MOPED ARMY

I got into them when i was 15. I bough my first mo-ped 1989 Trac Olympic Blitz for 150 bucks. Im not 16 and own 2. THat one and a 1978 Puch maxie luxe.

Trac Man

i got into mopeds just over a year ago. i'm 26. i'm done w/ cars. mopeds are it.

Well,Liam,when I was a kid,a guy took me for a ride on the newly introduced Honda 50.You've heard the song about it:`....first gear,it's alright.....second gear.....lean right....third gear..hang on tight,....faster,it's alright.'Well,that convinced me I needed an engine.Always wanted to put an engine on my 3-speed English racer,but cars and girls intervened and I didn't buy a `ped until 4 yrs. ago.Turned out I bought one of the most quality built `peds and best looking simply by accident;a Motomarina Sebring.I've been in love with `peds ever since and own 10 of them now.Not all Sebrings,of course.`Pedding has taught me to slow down and see the countryside,with all God's creations.ACTUALLY,my first, or nearly first trip on a `ped probably saved a little girl's life! I was slowly riding up High street in Jackson and I spied a 2 or 3 yr.old girl climbing up into the wheel well of her Father's big 4X4 Ford pick-up.I stopped and went up to the door quickly and asked the Mother if she knew where her little girl was.BOY,was she surprised to hear the danger her little girl was in!So I felt good about riding the Sebring that day and thanked God for letting me notice that at just the right time,`cause when she got up in that wheel well,she totally disappeared from all sight.May we all be watchful and SWARM AND DESTROY!!!

Sometime around 1984/1985 - went from a Ten Speed to a Moped, and it was quite enjoyable, I've stuck with them cause cars are so expensive and require so much babying - I just don't want one.....your vehicle should support you, not the other way around.

I've owned two cars in my time, and the 82 Dodge Aries found itself being traded FOR a moped, given that I was sick of workin 90+ hours a week to pay the insurance and keep it running, I could support children on how much time and money that damn thing ate.

Having the unique position of being paid to drive a car (imma Cabbie) and being able to go anywhere I wish between fare runs, and the fact that I can rent a small car with unlimited mileage for a $112/Week if I wanna visit the east coast, I have utterly no reason to own a car in the first place.

I enjoy riding a moped, it allows you to experience life, where a car isolates you from it, a different "way" of living if you wish to look at it that way, less self-interested and more pleasant, in fact, once you get used to it.

Most kids, especially the smarter ones, notice quite immediately that most "must have car" jobs won't even pay their insurance, and that's quite asinine, because working a job like that while owning a car will actually COST them money in the long run, and who with any sense PAYS for the 'privledge' of employment ?

That is, in it's worst permutation, a straightshot ride to the ghetto with an eviction notice on the door....especially in Maryland where insurance is extortively high, not to mention emissions and inspection, fees, repairs - it's just insane.

For anywhere from $15-$50 in most states, you can run your moped for 2-4 years, and pay only fuel, and maintainence, which is a lot cheaper since most of the labor you eventually learn to do yourself.

It's fun, cost-effective, efficient, and mostly free of hassle - who wouldn't want a moped ?

-R

I rescued a Honda PC-50 from the junk heap in the auto shop at my school when someone brought it to work on and eventually gave up on it. There was something wrong with the engine, and they thought it would require taking the gearcase apart, and they thought it was a 3-speed and they would have no chance of getting it back together. I got it home and found out the engine had no valve lifters in it, and got these from Honda for $6 and it ran. The moped was in awful condition with parts missing and rust/scratches all over the place, but i've been gradually restoring it as i find or build the parts. That is until it got crashed into a telephone pole. I'm waiting for shipment of a front fork meanwhile taking the opportunity to fix some other stuff while the moped is off the road. Of all the mopeds i've experienced I still prefer the old Honda 4-stroke. They always seem to run without too much work and when they are working right they will go fast. The back carrier is at the same level as the seat making it comfortable to be a passenger on. They are very smooth running compared to a 2-stroke. The overall quality seems to be better than most european mopeds and I find it has a smooth, rounded vintage look to it that's missing on newer mopeds.

Since I started driving a moped, i met so many people who decided they want a moped now. If cheap mopeds weren't so hard to find, we would have a 10 member moped gang in Hamilton, Ontario already. So far i've supplied one friend with her own moped, another PC-50. I'm working on a Torrot to sell to another friend but it's a piece of garbage that doesn't run and defies all attempts at repair.

well it happened about 4 yrs ago i had been friends w/ this guy since before 1st grade and one day i went over to his house and he was fixing his dads old 79 puch maxi 2 speed. i was like wow what is that and he told me the stories. his dad had woked at a morgans mopeds and took a trip on his moped to olympia WA. w/ a friend in 78 and bought the new bike there but when mt. st hellens bleew the bike was crashed and never ridden again untill my friend fixed it. then he bought another one and i rode it all the time till i bought it. now iv got 5 of them and a shop and its the best thing in the world.

LESTER