Motoped

[Davezilla]

That's cool that it has the 5 wires for gear indication... I had an old GS 750 that had a gear indicator on it and it did come in handy more than I thought it would.

So I guess those electric shifters are still available, but they haven't improved them or made them smaller yet.. I'd still like to put one on my Intruder since that's a Very fast bike for a V twin, but it's also got plenty of space to hide the shift solenoid or even add a small bellcrank to the shift shaft and remote mount it... I know these work great for drag racing and fast full throttle shifting, but since there's a programmable ignition interrupt to allow the actual shifting without letting off the throttle, it may not be the best choice for normal cruising like you intend to do... One of those "it sounded like a good idea at first" things...

 

[silverbear]

Signing on to your thread...
SB

 

[runnermike]

Mike....where did you get your engine from and will it bolt right up to the motoped?

 

[Mike B]

Hooper Imports. Yes, it is secured to the brackets on the frame with (2) 8 mm bolts. It will accept any Honda horizontal engine clone which are avaliable from 50 to 150 cc.

I got mine through Ebay for less dough than on Hooper's site direct. Which I find kind of amazing since they are paying the ebay sales fees to sell there.

There are a gazillion parts and Hi-Po parts for these motors online. Including "cheater" parts like 70cc cylinders that are marked 50 on them. It's a very durable engine design. The cylinder is solid cast iron, not aluminum with a sleeve. Although the Hi-Po jugs are aluminum sleeved for less weight.

 

[scotto-]

I've decided to get the Motoped: BLACK OPS EDITION, with a 50CAL. machine gun mounted. I doubt anybody would want to pull me over wherever I ride

MOTOPED BLACK OPS

Wanna ride?

 

[KCvale]

Shifting really is a pain.

Another option is an electric shifter kit ... if you can still find one...

I have a different engine in mine, 86cc 4-speed, and I couldn't find an electric solenoid shifter but I DID see a cool 'heel toe' shift lever.

All it's doing is letting you push down to shift up or down.
Down is easy ;-}

To heck with buy a special one though, we'll just weld a lever going back to the existing one kind of like we did the kick-start lever.

Here is a tip for assembly, don't follow the instruction video and install your motor to the frame backbone first and then try to assemble the bike, you'd have lug the engine all over while building it.

I painted and then built my frame first and then plopped in the engine, tank and seat.

It's a fun project and a heck of a ride.

 

[Davezilla]

Those heel toe levers are really nice on bigger bikes that have floorboards and no room to put a foot under the lever, but that gives me another idea... If you can get one of these used or on the cheap for a little experimenting, then add a push pull throttle to the left hand grip, run the cables down under or over the shifter and connect a cable end to each side of the lever then the bike could be shifted by hand without having to take a hand off the bars simply by twisting the left grip forward or reversed.

Of course, this will take some tinkering in order to get the trans to shift before running out of twist range, and to make the shift as effortless as possible by determining how far from the shifter shaft to drill the holes to connect the cable ends. The further from center, the easier the shifting, but the more movement at the grip would be needed, but a push pull throttle grip should give about 1" of range so seeing where the shift lever would have to move about 1/2" would be the ideal place to drill the cable mount holes.

Just another thought since ya got a foot shifter and pedals to deal with.

 

[KCvale]

It all depends on the motor linkage and the force required to shift it.
It's a lot, way to much for any manual hand lever or twist on the handlebars I think, heck it takes my weight to shift it by hand on the foot lever.

I need to roll it back into the shop when the current projects are done to look again but just a piece of kickstand welded to the shifter going backwards would work for downshifting without ever having to use your toes to push a lever up.

 

[Barnfresh]

I've owned many a MC with heal toe shifters over the years, however the only one I ever came to grips with was on my Honda Trail 90 (which I still have). For some reason it just seem natural and I used it all the time. I've also ridden old Italian scooters with the left handgrip shifter/clutch combo, 3 speeds if I remember correct. Functional but very "clunky".

 

[Davezilla]

True.. the twist grip shift idea won't work too well if it has a really heavy shift feel to it already, especially if the cable ends need to be closer to center to get enough movement to change gears.

The heel toe shifter is a good idea tho because you can sort of rest your foot on the lever while going thru the gears if the shift pegs are close enough.

 

[KCvale]

I've owned many a MC with heal toe shifters over the years, however the only one I ever came to grips with was on my Honda Trail 90 (which I still have).

I had one of those when I was a teen!

All I remember of it was pop's got it for camping and I rode it until I talked him into a Honda 125 Elsinore to play with in the desert by our house.
Many of aches and pains I now have came from those years.

Cheap and easy would be a dual shifter, just slam your foot down on the correct pedal ;-}

 

[Barnfresh]

Yup Honda Cr 125M, had one of those too! Honda 125 Elsinore throttle assembly: http://i39.tinypic.com/2hg46xy.jpg

 

[KCvale]

(smiles at Barn) they did seem almost that simple ;-}

 

[Barnfresh]

The light switch throttle was in reference to the 500 RPM wide power band. Ironically I'm having similar issues right now with my eMotoped.

 

[scotto-]

I had one of those when I was a teen!

All I remember of it was pop's got it for camping and I rode it until I talked him into a Honda 125 Elsinore to play with in the desert by our house.
Many of aches and pains I now have came from those years.

Not to detract from Mike's fine MotoPed build here, but gotta say I hated that girly Honda 90cc step-thru with a passion. The reasons were (back then in the 60's) 1) it was a 4-stroke, 2) it had a pressed step-thru (girly) frame and 3) it wasn't a Suzuki (or Husqvarna or CZ or Maico etc, etc.).

I never got a Honda Elsinore 250cc cuz I wasn't that spoiled as a child! I did however buy a 1972 CZ 250cc in 1973 and that was big!! Those were the days.....they really were.

 

[Mike B]

I called today, it's been 3 months.

Apparently my bike is sitting on the dock or in a ship a victim of the LA dock workers strike.

Good thing I'm not in a hurry eh?

 

[culvercityclassic]

You may be waiting another 3 months

 

[MotorBicycleRacing]

I called today, it's been 3 months.

Apparently my bike is sitting on the dock or in a ship a victim of the LA dock workers strike.

Good thing I'm not in a hurry eh?

Post from Wednesday, 12/17/14

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=109171480

What Is A Motoped?
Something that looks cool and seems cheap so customers pay "in full" for something that is promised to be delivered in 2-4 weeks (Now 45 days on Motovox site) and then they wait for months, even a year, maybe more... with their money out of pocket and no volunteered updates from Motoped, Motovox, Dealers, anybody. If you hound somebody long enough they tell you something like, "two more weeks". Every time you hear "2 more weeks" you can multiply by months and still expect to wait.

Are they delivering? Yes, a few.
How many are sold? More than those being delivered!
How is customer relations? If you ask a polite question on Facebook they blacklist you because you didn't just say "I want one!" but instead, "what's happening to my order from 6 months ago? please update me!".
How is customer service? Huh?
How is marketing and product promotion? Motovox excels here but back-stabs Dealers and Customers in the meantime so long term impact not likely to end in great sales numbers.
Why did I invest in MTVX stock? because it's "something that looks cool and seems cheap". LOL! I actually did it to humor myself. **** I bought 5 million shares for the price of wheels on a Motoped.

 

[FFV8]

What strike?

I have seen several pallets of chinese product come off the truck from the port of Los Angeles since October.

The union thugs have been dragging their feet a little lately because of contract talks, but nothing is more than an extra week wait in LA right now.

I really wish retailers would quit telling stories like this.

 

[KCvale]

It took about a month to get my MotoPed earlier this year.

 

[Barnfresh]

Just read on Motoped's facebook page where they announced the following:

Great News!!!!
All Orders Have Arrived At Headquarters And Are Shipping This Week And Next week!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/1432733183623914/