Showing posts with label moped. Show all posts
Showing posts with label moped. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 27, 2016

Tennessee's Moped Laws

If you're traveling to, or live in Tennessee and you plan on riding your vintage moped or noped, here are the laws and TCA code numbers you can reference if you are stopped.

The short and long of it is:
  • You must be riding something 50cc or less
  • You must have an automatic transmission
  • You must have working tail and head lights
  • You must have a class D driver's license
  • You do not need insurance
  • You do not need registration
  • You cannot ride on highways
  • You are not supposed to exceed 30mph

Have fun, and be sure to hit up a Deadped if you are riding in Nashville, TN!

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Exemption:

55-3-101. Motor vehicles subject to registration and certificate of title provisions — Exceptions. — Definition of off-highway motor vehicle. —

(a) Every motor vehicle or motorized bicycle, as defined in chapter 8 of this title, and every trailer, semi-trailer, and pole trailer, when driven or moved upon a highway, and every mobile home or house trailer, when occupied, shall be subject to the registration and certificate of title provisions of chapters 1, 2, this chapter and chapters 4-6 of this title, except:


(1) Vehicles driven or moved upon a highway in conformance with the provisions of chapters 1, 2, this chapter and chapters 4-6 of this title relating to manufacturers, transporters, dealers, lienholders, or nonresidents;

(2) Vehicles that are driven or moved upon a highway only for the purpose of crossing the highway from one (1) property to another;

(3) Any implement of husbandry;

(4) Any special mobile equipment;

(5) No certificate of title need be obtained for any vehicle of a type subject to registration owned by the government of the United States;

(6) No certificate of title need be obtained for a foreign vehicle that is subject to the registration provisions of this state, if the nonresident owner has a valid foreign certificate of title and certificate of registration and if the vehicle is to remain registered in the foreign state as well as in this state;

(7) Subject to the approval of the commissioner, no certificate of title need be obtained for a vehicle that is part of a proportionally registered fleet in this state if the owner has a valid certificate of title in another state and the vehicle is engaged in interstate commerce;

(8) Motorized bicycles, except when voluntarily registered under § 55-4-101; and

(9) No certificate of title need be obtained or maintained where the manufactured home is affixed to real property in accordance with § 55-3-138.

(b) The owner of a vehicle excepted in subsection (a) from the requirement for titling and registering may, subject to the approval of the commissioner, apply for a certificate of title without applying for its registration. The commissioner shall by regulation provide for the manner in which single applications are to be made and the conditions under which they may be allowed; however, this subsection (b) shall not be construed as granting authority to issue certificates of ownership on any basis other than upon documentation or summary of ownership as required in this chapter.

(c) (1) Notwithstanding any other law to the contrary, off-highway motor vehicles purchased after June 1, 1983, shall be subject to the certificate of title and special identification device provisions of this chapter and § 55-6-101, when the off-highway motor vehicles are operated on lands, other than a highway, in this state.

(2) For the purposes of this title, an off-highway motor vehicle is a vehicle that is not driven or moved on the public highway and is limited to:

(A) Any motorcycle commonly referred to as a dirt bike;

(B) Any snowmobile or other vehicle designed to travel exclusively over snow or ice;

(C) Any motor vehicle commonly referred to as a sand buggy, dune buggy, or all terrain vehicle; or

(D) Similar types of motor vehicles designed primarily for off-highway use.

(3) The department shall issue to the owner of an off-highway motor vehicle purchased after June 1, 1983, if not registered under chapter 4 of this title, a special identification device to be affixed to the vehicle as evidence that a certificate of title has been issued for the vehicle. The device may be either a plate or a sticker, whichever is determined by the department to be the most appropriate. The device shall be nonrenewable and nontransferable and shall become invalid when the vehicle for which it was issued is sold, or the ownership of the vehicle is transferred or the vehicle is dismantled.

(4) Off-highway motor vehicles purchased prior to July 1, 1982, may also be issued a certificate of title and special identification device upon application of the owner, if evidence of ownership is properly provided to the department. Off-highway motor vehicles purchased after June 30, 1982, and prior to June 1, 1983, may be issued a special identification device upon application of the owner and presentation of the certificate of title previously issued for the vehicle.


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Definitions for Laws concerning Mopeds

55-8-101. Chapter and part definitions. —

As used in this chapter and chapter 10, parts 1-5, of this title, unless the context otherwise requires:

(33) “Motorcycle” means every motor vehicle having a seat or saddle for the use of the rider and designed to travel on not more than three (3) wheels in contact with the ground, including a vehicle that is fully enclosed, has three (3) wheels in contact with the ground, weighs less than one thousand five hundred pounds (1,500 lbs.), and has the capacity to maintain posted highway speed limits, excluding a tractor or motorized bicycle;

(34) “Motor-driven cycle” means every motorcycle, including every motor scooter, with a motor that produces not to exceed five (5) brake horsepower, or with a motor with a cylinder capacity not exceeding one hundred twenty-five cubic centimeters (125cc);

THESE TWO ARE DIFFERENT!!! NO WONDER EVERYONE IS CONFUSED!!!

(35) “Motorized bicycle” means a vehicle with two (2) or three (3) wheels, an automatic transmission, and a motor with a cylinder capacity not exceeding fifty cubic centimeters (50cc) which produces no more than two (2) brake horsepower and is capable of propelling the vehicle at a maximum design speed of no more than thirty miles per hour (30 mph) on level ground. The operator of a motorized bicycle must be in possession of a valid operator's or chauffeur's license, and shall be subject to all applicable and practical rules of the road. A motorized bicycle may not be operated on a highway of the interstate and defense highway system, any similar limited access multilane divided highway, or upon sidewalks;

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Can apply for registration but don't have to.

55-4-101

(k) The owner of a motorized bicycle may, subject to the approval of the commissioner, apply for registration and registration plates for the motorized bicycle. The commissioner shall by regulation provide for the manner in which single applications are to be made and the conditions under which they may be allowed; however, this subsection (k) shall not be construed as granting the commissioner authority to issue registration and plates for motorized bicycles on any basis other than as is required in this chapter. Each applicant for registration under this provision shall be charged the same registration taxes imposed on Class (A) motor vehicles by § 55-4-111.

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Sunday, April 20, 2014

AMF Roadmaster Tech

So my friend Alex was working on his AMF roadmaster... I couldn't resist grabbing some pics. The friction drive roller disintegrated and he was able to find an NOS one!

I think the coolest thing about this bike is that it was a solid state ignition - either Transistor or SCR, but I didn't see any caps in the potting. Regardless, it was breakerless and pretty cool for being such an otherwise crappy bike when bikes of superior construction still had breaker ignitions in 1978. Hell, there were cars that still had points in 78.

He has it running now. Haven't gotten to bum a ride yet, but I plan on it...

Alex cleaning the dry clutch dust up


missing drive roller material


Stator pr0n - no points man. Like 80w of light power though.... WHOA.

SCIENCE. solidstate brings all the boys to the yard

Clutch. Seemes like it actuates both ways... swings one way to start (little pads) then the other way for drive engagement (bigger pads). No key way or taper. Just clamped on.

McCullough service bulletin.

The MAN himself.



Tuesday, October 22, 2013

Vespa Subframe Reinforcement

So this past weekend, I decided I'd reinforce my Vespa subframe on my grande... Earlier this year at THHHEEEEE BUZZARDS rally (which was epic, even in the back of the break down vehicle) I was 25mi into the 100mi ride on Saturday when my right tab broke off my subframe at about 45-47mph. Needless to say this was a harrowing experience and my moped riding for the weekend was over.


The Vespa stayed parked for a while, because I couldn't decide whether to replace or rebuild the subframe. I didn't have a welder, so rebuilding wasn't an option at the time. I had gone ahead and made templates for plates and began to cut them out with my angle and die grinder (very time consuming). I built up an OA rig and was contemplating doing the project with O/A - I'm so glad I didn't do this because the welding would've taken forever. Unfortunately, my cutting torch parts still didn't get here in time so I had to mechanically remove material any way. This past weekend I picked up a miller promig 135 with gas shielding (and a bunch of HID stuff ;) and I decided to go for it since it was my fall break.

I did some work on Thursday when I got home, but it was mostly getting all the kinks out, setting up the welder and riding with nashville's vintage motorcycle group Pseudomoto. The CB100 rode great and got me in shape to work on the Vespa.


My plan consisted of using cold roll steel to inlay the cutout of the subframe. I used 1/8" for the major inlays. It's been over a year since I'd had any time on a welder, so my welds weren't pretty but they should hold just fine... I didn't lay anything that was so bad I had to cut it out, but it definitely could have been better. I made sure to put a bevel on the pieces that would be adjoining to thinner material - this along with torch angle is important to get a consistent heat and penetration when welding together materials of different thicknesses.










Here's some footage from me working... not as epic as I wanted it to be... cam kept dying :/




In my infinite wisdom, I did not do a fit check with the transmission components installed with everything tacked toegether, and I ended up having to remove metal from my main reinforcing plates after welding them in completely. This made it way uglier and take way longer... IF YOU REINFORCE A SUBFRAME THIS WAY, DON'T FORGET THE TRANS CUT OUTS!!!!! This was a HUGE disaster and I would've finished the bike Saturday instead of Sunday (because the paint took a whole day to dry) as I didn't have it in me to finish fabrication Saturday night after this mistake.




From there I did some cosmetic welding and sanded everything down and started prepping for paint (and of course did another fit check before paint lol).  I decided to go with two coats of automotive primer and two coats of Rustoleum gloss enamel.



Re-assembly went fairly smooth except for the 4 bolts that go into the rear transmission housing were too short with the lock washers (I need to get new ones that are long enough for lock washers) and the main bolt up front that the subframe hinges on was too short. Everything else went smoothly and the bike was back together and running.



For Those Thinking About Doing This:

 

I would suggest including the trans cutouts in your design if you decide to go the plate overlay method.

Another thing I would suggest to those who would want to do this in the future is to consider using round stock instead of plate. The plate was incredibly thin in some spots and certainly could have been thicker. Round stock would allow you more flexibility and be way easier to manipulate.

Lastly, I suggest you just make another subframe entirely. After having done a reinforced subframe, I think that if I'd had an oxy-acetylene torch setup functioning or a plasma cutter, I wouldn've just gone this route. It would've been more effective and easier. I'm not sure I'd recommend doing it out of plate either - I really think that maybe next year I'll build a tube sub-frame. I'm not incredibly satisfied with the reinforced stock subframe.

Some how I picked up 5mph during the rebuild...

I took her for some speed runs and I guess she's loving the cold weather and not having a huge gaping crack in the exhaust :) I hit 52mph with stock vario notched with my aluminum weights, gates AX39 tri-power belt and a polini blue contra in the back with a 13mm carb and a DR65. The amount of vibration is still a bit disconcerting, so a mazi crank this winter (thanks for the suggestion Joe) and a homeade dynamic balancer for my stock vario (that'd be fun right??) or a polini vario are in order. I can probably build a ghetto balancing setup cheaper than I can buy a polini vario and weights, so I'm probably going to go that route... would be awesome to offer that as a service to all the stock class racers...

The subframe is fixed, but before next rally season ...

I set some parts on the bike to see how possible throwing a disk brake on the front would be and I think I'm going to go for it this winter since the forks are substantial enough, hyrdaulic and the fork lowers are steel. The setup would be a Z mag with china disk fitted and a honda caliper and master cylinder with a custom stainless line from the local hose manufacturer. With a disk brake, this would be the ultimate doubles bike for knoxville campus or rally bike period. I'm super stoked to bring this bike back up here next semester and rally on it next summer if/when I get out of school :P


Saturday, April 20, 2013

Tri-Power Gates AX39 Belt for Vespa!

Hey guys,

So I found this awesome belt the other day while I was at Oreilly's. It's a tri-power series belt.

It says it's oil resistant and rated for temperatures over 100*F higher than what the standard belts are and is oil resistant.

It says it's also static conductive, so I feel like that means it's got a metallic element. Anywho, I'll be testing this out on my Vespa grande and I'll be sure to report back.

The standard gates AX39 that I had on there only lasted about 5 months of sparse riding.

Also, if you buy from oreilly's, they guarantee it for three years no questions asked! I told the guy I'd probably shred it on my vespa this summer and he said it didn't matter! Just bring it in and I'll get a new one! Gotta keep your receipt though.

Here's a link to a specs sheet on all the belt series offered by gates:
http://www.gates.com/ptpartners/file_display_common.cfm?thispath=Gates%2Fdocuments_module&file=Vol_57_No_6_High_Temperature_and_V-belts.pdf


Friday, January 18, 2013

The PucHonda

Here is the build progression of the PucHonda motorcycle... Copied from my build thread on another site.

SPECS:
1974 CT70 Engine
1978 Puch Moped frame
1970's Range Rover Green
Magnum Swingarm
ATC70 4 speed transmission
88cc cylinder kit
Honda HOT cam w/ 5.1mm lift
19mm Dellorto Carb
Puch Exhaust Header intake manifold
CR80 forks
General 5 star moped tank
Yamaha FS1 reproduction seat
17" rims front and back
12v rectified/regulated electrical system
Halogen up front
LED in rear
egay clip ons
New japanese valves
New gaskets
New seals
All new NTN bearings only
New cam chain
New points










































































this was a super f'd pinto with no wheels, no motor and a crusty tank. It was $40 and had been sitting for months. The fellow mopeder I bought it off of was thrilled to see it being used - even if four stroke.

I sold all the parts SUPER cheap off of it as a sacrifice to the moped gods.

I started this thing in november when I started rebuilding my $20 CL motor (which has now got waaayyyyy more than $20 in it), our welding shop at school got shut down, I searched for a month for a place that would let me weld and a redbull sponsored welder let me finish the fab at his shop - Preston Farabow in knoxville. The general tank I pryed out of the hands of an ebay seller trying to get insane monies for a v1 general, the forks were pieced together from ebay, the magnum swingarm was leftover from a variated magnum project from robert prichard in nashville.

After I got it built it ran but didn't run right. I assumed timing was set because I gapped the points but I assumed wrong. Trouble shot compression and valve timing for a month when it was just timing - gapping points is NOT timing on these motors. Timed it and it blasted, then discovered a cracked exhaust valve, so I threw new japanese valves in the head. Replaced valves, and then the clutch couldn't handle the power so I had to throw race springs in that.

Rode it in richmond pretty much for the first time outside the neighborhood. It's a blast.

I love two stroke and I've got two stroke builds going on right now too - so hate on the bike but not me.