Moped Chronicles

You're 100% correct.

>That means a relatively small friction drive.

We run it up hills that used to be difficult for our old compact car. I haven't found a *paved* hill yet that I can't climb with ease. Since installing it in February it's performance has increased, directly attributable to the 20 LBS of blubber that has been carved off my carcass by riding more often and farther.

The roller bolts directly to the PTO, two sizes; 1.25" and 1.5". They're produced in a variety of different materials. The composite roller looks suspiciously like a grinding wheel for a Dremel Tool. I've run this one in mud and on wet pavement without it slipping. Unfortunately it eats cheap nylon bike tires for breakfast, lunch and dinner. For most conditions the company recommends vulcanized tires and polyurethane rollers, which will slip if wet but dry quickly and don't cause tire wear. Aluminum rollers are also available. It takes just a few quick turns with a wrench to change the roller out.

> How is it in the rain?

Rain and light mud, no problem. The last time I tried to run it in the snow there was slipage. It's best to use the pedals and/or push in the white stuff anyway.

It seems to me they made tw models, but mostly sold one. It was a step-through, with a snowmobile-style torqu converter (CVT), cast wheels, wider tires than others, and a small fairing. The shop owner said that some hop-up stuff was available, like 80cc kits, exp. chambers, etc., and that simply pulling a stop out of the CVT would allow it to go above the legal moped limit to around 40-42mph. They were $200-$300 more than the next most expensive (Tomos) he had. The second model was described as a commercial model, with a rear rack and fatter tires on smaller diameter rims, almost like a scooter. My recall is a little sketchy, but these things were the coolest.

They used to be all over Block Island, at least in 1990. One of the shops/rental huts there would probably know much more than I do. Also, my AltaVista search came up with an ad for one last week (but I can't find it now) for sale in Kansas City, I think, for $200, which should be a bargain.

"You see things vacationing on a motorcycle in a way that is completely different from any other. In a car you're always in a compartment, and because you're used to it you don't realize that through that car window everything you see is just more TV. You're a passive observer and it is all moving by you boringly in a frame."

"On a cycle the frame is gone. You're completely in contact with it all. You're in the scene, not just watching it anymore, and the sense of presence is overwhelming. That concrete whizzing by five inches below your foot is the real thing, the same stuff you walk on, it's right there, so blurred you can't focus on it, yet you can put your foot down and touch it anytime, and the whole thing, the whole experience, is never removed from immediate consciousness."

"Plans are deliberately indefinite, more to travel than to arrive anywhere."

"With... lack of pressure to ``get somewhere'' it works out fine and we just about have America all to ourselves."

"On Labor Day and Memorial Day weekends we travel for miles on these roads without seeing another vehicle, then cross a federal highway and look at cars strung bumper to bumper to the horizon. Scowling faces inside. Kids crying in the back seat. I keep wishing there were some way to tell them something but they scowl and appear to be in a hurry, and there isn't -- ."

"Unless you're fond of hollering you don't make great conversations on a running cycle. Instead you spend your time being aware of things and meditating on them. On sights and sounds, on the mood of the weather and things remembered, on the machine and the countryside you're in, thinking about things at great leisure and length without being hurried and without feeling you're losing time"

I researched the Whizzer engine on your page, and actually went to "the Whizzer store". Thought you might find the following interesting:

The Whizzer kit is now $1595, and you have to supply the bicycle. The recommend a "cruizer" bike and specifically the one being sold by Schwinn now. So you can figure $2000-2500 for a modern Whizzer

The engine is apparently is an updated version of the original Whizzer engine based off a Kohler K91 engine, which has been manufactured since 1923, and is used in applications such as generators. A 1993 upgrade of the engine eliminated the original iron barrel, so now the base and barrel are now a single unit, with a steel piston sleeve. Nostalgia Co. offers several power boosting options such as head (+$160), cam (+$100), and "genuine Whizzer" headlight/tailight for +$230.

There is a $10 service fee added to all Whizzer kits for notarized certificate of origin for local dept of motor vehicle registration.

The engine is 4 cycle, air cooled, 8.86 cubic inches, 4 horsepower at 3700 RPM, weighs 21 lbs, Mikuni 18mm carb, and they suggest a strong frame "considering speeds of 35 m.p.h.".

I owned a Sax system in Canada, and now that I am living in Australia, I researched them here. There is a dealer, and he told me yesterday that Sax in Germany have ceased production of the kits as of December 1996, and gone into Yamaha motorbike assembly or the like. As far as he knew no-one else was making them available any more.

Too bad, it was a great system, and reasonably priced condidering you got a wheel, drum brake and good quality.

The North American distributors, Sax Energy Corp i Vancouver BC, are developing their own kit, using locally designed and manufactured components, and release is imminent.

Check out these quotes:

I had a speedometer with the cable down the fork to a contraption in the spokes, and it was reading "TourEasy" speeds--45mph+ down those Iowa hills back in the 40's. I even had a siren mounted on the fork connected to a small chain I could pull, which would place a rubber knob of sorts against the tire to spin the siren turbine. Loud enough to scare the cows.

NewDeparture brakes and a mother who had no idea of how fast her son could go!!

The only "whizzer" accident I can remember was hitting the front fender of an old Chevrolet when the driver backed out of a parking space in front of me...I went over the hood, but luckily no big deal, and the incident at least occurred right in front of the hospital.(The bike/whizzer survived with barely a dent)...

The Chronos electric power assist was invented by a man in San Diego Ca. It runs on a nicad cell pack which attaches to the bike the same way a water bottle does. The motor to the seat tube and rests on the rear wheel when it is activated. It doesn't take over the pedaling. Instead it give an assist of to human power so it essentially cut your effort by 2/3. The entire apparatus weighs around six pounds. The only drawback is the price. About $600 with shipping. I found installation pretty simple. However a bike shop could do it if necessary. The people who manufacture it are very helpful. The can be reached at 1-800-989-4766. I can tell you that it changes the way I look at biking. The one we have is being used by my my wife. I am going to order one for myself because I want ot be able to do some riding in New England where the roads can be hilly. the expression on my wifes face when she first used it was sheer joy. She now suggests we ride instead of complaining. We are both in our early fifties. I don't have the stamina I used to have. Call the company, They'll be happy to talk to you. And tell them you saw it on the internet. I told them I would sing it's praises for them.

Whatever happened to... K&S Industries

Just read your query about K&S and their "Bike Machine". I've owned 3 bike machines in the past. I still have one (sold the other 2). I purchased all of them from the "Comb" catalog, which has since stopped operations. They were selling the K&S bike machines in the early '80s. I bought them for about $80 each as they were refurbished and not brand new. I imagine that Kidde couldn't sell them through their normal distributors and then sold a batch of them to "Comb" at a discount. If I remember right the original retail price was around $400 for the system. Tomorrow I'll look for the manual in the garage, which will have Kidde's address or phone number. I'm pretty sure they haven't built any in at least 12 years!

I finally did it. I've been procrastinating for years, literally. Always tomorrow, another day always brought another plan for that dynamic ignition timing, that miscellaneous hop-up idea. And no time. Never any damn time. And so it sat, awaiting an uncertain future.

My first bike was not a motorcycle. Friends always chided me. "Get a real bike," they'd say. Carless in Boston by my own self-proclaimed religious decree, I wanted my own wheels, something more than the myriad of bicycles I've ridden. I looked a bit here, a bit there, giving lots of "that's nice" glances to hopeful salespeople. And then it happened: I walked into a busy shop and saw a moped that made me look again, and again. A moped? This is rec.moto, ain't it? Yeah, well, it looked like a motorcycle well enough to be pulled over by Boston police for lack of a plate. Pointing to the pedals, the officer still didn't look convinced; not until I rotated the pedal armature around did he concede I wasn't bluffing. That it would hit a clocked 44 MPH box-stock didn't help, either.

No, my Peugeot TSM-U3 didn't look like a "moped." It had a long, slender seat at comfortable as anything on a modern sport bike. The gas tank was in-line with the the seat, white, with orange pinstriping, chrome trim and spoke wheels. I rode my TSM-U3 on black tarmac and black ice, white sand and white snow. We became one, inseparable, when a cage driver oblivious to road conditions couldn't stop and bent parts of my TSM around me; nerve damage from my cracked spine stays with me today. I rode my TSM-U3 nearly five thousand miles between 1982 and that fateful day in 1985 when I bought my first, as you'd like to say, "real" bike.

From 1985 onwards, my TSM became a perpetual project, adding a battery and charging system, directional signals, brilliant brake lights, a horn louder than anything on either of my current bikes. Used less and less frequently, sometimes only when my CB750F was in the shop, it sat outside, strangely uncovered, awaiting an uncertain future.

I registered my TSM-U3 for what would be the last time in January, 1987. Feeling guilty for not riding it more, I almost deliberately avoided it altogether. Forcing love above guilt, I set out to start it in mid 1987 after many months of sitting idle. Kick-starting it was fruitless. I pushed it around and around the parking lot until I was exhausted, when it finally kicked over. I rode it a bit, then parked it again. In the intervening years, it has been bumped into and pushed by the wind, crashing onto its side, picked up by me to sit in the baking sun and pounding rain, until the next time.

Being perpetually unable to find parking spaces near my apartment, I left my bikes in the area behind the house my mother rented - a ten minute walk away. She just moved, for the first time in fourteen years; the parking spaces gone, I had to clean up. Until I find, or give in to the $100/month/bike fees I've been offered (ouch), I moved my two "real" bikes to my parents' houses, each about thirty miles away. The oil cans, locks, chain lube, bike wash, covers, tools, and all the rest moved or chucked, the only thing left was, my TSM-U3.

I called the Department of Public Works, Sanitation Office, and asked for the person responsible for scheduling large item removal. She asked me what it was. I stumbled. But I said it was my moped. She said they'll come next Wednesday, July 12, 1995 - today. I didn't know what else to do. Rusted, with a permanently mangled rear fender from the back-breaking accident we survived together, the battery now gone, engine probably rusted internally beyond repair, I doubt I could give it away, much less find a good home for it. (Feeling much the way the fender looked, I ponder whether you could give me away, too.)

Last night, or is it this morning, at about 2:00 am, I walked, with no small amount of trepidation, to the now nearly deserted area behind the house. With an old, worn tire pump in hand, the same one I pumped the TSM's tires with years ago, I inflated the long-since deflated tires for the last time. I don't know why. I was tossing the tire pump because it was rusted, working poorly at best; but it would still work one more time. I scrawled "large trash removal" on a piece of paper and affixed it to my TSM-U3.

Walking it slowly out to the front of the house, my TSM-U3 rolled effortlessly. The chain, unoiled for eight years, moved freely and smoothly over the sprocket teeth. The handlebar felt smooth and steady, the TSM turning on a radius that makes my "real bikes" look like school buses. I could hear gas sloshing in the tank, still there after all this time. Though unlocked, I found its key on an old key-ring, shiny as if new, removed it from the ring, inserted it in the fork lock anyway, which still turns. Putting it up on its stand, on the sidewalk, where the trash goes, I stepped back to admire it. And I stepped up to admire it. I felt it under my hands. It felt familiar, safe, comfortable, inviting. It felt like and old friend wanting desperately to talk with me.

Instinctively, not habitually, I reached down and turned the fuel valve on; it turned easily. Not being able to remember how to start it cerebrally, I put my hands on the bars, my fingers on the choke and decompression, my foot on the pedal, going through the motions under control of a less logical part of my brain, for reasons I know not. I knew the motor wouldn't turn. Logic dictated that. After eight years, I hate to think what it looked like internally. The air filter was probably a mouse-nest. The carburetor's jets were probably caked with oxidation. The belt was probably cracked and would snap if I spun the pedal. But I spun the pedal anyway.

The crankshaft turned, I heard it. But more than that. The engine kicked! I gave the pedal another spin. The engine started; the headlight shone brightly; the speedometer became illuminated softly all the way around by small lights I thought would never work again; the muffler spurted gentle puffs of exhaust; the TSM-U3, nay, *my* TSM-U3, was alive, as if to beckon me to give it another chance! Made nervous by the police car which had just pulled up on the opposite side of the street, I killed the engine, shut off the fuel valve, and started to walk away. I came back, thinking frantically, my brain more shorted out than what I had assumed of the TSM's electrical system would be. Awash with a storm of feelings, feeling everything and nothing at the same time, nearly in shock, I walked away again, not looking back, unable to look back, afraid to look back.

I pictured in my mind a child whose father had left with neither warning nor cause, walking in the door years later, a well-practiced smile on his face, "heeeeerrrre's daddy!" booms from the lips, and I want to run, run like hell. Maybe he, the child in the image, wants to run; but *I* want to run, to run like hell, away from my TSM-U3. Hell yes, mister well-adjusted piece 'o sh*t, you're right; it's just a bunch of rusting metal parts, oxygenated hydrocarbons, inanimate, mechanical. I don't suppose it has a soul, now does it? And if it did, do you suppose that soul, or a piece of that soul, would live in me anywhere, now do you? Of course not; you don't have time, mister well-adjusted piece 'o sh*t, to bother with such illogical and useless shows of such rank sentimentality. According to such practical logic, I surely just walked away, whistling dixie, one more piece of unresolved trash taken care of, never to be thought of again. Hah.

I wonder where my TSM-U3 is at this minute. Did the trash man take it yet? Is it thrown, unceremoniously, on some heap somewhere? I wonder, when I discarded it, what part of me went with it; I know some part of me went with it, because by most peoples' observations, my brain "ain't all there." This is hard. Really, really hard. I have to type this slowly; when I type quickly, my face distorts, my eyes can't see. I feel as if I should run, run back to my TSM-U3, run back to make it *mine* again, and then do what?

Spidra Webster wrote:

I just saw one of those EV Warriors on the local streets yesterday. I saw a guy on a brightly colored yellow bike. At first it just looked like he had a tailbox, but I noticed he was going somewhere without pedalling. I wanted to get a word with him but it wasn't possible.

I don't understand why someone would get a EV Warrior instead of a moped anyway. It's nice looking, but if you don't bother pedalling it (this was a very, very low grade, so gradual you don't even notice it unless you're on a bike) then you might as well get a scooter or a motorcycle.

I actually got to test ride one of these about a year ago. A rather deluxe model with a Sachs hydralic disc brake. Some comments:

1. It's really too heavy to be used as a pedaling bicycle for any amount of time .... but it does have some gearing (7 speed on the pedals) so you could assist the motor and/or get home if you ran out of charge.

2. Given that it's not a great bicycle ... it's a nice moped. The frame is decently well made, the bike handles well, and it's not junky like some of the prior attempts at small electric bikes. Uses dual Bosch radiator fan motors and a decent controller. Gel Cells for charge I believe. It was fast (20mph+) and accelerated nicely when I was in the "defensive line" class of rider. The braking was impressive.

3. Compared to a conventional mo-ped/scooter ... it's quiet and quite possibly easier to maintain. I know I'm going to hear about horrible electrics are ... but I'd rather motor-pace behind a EV-Warrior than any small gas engined vehicle. In CA. our electricity is rather cleanly generated. Even with transmisson losses the pollution output in electrical production is about 1/100 the equilivant pollution when comparing new internal combustion automobiles with electrics (I think the US East Coast's ratio is more like 1/10, as per. Consume Reports). The 2 cycle stuff in small 1hp engines produces more (much much more pollution than a 200HP 1996 automobile. So if you want to have a small motor bike ... this isn't a bad one.

4. However I am tired of seeing 30% or more of the electrical energy on these electric-assist bikes wasted on a friction system. On the EV-Warrior they use a rather massive Chin-Shen rear tire for durability, that also hurts efficency. Even the geared hub motors are preferable to this sort of setup. The company says they have some alternatives in the works.

5. The marketing and advertizing behind the EV-Warrior is excellent. They mainly sell thru automobile dealers ... so they don't have to contend with the very conservative bike shop owners (I've seen shops go out of business rather than try anything new). Consider studying the EV-Warrior business as part of Selling-101.

The Pedal Cycles (Construction and Use) Regulations, 1983, require that such pedal cycles shall have a plate showing, inter alia, the continuous rated output of the motor. The battery must not leak so as to be a source of danger and the cycle must be fitted with a device, biased to the off position, which switches on the motor".

In the UK, all mopeds are classed as motorcycles and require the riders to have driving licences, third party insurance, helmet, and the mopeds themselves must be registered and carry registration numbers; carry excise licences and be tested annually for roadworthiness.

I have been told that in France, mopeds are not treated like motorbikes and it would be interesting to find out the position in other countries.

In the UK it is illegal, under the Highways Act, 1835, to ride a pedal cycle on the footpath (sidewalk) but the police seem to have turned a blind eye to this practice in recent years.

Team: "No Fear" Motobecane Update:

Mon Jun 5, 1995

I have been cleaning parts. Got both mains out of the cases, gently coaxed out the crud, and have both sounding and feeling pretty darn good. Brushed the rust off of the crank, and have big end bearing just fuckin' perfect (so to speak).

Got rings off intact, have cleaned them and the piston grooves, and the whole assembly is race-ready.

Called the only moped shop in the yellow pages, and was informed that Motobecan stopped making the things ten years ago. I have sent out high-tec internet typ feelers for whatever information can be had.

Trashed the (already trashed) remains of the crankcase oil seals during the bearing removal process. Need to find a "seals- are-us" sort of place in Columbus. One of them is intact enough to be measured...

Wed Jun 7, 1995

Found all the parts I needed at a place called "Handy Bikes" on 5th ave. They even have an old guy who they have to call from the back to help with old parts. He was really nice, and quite helpful. Anyway, last night I started re-assembly, and got as far as putting the case back together and re-installing the piston. The cylinder would not just "pop" back on, so I stopped there. So far I have a total investment of $31.50, including the purchase price! Kyle is pretty excited about the thing (he saw it for the first time yesterday).

Sat Jun 10, 1995

We have spark! I just need a couple more small items, and the thing ought to run. I have the engine back in.

Sun Jun 11, 1995

Yep, got it running yesterday. However, it wants to be choked all the time, and won't idle. I think that the carb is all screwed up. There were two phillips head countersink-type screws in the body that I did not touch. I think it's time to look at those (and find the correct parts to replace them). I'll bet that one is supposed to be a idle mixture screw. (There are no mixture screws at all available to me now) But it didn't fly apart or anything, and at full throttle it runs nice and smooth. Both Kyle and I actually managed to ride it up and down the street. Had a hell of a time getting the nut on the clutch side of the crankshaft. There is a snap ring that holds the free-wheeling portion of the clutch in place on the crank. Mark and I did not know about this, and used way too much force to drive the clutch off. Found out yesterday that we mangled the snap ring and mushroomed the end of the crank in the process. I fixed the snap ring easy enough, but Kyle and I had to use valve grinding compound and tons of elbow grease to get the nut to go on all the way. We probably spent an hour running it on and off, while the grinding compound eased the distortion of the threads. It worked though. Sure is a cute little thing!

Mon Jun 12, 1995

The engine is running, but not without constant working of both the throttle and the choke. I have to fully choke it to get it running. Once running, it will not idle at all unless the choke is just so, at about half way. If the choke is just right, it is possible to hold the throttle open a bit and get the thing to idle. It will not idle at the fastest stop-screw setting (that's too slow). Once I'm on the road and moving, it seems to cruise along OK at about 20 to 25 MPH, however this is with the choke held just so again. If I let go of the choke lever, it dies. I have the ignition timing set so that the points open when the piston is about 1/8" before top dead center. I have also tried it with opening at about 1/2" before TDC. It seems to run smoother at the more retarded setting. Just tonight, I thought that I had found the problem in the bottom-most brass plug below the carburetor main jet. This is a threaded piece about an inch long, with an 8mm hex head (with a screwdriver slot cut in it). It has a hole drilled in it cross- wise, then another hole running the length of it (plugged on the hex end). There is a short threaded portion on the other end. The length-wise hole was plugged up, apparently soldered shut. It looked like this was supposed to be open, so I drilled it out. It looks as though this is the port through which the main jet is supplied. At any rate, there is no difference at all in the way the thing runs.

Sat Jun 17, 1995

Boy was I wrong about that "brass plug". That is indeed the main jet. The thing that looks like a jet in the venturi is just sort of a conduit from the jet. I took the carb apart on last time to see if I could find anything wrong. This time I removed that littl conduit-thingie, and there was quite a bit of crud in there. Then I took the whole thing (disassembled) down to Handy Bikes to compare my pile of parts with the book. I was not missing anything. I told the "old guy" about drilling out the "plug" and he rolled his eyes and went and got a new one for me. I put it all back together and started it, but it didn't really run much better; still wanted to be choked. Well, "what the hell" I thought. I re-adjusted the choke cable. There is an adjustment barrel on the top of the cable, and I have it set so that the thing is pulled up just so. I managed to ride around the block several times. With a little practice, I have gotten so that I can even stop rolling and start off again without killing the engine. Maybe this is how it's supposed to be (?). The centrifugal clutch takes some getting used to. I have a tendency not to want to rev the engine as I am stopping, because that would wear the clutch. But I suppose that's just what you have to do. When I got back from riding around, I also adjusted the throttle cable barrel so that it will idle. I have not ridden it like this yet, since I was hot and tired and wanted to stop and have a beer. I'll go out and give it a shot after 'while.

Sun Jun 18, 1995

Instead of just leaving it alone, I worked on it some more after that. I removed the intake manifold and made a proper gasket for it, and put it back on. It had had an aluminum gasket, which I suspected of leaking. It ran a little better after that, I think. The choke seemed to want to be set just a little bit further out, but the adjuster was at the end of it's reach. So I ran the adjuster all the way in and moved the cable in the clamp. Unfortunately, I did not measure the location of the choke plunger before starting, so now I am back to square one on adjusting it. (I couldn't get it started after that, although I did not try very hard).

Mon Jun 19, 1995

Almost time to go to work. I'll be darned if I didn't spend several hours working on the fuckin' moped yesterday. I did fix the float, and made the carburetor perfect. Then there was no spark!!! I finally traced that to a bad resistor in the spark plug cap. I replaced it with a solid connector, and get a good spark now. I got to reading the can that the oil came in, and it said "for 21 HP and larger water-cooled engines only". Hmmm - I went and got some new gas, and some Lawnboy oil. In replacing the gas in the tank, a lot of rust broke free. I flushed it several times, but I think something must have gotten in and plugged the carb up. Now you can pedal all you want, but nothing happens, and the spark plug does not smell of gas when it is removed. Argggggg!!

Tue Jun 20, 1995

It's hotter than hell. I turned on the AC in the garage right when I got home, and am going to go out and fuck with the motobecane one more time in a while here. I got a big-ass fuel filter that I want to install. That and another through cleaning of the carb, and if that doesn't work, I'm stumped. *** SUCCESS! The Motobecane is up and running! I've just been maybe two miles on it, up and down alleys nearby. Here's what the final problem was: Rust in the gas tank, basically. The main inlet pipe to the carb was plugged with shit. I ran a small drill bit in and out of it (by hand), and gave the whole carb a final blowing out. Then I installed the above-mentioned fuel filter, and fired it up. I still had to carefully adjust the choke cable barrel to get it just so, but I seem to have gotten it, and it runs well and idles and everything. I was able to ride it long enough to start to feel silly for riding around on a 50 cc moped! (At 5'-10", just under 200 lbs., some grey hair, well... I look silly. But who cares? It's running!

*****************************************************************

COSTS

6/4/95 - $20.0 Initial purchase
6/7/95 - $11.50 Gaskets, seals, motor mounts
6/9/95 $25.00 Rings, ignition wire, misc. cycle parts
6/10/95 - $ 2.00 Crank nuts
6/17/95 - $ 5.24 New main jet
6/19/95 - $ 5.00 Big-ass fuel filter

total $68.74.00