Which mopeds make good parts donors?

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silverbear

silverbear

The Boy Who Never Grew Up
Jul 9, 2009
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I'm seeing some great uses for moped parts being used in some of the current threads and am getting very interested in non running mopeds as a source for parts. I'm most interested in what I can use on building up vintage bikes from the 50's and earlier with a one inch head tube and heavy frames. I know nothing about mopeds and have only ridden a couple a long time ago. So I'm asking which ones in particular make good donors for our purposes? I don't care about the engines and am assuming on a dead one that the motor is what is dead. I'm looking at the front suspension forks, a ready made place to mount a cool headlight, maybe heavy duty wheels with drum brakes. Might be the center stand could be modified to work on a bicycle. Could be the gas tank is bigger and will fit right on. But bottom line for me in what I would most be looking for is the front fork being compatible with an older 1" head tube and the wheels. Did any of the mopeds come with 26" wheels? If not, which ones would have hubs suitable for lacing onto a bicycle rim? I'm guessing there are a fair number of donor mopeds out there waiting for a new life as a motorbikes. It would be good to know which are the best ones to be looking for. If a hundred bucks could yield a suspension fork, wheels, lights, gas tank... it would be a steal.
SB
 
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hurricane

New Member
Sep 20, 2010
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Im interested in just the opposite Bear, I kinda like there engines and would probably toss the rest of the machine. But there are alot of descent used ones i see advertised on craigs list , I think you can basically judge them for yourself in what would work for you on your bike projects. the best one for you would be the one that is priced right for your wallet :)
 
silverbear

silverbear

The Boy Who Never Grew Up
Jul 9, 2009
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northeastern Minnesota
Yeah, if I could see it in person I could make a judgment. But it would help to know which ones, if any, had 26" wheels. Some mopeds must have used better components than others, some drum brakes must be better than others. Some front suspension forks must do a better job than others. That's what I'm getting at. A moped with a 20" wheel and spoke pattern incompatible with a bicycle wheel I would avoid no matter how cheap since I couldn't use it. So if I knew I was looking for an old Sachs or a Puch of a certain model I can punch that in to a craigs list search and zero in on what is most useful to me. I'll leave the engines for you to rebuild and find parts for, figure out how to adapt to a bicycle... ha! I want the cool, quality components on the cheap. So the best one for me is the one that is best suited for a 26" vintage cruiser build, say on an old Schwinn from the fifties. Not necessarily the cheapest, but the most compatible, that's what I want to know about.
SB
SB
 
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itchybird

Member
Nov 4, 2009
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The mopeds are proper motor-bikes, designed by engineers for a broad spectrum of customers. And lets face it, our MB's are just mopeds. Our wheels are bigger, but they're mopeds just the same.

But the reality is, there is not much for us to use. The best part about a moped is the brakes. They use proper drums, with big axles, good stuff for sure!

Sadly, the offset is all wrong for the China motors which is a major bummer because that is what most of us run. The rear hub has both a drive side and bicycle side sproket but they're too wide and chains just don't align. The other bummer is that the China motors require a clutch lever So if you have front brake, you end up with three levers if you run the moped rear hub.

The front hubs are good stuff too, but again, they have big axles, so if you want to run them, you need to open up the dropouts as the axles are bigger than bicycle stuff.

Their motors are just plain funky, they don't fit in bicycles. They use good levers/controls, but there are so many choices for levers/controls that you really don't need to steal from the moped scene. Beyond that, everything is different, so there is nothing left.

Now if you run a Morini motor, it's a whole new world. The chain offsets are just right, and since the Morini has a centrifugal clutch, you only need two levers. A perfect match. But not many folks are running Morini motors.

So sadly, the mopeds are in a class of their own. Of course, I have a rockin' set of big axle moped hubs in my Morini bike, but my China motored bike runs bicycle hubs, laced into Worksman wheels. Each the optimal setup for the motor used.

Rich
 
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silverbear

silverbear

The Boy Who Never Grew Up
Jul 9, 2009
8,325
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northeastern Minnesota
Rich,
Thanks for your post. I've noticed a couple accomplished builders have used front suspension forks from mopeds, used the front wheel hub laced into a 26" 2.125 rim and had a very neat front end, complete with headlight. That's what got my interest. So if a person used a front fork which would accept a 26" wheel (I realize now they didn't come with wheels that big) and if that fork was compatible with a 1" head tube... that's what I want to find out. Which ones could be adapted pretty easily to an older single speed cruiser frame. It's been done, so it must be doable. I need to find out the specifics. The heavy and wider set rear wheel hub might still be of interest depending on the intended motor. My last two builds and the one I'm just starting on are all four strokes. I'm losing interest and enthusiasm for the China girl motors. A month ago I finished an H.S, build on a 1950 Schwinn straight bar frame and that engine can be moved left or right to align with the rear sprocket. The build I just finished on a 51 Schwinn cantilever frame used a Greyhound motor and had to be offset to the right of center a bit since it is such a wide engine, so it sounds like it might be a possible good match for a moped hub. I see what you're saying however regarding a China girl engine. You're pretty well locked in on how the engine has to fit and that determines the rear sprocket alignment. I don't care about the moped engine or gas tank. Number one interest is the front suspension fork, hub and headlight as a unit, secondary interest is the rear hub. That's all I see of possible use to me. So, it depends. If a person could pick up a dead Puch or whatever kind was compatible as far as front fork for less than a hundred bucks then you're ahead of the game. And it might be that there is enough market out there for parts you're not going to use to recoup the hundred bucks. Just thinking. Relacing a wheel is something I've never done, but could learn to do. 12 gauge SS spokes are not cheap. Rims could come from an old cruiser. I guess really it is that front suspension fork that could be the best thing from a moped. Especially if it came with the headlight and headset compatible with a 1" head tube.
SB
 
bairdco

bairdco

a guy who makes cool bikes
Aug 18, 2009
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average rim size seems to be 16-17" on a moped, but the tires have different aspect ratios, which basically means they're taller. like a 20" bicycle rim and tire would be close to a 17" moped rim and tire. more or less. it all depends on what size tires are used.

i would go to Moped Army - Swarm and Destroy
and dig around over there. those guys really know what's up with mopeds.
 
bairdco

bairdco

a guy who makes cool bikes
Aug 18, 2009
6,537
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living the dream in southern california
i do know that most of the wheels are 36 spoked, so if you could figure out the axle size and the hub width you could see if it fits.

i actually have an NOS set of chrome 17" rims that my buddy gave me. they're about an inch wider than worksmans. one of these days i might try to use them on something.
 
corgi1

corgi1

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Aug 13, 2009
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amf roadmaster has an interesting amount of bicycle sized parts and a friction drive engager that we should be using,,,,the frame doesn't look as strong as the bikes we use
 
silverbear

silverbear

The Boy Who Never Grew Up
Jul 9, 2009
8,325
670
113
northeastern Minnesota
If that's American made then I would guess the fork threading would be compatible with a vintage bike's headset. That's a nice little frame and would make a nice... moped, especially with a more reliable motor than came with it back when.
SB
 
I

itchybird

Member
Nov 4, 2009
316
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SF Bay Area.
Silverbear,

If you want good 26" moped forks/hub/rim/light, look no further than the late model Whizzers. You can find them on craigslist, plus they have that killer whizzer motor in them. Some folks are raiding these bikes for their motors with little interest in the leftovers, so maybe you can find your forks that way.

Rich
 
scotto-

scotto-

Custom 4-Stroke Bike Builder
Jun 3, 2010
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Ridin' inSane Diego, CA.
I found an old Peugeot SP102 in the alley a couple years ago.....it's been sitting in my backyard and has been disappearing little by little. It had good front suspension (forks), nice chrome exhaust pipe, alloy fenders and racks, lots of metric nuts and bolts, quality aluminum drum brakes. All that's left now is the stamped frame, swing-arm and built-in gas tank. Somehow I'll prolly use those up as well, eventually.
 
silverbear

silverbear

The Boy Who Never Grew Up
Jul 9, 2009
8,325
670
113
northeastern Minnesota
Peugeot eh?
I got some dopey advise from the Moped Army Forum about how much stronger the old Schwinn fork it and to use that. Wasn't my question. The question was about compatibility of moped front forks with 26" vintage cruisers. I got some great info from msrfan who used a Puch front end on an old Schwinn that looks great. He said that most of the seventies mopeds have forks which would accept a 26" wheel and at least the Puch used a 1" threaded head tube. So, I think the Puch/ Sachs/ of those years would probably work and I'll be on the lookout for. Another consideration for me is in using one which has some demand for the parts I won't be using. So as I see it, if I can pick up a donor moped for a hundred bucks or less and can use the front fork, front wheel hub, levers, head light, speedometer that is all well worth a hundred. And if I strip off the other stuff for ebay I may be able to recoup the original investment. Mostly what I want is a good front end with suspension. This looks promising and I now have an ad in the local paper to see what turns up.
SB
 
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