MOPED ARMY

Welcome! Nice bikes!

Yes these bikes are much more common in Europe especially in Germany and Portugal were most of the manufactures were located.

Germany(Hercules,Zündapp,Kreidler) Portugal(SIS Sachs, Famel, Macal, EFS, Casal)

In German the colloquial meaning of a Moped could be everything with 2 wheels and an engine. There are people saying "I go for a ride with my Moped" and the Moped is a 1100cc Motorbike.

Even so the word "Moped" was introduced in Germany by the association of bike and motorbike manufactures for a certain type of vehicle in 1953, over the years the word was more a synonym for a group.

Everything you could ride at an age under 18 was called a Moped.

Could be a

Mofa

allowed at the age of 15 limited to 25 km/h

or a Mokick

allowed at the age of 16 limited to 40 km/h (for a few years 50 km/h) or in East Germany (DDR) even 60 km/h

my Bikes are classified as KKR (Kleinkrafträder)

back in the 1970 the were limited to 6,25 HP (self restriction of the manufactures) and first no speed limit later limited to 85 km/h

in 1980 there was another cange in the license law here and Germany and a new class of small bore bikes was born the LKR (Leichtkraftrad) max 80cc and max torge at 6000 revs.

These LKR were a special type instead of the 125cc which have been allowed to be driven for teenagers most european countries by that time.

Two stroke motorcycles in the US are generally sort of hard to come by. It's a shame. Especially anything under 250cc / 125cc. A few years ago I almost baught a suzuki t250.. but it had been sitting outside too long. Too much dry rot and rust.

In the first picture the gasoline station shows some cheap prices for fuel. Are taxes added to the purchase or is the final price in the prices shown on the sign? I realize it liters and not gallons.

Oh OK. Our government propaganda has always been that fuel is about 8.00 USD there. Here in Seattle Washington (West Coast) we are paying about $2.38 for a US gallon.

Chip you might be right but

a) the 1976 was already a collection of parts of 3 different models so not worth for a 100% restore

b) the fiber monocoque is a original part from 1978 and a tribute to my grandfather who hand molded and sold these in his shop

c) is a rebuild of the bike I had 32 years ago

regards Richard (edited)

Yes Swing Arm Front Suspension you either love or hate there is nothing in between ;-)

Hi Charles

it depends Mofas (everything with Pedals) you can get quite easy and cheap. For example a running Hercules Prima 5 you can get for 150-200 bucks.

The "open" 50cc like the ones I own that's a complete different stories. In the last 10 years prices went really up. Barn finds are very rare and mostly sold on eBay. A Hercules, Zuendapp or Kreidler in good condition could easily cost about 2000 bucks.

Mine were all real barn finds and I paid between 500 and 950 bucks for them.

I'm member of a registered association the "Hercules IG" with about 1000 active members taking care of keeping the history of the brand Hercules. For example we took over all documentation as the factory was closed, or even start re-manufacturing parts that are not available anymore.

The Fantasy Land for those kind of bikes is Portugal. Once a year I take a week vacation there for getting parts as they build the Sachs, Zuendapp and Kreidler engines in license.

Regards Richard

Super geil! Wish we could find mopeds like that around here. I've always wanted a Simson S51 in green, they seem to be still be pretty common to find in Germany at least according to the internet. Saw a lot of cool mopeds and bikes on my last trip to Munich/Freiburg im Breisgau.

Hi Max,

depending on the definition of a Moped. I call everything formerly knowns as Kleinkraftrad a Moped and therefore a Hercules K50 or Zundapp KS is allowed with 85 km/h

Nice Kreidler Collection.

As Kreidler was the first of the 3 major German manufacturers who bankrupted they are nowadays more rare others.

Even so I'm a Hercules addict I must admit that Kreidler is still holding the record for the fastest 50cc 221.58 km/h 137.68 mph on a Kreidler Black Arrow 1977

Max Ginsburg Wrote:

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Still depends,

Old class M DDR your completly right

but if you have a made a Führerschein Klasse 4 before 01.04.1980 BRD your allowed to ride everything including up to the new A1 so up to 125cc. Back in the 70's you needed a Class 4 for a Moped, Mokick or a KKR regardless if it was a Moped with <50 km/h or an "open" 50er without speed Limit

Regards Richard