I've been toying with the idea of getting a moped for my daily commute. However, it's a beastly drive of about 80 miles round trip. Excluding the fact that it would take 2+ hours each way on a moped, can a bike handle the strain for two months (it's a summer job)?
maybe a new tomos.
Either a new tomos or if you completely rebuild a bike (correctly of course) and follow the maintenance religiously.
Check out the top two videos in this link to get what I mean by maintenance:
maybe if u run a little rich no preformance and keep your bike to exact speck sure try it but most bikes u can't get the exact specks :P
where is "you know who" when you need him?
Voldemort?
I've been Driving 16 Miles Round Trip on my 28 year old Honda PA50II 5 days a week for the past 3 weeks
mine's about 50 miles roundtrip. Totally fine. And that's why I rock a new Tomos. And that's what I recommend you do. 80 miles is pretty tuff stuff.
Who, Moped Jesus?
I don't know, Willie Spoke did 240 miles a day for three days straight last week.
I do think it would have to be a newer bike, or a solid bike with new parts.
PA 50 II, PC50 or a Vespa Grande. Or new Tomos.
My round trip is 25-30 miles with a big hill in either direction (my '86 Sebring only does 28mph on the flats, but I hit 50 gps'd down the hills, gotta push part way up them).
i drive about 60 miles round trip twice a week.
40 miles each way damn dude... summer job is tough.
my daily commute is like 4 miles each way to the beach :)
still ride like 50 a day though keep it strong
It's competely possible, on either a new Tomos Sprint, or a completely rebuilt older bike. I have put 300+ miles a day lots of times on my '03 Tomos ST, my former '05 Tomos ST (since traded for an '08 Sprint), and my completely rebuilt '80 Puch ZA50. If you buy an old moped, It will need a complete rebuild to do that (most likely), if you get a new Tomos, unless it is a Sprint, it will need one modification (use search function), and possibly a new aftermarket exhaust eventually, because the new A55 Tomos mopeds come with a catalytic exhaust that plugs up after about 1000 miles, and a stock A35 exhaust won't fit. An alternative would be if you could find a really nice, low mileage, late model ('05 or earlier) completely stock Tomos. My stock '03 ST, with the one modification I mentioned, has over 14,000 completely trouble free miles on it, almost all of them highway miles, at WOT. Peace. Jerry.
I almost hate doing this:
"A55 Tomos mopeds come with a catalytic exhaust that plugs up after about 1000 miles,"
I'm at 5,000+ miles (all since last November) and no plugged up pipe. I do have angry transmissions, worthless shocks, some janky electrical, and a totally worthless centerstand, but I've had no other issues, and am doing 40ish with stock pipe still in place.
Thanks for all the replies guys. A new Tomos is really out of the question as far as costs go. I was hoping to put something together with a budget under $500. Is this at all possible if the commute is made, say, once or twice a week?
It's probably just a pipe dream, but at 80 mpg, I realized I could spend about $600-700 on a moped and still save money when compared to my car and gas prices.
I actually have a Sears Allstate I'm working on, but it's in no condition to make any such trips.
I don't know what the heck you are talking about Zeke. Like Matt said. Any new Tomos will do that ride on demand. I ride 65 miles round trip to work and back and I ride wide open throttle. 9000 miles and counting.
I don't know about Jerry's info about the cat and the taking off the oil injector. I have 9000 miles and counting on a 2007 A55 with the cat and oil injector and the Revival will do 42 mph confirmed on GPS all day long. And that is with the stock exhaust. It has been trouble free and I am about to change out the rear tire. The only major thing I had to do was change out the chain at 6500 miles.
2007 A55s and on have catalytic converters. If you add more oil than 50:1 like 40:1 the additional oil will plug up your pipe. So, use the oil injector to insure that your mixture is 50:1 so it will not plug up. Tomos would not have oil injectors on their bikes if they were really as bad as Jerry says. I have never had an A55 come back because the oil injector failed. NEVER!
I'm wondering if you guys with the long miles on stock exhausts had some preventive maintenance before you got the bike, or if your catalyst blew out. Can you tell if your pipe was drilled to prevent the symptoms of plugging? I had one catalyst come loose and work its way to the back end of the pipe (where it caused plugging symptoms), but it might be possible for the occasional catalyst to disintegrate and blow out gradually. It resembles very stiff, fine steel wool. At least the wad of stuff I pulled out of my pipe was like that.
I use 40:1 in all my mopeds, dirt bike, weed eater, chain saw, etc. My '03 ST with that particular part removed has 14,000+ miles on it, and the pipe is not plugged, and it has never been cleaned. It's on it's second spark plug. First one could have been cleaned and reused, but I had a new one. I suspect WOT highway use is not as likely to plug up a pipe as city stop and go part throttle riding. In any event, the '05 and earlier stock pipes CAN be cleaned if necessary. I replaced the pipe on my '08 Sprint with a Biturbo within the first 100 miles, so I don't know how well it would have held up. Peace. Jerry.
You may still be able to find a late model Tomos A35 in excellent condition with low miles for $500-$600, that would easily make that trip. My dealer gave me $500 trade in on my '05 ST, it was in showroom condition, low miles, still had the belly pan on it, but it did not have the other part on it. Premix only. She said she could get $700 out of it easily. I would have sold it for $500. Peace. Jerry.
late honda express. not necessarily a moped, but tough as nails and as reliable as youll get. usually super cheap too, i've had 4 and paid $190 TOTAL. dont get the spring start models though. those things are ticking timebombs just waiting to fail.
"I suspect WOT highway use is not as likely to plug up a pipe as city stop and go part throttle riding. "
Possible true. And the fact that every night when I get off work (1-4am) leaves me with a 25 mile ride that I take WOT on a highway is prolly the reason that my pipe burns itself clean. I try to ride WOT everywhere I go, in my ideal world my moped would only have two speeds, full and idle.
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