First Motobecane Sebring cruise

Scott /

Oct 19, 2001 11:52AM

Hi All

Guess who went for their first Sebring ride last night.....ME. Actually my son had the maiden cruise. I was getting tired of trying to start it and he was getting tired of pushing me so he got on and I pushed him. It fired up and he was off for a ride down the street. I had a hell of a time getting him to let me take it for a ride. He is only 12 and hasn't ever had the experience of the wind in his hair before. I was using a funnel taped to the side of the tank for a gas tank because the inside of the tank is a little rusty. I was told to either put some small rocks or nuts in the tank and shake it up to clean it out, has anyone else ever tried this. I learned the hard way that I can only get about 8 blocks per funnel. I'm sure I looked pretty dumb peddling home. It is running a little rough so I took the carb off for a good cleaning. It doesn't seem to be getting enough gas, any ideas? The spark plug and gap seem to be good. It's starting to get cold here in Iowa so my riding days are limited.

Scott

Re: First Motobecane Sebring cruise

don-ohio /

Oct 19, 2001 12:40PM

That bike is junk,Scott! Sell it to me! Just kidding! Remove the petcock valve and plug the outlet hole of the tank.Remove the tank and pour in a quart of solvent or kerosene.Pour in about a half carton(comes in like a milk carton) of BBs.Put a piece of plastic over the fill hole and replace the filler cap.Shake the devil out of it.Drain kerosene and repeat as necessary.If it's REALLY rusty,which I've never seen a Sebring with a rusty tank before,pre-soak it with a Muriatic acid diluted to 3 parts water,one part acid or use phosphoric acid.Then rinse and do the above with the BBs.Watch out for your eyes when dealing with acid! Wear goggles and gloves and keep a water hose next to you.Don't put the gas tank cap on while you're doing the acid soak.........ON the gas supply problem;you have or are supposed to have ,a filter on the gas petcock and a filter under the banjo at the carb..Putting a good in-line filter between these 2 is really a good thing to do also.I use a paper see-thru from Auto-Zone.NOTHING gets thru that paper,like it will the mesh type.

Want to see it in new condition?

don-ohio /

Oct 19, 2001 02:05PM

Scott! Go to www.mopedcity.homestead.com if you want to see what our Sebrings are supposed to look like.DROoooooLL ! You can save that pic as wallpaper for your screen by right-clicking it! Too bad it's not in color!

Re: First Motobecane Sebring cruise

Ron Brown /

Oct 19, 2001 03:58PM

Scott,

When acid cleaning the tank, remove the petcock as well. If the surfaces are dry, duct tape will seal the petcock and filler holes.

Ron

Pic in Color

Zippy /

Oct 20, 2001 03:03AM

Here is one from my Library in color. Not the best but it is in color.

Re: Pic in Color

don-ohio /

Oct 20, 2001 08:53AM

WOW ! Thanks,Zippy! I haven't been able to set it as wallpaper,but I saved it so I could show my doubtful friends how nice some mopeds look.They're getting a `moped education' whether they want it or not.I keep tellin' `em:` You can lead a moped to the pump,but you can't make it drink'.HA !

MOPED ARMY

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