would be low and then Ryan said he’d take my offer! Yay Orphanage! I paid for half on the spot and called Cliff to sell the General.
In the mean time we were asked (M23) if we had some mopeds for a commercial but everyone we new only had mopeds in parts (winter rebuilds). Eric’s Magnum (The Great Snack) was running and to get a second he made the final payment on my 103SP. So I hadn’t even had a chance to ride it and the moped was crossing the Williamsburg Bridge. Eric did send me this:
After the shoot the Green Machine was safely parked in our garage and I paid Eric back for the rest of the bike. I’d started on Tomonstr but was still in search of parts so I began making som little adjustments to make the SP’s seating position perfect.
A quick ride around the block made me realize I was almost there but the seat still wasn’t quite right. I kept the SP engine stock for a while while I began absorbing everything I could about variators. Luckily I’d seen how they worked in sHs and Pete had built a fast 103 in M23. So outside of the Sparta sidetrack I began building my dream machine.
70cc Gila kit, Malossi 70cc Hi-Comp Head, Doppler Spring, Doppler Pipe, 21 Dellorto PHBG, Polini 2 pedal reeds and Malossi Multivar. With a little case matching for the third eye and some tuning this is, in my opinion, the most bulletproof Peugeot setup you can build.
[Keep in mind a 50cc water-cooled setup or even 50cc air-cooled engine can create a ton of power but it’s all happening at crazy rpms. So once you leave the land of stock, pick what you want to replace more often; Hi RPMs wear top end parts faster, Bigger displacement wears bottom end parts faster…either way shit breaks…welcome to mopeds ;-)]
Well I just finished it in time to ride it for M23s rally. I was going to wait to tune it but the weld holding Old Blue’s tank on broke and I needed a ride…
Well stock gearing (12×56) made this thing a wheelie machine! I was expecting quick not “oh shit the front tire is off the ground again!” The moped was running great but the seating was still not quite right. Time to make a new seat mount up.
Seating solved + gearing and suspension tweaks and the Green Machine is perfect!
Specs:
70cc Gila Kit
70cc Malossi Hi-Comp Head (decomp plugged)
Stock Cases matched and third eye added
Polini 2 pedal reed block
Delloroto 21 PHBG
Doppler Spring
Doppler 70cc pipe
Malossi Multivar
Stock 2 coil points
This build made it for over a year and a half before the seals blew out. When i opened it up everything still looked new! So now it’s rebuild time and this time I’m starting with a polini race case but that’s for another post…
