Rad Rats

New Daniel Nguyen Memorial Buttons

2011-12-26T14:28:00.001-08:00

We'll have buttons in the next few days. Email me at Maxwellmojo@gmail.com if you would be interested in receiving one. Hopefully we'll have some shirts made up for Daniel and a ride planned soon.

R.I.P. Daniel. None of Us Will Ever be the Same.

2011-11-30T14:38:00.000-08:00

Lots of people know The Woolly Bullies, but I've realized that less people know the individual bullies themselves. To remedy that, this is the first in a billion part series that I'm calling "Meet a Bully." First to be blogged is Daniel. He's my roommate and also originally a Longbeach Knucklehead. The moped mecca that is Los Angeles finally got the better of him though, and now he's a Bully to stay. His official title is "moped jockey" cause any bike with him on it is 3-5 mph faster. He is master of all that is Tomos. Part of a rare breed of Tomos riders that actually work on their own bikes inside and out. His current rides are a super ported 50/50 a35 ST and a Cobromos Tomos engine/Cobra frame concoction (pic below.) At current, his is one of only 3 known Cobras in all of SoCal. If you used to go on Myron's rides back in the day you probably know him. Specialties include Tomos work, super blasting, getting radrad, telling hipsters to 'go home.'

Daniel (Far Left) and his Cobromos with 3 more Bullies at the LA Races.

Chip in For Daniel Nguyen's Memorial

2011-11-30T14:17:00.001-08:00

This is a fund that The Bullies set up to help Daniel's family with the cost of memorial and burial services.

Buy a Bully Shirt!!

2011-08-17T10:00:00.000-07:00

Buy a Woolly Bully shirt and help us get to Sacramento and Portland!

If you want one, paypal $10 to woollybullies@gmail.com

Make sure to include your size, address, and a kiss.

Woolly Billy, the Newest Bully

2011-07-30T13:45:00.000-07:00

Congrats go out to the newest Bully, Billy Lucas, holding down Chocolate City.

BEWARE BILLY LUCAS!

Hope You Don't Think I'm Slackin'...

2011-07-30T13:31:00.000-07:00

...even though I'm not posting as much.

My next Puch build.

Rad Rats: Now wif MO RATS

2011-07-16T10:02:00.001-07:00

Skate Sesh at the Bully House

2011-06-30T18:24:00.000-07:00

Former Bully, current Daggr Tracy with some kinda 180. I don't remember...

Future, potential, possible, could-be, one day, maybe a Bully Steven AKA Moptop AKA Spaghetti Head (Danny couldn't remember his name one time,) w/a nosegrab 180 down a huge 1 set.

Bully-for-life Dirty Danny with another 180 (keep in mind this was a game of skate)

180

Moptop doing his Shiva impression

Flippin' it old skool

Reachin' deep down

Ollie manny. Hey look it's a moped back there.

Check the Bully Blog for some videos of this and more

Born Free Moto Show Daze and Bully Party Knights

2011-06-26T14:41:00.000-07:00

I went to a pretty kick ass motorcycle show. Kosuke, my neighbor at Sunrise Cycles won some trophies last year, and I wanted to go show support as he defended his title, so to speak. I wish that there had been a bit more 2-strokes represented, but there were a lot of super creative builds nonetheless.
Born Free 3 Pics

A few sunburns later, and I was piling in the car with a bunch of Bullies, headed for the Westside and Jason's backyard party.
Jason's party

"A Wheelbarrow full of Steel Reserve?! Ferreal?! This is the classiest party I've ever been to." - Jose

New Official Woolly Bully Blog

2011-06-19T23:49:00.001-07:00

You may have noticed that I haven't been updating the blog as much lately, but that doesn't mean that there's any less crazy moped shit going down over here... quite the opposite. In fact, there's been so much moped action, that the Bullies and I had to start another, official, Woolly Bully blog. Go check it out at:

www.fuzzyjerks.tumblr.com

We'll be updating it with fart jokes, stupid pictures, butts, and sometimes, moped stuff.

I'll still be posting lots here though!

Out Riding...

2011-05-28T14:02:00.001-07:00

Pics to follow...

Woolly Bully Sighting in New York

2011-05-26T16:14:00.000-07:00

(Taken from the New York Times)

After a Month Hiatus, A Warm Welcome Home.

2011-05-24T13:21:00.000-07:00

Visits from The Moped Heads and Sunset Riders meant more bikes at our house than we've had since the rally last summer

Some Bell's Oberon made for a fun little welcome back celebration

Sunset Rob with Gas can in tow.

Cool Dreamers Moped Video

2011-05-10T19:28:00.001-07:00

This one comes courtesy of Elliott Griffis. I like it for the definite mood/atmosphere it evokes.

My Sweetest Dark Dream; InDreams from elliott giffis on Vimeo.

CONGRATS JASON

2011-05-01T12:48:00.000-07:00

Last night Jason became the 13th Woolly Bully. Congratulations go out to our newest Bully, The Westside Slambassador!

Jason is to the left of Jose's dirty-ass jeans and Daniel's drunken self.

Notes on the KTM clutch conversion

2011-03-30T14:16:00.000-07:00

I am far from done tuning this thing, but I wanted to write a bit about the things I ran into getting this clutch to work before I forget any of them. I don't think that most of these things were covered in the original post on MA, seen HERE.

Soooo. I got it working on the first try. Shimming the bell was a bit hard, but luckily Treats has lots of thicknesses of Shim's. The first day of testing, it was nearly impossible to start, so I had to reopen it and add another washer to the starter plate pin, making it protrude more. After that, I realized I was still approaching this clutch like a Puch clutch and was using WAY too thin oil. KTM recommends 20w40. I'm currently using Mobil synthetic 15w 50 and getting better results, so I think I might go thicker.

The next day I had the issues with the clutch staying engaged. One of the shoes was dragging. I had to reopen the clutch, retorque, and locktite the shoes AGAIN (do it before install!!) This time I did it with stronger (red) locktite.

Despite all this stuff, the biggest issue with this clutch is how much it heats up(!) It's really a for-race only mod, but I'm still trying to make it last as long as possible, by attempting to control the heat in a couple of ways... 1) I'm running the springs from the KTM Junior Adventure instead of washers, which decreases the gnarliness of the engage. (specifically my set up is one spring and one flat washer per shoe).
2) I'm running way more clutch oil, so that it is able to reach the smaller (higher up in the chamber) clutch and bell. Filling up your clutch case with as much oil as the drain bolt allows, will leave your bell barely skimming the oil. Over-filling the case with as much as I'm talking about using (5 or so extra Oz.) will leave you spraying oil out of the bleeder hole and all over your back wheel... SOooo I had to put thin fuel line in the top to essentially make the bleeder higher up too. 3) The minarelli bell doesn't come with ANY holes in it for oil to move in and out... only the space between the plate and the bell. SO, I added a couple, but just small ones like the stock Puch bell has. 4) "2 Cool" additive was recommended to me. I have yet to get it/ run it, but it claims to lower temps by 20 - 40 degrees.

If anyone else is running the KTM set up and has some more tips, please chime in in the comments section. I'm getting good results so far (it takes off like no Puch clutch ever could) but I don't claim to have this set up worked out by any means.

Dreamers Metra75/e50/Garelli(?!?!) Exclusive World Premiere

2011-03-24T18:48:00.000-07:00

I remember hearing about this build a long time ago and being really excited then... So imagine my surprise, when almost a year later my good friend Elliott sent me the following pic:

Kinda puts my race build to shame! Case inducted no less. This is a 'favorite ever' type build to me and it hasn't even hit the road yet!

Race Bike Success!

2011-03-22T22:55:00.000-07:00

Some of you may have noticed how long it's been since I posted that I was almost done with this bike. Finishing this bike has been a nightmare (even for a moped.) All the way down to shaving my knarp so that it would fit in the Lusito throttle. There's almost ZERO clearance inside that thing! Anyway. Here's the bike as it is now. Well actually, it has pedals now. Oh and I'm short a knarp... so that loose cable will be hooked up soon. Also soon to come: a chopped seat and, of course, that KTM ignition will be happenin' soon too.

Murderin' Em

2011-03-18T11:35:00.000-07:00

The seat on my Murder Mag was weathering a bit faster than I expected, so I sprayed it down with some Plastidip (like for putting handles back on tools). I think it came out pretty well.

Race Bike Crunch Time...

2011-03-11T12:18:00.000-08:00

Less than 24 hours until the SoCal races start... and this is what my bike looks like:

And my KTM ignition just came back from the Machinist... by way of Elliot G, (Thanks man!!)

I've been blogged

2011-03-10T16:33:00.000-08:00

Scroll down and see if something looks familiar...

http://www.epiclylaterd.com/randybdaymoon.html

Bullysh*ttin'

2011-03-09T01:08:00.000-08:00

Since I've been gone having my own adventures, I haven't posted much about The Bullies in a while... so here are some updates, some good, some bad.

Firstly, Daniel is broken again. This time it's a shattered femur. Fortunately for him, all the kings horses and all the kings men were able to put him back together again with the help of some pins. Here he is sporting some exclusive bully gear. (We have other colored sweatshirts for sale for the discounted price of $15 for my Rad Rats readers).

Speaking of exclusive gear, check out these 24k gold Bully pins. They are for members only though... sorry guys :(

Myron's Ride # XX: 4-Stroke Jerry Gets Blasted

2011-03-06T19:43:00.000-08:00

Today was the first Myron's ride since October. 38 riders came out.

39* Riders

Only 36 made it back though... I think the creeper in this van got a couple...

Super fast Shaw built Mb5... and I thought this was a stock ride(!)

Jerry's new 4-stroke Chinese "moped"

Custom built Kawasaki 65

Reverse

Thanks Trevor, Marvin, and Co. for the loaner and all the hospitality.

Cadet Mojo, Reporting for Duty

2011-03-04T18:57:00.000-08:00

Getting ready to blast off. If I'm lucky I'll survive re-entry. We'll see...

KTM clutch status achieved? Check back soon for initial test results.

Mounted up

Rad Rats super sneaky preview... is that a... Za50?!?

The More Things Change...

2011-03-02T11:18:00.000-08:00

So I'm back in LA, for those of you who missed the last post. While I was gone, our workshop got bulldozed. What remains is a jumble of boxes inside a "temporary storage" (how temporary we can't be sure.)

This is what my nightmares look like.

In the meantime, moped work continues as usual.

(My balcony)

I also got a nice little collection of parts from Adrian 'Bird. He's one of the first moped people I ever ever met. Before I had even bought my first moped, I walked into Choke. (This being not long after it had opened.) He was sitting on a couch and proceeded to give me a sales pitch on a new Tomos. I almost bought one, but decided then that I liked the looks and style of the vintage bikes better... a decision I have stuck with, actually.

Just to decode this a little for you, that's a Jolly Moto pipe, wheels from a moped shop in Denmark (or the Netherlands, I forget), and a magnum swingarm. The wheels are 17" & 15" (or 14?) and have interchangeable hubs for weird chopperin'... but were made for Puch, as they take the same hubs as the 5-stars.

Back in LA and Back in Business

2011-02-28T22:22:00.000-08:00

Here Tomahawk Tuning's Christophe and Bully Mike discuss pipes and GR1 builds. The first SoCal race is right around the corner! I gotta get my bike together. I had all but given up having a bike for the first race later this month, then I saw how much work Mike has left... and I was given hope(!) Maybe I can have a bike together in time after all...

More Mopeds Movies

2011-02-22T23:16:00.000-08:00

Here are two more moped movie trailers for you guys to check out. If there are more out there I've missed, please post them in the comments section for me to check out!

Wild Hearts

BLK BLK

BLK/BLK redux... from shawn lukitsch on Vimeo.

Inside Caesar's Palace

2011-02-18T09:05:00.000-08:00

I think the first time I heard about Ceasar he had ridden out to help fix my friend's broken chain on a random Chicago street side curb. Later I heard his dad and him, were both huge into mopeds. Because of his dad being Ceasar as well, people call him "Little Ceasar" which somehow made me think he was in the Hot n' Ready's (Little Caesar, Hot n Ready... see the logical connection?) Anyway, now that the confusion is all cleared up, I went and spent some time in what is by far the biggest hotbed of mopeds I've seen in Chicago thus far... Ceasar's palace... (well both Ceasars' palace to be correct.) Here are some pics I took while we talked peds:

Meet A Bully Pt. 3: Bully Mike

2011-02-17T13:23:00.000-08:00

Bully Mike seen here in his natural habitat

Mike circa Jan. 2010

Mike is the Bully Vice President for life. (His is the only bully title with "for life" attached.) He is also the lesser known co-founder of The Woolly Bullies. According to our MA Wiki description, Mike 'will drink you under the table and then invite you to sleep on his floor.' I think it may be the truest thing in that whole post. Mike is a rad dude to be sure, and has been known to give beers to random broken down rally-goers as he blasts by. Mike is a Puch blaster by trade, but has an awesome(!) soon-to-be fast Sebring, and a Pug in pieces. Mike's green maxi is possibly the longest running kitted bully bike, but don't be surprised when his new UPS mag blasts you too. Specialties include: General mechanics, brawlin', and Puch blasterin'.

Play the Moped Army Game

2011-02-09T18:40:00.000-08:00

Check This Post and See if you can count how many different moped performance mmmm, ideas, (I guess I will call them) that were lifted, er inspired, from this blog/my builds.

P.s. I don't claim ownership of any of these ideas! In fact, I'm glad people dig my shit!

Hint: if you said 2, guess a little higher.

Clutch Mods are in my Future

2011-02-05T17:12:00.000-08:00

Mopeds Vs. The Chicago Winter

2011-02-04T18:09:00.000-08:00

This rad custom mag was seen outside of a party I was at and belongs to a Justin...

This one wasn't so lucky (post blizzard)

The Moped Files

2011-01-27T19:18:00.000-08:00

I was recently going through some old pictures and decided I had some good stuff that never saw the light of day back when I took it. Here's a little look back from the past 2 years (That's how old my phone is that I have all of these on.)

FTW (Chicago Rally)

Chillin with the Cranks in MKE

Leslie being harrassed by Billy

Chris w/ His tomos

Guide to Shotgunning taken from the Straight to Blackout Rally Book

Pinstriper 'Pac-Man's paint box

FTW

More Selections from the Bully Ranch Ride.

2011-01-20T21:00:00.000-08:00

Me on my Magnum

Blastmode

Billy showboatin'

Gizmo

Guns

Fireside

Fun times

Loungin'

Woolly Mammoths to Make a Return

2011-01-18T23:46:00.000-08:00

Looks like Woolly's are comin' back. Now to clone Laguna's and Cobra's.

Researchers aim to resurrect mammoth in five years

Chris's Third Annual Ranch Ride Xtravanganza

2011-01-17T17:48:00.000-08:00

This weekend the Woolly Bullies had their 3rd Annual Ranch Ride Xtravaganza!! Every year for Bully Chris's bday, we ride 100 miles out to a ranch in Lancaster. It was a small ride, but a successful one. This year 4 bikes embarked on the trip... and we all made it! Thanks to Hilary Bully for taking pics of us while defying death and hanging out of Chris's car. Here is an abridged version of the weekend via our pics. See the full story HERE on my Photobucket

BLASTING!

Tracy of The Daggrs! riding Slimer, built by 1977 Mopeds

Billy rides a Magnum II with a 'Treats' 70cc Reed Kit I recently strapped on.

Me riding my 'Murder' Mag

Bully Love Fest

Tramampoline

Fire Jumpin'

Breakfast w/Michael Myers

Hung Over

Fin

Blog Closed for Maintenance.

2011-01-13T18:23:00.000-08:00

Don't worry! We'll be up and running again in no time... though hung over. I am working on some cool stuff for my race bike, but I don't want to post some of it quite yet. Thanks for hangin' tight.

Magnums Do Downtown LA

2011-01-08T20:04:00.000-08:00

Random day out riding. (Proof I don't just build them.)

Race Bike Checklist

2011-01-05T20:14:00.000-08:00

So I'm getting my race bike together and it's happening pretty quickly actually. Here's where I am/ what's left.

Custom seat (chopped low)
KTM clutch installation
KTM Ignition install
Custom intake
Clean gas tank
Build/Tune (small step)
get short pedal arms/ pedals

Somehow writing it all down like this seems to make it feel like less work I have left. (This is all going on the Swinger1 which you can see HERE)

Going French?

2011-01-05T18:35:00.000-08:00

Looks like this is gonna be fun! A 60's 'mobymatic'... this one is gonna be fun AND classy.

A (Belated) Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year

2011-01-02T14:41:00.000-08:00

We here at the Woolly Bloggy wish you a happy 2011!! I hope it's filled with barn finds, blasting, and lots of doubles rides with cuties.

(Left to Right:) Chris, Daniel, Scott, Hilary, Jose, Leslie, Drew
(Bullies not pictured:) Me (Max), Dirty Danny, Crystal, Mike, Robert, and Ben

Bully Ink

2010-12-28T13:23:00.000-08:00

His and hers. How emo of us.

Chad's Ads #5

2010-12-24T17:45:00.001-08:00

No caption required.

Mopeds: The Choice for Choosy Moms

2010-12-24T11:46:00.000-08:00

No wait, maybe that's Jif Peanut butter. If you were a mom in the '70's, apparently moped makers thought you were part of their target demographic. Did people buy into this fereal? Or are these just examples of really bad marketing campaigns?

(Granted, this isn't really a moped one...)

(Yes that's an orange matching baby carrier on the back of that moped).

That Baby doesn't have a helmet!!

Mopeds on the Big Screen

2010-12-22T15:30:00.000-08:00

It looks like mopeds and the culture surrounding them are going to be the focus of a couple upcoming films. Chad Burke and others are working with a French photojournalist (whose name escapes me) on a feature length doc. that should have trailers out soon. (One already leaked, but I won't repost it here...)

Another doc. that I just came across today, Satan Since 2003 focuses its lens on the Richmond, VA gang, The Hell's Satans. The trailer is awesome and can be seen HERE at the Standard Arts website. It looks like it will be interesting to say the least!

New Friends! Giant Centipede of Denmark Enters the Fold

2010-12-20T14:55:00.000-08:00

I just got an email from some rad riders in Denmark. This is the coolest part about having this blog for me, honestly; getting in touch with mopedders from around the globe. Make sure to check out the gnarly videos these guys made of their adventures. I think this may have been just the motivation I needed to make some more videos myself. Anyway, enjoy!!

"Hey man, we are Peter and Nicolas from Denmark, and we dig your blog.

We ride around on French VeloSoleX mopeds and every Summer we tour other European countries.

Though you're documenting the L.A. moped scene, you might find our video from this year's tour of Iceland interesting:

Also, we have a video from last year's tour of Poland, Germany and Czech:

You're very welcome to post it on your blog.

Grind on,

Nicolas and Peter, Giant Centipedes"

Chad's Ads #4

2010-12-16T13:40:00.000-08:00

Chad's Ads #3

2010-12-15T14:43:00.000-08:00

Chad's Ads #2

2010-12-15T10:40:00.000-08:00

Chad's Ads #1

2010-12-12T20:28:00.000-08:00

This is the first of what I'm calling Chad's Ads. They're old ads that I got shown by (THE) Chad Burke. I think each provides a glimpse at how silly mopeds are, and were, even back when they were in mass production.
Enjoy!

My New Bike??

2010-12-08T10:32:00.000-08:00

I'll know if she's mine tomorrow.

UPDATE: Gotted.

In Chicago!!

2010-11-24T18:26:00.000-08:00

I'm home for the holidays, so posts are gonna slow down for a bit... but check back, I'm sure I'll be getting into some moped hijinx while I'm here. Have a happy holiday til then!!

KTM50 IGNITION IN ACTION

2010-11-15T13:56:00.000-08:00

This is the ktm sx 50 ignition on a Puch e50 engine. (Gila kit, MLM pipe, 24 mikuni (oko?).

Video courtesy of Dreamer Elliott

In case that doesn't work... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XL7LW9EjdM

Opinions?

2010-11-14T15:40:00.000-08:00

What do you guys think? I want to use this old Harley/AMF tank on my moped.

Basically, I want to use this tank to make a top tank with more chopper-ish lines to it. I'd like the seat and tank to rise towards the front of the bike, rather than going straight across like the lines on most top tanks... Anyway, what do you guys think? I would love some feedback in the comments section if you have a sec.

KTM50 CDI Installed

2010-11-12T08:26:00.000-08:00

This pic is courtesy of Treats ripper extraordinaire, Elliott Grif.. He beat me to the punch and got this thing machined and installed on his new e50 build! I'm super stoked to see how it runs. I'll have a breakdown on here of how he made it work soon. Check out that custom stator behind the rotor though! GNARLY!

Thanks Sunrise!

2010-11-09T18:11:00.000-08:00

Kosuke (pron. Ko-ski) over at Sunrise helped me yet again. At the SF rally my clutch bell came loose from the gear (pictured bottom.) So he welded it back up for me. I also needed someone to clean up my minarelli clutch bell/puch gear for my KTM clutch

Look at how clean the welds are on that lower bell!

Bullies Guest on the Dreamers Blog

2010-11-08T18:54:00.000-08:00

The Bullies and I had the pleasure of hosting a couple of young Treats this last weekend, Elliott and Lalo. Elliott is a gifted photographer, not to mention all around rad dude. Take a sec to check out his blog HERE

If you look close, you'll see a couple of Bully cameos. Elliott, Lalo, if you're out there reading this, come back soon!!

Woolly Bully Shirts!! Comin' Soon!

2010-11-06T11:43:00.000-07:00

We made screens and currently have about 5 colors of ink to work with... so we're doing some experimenting and playing around right now. I think we should have these to sell soon! Check back for more word on that!

As I type this...

2010-11-03T15:29:00.000-07:00

A city inspector is all up in our business walking through our apartment. This is some 'big brother' type shit. Just wanted it documented. Keep on peddin' in the free world.

Baby Blue Gets Some Love

2010-10-24T16:22:00.000-07:00

I buy and sell bikes pretty often, so I usually don't take time to post about some of the less custom ones. This is a Maxi I bought off of Bully Ben. He seems to have lost interest in Puch's though (he's a Hobbit dude now), so he sold it to me for a good price... with a little bit of work left to do. Here she is almost done. It sold quickly, probably due to the sweet blue paintjob that Ben did. (Thanks Ben!)

UPDATE: Turns out this bike IS up for sale after all. The buyer backed out... It's 550 Samolians and it's yours.

Moped vs. 100cc pitbike @ The Thunderdrome

2010-10-18T09:49:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ursjbzcU-8I&feature=player_embedded#!

Sorry I'm having some trouble embedding videos today. It also doesn't help that I'm on a random computer in Vegas. I'm here playing pinball like a muthafuckah.

Sunrise Monday BBQ

2010-10-13T10:48:00.000-07:00

Yeah. That's right, we only hang out with motorcyclists now.

(Pictured from Left to Right: Random person's back, Kosuke's friend whose name escapes me, Troy... of Falcon Cycles, Daniel Bully, Johnny of The Atwater Playboys, Leslie Bully's arm and torso, Jose Bully)

A New Bully Bike Enters the Fold

2010-10-13T10:15:00.000-07:00

Ben is our newest member and also the fastest working motherfucker in mopeds. Since we got him into mopeds (and out of vintage scooters) in April, he's built 4 bikes from the ground up for himself, and one for a friend. He recently made the announcement that he's only interested in Honda's... so here's a look at his newly painted hobbit. He sprays all his bikes in his back yard with automotive paint. The set up on this guy is:

Polini
unknown Ebay stiff springs
Proma Circuit

I know that doesn't sound like much, but this thing pulls wheelies... and Ben is NOT a light guy.

Party w/The Cretins Motorcycle Gang

2010-10-10T10:26:00.000-07:00

Man do these guys have a cool set up in downtown... their bikes are OK I guess. I didn't see pedals on even one of them though!! How are you supposed to start these damn things?!

Some Fun Stuff I've Been Liking Lately

2010-10-08T17:27:00.000-07:00

Front End Magazine

Dice Magazine

Freak Out The Squares

This is post #100!! Alright! Thanks for reading everybody!!

Hey World!! Tell Me What You're Riding!!

2010-10-08T13:59:00.000-07:00

Probably the coolest thing about having a blog to me is that I get to share my builds with other mopedders all over the world. Well, now I'm putting it to you guys!! Comment back with details about your set up. I'd like to know what the readers of The Woolly Bloggy are out there riding. According to my stats page, this blog has a bunch of readers outside the US. Please, everyone chime in! The further away you are, the better!

Someone buy this!!

2010-10-06T13:51:00.000-07:00

I found this Honda Pocketbike ignition and I really would like to get it and try to adapt it to a Puch (or other moped). Notice the price!! $44!! It looks just like a cheap HPI. If anyone out there reading this beats me to it, please post/email me with your results!

UPDATE: It seems that the KTM50 ignition (available on ebay for $69) is the better buy (easier to adapt and better quality.) Try it for yourself and post back with your results!

Medium Port Metra80

2010-10-05T19:03:00.000-07:00

I honed this one a couple posts ago... but I also cleaned it up and ported it. There is still some scraping in the cylinder and on the piston that you can see in the pics, but you can't really feel them with your fingers. I could have definitely gotten rid of the scratches in the cylinder more completely, but I would have lost compression as it would slightly be making the cylinder bore larger.

Please Explain This Video to Me

2010-10-04T12:44:00.001-07:00

Video by Honest Mike... shot last night on our Sunday Bully ride.

Vintage MBK

2010-09-30T17:48:00.001-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1g54bj0bepk&feature=player_embedded

Sunrise on Sunset

2010-09-30T15:19:00.000-07:00

Here Kosuke (of Sunrise Cycles) is lightening a Tomos a35 CDI magneto for me. These come with a weird block-shaped imbalance for some reason. A little help from Kosuke though, and the imbalance is no more. Check it out:

Before:

After:

SF RALLY Video FOOTY

2010-09-29T15:27:00.000-07:00

Check it out!

I'm in the red jacket.

Meet a Bully: Jose!

2010-09-29T15:10:00.000-07:00

Jose is everyone's favorite bully. He is known for his sense of humor and his 'I don't give a fuck' attitude. He's been blasting since day one and never looked back. I don't think he had really ridden a stock bike until pretty recently actually. His original ride was a Shaw built TCCD 70 kit on a maroon Maxi. It used to be Latebird Adrian's bike, from back in the days when the TCCD was the L.A. kit (and Polini was the SF kit). One time we did the math with Shaw and figured that with Jose's daily commute of 40+ miles and Adrian's previous miles on it, that bike had arguably the most kitted miles of any moped. ('Bullies break down and seize' my ass.) That bike finally started eating clutch bells (which we can only guess was from a slightly bent crank.) Nowadays Jose has that same bike but with a super fast Gila on it. You may remember him from such blastings as the 2010 Creatures rally, your mom's face, or The L.A. Ride Its Rally. Jose is a one person testament to what The Bullies are about (in my mind at least): Blasting and not giving a fuck. Specialties include: finding the one person who has cigarettes, gila blasting, fleeing the scene, and drinking you under the table.

Ceremony COTL 2010

2010-09-27T15:09:00.001-07:00

My pics of the Creatures rally

Links to WAAAAAYYYYY more pics.

To All Cali Mopedders!!!

2010-09-22T16:45:00.000-07:00

Know your laws guys!! The NEW Improved, updated, handy dandy 2010 motorcycle handbook should be carried by ALL Cali mopedders! Today it saved us from having a Bully bike impounded!! As of 2010 the handbook merges Mopeds and Tweaker bikes (motor driven bikes) into one "motorized Bicycle" category. Under this new heading, we still need to have bikes with working pedals, 30mph limit, 2 horsepower, etc... but we DO NOT need insurance, m1, m2, helmet, registration, etc!!! If a cop pulls you over and cites you for any of these things, it is INVALID. Unfortunately, after proving the cop wrong on my no insurance ticket, he still let it stand (asshole) and left me to prove him wrong in court. He did not however impound Daniel's bike, instead making him pedal it away (he would NOT let us call for a Bully pick up truck!!)

If you're in LA and can avoid Santa Monica Blvd. I HIGHLY recommend it. I've now gotten two no horn tickets on that street!!

UPDATE: It appears that the section I'm referring to is just about electric mopeds. The confusing language here is in reality what got us out of the ticket earlier BUT I now know no less that 5 times with 4 different people that this has gotten out of tickets.

Bully Prep for the SF Rally.

2010-09-21T09:36:00.000-07:00

Getting bikes right for the SF rally.

This was taken as I was hardwiring Mike's Puch. It has probably the fattest spark I've ever seen on a moped now. (Hint: Use as few spots to ground to as possible!)

Here's a little preview of my bike all lit up... look for me in SF!! See ya next weekend!

Repairing a MK80

2010-09-19T09:58:00.000-07:00

I recently got a MK80 from a friend and former Tiger, Cody. It wasn't in the best condition, but definitely repairable. Unfortunately I didn't take 'before' pics of the cylinder, but trust me, it was pretty scuffed up. These are cast iron cylinders, so they can be honed pretty easily. If, like us, you have a hone handy... here's ours:

These things are a bit expensive but completely worth it. They allow the Bullies to buy cheap, otherwise seized kits. We then repair them, blast on them, and eventually, seize them ourselves. It's the moped cycle of life.

Next time the pics will be better I swear!!

Fail of the Month: Billy's Za

2010-09-17T10:41:00.000-07:00

Curse of the Za!! Don't get me wrong, I love these engines. My Blue Bully may very well be the only fast Za50 in the southlands here in Cali... but admittedly, I got lucky. Bully homie Billy wasn't as lucky. His con rod had play just like my original Za and like (supposedly) 80% of the working Za50's out there. This is what it looks like when a Za goes wrong.

Swoon and Destroy

2010-09-17T10:06:00.001-07:00

LA's all-girl moped crew, The Gaskettes', new site is up. Check it out here:

http://thegaskettes.com/

Random Blasting

2010-09-13T06:53:00.000-07:00

I was looking over the blog yesterday and decided that it needs way more blasting! I do a lot of posts about port work... so here's what it's all for, these little moments. Enjoy.

Monday BBQ's @ Sunrise

2010-09-12T12:50:00.000-07:00

Well I'm in Chicago this week, but I still have a few pics worth posting from before I left. This last week the Bullies dropped in on Kosuke and Sunrise's weekly motorcycle BBQ. That place is so rad. The only problem is, it's SO cool that when I say I'm going there I inevitably end up mobbing the tiny shop with Bullies. I guess the Bullies just roll deep. Anyway, here's some pics of us hangin'

Check out Sunrise @ www.sunrisecyclesla.com

Another Day Another Engine

2010-09-09T19:16:00.000-07:00

The top end of this engine is the cylinder I ported a few posts ago. This is going to Bully buddy Billy (say that 3 times fast.) I'm curious to see how it performs. Note the sweet custom intake from Woolly Bully Ben.

Stranger in a Strange Land

2010-09-09T16:29:00.000-07:00

This past weekend The Bullies had an unexpected visitor by the name of Patrick (Lower body/Torso shown above.) Patrick is from a strange place I believe he called Balt-e-more. He somehow decided he wanted to see the west coast via moped. So, he flew up to Alberta (I believe) and bought an a35 Tomos. As I understand it, The Creatures made him fast but he subsequently blew up. The Cuperteens got him going again, the Mopedheads gave him custom Paniers, and finally he made his way down to us en route to Mexico. Since his bike is turning into something of a California Gang effort, Daniel contributed by rebuilding his top end, port matching his cylinder, and just making his bike that much more awesome. Patrick spent a few days with us, came on the Sunday ride with us, and then made his farewells. Patrick, if you're out there reading this, we hope you made it to Mexico safely!! See ya in SF!

Patrick's bike with Patrick's foot at far left (note the strange, otherworldly shoes.)

A Day at Myron's

2010-09-08T15:38:00.001-07:00

Myron's Mopeds in Fullerton is possibly the last remnant of the California moped boom. I could spend hours at this place. Too bad so much of the stuff I want Shaun will never sell me. Check out Myron's website @ www.myronsmopeds.com

Port Jobbin' Like a MtherFcker

2010-09-07T20:17:00.000-07:00

Treats 70cc Puch Reed Kit before

After

Bully Sunday Ride #6

2010-09-07T12:36:00.000-07:00

This was a super fun ride, so despite having forgot my camera for the millionth time, I took some pics via iphone. Thanks to everyone who came out. I think it was 15 or 16 riders we had. It went Stir Crazy Coffee Shop > Griffith Park/Glendale ride > Burgers and Beers @ The Bucket > Sara Skunk's Bday party. Good times.

An Illegal Afternoon

2010-09-05T13:57:00.000-07:00

Well, it turns out our house has been sold. We'll find out Thursday whether or not we're out or the rent is jacked up or what... Until then, it's moped work as usual. Here's the Next Bully, Jason (he doesn't read blogs, so I can say that.) We're adjusting his wheel and prepping his bike for SF Rally blast mode.

Damn the Man.

2010-09-02T15:24:00.000-07:00

So it seems that our Landlord is in some trouble with the city over us. We can't be sure he's not lying about this in an attempt to get us to clean up our act. (He IS in the process of selling this place, so that seems very possible.) Our downstairs neighbor, who for the purposes of this story, we'll call "El Diablo" has now called the city on us for a slew of false things... including a having a meth lab, having a 10 person(!) fight in our apartment, and now, having a motorcycle shop in our yard. Our landlord isn't really mad at us, as we appeared in court for him last month (another long story). Basically we got off with a warning, but I'm unsure of the future of our Bully shop.

Pics of our illegal moto shop coming soon!!

Murder Mag completed

2010-08-30T14:23:00.001-07:00

Inside the Murder Mag

2010-08-26T11:47:00.000-07:00

I got a machinist to lighten some parts for me.

Athena 70 build for The Last Tiger

2010-08-25T13:52:00.000-07:00

Tiger Matt is having me finish an engine that I started for him a while ago. Here's what it's looking like. Notice I had to use one of those riser blocks to make the carb work. I dunno if this is the best solution, but it's the only one I could figure.

Murder Mag Preview

2010-08-24T17:39:00.001-07:00

I've been riding this thing around the last week and I've already gotten more response than with the White Maxi N I just built. All that's left as of writing this is the pinstriping and some more tuning. Here's a pic from a couple weeks ago.

Mopeds Alive and WELL in Japan

2010-08-23T21:36:00.001-07:00

http://welld.exblog.jp/

I'm ina VVVEEEEEDDDDDDDIIIIOOOOOO

2010-08-23T13:44:00.001-07:00

USA : California moped madness
Uploaded by France_24english. - More lifestyle, fashion and how-to videos.

Sunrise Cycles LA

2010-08-23T11:09:00.000-07:00

Hey. You guys should all check this out: www.sunrisecyclesla.com

It turns out this place is like a block from my house. Think of it as Choke if Choke had no concern for walk in business. It's just 100% clubhouse. I never would have found it but my friend who is a moto guy showed me where it was. The guy who runs the place, Kosuke, is super cool and has already done some custom work for me. The Woolly Bullies got a $10 moped he had bought running, so he's been helping us out some too. The guy has crazy machining tools AND ability to use them. He bends all his pipes custom and is currently making a flattracker with BMX inspirations and custom molded tank/seat. About half of his bikes will never hit the street in the US. They get bought up and immediately exported to Japan. I'm currently trying to get him into mopeds by bringing cooler and cooler peds to his shop. I think it's working...

Mojo/moto

2010-08-11T16:27:00.000-07:00

One of my engines is the subject of the latest motomatic mopeds blog post. Check it out for yourself at www.motomaticmopeds.com

LA Ride Its RALLY

2010-08-05T10:47:00.001-07:00

Well it has been a couple weeks now, but I think it's safe to call the rally a success. It seems like everyone had a great time, which was really the most important and gratifying part for me. I'm also glad no one was hurt or incarcerated. (That happened AFTER the rally.) Police did come to my door at 3:30 am looking for a 'meth lab'... so that's probably an indicator that it was a wild time. Not sure what to make of it really. There also was a police officer who wanted to impound my bike... but then just started complimenting it and touching stuff on it. Strange... He told me I had "a bitchin' carb." Anyway, here are some pics of the weekend. There are better ones out there but I don't have them.

http://s375.photobucket.com/albums/oo196/maxwellmojo2/LA%20Ride%20Its%20Rally/

The Woolly Bullies have a new Logo!!

2010-07-05T16:17:00.000-07:00

Woolly Bully by Jesse Hotchkiss

The Animal N AKA White Gold

2010-06-20T23:39:00.001-07:00

feel free to ask anything on the build via the comments section.

Rally HYPE RALLY HYPERALLYHYPERALLYHYPE

2010-06-16T09:39:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, if you don't already know, The Woolly Bullies are having a rally next month!! You gotta come!! I don't care where you are! Get here!!

L.A. Ride Its Rally: Why Can't we All Ped Along? July 9 - 11th

Here's a little sneak preview of our shirt, cause I like you guys.