The Blow Hole makes it first full voyage!

So last night was epic for me and my bike. For about a year now I have been tuning, wrenching, blowing up, slipping, sliding, and so on. Finally last night the Pug made a good 20 mile ride with no problems. To date I have to thank a few people for there help with this bike.: Master tuner and all things french, Naz (Michael Mike), My friend Casey G, Dean at Seattle Mopeds for letting me use the moped shop several times to continually rebirth this bike, and special thanks to treatshq for draining my bank account! Anyway with that said the pug is really great and tons of fun to ride, It still needs some top end tuning and such but other than that it feels solid. I am running an er3 variator and a clutch pulley as well at this point so I don’t have to worry about disintegrating clutches any longer. To date this bike has received:
Powdercoating Job 150.00
Malossi bottom end 150.00
Malossi stroker crank 100.00
New bearings & seals twice 50.00
Ninja g3 150.00
Doppler Crank 120.00
clutch pulley 200.00
malossi Varitop 150.00
New tires and tubes 60.00
New everything else cables, levers, and headlight. 50.00
Chain 35.00
Original cost of the bike 300.00
Gilardoni Kit 160.00
Malossi cast iron kit that I blew holes in 120.00
Malossi head 50.00
Ignition 100.00
Total 1945.oo DEAR GOD, I PRAY MY WIFE NEVER READS THIS BLOG!!!
So yup french bikes cost a lot to make fast and reliable. Lesson learned. Time to start another one! Ps this doesnt include the other 120.00 in pistons I roasted. whatever! This has been spread out over two years, so I didnt even notice the money fleeing my pocket.

Monza update soon to come! (it runs)

I heard a rumor that MJ is now alive in this machine, kinda like robocop!

The Monza gets a seat!

So as much as I would love to keep all things original on the Monza its just not a reality. Parts are expensive and far away if they are even available as is the case with the seat. The seat was fairly toast when I removed it from the bike last week. the plastic had been repaired poorly several times over the years and I decided it needs to be overhauled. The good thing is that Treats HQ sometimes stocks these seats, or a generic Monza seat. Unfortunately he wont be getting any more in until the end of the summer and I am hoping to have the bike running in a week or two. So I was thinking of all the ways I could affix a stuffed animal to my moped and then I thought, hey why not rip off a friends Idea? My friend Brendan Barrans the fearless first mate of the Mosquito fleet has a miny skateboard for a seat, My ass isn’t so mini so I used a regular skateboard deck I had laying around. It looks ok and is actually really comfy for a temporary fix!

A Fortune Lost a Folly Gained!

So last night I was screwing around with Mosquito Fleet my local moped gang. I had spent several days tuning the Peugeot whenever I got the chance so I decided it was Moped Monday worthy. (It was close but no cigar) This time the pug got me all the way home though which is nice considering I have pushed it from U district and Golden Gardens before. Anyway Travis of MF said to me that if I could make it through the night he would give me a shiny new dollar, (that’s right one hole dollar). I failed due to a stupid decomp plug on my head refusing to stay put. The plug back out and then leans out my engine which means boom for those of you unaware of the physics of moped engines. Anyway all I got last night was a failed attempt at fortune and a burnt finger from checking to see if the decomp plug was tight. Fail!

My Blog gains a new name.

So I have been trying to think of a new name for my blog for some time now. This morning after a cup or six of coffee and some watermelon flavored Bubble Gum it hit me. “uphill Battle” the perfect name for my moped blog. If you cant understand why I would name the blog this, then you need to read yourself a short recap of my Peugeot Project.

This weekend was a blast! I went to a local guys moped garage sale here in Seattle. He served coffee and booze, my favorite combo!
After the Garage sale I went to my friend Brads moped shop called ADD motorworks to watch some guys ride by naked on bicycles and play pinball. Brad and Responsible John where serving up some banana splitz for 5.00 so I snagged one and gave the leftovers to Tofu the pug.
It was a grand weekend full of moped goodies and fun. I even got the Peugeot running this weekend after a clever 15 dollar nut and bolt purchase.

Where’s Tofu?

My dog is part of what I am known for, tofu is me and I am tofu. The Dog chills with me while I work on mopeds and drinks my beer at an immeasurable rate. So this and many more posts will be attributed to her. This weeks game is spot tofu in the pic, Much like where’s waldo but with my dog. This one is easy, it will get harder as the weeks progress.
Ps,
I have been working frantically on three different bikes and have failed to blog much about GG’y(grocery getter) my wife’s Puch maxi. I picked this bike up for 100.oo bones from my friend Casey The bike originally had a 2 speed, but I have swapped it for an e50 and I am in the process of basic the frame modification/cleanup. Rachel Likes the nasty green and so do I, so we are keeping the paint original and painting everything else black.One more thing while I am typing. I have been searching for some time now for the perfect Josh helmet, to no avail I might add. I finally found this thing but I feel as though it might not be very safe…… The search continues for the helmet of my dreams.

OkO Carburetor Arrives!

Carburetors are a funny thing sometimes. I am not a tuning master by any means of the term but i do like to play with carbs. They are simple and cool devices with two key functions. (1) is to distribute oil throughout the motor to lubricate it correctly on a 2 stroke. (2) is to deliver the correct mixture of gas and air to the engine. While playing with the Monza I came to the realization that the AMAL carb that it came with when I purchased the bike was not going to work. The carb functions but unfortunately it also leaks and a new seal kit for this specific carb is about 40 euro, that’s about what I could have bought a new carburetor for so I did. I purchased a 24mm oko carburetor from Treats. This carb is really amazing it’s jets are organized in a nifty box and so are the needles and idle jets (i lose lots of jets). The carb is a flat slide beast, and I am very impressed with the construction of the carb and its features. I need to still buy the hpi and may be a bit closer to landing it due to Rachel’s school refunding us some money. I am also trying to save for a tattoo at the same time so we will see what I get first.

Blog Blog Blog

So my inactivity with this blog on a regular basis has got me thinking “I should blog more”. After a recent discussion with a few mopedarmy peeps i have decided to try my best to update my blog at least twice a week, (no matter how boring some of the posts may be). If I succeed My friend Responsible John will have no other choice but to add me to his link list on his amazingly cool and ever changing blog. So with that said let the blogging wars begin!

PS This is the doom I myself will face if I do not succeed.

Nifty Monza Video

So far this video is the only time I have seen a bike that looks even remotely close to my Monza.

Monza Madness!!!!!!

So about a year ago my friend Brad found a Puch Monza here in the states. I have been wanting a Magnum for sometime now and assumed the Monza would never leave Brad as it is the coolest moped on the face of the planet (in my opinion). Anyway 2 weeks ago Brad decided to trade me for my Tomos Sprint SE. Yup I traded a perfectly good running bike for a none running heap. What gives you ask? The chance of having the funnest moped ever! The Monza is a 4 speed mini motorcycle with pedals. Its an amazing bike with a lot of potential if I treat it right. I haven’t had a lot of time to play with it because of work but I did get to rip into yesterday for about an hour.

There are only two major issues I can find with this bike. The first of these issues is the cylinder skirt has a small crack in it. My buddy Naz thinks he can weld it up no problem.
The second issue will not be such an easy fix. The stator side of the flywheel use to have a woodruff key slot in it. The key phrase being “use to”
The stator side of the crank is really mooned out, probably toast. So after a few minutes of thinking and a beer I made some phone calls to friends with HPI ignitions. The hpi is a key-less internal rotor cdi. They are also pricey as you can see. I think this is probably the easiest solution although I think I might not make it to the 4th of July ride with my Monza as I had wished for. Either way aside from these two issues I should have a running Monza after I donate some plasma to pay for my new ignition. I also just order a 24mm oko carburetor for this bike as the carb that was one it was a bit out dated. Enjoy the pics there is a lot more to come from this project I am sure.