updatesssssss.

i don’t tinker much with my mopeds anymore – the magnum is the love of my moped life and runs well, so there isn’t much need.

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.

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hmmmm…

things have been going pretty well. the magnum did well in sacramento and i’ve been riding it to work and around seattle every day.

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. ❤

she’s home :)

she’s finally home and in the process of being tuned.

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

magnum tuning

last night after grabbing some pedals and crank pins from Harvy’s bikes up in Lynnwood, Naz came over and put together a temporary makeshift exhaust mount since there’s a large misalignment from the mounting bracket on the bike verses the mounting bracket on the exhaust. then, after getting the crank arms, pedals, pedal chain on, Naz hacksawing off the rear fender tab underneath the seat so that i can run the 280mm heavy duty shocks, makin a quick killwire, filling up the transmission fluid and getting a gallon of gas and premix —

the magnum officially runs. now for lots of tuning, though it sounds like a larger phbg carb may be in my future instead of the current 16 SHA.

magnum details..

ever closer to being finished…

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.

magnum project

well, here’s a sneak peek of what i’ve been so busy working on.

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.

1978 puch magnum build: begin.

Puch Magnum acquired. 1978. Originally the gas tank was a shade of very ugly red… now painted a fancy dark metallic gray, thanks to Rick at Peterbilt over in the Industrial District. I’m picking up the matching trunk plastics tomorrow. Stoked.

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.