“There is something about the joy of riding the little bikes down the parkway, life in the slow lane if you will, that has an appeal like no other,” said Mr. Before long he had joined the Casserollers and obtained a half-dozen mopeds.
After acquiring the bike, he got it running with the help of the Moped Army, an online support group that gives technical advice and runs affiliated clubs across the U.S. When gas prices surged to $4 a gallon in 2008, Kim Jensen, a maintenance supervisor in Minneapolis, took a serious look at a 1979 Vespa Grande moped that had been collecting dust in a basement storage room at a building where he worked. Today he uses it to compete in rallies with his moped club, the Casserollers. Gradually he upgraded its engine for more power and the suspension for better handling. Mechelke was hooked and soon brought home a 1978 Puch Magnum that he found advertised on Craigslist, about 40 minutes from home. “I had a grin on my face the entire time,” he said.
He bought his first one five years ago after a co-worker let him take his for a ride around the block at lunchtime. “Mopeds slowly become an obsession,” said Shane Mechelke, a 36-year-old vice president of technology for an advertising firm who lives outside Minneapolis. The business started five years ago as an extension of co-owner Peter D’Addeo’s riding club, Mission 23 and has grown to serve about 1,000 regular customers from around the world, he said.
Many riders, however, say the ease and joy of riding these vintage machines mitigates nagging guilt about pollution.Īt Second Stroke Mopeds in the Bushwick section of Brooklyn-which sells, repairs and restores vintage models-the sound of customers cruising in and out competes with the clatter and screeching of the elevated trains that pass in front of the shop. The oily exhaust is clearly visible and has a distinct odor. Unlike the four-stroke engines found in cars, motorcycles and modern scooters, which store lubricating oil internally, two-stroke engines constantly burn oil that you have to mix into the gasoline manually (as you do with a gas-powered chain saw or leaf blower). In fact, the root of the moped’s eco shortcomings is also the bike’s signature feature: a 50-cubic-centimeter two-stroke engine.
0 kommentar(er)
