Are mopeds dorky?

The mopeds in the video game grand theft auto were called "faggio's"... Need I say more? I did see a tricked out one once, had a chrome muffler and rims, cool blue paint with flames... Must of had some upgraded engine because this thing beat everyone off the line at the stop light... By alot!! Will admit it looked so funny the driver really had to hold on and looked like he got whip lash when he took off.

In a word? Yes.

heres my moped..goes 70mph lol.

You can slightly lower the dork factor by gettin a proper classic vespa or lambretta,
Other than that it's a dork factor of +9000 I'm afraid

Yes, but you shouldn't worry, posting on ATS is dorky too. Maybe if you get a leather jacket and a pair of boots....oh and a tattoo and a street name and ....nevermind it's just dorky!

reply to post by Dr Love
Ok. I get it now. The connection has been made.

I had originally thought that your How To Be Like Super-Cool Motorcycle Guy thread, was created out of boredom. I see now that I was mistaken. You were actually looking for some pointers, but you were too shy to just come out and ask.



This is a bit different considering that you are making a choice, whereas for me, it wasn't exactly my decision. Regardless, this is the thought that first entered my mind after seeing this thread:

[color=DBD5AB]There have been a few times in the past, when I was arrested for drinking and driving. I have lost my Driver's License on more than one occasion. While peddling my bike up and down those hills, to get to any of my required treatment classes, I was occasionally passed by guys on mopeds. Usually, they were going to the same place I was.

[color=DBD5AB]Not once did I ever look at any of those mopeds that had passed me, and think "Haha, look at that dork!" My thoughts were of nothing but jealousy.


[color=FFF8C7]In other words: Get yourself a moped. Surely you don't actually care about the opinions of the strangers who will see you, do you?

Mopeds are pretty much the peak of dorkiness. Mopeds have pedals. Scooters don't. Scooters are near the borderline of coolness, if it's a Vespa. It's still just a centrifugal clutch, though.

The MadAss 125 takes a scooter out of the dorkiness realm and into coolness, finally. It has gears, and a clutch, like a real bike. And the minimalist design makes it awesome.

reply to post by Dr Love

Mopeds are way cool if you are. I found one at a flea market to use for short trips to the store or a pleasure ride into town (7 Miles). Liked it so much that I gave it to my girlfriend then I bought an engine kit and built another one for me. Now we go tooling around together. Got several freinds into them now. You search online (try Gas Bikes) and find photos of some really cool powered bicycles that people are putting together. Go for it- no licence or insurance requirements- under the wire transportation that gets about 150 MPG and goes about 35-40 MPH (if you dare).

It just LOOKS cool. And fast, too! People tweak these things out to a crazy degree:

Granted, it was years ago, but I actually paid less for my motorcycle at the time, than I did for the scooter (Honda Elite) that I had before it.

It was a good bike, looked nice, had a beautiful midnight blue paint scheme, etc., but eventually, I got a more business-like job, that was further away, and a long commute in the rain just wasn't in the cards on a bike...

reply to post by Dr Love


One key point in favor of mopeds is: motorcycles/scooters require annual registration and fees, but mopeds only have a one-time reg. fee (at least in California) at time of purchase. The key difference is PEDALS, no pedals means annual reg fees.

I have a moped I used in college. I bolted a crate (milk crate type) to the back so I could put stuff in, like groceries etc. The only down-side is top speed of only 35-40mph, unless you modify it. Also need to add 2-stroke oil to gas tank when filling it.

Hope this helps.

Be yourself, I've known you for many years on ATS and I have always seen you march to your own drummer. You like the scooter so do it brother.

reply to post by Dr Love


I had one at 16, a Piagio Gillera Runner, I liked it because it has the middle bit that stops you looking like your riding a toilet.

It was a great way to get used to roads before getting in a car at 17.
As for local runs around town, it would be great and save fuel if you normally do it in a car.

Just make sure you do your CBT (well CBT in UK, I don't know what other countries laws on scooters/mopeds are).

Mopeds are great fun if you modify them. It's very easy to do this to a 2 stroke engine.

The way we used to do it was cut the piston halfway down and smooth it off, also increasing the barrel inlet and exhaust ports by skimming off a few millimeters. Also adding fibre racing reeds that flex more than the standard steel reeds. Most times al lot of the factory restrictions are in the exhaust so at least you need to tear it open and try and hack them out (usually just simple bushes added during the final factory welding to make the pipe thinner restricting the exhaust to bring the speed down to road legal requirements) or replace it with a straight through one with a larger bore. This leads to much more exhaust noise which attracts attention but a proper racing exhaust silencer (I used one made by Fresco specifically for the TY50) takes care of that without significant loss of compression. Sometimes you want that insanely loud exhaust noise though.

I owned a yamaha TY50, a small road legal trials moped. 49cc engine. Standard book speed was around 35mph, mine did over70mph and had a 'power band' that could let you do power wheelies in 2nd at around 40mph. I could outrun 125cc bikes and cars with it. It was a weapon. Being a trials bike it was even smaller and lower than other mopeds, almost looking like a childs motorbike. That was the coolest part, nobody ever expected to leave them in the dust the way it did. It was the fastest moped around and was always just a 49cc without any rebores to the barrel. The most common way to make a mope go faster is to bore out the barrel to increase the engine cc. Most 50's have room to be bored out to around 70, some a lot less. This is much more expensive than the cut piston method which I think actually works better. The only problem is the life of the small end bearings comes down with the increased revs on some engines. and the engine can get hotter than it was designed to. Anything air cooled is usually fine as the increased wind velocity compensates for the extra heat. If you cut the piston too much it can also shatter due to vibrations.

You have to know what you are doing when you drive one of these, I'm serious. They can be so easily flipped or slide out or not stop in time due to crap brakes. So many ways to get hurt. In most places these modifications violate the licencing conditions of driving them in the first place so you are better not to advertise the fact that it's been modified to go faster. Cops hate this, and many times your insurance might be technically invalid due to undeclared modifcations.

My friend owned a yamaha FS1E aka a 'fizzy' which was origionally a 49 cc 2 geared mope which did around 40. this madman tuned this thing and I think he had an 80 cc barrel on it and geared for speed with a small back sprocket actually did over 80 mph. Actually made the brakes a bit lighter by replacing the drums with disc brakes

Mopeds are far from dorky. Its so easy to make them go incredibly fast, just dont add anything that adds weight like upgraded shocks or brakes or bigger fuel tanks.

Its all about how many lights and mirrors you have


Also. It's a Scooter, not a moped


Oh and a racoons tail on the radio Ariel doesnt hurt

Originally posted by davespanners
Also. It's a Scooter, not a moped

Yeah, I've just used the term "moped" since I was a wee lad. I don't seem to hear it referred to as a scooter so much.

Great responses everybody......thanks. I may be heading to Dorksville.

Peace

I'll say this though...scooters are mostly automatic, so much easier to ride than a motorcycle. The shifting becomes reflex after a while, but when learning, can be a pain.

A moped actually has pedals to get it started.
Scooter's are the things that make it look like your riding a toilet, which is why I loved my Gillera Runner.

Why yes. Yes, you would. And your neighbors would LAUGH! And LAUGH! And LAUGH as you went ...
"winnnnnnnn-nin-nin-nin-nin-nin-nin-a" by them.

I owned a moped. They make a poor motorcycle, a worse bicycle, and are next to useless in more than nearly flat terrain.