Sunday, May 28, 2006

A free moped is still a moped

So I'm drivin' to my sister-in-law's house for a birthday party and to pick up the Potato man and I spot this little silver "motorcycle" by the side of the road. As I pass, I tell the wife "Hey that's a Puch" She says "turn around and check it out." I turn around and pull in the driveway and check it out as the wife goes to the door of this cool old bungalow and inquires about the silver Puch. "Just take it" he says. "It's Italian and it's got some sort of cable problem, It ran about five years ago". "I'll get the truck" I tell him. I am now the (proud?) owner of a Puch Magnum MKII moped. This is the first moped I've ever owned and I'm not sure why I own this one other than I can probably get it running for nothing and it's pretty cool looking as mopeds go. I did a cursory internet search and it turns out there is a pretty comprehensive online moped community. I guess computer nerds deserve to ride mopeds, eh? I found the owners manual, service manual, and parts book scans online. I can get a big-bore kit, and an expansion chamber. Keep in mind this is still a moped and the speedo reads from 0-30mph so I dont' think I'll be putting the speed parts on it but it's good to know some nut job is bolting a pipe on a moped. Shit, if I had a disposable income I'd be that nut job. Aparently, the Puch Magnum is arguably the best moped to have if you had a choice. This one has a two speed trans. By the way, it's not Italian it's Austrian and it's pronounced pook. Like puke without the yuh. I had a Puch dirtbike and they were pretty well built machines. I'm going to build my motorcycle work stand tomorrow and I'll use the moped as the test mule on the stand so if the thing collapses at least the mess to clean up is smaller. The interesting irony about the moped is it's still bigger than the Ducati.

1 comment:

Shop Teacher Bob said...

Moped's, their not just for DUI's anymore.