Out Riding. Will Return soon

Sorry I haven't posted in a while Blog-Journal. After some minor problems with the clutch, I got my bike working. Not only that but a mopeder friend of mine Nash is in town. He's got a couple of sweet bikes, so he, Chris, and I got to ride a bunch. It was just like old times. I'm still breaking in the new engine/piston/cylinder/everything, so I've been taking it very easy. The Magnum's got some very bad low end but once it winds up some (and I pedal a bunch) it begins to speeds up quite rapidly. I'm not sure how fast I've gone... but it feels like there's so much power left to spare. I haven't even hit the powerband yet. This bike, I feel, will easily be a 60+ bike. I'm not even sure I want to find out how fast it can go. Here's the thoughts on the bike right now:

Clutch slipping (too much) coupled with how fat it is jetted (for break in) makes it a low end disaster = lots of pedaling.

Gearing may not allow for the powerband to be reached in city-driving situations. Probably will have to regear as well as rejet when break-in is done.

[Pics to Come]

My Kingdom for a Bracket!!

I need a bracket for my magnum. A tiny cheap strip of metal is holding me back from riding. Check my post on moped army for the piece I'm talking about. It's really frustrating me because I know it should be an easy piece to come by. I still need to get my bike running AND tuned for the 28th. On top of all that, my parents are in town and I can't work on my bikes. ugh.

Benji is Psychic

It's official. In addition to his many magical powers and voodoo, Benji must have added psychic abilities to his bag of tricks. I made a big order (even for me) on Thursday of last week. I always have my packages delivered to my work because I have had some problems with USPS at my home. The next day, however I was fired. I was dreading going back to my former office to pick it up... yet low and behold(!) today it arrived at my house. Now the question is, did Benji know I was going to get fired and choose not to tell me? Perhaps he's yet to fully grasp what affect on the future such an action would cause. hmmm... whatever the case, magic, voodoo, and psychic abilities surely must be a heavy burden.

One more day?

At Chris' yesterday, we got the engine assembled. We put the new back wheel on, and then we hit a snag. The exhaust doesn't line up in the back with the new set-up. Today I bought the biggest hose clamps I could find. I am hoping that I can rig something up for long enough to get over to Choke on Tuesday. There, Jeff will weld me up something to hold it on more permanently. I still have to mount the new carb, jet it, and shorten the chains for the new smaller back sprockets.

Magnum time is nearing...

Yesterday I received my intake from the pros over at Motomatic. As of now, I've got all the parts collected. The return of the magnum is getting close. I hope this rain lets up enough this weekend so that I can ride again. I guess I need the bike back together before I get to that. As of now, the engine needs transoil, it needs to be slapped on, the intake needs to be matched to the cylinder better, it needs to be attached, the carb needs to be mounted, the wheels need to be switched out, and then it needs to be tuned. I probably left something out too. Shit it sounds like a lot more when I put it down all in one place. The thing that may hold me up is that I may need to remount the pipe in the back, which won't be easy considering how hacked at that bike is getting. I just want to start riding again!

FAIL BLOG

Every so often on here I'm going to try to post some moped fails. This one comes to us from my buddy xjasonx.

Kinda hurts to look at, no?

Wait'll They Get a Load a' Me

I can't wait to get these on my bike. According to Benji these **new** spokes are "from a little Hamlet in Japan." They have sealed bearings, Hutchinson tires (speed rated to 120km and super sticky), smaller freewheel for improved pedaling, and are newly trued. Basically these things are awesomeness in round form.

More Moped Blogs

http://www.mopedarmy.com/forums/discuss/1/660669/660669/


That's a pretty good list of the other moped blogs going on right now.

Ugh.

I honestly feel sick to my stomach. I just bought parts with money I don't have and should not be spending. It's all for the cobras too. Those things are going to be money pits I can tell... man! It's all because I want to make sure I get the parts I need before they sell out. I need a 12 step or something. Short post today but that's all I have to say.

Gearing up.

So, with the L.A. rally coming up, I'm going into full time prep mode officially. It's already starting to seem like I have too many bikes and too little time or money to make them all ready for the rally. Here's a rundown of all the work I need to do before then. It'll be interesting to see what actually gets done by the rally at the end of March.
(The Latebirds Rally is March 27th -30th for anyone reading this who doesn't know what I'm talking about.)

The Newport
(This is the easy one, so I thought I would list the work it needs first. My friend Al will be coming in from Chicago to ride this.)
Needs:
-Carb cleaned
-New Brakes
-Kill Switch (which I have and just need to put on)

The Magnum
(This is my bike for the rally and in general, so this stuff has gotta get done by the end of the month for my bday ride.)
Needs:
-New Engine (which I have completed... all I need is the custom intake, which motomatic shipped today)
-Carb tuning
-New Wheels w/smaller sprocket and freewheel (Doesn't really need this but I just got some AMAZING new spokes all set up from Myron's and the snowflakes on it now are set to go on Margaret's bike.)

The Blue Maxi (Margaret's bike... which needs a lot)
Needs:
-New brakes/ Wheels (which as I stated above are coming from my magnum)
-New shocks
-Rebuilt engine (needs this BADLY)
-New Carb/tuning
-New top end (I'm putting a 50 TCCD on it for now... soon enough we'll have Margaret blastin'with a bigger kit but this should be fun for now.)

CobraS
I hope to have one of these goin fast by the time of the rally. I have a polini'd ZA50 that I can put on but I'm not sure that I'll have time.

Hero Puch
I also will have Harold bringing me a Hero Puch when he comes out for the rally. This may very well become a loaner assuming that it's in stable condition.

Birthday ride

I don't know how to make links work on here yet but in the meantime... here's the info:

Feb. 28th
1:00 - 1:40pm: Meet Up

2:00pm ride out

Afterwards Beer n BBQ on my roof.

Email me for details on the meet up whereabouts: Maxwellmojo@gmail.com

Myron's: Moped Madness Mecca

I'm not even sure really where to start this post. I guess I had always heard about Myron's. When I couldn't find a float bowl gasket, I called them and despite having a policy not to ship items, Shaun happily put one in an envelope and sent it my way. Soon after that, I went on one of the "Myron's Moped Rides" with my old Garelli. That was officially the first time I had ever ridden with other 'pedders, and lets just say it had a profound affect on me. (I still have the pics from that ride framed at home.) I've now been on 4 Myron's rides, but had never been to the shop until this past weekend. People had said to me "oh! you HAVE to go," but nothing really could have prepared me for that place. It's like a shrine to mopeds and their heyday, the '70's. In a lot of ways it looks like the shop hasn't been touched since then... like it just leap out of the '70's. In fact, They have bought out or absorbed every southern california moped shop since then. The walls are lined with rims and boxes of parts, all meticulously sorted and organized. Amazing bikes are everywhere, and Shaun and Marvin greet customers like they would guests in their living room. The man behind Myron's and their rides, Shaun, is a character unlike any I've ever met before. So much so in fact that I should probably leave him (and his bike the Blue Fly) for another post. When I left, I had some brand new Gazelle tires, a rare chrome kill switch, and a definite feeling that I had found where I belong. I'll be going back there very soon I have a feeling...

Winter in LA Update

So it's a balmy 73 or so here in LA. Despite that, there are a lot of winter projects going on. I just acquired two of them myself (see post below.) I thought I would take a sec to run down the list of some of the bikes being built right now. Some of them look to be pretty cool, but I'll let you judge for yourself.

First off is the leader of L.A.'s own Latebirds moped gang, Charlie. Like me, he's building a cobra, but only recently did I realize that he's building it for the Polini Cup. Had I known, I would have included him in the polini cup rundown that I did a few posts ago, but anyway, here goes: Charlie's cobra is undoubtedly going to be fast. That's a given. I believe it's going to get a Metra 80cc kit on it, but I'm not sure I remember correctly. The really cool, unique thing about this bike though is that it's going to have a Tomos revival front end. This is going to allow for disc breaks, heavier duty shocks, and what sounds to be a really cool headset arrangement. Since the triple tree extends up, he is going to put clip ons on them, allowing for ultra-low riding. Other than the electrical, I'm told it's all ready to go. According to Charlie, he's going to be 'the big guy on a little bike.'

Speaking of the Polini Cup, I was recently told an interesting bit of info. Though not related to LA, I thought I would share it with you. I was told by Charlie that all of the 1977 team riders, as part of their sponsorship deal with Polini, will have to run Polini powered bikes. There are five of them being built currently, though none of them are finished. If I had to guess I would say the riders will be Dan, Elliott, Paz, Lee, and G. That is just a guess though.

Second Winter build that I know of right now is by my buddy, and founder of the Woolly Bullies, Chris. Chris is building a freespirit, whose chasis he picked up from Tommy. It's going to be bright orange and have his rebuilt e50 on it... (once he rebuilds that engine at least.) For now it's painted up and looking clean though. I can't wait to see how it turns out. Though he's been a skilled mechanic for a long time now, he's yet to have built a bike from scratch.

I guess I should include my winter project(s) while I'm at it. I have a rigid freespirit that I WAS focusing on. I bought it complete on ebay for $150 buy it now(!) and disassembled it at my parents house in Chicago. That's where it sat until this last December, when I shipped the frame out to myself here in California. I then proceeded to get it chopped down, so the seat can sit lower. After which I bought two cobras on impulse. (haha... the madness). So, now I'm sort of focusing on them, though I have an 80cc metra kit that the (in)famous Shaw ported for me. I can't wait to see how that thing runs, whatever bike I put it on.

Big day!

So the big day has arrived. Here it is, the big thing in the pipeline that I was referring to before. I'm going to just post the photos and let you see for yourself. All the bikes pictured are mine... and keep in mind, we are in California, not Ohio.