Filed under: general
like many blogs and forums on the internet, when photobucket went pay to play they totally fucked things up around here.
this is an old ass blog about a vespa ciao i built that went way faster than any ciao has a right to go. we gps’d it at 63mph before i did a lot of port work on the cylinder, who knows how fast it was in the end – these were the before times when having any kind of proper gps was an investment.
at any rate, i still get a lot of emails with questions about this bike, and i was able to download most of the photos from photobucket before i lost access, so i’m going to try and fix this thing up here and there when i can. if there’s a post in particular you’d like to see the pictures on, leave a comment and if i still have them i’ll fix up the post.
so far i’ve already restored the malossi gear installation guide, will try to do more as i can.
k bye
Filed under: belt, brakes, carb, clutch, cosmetic, dellorto, frame, intake, lighting, new parts!, transmission, variator
remember moped blogs? what ever happened to these things? photobucket being a dumpster fire sure messed this particular blog up. facebook and instagram have all but killed blogs and forums. oh well!
Filed under: general
dusted ciao off, been sitting for a few years. getting it ready for the rally this weekend in la. i took a bunch of pics, so i’ll update this later, but here’s a current picture of my dear old ciaociao.
i’ve still got plans for the old thing, and while i’ll be cross posting to my other blog, i think i’ll start updating this thing again.
Filed under: nothing to do with anything
none of my moped blogs have been getting much love lately. i am currently one of three full time techs (one of which is out with a broken collar bone and the other who is moving away) at one of san francisco’s busiest motorcycle/scooter shops. i am also trying my best to run a moped repair shop out of a space i rent from said motorcycle shop, a repair shop that has yet to pay for itself since i opened it six months ago or so. needless to say, i haven’t had much time or spare money to work on my own bikes.
however, i miss them dearly, and hope to be back to working on them before too long. i have picked up a couple projects here and there when i did have a few spare bucks, and i’ve also got big plans for ciaociao.
my hope is that within the next couple months both this blog and the destroymopeds.wordpress.com blog will be back in action. i’ve got plenty of work to fill these pages, i just have to find the time to do it!
now i’m going to go and cross post this to the destroymopeds blog.
Filed under: wheels
so i’ve got lots in store for ciao, and i’m starting to collect parts. i’m going to be going back to 17″ spokes for now (anyone have a rear wheel in good shape?), and i will be selling the si X wheels with the sava tires mounted. anyone interested? i’ll be posting them up on moped army too, but site is down this weekend for the long awaited update, and i don’t think i’ll be ready to let them go by next week.
i’ll post them on here first and wait like a week or so before going to the buy/sell forum over there.
i don’t know how much i want for them, probably similar to what they go for on treatland.tv, and it’s still going to be a little while before i can give them up, but now’s your chance to call dibs if you want them!
front has been converted to 12mm axle and sealed bearings.
brake plate is stock si modified to work with stock ciao fork, also worked perfectly with the bravo fork. if you have the chrome ebrs like i do now, you’ll have to modify something to make it work. i welded some metal to my fork to make it stick further out and it works great.
the front brake pads are newish, probably around 80% life left. i can check that when i pull them off.
front tire is sava 16×2.25, rear is 16×2.5. rear has around 50% life left, front more like 80%.
i’ll grab pictures when i remove them.
Filed under: general
reno rally was a success, of course. the ciao is pretty reliable these days. i did have my wire going from the stator to the coil break on me, causing intermittent spark, fouling my plug, but a new spade wire connector and a new used b7hs and ciaociao was back at it!
sorry, no pictures.. forgot about my camera and it sat in my bag the whole weekend.
i ended up leaving ciao in reno again, too many cop crack downs in sac and ciaociao isn’t exactly legal.. reno will be taking it to sf rally for me.
i’ll be throwing on a new belt and grab a new plug while i’m at it and i have faith that ciao will make the whole rally! well, as long as i don’t get it ran over again.. eeeh.
Filed under: nothing to do with anything
that’s because the ciao’s been in reno since the reno rally. i should get it back this weekend, i think! and then it’ll be my daily rider in this 100+deg heat! sweet!
also, if you are looking for something to read, check out my all encompassing moped blog called destroy mopeds.
i got sick of making a new blog for every bike i build, so i made one blog for all my projects! i should have done this years ago, i have like 3 or 4 build blogs that rarely get updated, and here i’m updating the destroy blog nearly every day, sometimes more than once a day! dang.
anyway, check it out if you want! i’ll still be posting here about ciao stuff, but don’t expect very frequent updates.
this is really the only picture i got that was moped related at all from the reno rally.
the bike did well, made all the rides and everything, but it seemed slower than usual. while blasting down a hill during the long ride, i noticed that i’m only half way variating!
i think it’s because of the weakened spring in the rear pulley and light weights i have to use. i found another clutch and am going to rebuild it using my red malossi spring and throw it on there, do some variator tuning, and see if i can’t get my full range back.
despite missing a good chunk of transmission range, ciaociao was one of the fastest, if not the fastest, bike in reno again. that’s what i love about riding in reno, the rides aren’t all super fast and hectic, they are mostly slow and fun!
anyway, i had to leave ciaociao in reno due to not having a ride back to sacramento for it. austin is supposed to bring it back for me sometime. once he does, i’ll swap clutches and see what i can seee.
got the stupid $15 piece i needed to put ciao back on the road! that dumb pulley back!
still need to address the collapsed rear spring.. only one of the coils still functions. i ran it last race like this and it did ok, i just had to lighten up the weights a lot.
there being only one coil of the spring actually functioning, the rear pulley likes to bounce. it’s hard to explain in text, but the same thing will happen with a french bike if you have the spring too soft.. the weights will cause it to variate quick, then the spring will push back and you’ll have your motor bouncing on the spring. on a french bike the belt can come off when that happens, on a dual variated bike it’s mostly just annoying. still usable, though!
man, it’s weird to be back on the ciao. i’m not used to it anymore at all!
i swapped out the drag bars for some bmx lookin things that rafter gave me. i had to weld about a half inch to the ends to make them wide enough for my grips, but that wasn’t a big deal. not sure how i like them. more comfy, for sure, but dunno if i dig the look.
those forks have always bothered me, too. they are too long. digging through the pile of trashed forks, i found an old set of ebrs that clamp the fork tubes up top and bottom, like the more expensive ebrs do. the forks are trashed, but the top plate appears to be good! except the chrome is rotten as hell, but whatever, i’ll just sandblast it.
i’m sure it’ll look stupid with the fork tubes sticking out the top, but whatever, i’ll work it out in the end.
anyway, more later! i’m going to build a battery box/license plate holder/tail light thingy here pretty soon! it’s gunna be neat!
ciaociao 