R.I.P. Vespa ET4 (2002)

Vespa ET4 was my first scooter. It was bright red and all around beautiful.

I decided to upgrade from a moped because my company has moved from a location close to my home to a bigger one: 14 miles away, mostly highway. My plan didn't work out quite the way I planned - after talking Vespa on the interstate once, I decided that it's more adrenaline than I could handle :)

So, ET4 became my ride for nights and weekends - exploring the city, seeing where every road goes, feeling wind in my face and forgetting about time.

Unfortunately, the honeymoon did not last forever. One day in the winter, when it was unusually warm, I decided to dust Vespa off and take it for a spin. As I was entering an intersection, light turned yellow - I kept going since it was too late to stop. Then a car turned left in front of me, I slammed on the brakes and hit the car on the side.

Next thing I remember is laying on the ground, seeing stars way above and hearing my Vespa still rumbling few feet away. Some kind soul called 911 and they whisked me off to the emergency. X-ray has shown that a little piece of my knee cap broke off.

Few months later, my physical therapy was over. Driver was found at fault and had to pay for my treatment and reimburse the cost of totaled scooter (I stopped to look at it - front frame was folded in half). For a while I was playing it safe and driving my car.. then scooter bug bit me again and the Era of Aprilia began.. but that's another story.

My second moped: Tomos Targa (1996-2002)

After struggling with Sachs acting up for a few months, I decided that a new moped will be a solution to my problems.

From reading old books, I knew how diverse the choices were back in the 70s: Batavus, Puch, Jawa, Peugeot, Motobecane, Solex, Garelli and many more. In 1996, there were only 3 brands available locally:

• Puch Korado - made in Slovakia by Jawa. I test rode it and it was fun until I hit a bump and engine died. I had to walk it back. It took me a while, they even got worried and sent a guy on a scooter to look for me :)
• Kinetic - made in India. This bike was the chepeast, but it was also single speed, so it was pretty sluggish to get going.
• Tomos - made in Slovenia. They actually had 3 models: Sprint (basic), Targa (turn signals and some cosmetic features added) and Targa LX (top-tank).

Test driving Tomos was a complete blast - when it shifted from 1st to 2nd speed, the acceleration felt great! It just whisked me away toward the horizon... and I could ride forever, except I had to turn back at the end of the street and return it to the dealer ;)

My mind was made up and I bought a Tomos Targa with a credit card (took me a year to pay it off).
New bike didn't have issues like old Sachs did, but it did take some getting used to. For example, using a choke to start it and knowing how cold start and warm start differ was a learning process. Once I couldn't start it when the engine was warm and had to walk it for half a mile before it cooled down... a year later I laughed, remembering how inexperienced I was.

I have ridden Tomos for years without any major issues. The joy it brought me is hard to quantify. Things changed when I bought a Vespa scooter. After that, Tomos spent most time sitting in the garage, until one day I decided that it deserves better, so I posted an ad, saying that I will give it away to someone who needs it and can pick it up. So, few weeks later, Tomos had a new owner and I am sure it was happily on the road again!

My first moped: Sachs Suburban (1996-1999)

Once I decided that Bike Machine is not quite enough, I began my search for a moped. I called every motorcycle store in town, asking if they sell mopeds. Some just said "No", others said there are no mopeds nowadays, only scooters. Two stores did have mopeds for sale, but the prices started at $1000, which I couldn't afford at the time.

I began checking classified ads and test rode some nice bikes, such as Puch Maxi (loved it!). However, owner wanted $500 for it, which didn't make sense to me: a new Puch used to cost around $300 back when it was made in 1977, so why is it $500 now?!

One day I saw an ad for an estate sale/auction. Among items listed there was a moped. I went there with my friend Yuri - I needed help getting bike home in case we get it. It was a blue Sachs Suburban, sitting in a barn and looking lonely. We tried starting it and it came to life. I checked my wallet and decided to fight for it when the auction starts.

There was another buyer interested at Sachs, but luckily for me she reached her limit when my bid went up to $230, so the bike was mine! I got in my car, Yuri got on the moped and we headed home, feeling victorious!

The ride was smooth until we were 2 miles from my home - a policeman saw that the headlignt on Sachs is out, stopped Yuri and says that he cannot ride like that. We stood around helpless until a friendly retired couple asked if we needed help. They had a big car, so I asked if we can put moped in the trunk. They agreed and we got Sachs home. When we were taking it out of the trunk, I noticed that some gas leaked out... whoever were these nice people, I am sorry about that!

In the following weeks I was riding my moped every chance I could get.  I like exploring every road I see and it got me in trouble sometimes - there was a lot of construction going on in those days and carpentry nails on the roads were common. Once I got 2 punctured tires in 10 days and decided to watch where I am going :)

This moped could only go up to 25mph, but was a blast nevertheless. One of the features I liked is freewheeling - when you got to the top of the hill and rolled back the throttle, you could coast downhill, just like on a bicycle.

Overall, Sachs was great fun, but moody. In the mornings I would get one heck of a workout trying to start it, pedaling like mad to get the motor going. Eventually, I got tired of fighting it and decided to spend more money and get a new moped.

I loaned Sachs to Yuri, who didn't have a car at the time. He rode it for several years, in rain, snow and ice, until it got stolen from his apartment's parking lot. I hope it brought as much joy to its new 'owner' as it did to us ;)

Early days: Bike Machine (1995-now)

I have been riding bicycles since I was 3, dreaming of owning a moped since I was 12... but it wasn't until 1996 when I first became an owner of a motorized bicycle.

Bike Machine is a small 35cc gas motor with a friction drive roller. You mount it on the rear wheel of any bicycle, put a pint of gas into it and off you go! It's loud and gathers looks from anyone in 200 ft radius.
The design is similar to the famous Solex moped, except Solex motor drives front wheel.

I bought it got for $100 from a co-worker and her father helped me install it. After he started the motor with the pull-start, I heard how noisy it is and got scared. My first question was: "How slow can it go?". He gave me a puzzled look and said: "I'd rather find out how fast it can go!". So, he rode it off, I looked and decided that I want to give it a shot too... after all the money has changed hands already.

It was fun and weird at the same time. Eventually I got it going full speed (20mph, but it feels faster than that) and felt the state of "whee!!!" coming over me. I took it home and rode it every chance I got.

In time I discovered a limitation of the friction drive - it hates rain. As soon as the wheel gets wet it starts slipping and if you don't stop the motor, it will eat thru the tire and puncture the tube (yikes!).
Keeping this in mind, I only rode it when forecast was clear.

Another thing I found out is that bicycles are not designed for the kind of vibration that Bike Machine generates - twice I had the frame break and moved the motor to another bicycle (fortunately I had tons, since I was always buying them at garage sales).

Even though I enjoyed it tremendously, I started longing for more speed and better breaks, so I started searching for a moped. My unsatisfied 'moped desire' resulted in me reading all I could about those miracle bikes - I checked every website I could find (there was less than a handful at the time), bought used moped books and read moped newspaper articles from the 70s in the library via microfiche. That was the time when I created my Moped.org site (now Moped2.org).

Bike Machine has not been ridden in many years, but it's still sitting in my parent's basement, waiting for the someone to pull the cord and enjoy the WHEE feeling!

Here is a pic of Bike Machine (no, it's not me in the picture:)