Zen and the art of Moped maintenance
Recently I made the purchase of a used moped. I’ve sort of wanted one since I moved to Kalamazoo a few years ago. Kalamazoo is a sort of hub for moped enthusiasts and their enthusiasm easily rubs off. Now that I own one I realize that it’s not so much a mode of transportation as it is a hobby, and it’s not so much a hobby as a way of life.
The benefits of a moped versus say a car in my situation are many. First, and perhaps biggest is cost, both base and upkeep. The base cost of my ride was 1/100 that of a nice starter car. Here in Michigan mopeds don’t need insurance of special licensing, all you need is to pay a registration fee once every three years and have at least a regular driver’s license. Second, also relating to cost, is gas. At peak, mopeds tend to get around 100 miles to the gallon. With gas prices what they are, this is a HUGE benefit. Thirdly, maintenance is easy. I used to put window wiper fluid in my car and that was about it, anything more and it would go un-tended to or get sent to the mechanic. With the moped I’ve been able to fix a few major problems on my own (with a little help from friends and Mr. Internet). For the amount of travel I do (a mile to/from work) a moped is fairly ideal. Not to say it doesn’t have any downsides (i.e. riding in the rain.)
The short time I’ve owned this moped I’ve learned some important lessons, all of which I learned the hard way:
Lesson 1: Check your gas tank BEFORE you leave the house. In my first week of owning the bike, I rode out to the store and just as I pulled into the parking lot my engine sputtered and died. I couldn’t get it to start for anything. Upon inspection the problem was and empty fuel tank. The two mile walk back hauling 100lbs of dead (though thankfully wheeled) weight nailed that lesson home.
Lesson 2: Take your (multi-) tools with you when you go riding. Otherwise you’ll no doubt encounter a problem that you could have fixed if you had them with you. Two weeks ago I cleaned the carburetor out before going to work. On the way the engine cut out and I had to walk the bike the rest of the way there. At work I realized that I left my multi-tool at home and couldn’t affect repairs until I got home, meaning another long walk. (Thankfully my mother saved my by bringing by my tool box in the car, more on this story next lesson.)
Lesson 3: Old mopeds are like old houses. If you start to work on one project, two more that need done will make them selves evident. Continuing from above I had cleaned the carburetor earlier in the day and now my bike had stopped running. At work (luckily I have a job where I can sit and work on my moped if need be) I took the carburetor apart again to see what was wrong. I noticed that a gasket was sitting funny. When I went to re-align the gasket it shredded in my hand. I put everything back together and it still wouldn’t start. In the end I did have to walk the bike home. Flash forward a week when I get the replacement gasket in the mail. I get everything back together and running when I notice a slight gas leak. When I go to tighten the loose bolt causing it I sheer the bolt in half, putting the whole thing right back out of order.
Lesson 3a: Ordering parts can be a bit bothersome. There aren’t any stores in the area that stock vintage parts (or new parts to vintage bikes). The closest store I know of is in Kalamazoo, it’s that or some internet site (thought the Kalamazoo store also has a fine website).
Lesson 4: A moped is more MO(tor) than PED(dle). A funny thing about the above lessons, you notice I do a lot of walking around with something that I also refer to as a bike. Let me clear that up by pointing out that it is a 100lb 1 speed bike. Not a lot of fun to peddle, even down a hill.
For a vehicle that is older than me (it was made in 1980) I’m happily surprised at how well my moped still runs. I’ve had to do a few minor things to it like replace the brake and accelerator cables, the aforementioned carburetor fixing (which was my fault for messing with it), and an as yet incomplete investigation into why my tail light doesn’t work (my brake light works fine though…).
All in all I would recommend a moped for anyone looking for affordable, easy to maintain, transportation over short distances (without a lot of traffic and not too hilly). I guess the last thing to mention is that it’s strictly a summer ride, at least here in Michigan. That’s all for now I guess.
Jaa Mata Ne!
Long stretches of time
Before it gets to be six months between posts, I had better interject and write something. This will be one of those massive ‘gee, I thought he has fallen off the face of the earth, but here he is’ posts. I’m going to back-track a little bit since it’s been so long since I posted that I forgot what I wrote (and I don’t have it in front of me at the time of writing.)
Way back last year December I had a lovely graduation ceremony at Western Michigan University, packed up all my stuff and moved home. (I’m pretty sure I covered this part so I’ll kind of skim here.) I moved into my mother’s basement and waited for my diploma to come so I could start applying for a real job. I got a bit of bad news from a certain professor who said that I needed to re-write a certain paper before I could graduate. He told me this only a week before the deadline to complete work and still officially graduate in December… I was not happy. But, after a week or so of moping around, I decided to re-write the paper as requested. In the mean time I started attending Kendo practices at the local dojo.
I believe it was in February that I applied to a position as a chauffer at the Japanese Consulate in Detroit. In a strange coincidence I was helping out at a Kendo tournament that was officiated over by the Consul General of Japan for Detroit. Unfortunately the job lead didn’t pan out, but it did get me thinking in the line of ‘I need to get a job’.
It should be noted here that in early March I finished my re-write of my paper and sent it next-day mail to the professor.
After some searching and posting my resume on Monster.com I got and interview with… a major consumer electronics reseller… we’ll call them TV-Hut. I got hired into their manager in training program and thought everything was cool. Then I found out that my workplace was a 25 minute drive away. You’ll note that above I didn’t mention anywhere about buying a car, yeah, no wheels. Thinking I could fix this I borrowed cars for the first two weeks of my employ while I tried to think of what to do. At the same time the work at my far off workplace was, to put it lightly, frantic. In my first two weeks I worked 12 days, several of those were 10 hour or open-close shifts. I was called in on my days off and never really knew if I would have to work on any given day. On top of all that I was trying to learn a new job and a new management system. Week two I cracked and put in my ‘two-weeks’, on day 16 I up and quit.
Not being a total dummy, I lined up another job before I quit. I went back to work for the City at the local parking garage. For anyone who doesn’t know, I used to have a job where I sat in a little booth for 10 hours at a time and collected parking fees. It may sound like a boring job, and it is, but it’s easy and the pay is good.
Thinking that I didn’t want to ride my bike to work everyday (it’s only a mile, but hey) I looked online and was fortunate enough to find someone in the area selling a Moped. I have since fallen in love with my vehicle and ride it every chance I get (when it’s not broken, but that’s for another post.)
At the end of April after some walking around of a certain professor I was able to REALLY graduate from Western. I have since been putting out my feelers for jobs that would send me back to Japan. So far I have one line (not my first choice, but it’s not too bad.)
I go at the end of the month to interview with the company in Chicago. Hopefully I’ll be able to post soon after I get back that I have a job (my fingers are crossed.) Until then.
Jaa Mata Ne!
