MOPED ARMY

MO-PED...……...mo=motor,ped=pedals. Not TOO hard to understand that you Europeans are riding NO-PEDS.

It's okay, at least you weren't calling `snails' mopeds. LOL!

Sure thing wasn't being a smartass, just curious. They aren't called mopeds in europe i just know the english term for them not the whole meaning behind the word.

DumDum being dumdum. You should disregard everything he says.

I'm not a fan of pedals or kickstarts. I prefer push-starting my mopeds.

That depends on which European country you are in. Over here its "Brommer" or the old timey "Bromfiets".

Manufacturers also pushed the "And you can pedal it like a bicycle!" aspect of it, due to the 70's gas crisis here.

I want to say sears coined the word moped in the 60s with this really cool fast two speed hand manual shift bike just like the one a old man on my street let me ride/learn on when I was in 7th grade and got me hooked

And that’s what a moped is, a bike with petals,

Nothing else really is a moped unless it can be pedaled,

But Then all 50cc bikes got the generic name moped and even plastic snail lookin scooters of any cc became Mopeds too. Just like the pain reliever aspirin which aspirin was a brand-name not the name of the actual medicine but people just kept calling it aspirin.

Now I don’t even call my my bikes Mopeds any more because people think I have a scooter/scooters, I now I have to call all my bikes “motorbikes” to people because there’s no way they look like a plastic scooter!

I've got 2 we are working on now, both from dos. I'll tryn return with pics, a benelli g2 and malaguti dribbling with kickstart M1. Both run, Neither run right. G2 has a very illusive intermittent spark issue, the M1 was very restrictive stock and the kit's transfers overlap the area on the case. Or at least very close. I'm hoping to reinforce w JB and build up a thick compressible felt gasket. Both very cool, but alotta my bikes you dont get the quarter kick perfect tune and I just make up for it by running or pedaling for a little minute until it starts to pick up. Kicker you're just kick kick kick kick kick

Here in Finland mopeds had mandatory pedals until 1970 when law changed. Government realized nobody wants to pedal 50-60kg mopeds anywhere. From that day onwards almost all moped models made or imported were kickstarts. There was one model which endured until 1987 and that was Tunturi Maxi. Variations of this moped (nicknamed Pappatunturi as it was popular with older men) was made in several configurations (pedals+2spd automatic, pedals+2spd hand shift, kickstart+2spd footshift and for a brief moment also pedals+3spd hand shift) until 1987. They all came with Puch motors and were named Maxi (pedals), Automatic (surprice with automatic gearbox) and Start (kickstart model).

Finnish word for moped is Mopo (short for moottoripolkupyörä ie. motorized bicycle). The name stuck even though pedals vanished into history and even today all 50cc and smaller mopeds are called mopo even in legislation so here they are officially mopeds. BTW. also "mopedi" is a correct Finnish word for moped, maybe a bit more official sounding one - something old people might use.

Here is a pic gallery of "Pappatunturi" -mopeds.

Other popular makes in Finland were Solifer, Helkama and Honda (Monkey), Suzuki (PV). Tunturi also made top tank sport models like Sport, Supersport and Trial.

I have no idea what mopeds/mopos modern youth buy today. (edited)

Hey, Do you know if you could find me a copy of the Tunturi City manual that came with the Morini M101K? I have been looking for one for a while. :D

In denmark they are called a "knallert" "knall" meaning a loud noise and -rt is a plural. so the word mean "many loud noises"

Do you know what he said in German? Maybe i could translate it.

Ah, the abomination ;) Sadly yes. They are very lightweight 2 seater "car" which teens can drive if they have the moped license. The "mopo-auto" is actually a nickname, the official term is kevyt nelipyörä" (ligh 4-wheel). Age limit 15 like mopeds. The cars can have max 50cc gas engine or unlimited size diesel or electric engine with max 4KW of power. Max weight 350kg (~700lbs). Max speed limit is 45kmh (28mph).

I believe they will be gone in some years. They have proven to be very unsafe. No proper safety gear or structures other than safety belt. Plastic boxes, which disintegrate on impact. Too big and slow, cars have to realize they are infact moped-cars and avoid. They can be driven on highways with speed limits upto 100kmh (60mph) so there is dangerous situations every day. And there has been bad, even lethal, accidents. Normal mopeds are much easier to pass so they are surprisingly safer. After moped cars were introduced teen traffic accidents and fatalities have risen.

Also, moped cars are super expensive. New ones can be 20000€+ (USD22000+), their quality is bad and spares are expensive too. This year a new law was passed which allows later this year teens to buy real cars, install a speed limiter and drive those. The speed limit will be 60kmh (37.5mph) which is still slow but better. In town areas official speed limits for all vehichles are usually 40-50kmh so more than adequate for that. And modern cars have airbags, ABS, crumble zones etc. And much cheaper second hand + spares availability much better.

I don't expect moped-cars to survive this. After some years the old ones in great numbers will be gone too. Which is great. (edited)

Okey, what about legal stuff? How is performance tuning, speeds etc. looked at in your country?

I suspect many EU countries might have strict limits on what you can do to your mopeds? I remember seeing some dutch(?) videos where cops even carry portable dynos to measure moped hp or speeds.

In Finland luckily not that bad. Well, ok - all performance motor tuning is forbidden but cops don't have dynos and they don't usually get interested in ones bike unless there is something obvious going on. And they most often target teens and very rarely older guys like me.

When cops do inspect a moped they first do a visual and then they actually drive it and see how fast it goes. Speed limit is 45kmh (28mph). If ones moped goes about 63kmh (39mph) or faster and you get cought then you are in "real trouble". That is the limit when they rule its an illegal motorcycle, take your reg plate, give you a fine and a mc tax to pay. Then you need to return the moped to original motor config and get it reinspected and registered. All this can cost several hundreds, even a thousand euros or more.

And if you are a teen then you might also lose your moped license because you were just riding a motorcycle without a mc-license. Additional fine for that too. So, teens need to remake a written test and pay for the moped-license again. Older guys have no moped-license to loose (people born before 1985 do not need one) and they don't get additional fine for driving the mc without license as they automatically have it if they have the car drivers license. But, if you are a hippie and don't have the drivers license then its another matter. ;)

Parts are easily available and performance tuning is popular though. Just need to stay under the radar on the mods. I guess super loud gold color tailpipe is the easiest way to signal to cops that you are up to no good. :D Sleeper is the name of the game here.

BTW: 1995 was the first year mopeds were registered in Finland. Before that only insurance was mandatory. (edited)

Yeah, kids seem to mostly drive this kind of registered 50cc "mopeds" today (and 50cc scooters):

Not sure but I suspect they are made on same frames as 125cc bikes. At least they are pretty much the same size as my 1984 125cc Honda MTX enduro.

These things are quite cool when compared to bikes which were available 30-40 years ago. This is what I was running in 1979 or so (must be 20-40kgs lighter than mopeds of today):

(edited)