MOPED ARMY

Way to start a fight! Jeez!

Just kidding. Jawa & Trac are cheap-o junk.

Trac's are awesome bikes! Even with their crank cases being held together with Phillips screws, the lack of any vibration dampening and overall poor construction... The engine itself is Stupid reliable and rippy. With 35mph stock on a single speed with good acceleration, can you ask for more?

Anyway. French and Italian bikes are great. As long as you can sort our some electrical gremlins that you will with out doubt encounter.

Phillips screws are very common, fyi

All mopeds are affordable

If you're trying to buy something that's gonna be in better shape now because it was higher quality when it came out, you might wanna look at cars lol. Mopeds are, by their very nature, finicky and built to a budget. Even the good brands.

im probably wrong again but the most expensivist moped dollar for dollar is the....puch ad designed by porsche

Budget bikes have pressed frames with internal tanks, single seats, cheap shocks and painted fenders. Spoke wheels.

Expensive bikes are tube frames with external tanks, long seats, coiled shocks and chrome or better yet stainless steel fenders. Mag wheels.

well, fuck me for not heeding my own oft-offered advice - CHECK THE WIKI!

https://www.mopedarmy.com/wiki/Moped_Prices

looks like for the under $400 crowd you had gloria blanco & scout, Jawa, Angel and pacer:

a rigid free-spirit from sears, or a ciao

pretty inline with the "cheap (or no) suspension" and other details listed above.

Cheapest option though, for it's time, unsurprisingly is the honda express... doesnt get much more basic than that

oh man i have the price sheet from Peugeot in 1980 in my junk somewhere. I think the TSM was 1099 if i'm remembering that right.

The guy told me each dealership only got one.

I see derbi’s selling for $$$.

Post WW2 when motor assisted pedal bikes became a 'thing' in Europe as a means of transportation for many people while their countries rebuilt. Just about every province in every country had a moped "brand" where an iron works or bicycle related factory would offer a vehicle. These bikes would be assembled from a collection of manufactured frames, wheels, engines, accessories and auxiliaries, then the assembling company would brand them and sell them as their areas offering to affordably mobilize the population (often with the fanfare of buying local is the best, etc). The companies which were REALLY good at it became the brands which are recognized as the 'main stream' brands which people often debate on best vs worst.

People serving in Europe in the armed forces would often use their "perks" of being able to cargo things home inexpensively (or free sometimes) would bring home various souvenirs, occasionally it would be a moped. This was one of the methods where some of the rare bikes would end up in North America, the other being people emigrating would bring along their cycles to their new home 'overseas'.

Late 1950s-60s a few retail companies and importers saw the opportunity to bring some of the more 'main stream' cycles to North America, mostly as knock-down kits so they could save tariffs and market them as "final assembly in USA (or Canada)" and the popularity grew somewhat. The flooding of the market was however stemmed by the inexpensive offerings from Japan of motorcycles, the smaller motorcycles usually in direct competition price wise to the 50cc mopeds.

1970s came along with the greed generated 'oil crisis' and suddenly there was a surge of need for the lest thirsty mode of transportation: MOPEDS. All of a sudden they were on the fanatical side of trending, and the demand grew to the point where even the shadiest of importers could profit from importing cycles which were borderline junk and a mechanical failure within the first 100 miles (when the warranty would conveniently expire or be prorated to it was worthless). Some domestic manufacturers even set up methods to import subassemblies from various points around the globe and generate some USA branded cycles of lesser quality.

Getting into the mid 1980s the boon was done and the moped slid into decline and has slowly become the niche lifestyle which we are all enjoying.

SO - as far as 'cheap crap' mopeds are concerned, the value is in the eye of the beholder, admittedly there are some that became less desirable even while they were being sold to to poor quality or lousy aftermarket support. Some of these 'crappy' ones however are or will become an icon in their own right because they have become rare due to their crappiness. However not too many people (if any) will become millionaires rebuilding mopeds, in spite of some folks just trying to greed out and jack their prices as high as possible on eBay - Craigslist - Kijiji - or popular forums.

Pick your bikes based on what appeals to you if you are shopping for one, if the price seems high it likely is... If the deal seems good to you it likely is worth that much to you, or you would not be interested...

Im so glad rebel came back.

in the end i was nothing but a trendy ass poser

I have a veritable library of moped ads. I will dig some out and post the prices. I do know the Austrian Daimler had a $999 price tag because I kept the one from the AD I bought new back then. That was big money. Most were priced between $400-500

wrong thread - that was in response to a SLC meme but i lot where. whatever