Guess what I'm doing tomorrow?

Yeah...I probably still won't find anything good.

...is another man's moped treasure.

This unspeakably heinous mess quite literally (okay not literally) dropped into my lap on Saturday. An abandoned Kinetic moped.

Steph and I were walking to the park the other day and saw this hobo-ped parked on the street with the seat laying on the ground next to it. I though nothing of it, other than to comment on the Mosquito Fleet sticker on the headlight bucket.

Jump forward to Saturday with Tiffany posting a message, from a friend, on Moped Army that the bike was abandoned and that the "M.F. President" should come get it. I walked down the street, grabbed the bike (which was now halfway in a bush, leaned up against a telephone pole), and walked it back to the garage.

Maybe I'll find the owner (it looks stolen), if not I'll strip it for parts (CDI, carb, handlebars, fenders, wheels, etc), and sell/give away the frame.

Addendum:

Let's be honest here, I really hope I don't find the owner. The Kinetic CDI is the only thing holding me back from getting the Ciao (aka Drunker Ciao aka Big Yellow Joint) up and running again, and I could use some of those parts to get the Bravo running to sell for big summer dollars. I'm hoping that by grudgingly trying to locate the owner that karma will smile upon me and let me keep the heap guilt free.

I need to get to work...

In more ways than one.
















I've been staring at this pile of parts on the bench for a couple of weeks now. The plan is to build it up, swap out engines on the Puch, and ride it in Reno. Then swap out the stock engine on the Murray, and have it ready for MoSTP/Portland Rally in August.

Specs are:

Metra 65 kit
70cc high comp head
Rito crank
Original mid-80s three shoe clutch with Paz springs
20mm PHBG with 21mm Intake
Some sort of air filter that will fit in the frame that is yet to be determined.
Stock gearing (probably)
I'm still undecided between another Boss pipe or another Estoril pipe.
And if the the bugs get worked out with the cheap Treats/1977 CDI boxes, I'll throw one of those on, too.

Here's the case match:

Shooting for Saturday to get it done.

Big Fat welcomes Bill Murray to the clan

This is Bill Murray in 1982. 

This is Bill Murray in 2009.

Got him off of Craigslist for $150. The bike is complete, except for a rear brake cable and the left side cover. And it included a title, which was worth the $150 alone.

I was the first of about 20 phone calls, and, thankfully, the guy didn't try to jack the price once he realized that it was worth more than he was selling it for. He was selling it for his dad and I think just wanted to be rid of it.

The moped was located in the middle of nowhere, luckily I work with people that live in the middle of nowhere and I gave one of my co-workers $50 to go pick it up and deliver it to work the next day.

The bike was filthy after having spent the entire Bush administration hiding out in a barn. It looked like a basket case, but I pulled off the flywheel cover and turned the flywheel and it sounded and felt perfect. The stator was super clean, and the odometer had 1300 miles on it. The gas tank is clean, with absolutely no rust. Once the bike is cleaned up I don't think it will look bad at all.

It's a 1.5 HP, but some simple work should fix that. It has a really restrictive air box, a plug in the 14mm intake reducing it down to about 7 or 8mms, one of the tiniest bing jets i've ever seen, a 13 tooth sprocket, probably restrictors in the pipe, and probably also a really thick head gasket.

An hour's worth of work and I had it running. Drained the old gas, threaded in a fresh spark plug, adjusted the clutch cable, cleaned the carb and adjusted the float. Adjusting the float, and troubleshooting a bad spark plug boot took the longest.

The bike is still here at work. This morning I put air in the tires (we'll see if it holds). Later today I'll install some brake cables that I hobo'ed together from spare parts in the garage. After that it should be ready for it's maiden (albeit slow) voyage home.

chipped piston

drunker ciao