i sold my peugeot a little while ago and have plans to sell the tomos &white puch in the next couple months once i do a couple things to each of them. i’ll probably build up the motobecane and start blogging about that at some point, then keep it around until next summer and sell it, maybe.

besides working a few days a week at the bar, i spend the rest of my time making art. here is my art based blog and here is my website.

this weekend i’m going to just go over the whole bike and make sure everything is solid. i need to go over the cylinder as there’s a minor airleak somewhere. the clutch needs to be tuned a little bit too – i see some paz clutch springs in my future. planning on a bigger carb at some point, once i sell a few more paintings. sounds like naz is going to modify my exhaust pipe for me and shorten the header and take out a built-in restriction.

the rest of my life right now is all art, some work and a lot of really nice moped rides. <3

many thanks to Naz for all of his time, work and help and many thanks to Ryan for his help and inspiration, i would not have been able to do or finish this project without either of you. thank you!

it's love.

more photos of this project can be found on my flickr page here: custom 1978 puch magnum project

close up on the wheels:

if all goes well tomorrow, tuning should start mid-week.

also, many thanks to Naz for all of his incredible help with this project.

the tank has been painted a dark gray metallic with small flake with matching headlight bucket and trunk plastics. the spoke wheels have been rebuilt and painted aqua and black. clip on bars. 300mm rear shocks. new front EBRs. michael mike did his magic and did the cables and levers for me and was a huge help with a ton of stuff. the engine is done and complete.

magnum sneak peek

only a couple things left to do:

x – nuts, bolts, washers &other hardware replacements from tacoma screw
x – crank arms, pedals
x – mounting exhaust pipe
x – painting with high heat black spray paint: cylinder head, stabilizer bar and pedal drive sprocket
x – gas line
x – transmission fluid
x – wiring
x – decals
x – tuning tuning tuning

i should, in theory, be riding and tuning this bike by sunday or monday. crossing my fingers.

A few weeks ago Ryan came over and helped me put a new set of Maxi EBRs on the magnum frame. There was a dremel involved in getting the headset cup to fit correctly. Cleaned up the loose bearings and packed ‘em full of grease.

Took the bearing off of the main gear and replaced it although I still need to put the bearings and seals on the new crankshaft.

In a couple of weeks I’ll have enough time to match the transfer ports, rebuild the wheels and get the bike mostly together. I’m missing some controls and levers but pretty much have everything else. The other thing I have to deal with is getting a plate and registration and now that the laws have changed a couple of times recently, I’m not sure how to do that anymore.

Anyway, I’m hoping to have this bike finished and running by early September.

I’ll also be hanging my art at Freshy’s in West Seattle for the month of September. More on that later.

Phil fell down in the beginning of February and broke his hip and was in the hospital for quite a while. His shop closed and I moved all of my bikes and parts to a friend’s house up in Shoreline (which is pretty damn far from where I am, unfortunately — and I still don’t have a key, so I only get to work on bikes by a pure stroke of luck). I visit Phil on the weekends and hope to go and visit him more often as my schedule opens up more.

So, mopeds.. Ghost Puch is back together but needs a wiring harness and then tuning. Which would be easy if I had the time, or the access to the basement.

Other life stuff.. hmm. I broke my lease at my apartment and have rented an artist studio downtown in Pioneer Square. It’s part of the Pioneer Square First Thursday Artwalk and gets very great foot traffic and I have been able to sell quite a few paintings because of it(!). It’s been absolutely amazing being in this building, surrounded by artists with a monthly deadline for new work. Still work at the bar — picked up the Saturday shift at the bakery I used to work at, which has made my schedule a little tight and a bit messed up so far as sleeping habits. Lots of new tattoos. Lots of new art.

Enjoying the weather very, very much.. nice long moped rides with friends and all.

Photographic update this coming weekend, f’realz.

Peugeot 103′s electrical was torn apart and fixed by Brandon earlier this week. Previous owner’s wiring schemes on the bike were a damn nightmare, ugly. Need to put it back together and rewire the bike. Purchased a 70cc cast iron Malossi kit from Treats HQ and a 70cc head from Malossi Direct. Still waiting on the cylinder head to show up. Changed out the old reedblock with a nice Polini set up suitable for the Dellorto carb.

Other stuff going on, but it’s boring, and not very interesting, unless there are pictures. Soon.

Also: art updates here; http://www.skeletonandkey.com