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103SP to TSM-SP or Mini TSM or whatever, you get the picture

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Green Machine was my first French moped and the start of my love of silly swinging engines.  From the first time I took a ride on a stock 103SP, I was fascinated with the performance of the “Cadillac” of mopeds.  (Not my term that credit goes to Jerry Murray from his book; Mo-Ped The Wonder Vehicle)

Green was the most exciting thing I had built and even a fast Honda MB5 didn’t change that.  I put thousands of miles on the bike and eventually the fact that I didn’t have a crossbar on it for much of its speedy life finally caught up to me.  The tank started leaking and brazing is not my strong suit…yet.

I decided it was time for the 103SP to evolve.  I loved everything about it except the fuel capacity.  The ride height fit me well and it could handle dubs without issue…so where to go next?

I thought about removing the tank and fitting on a bigger one but then remembered that I had a tank and a frame.  Oh right I have a blog about a moped I’ve never built!

Time to transition Green the 103SP to Green the TSM-SP?  Why a TSM-SP?  Well I’m short and a regular TSM is tall…like me on my tiptoes tall.  My 103SP is lowered and I like to think the SP stands for “Short Person”.  Thus the TSM-SP is born!

Thankfully it’s the shocks, fork and seat that make a TSM tall just like a 103SP…so let the parts harvest commence.

I’m going to use everything from the 103SP except the frame, seat and side covers.  The 103SP’s tank now is empty with a coat of oil in it and it tucked up in the rafters of my garage for when I get around to fixing that leaky tank.

Next up…why Peugeot mopeds are not like Legos.

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Mopeds for the People

I was just getting good at regularly posting and then life happened. Hopefully you guys/gals/marmots/etc… aren’t counting on something exciting from me all the time.

I have been wrenching like mad though!

First up is my friend Eric’s Peugeot 103. He picked it up a while ago as he road the Green Machine and decided that a variator was in his future. He got a solid frame but the engine was never happy. We tried different coils, checking for air leaks, new points and this moped was a no go.

I had some parts from previous build that I wanted to sell and Eric wanted fast so I built him fast with an emphasis on reliable…now that I’m writing this the moped is going to explode, sorry Eric.

I had an already built 70cc Gila engine that just needed new seals. So new ones were pressed in, added a used Multivar (I <;3 them), a Leo Vince Pipe, a 19 PHBG, and boom.

Everything should work right! Wrong? I was again foiled by an ignition that didn’t want to play…stupid unfriendly ignition!

Enter the Motobecane CDI!

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This CDI is inexpensive, easy to setup, and makes a great big spark!

Now we have a winner!

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So that put Eric back on the road and with a little carb tweaking he is a happy camper.

Now my buddy Larry went and sold off all his mopedy-goodness in the process of acquiring some racing motorcycles…the guy has a thing for fast.

Then he had an “I miss my silly mopeds” moment and we got to talking. I had a nice 103 frame that I was planning on making go as stupidly fast as possible, skinny tires and all.

So it became time to make another zippy 103! I started with making the 3rd eye transfer and cleaning up the stock cases.

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Then it was the usual:
70cc Gila kit
2 Pedal Polini reed block
19 PHBG
Moby CDI and Trail Tech Regulator
Malossi Multivar
Polini Spring and Launch Lever

The twist was a Ninja G3 pipe. These are great all around pipes with a really wide rpm range. Really any pipe works with what is listed above its just a matter of picking a pipe to match your ride style and terrain. My favorite is the Doppler as its got crazy top end and hits really hard but the low end is smooth. The Ninja G3 has better low end but winds out close to the Doppler top. Then if you are doing a ton o city riding the Leo Vince circuit has crazy low end and good kids but keeps you from winding out to far. (that was why it’s on Eric’s build, he rides to work most days).

So after some tweaking of the pipe mounting bracket and the M-bars from my MB5 (I’ll write about that’s eventually too no worries) this is where we were…

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Add the electrics and tada! Red ripper number 2.

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I was sorry to see her go but I knew Larry loved it so that was good and anyway I have too many mopeds 😛

Well as fate would have it Red came back. Larry had other projects he needed to fund (like a crazy general build that maybe I can sneak a few pika of) after getting the silly moped bug back in his blood so I bought Red back.

Now I know what you’re thinking, “you just said a few sentences ago that you had too many mopeds!?”. And you would be totally correct. So I sold the very TSM I was going to build for this blog…no yelling, let me explain!

I still love TSMs but my legs are short and sitting on a TSM makes me stand on my tip toes in a most undignified way. So I sold it to my friend Lindsay who is having me build it for her. See, I will be blogging about it and building it but it won’t be mine. I should of named this blog Lindsay’s TSM. If only I had a crystal ball.

Well that is all for now and I’ll be posting Red’s rebuild in a later post…let’s just say its a big engine and a clutch pulley and more silliness!