Dave's Maxi - Update

Since I have finished all the American Chopper episodes I have on my PVR and
there are a few weeks before My Kitchen Rules NZ kicks off, it must be time
for an update on my bike.

A fair bit has happened since my last update, a large part of which was
shopping.  I realise that the point of the comp. is not to buy parts, so to
that end I have avoided blingy show off parts (like I really have a choice
with a moped).

My shopping list included:

   - Wheels from a Peugeot moped, they remind me of Skyway BMX rims that I
   always wanted as a kid.  They're not the colour I want  but that's
   solvable.  Sadly these didn't fit my frame (or the forks mentioned below) so
   a bunch of spacers and an adapter for the brake stop have had to be
   machined.
   - Forks from a Suzuki K10.  These are brand new OEM and probably the best
   $28 I have spent, oddly the seller says he has 1000's of these, God only
   knows why...  But never-the-less so much better than the undampened factory
   units.  They turned out to be reasonably easy to fit to the frame, just
   requiring a spacer to move a new Puch race up 10mm and keep it centred by
   locating on the outside.  Aside from that all the other Puch hardware fits
   nicely.
   - A 'new' engine.  Probably the most exciting part of this update,  its a
   vintage moped unit.  But this time around its a 2 speed part (because
   variators are for pussies and web designers).  A new cylinder, piston and
   crank have been fitted bringing the capacity up to 85 "mother fucking" CC's
   with the addition of a set of reeds this should offer significantly more
   performance than the factory part, and fitted up with only a tiny trim to
   the orginal pressed steel frame.  Currently I am fitting up a CDI with a 10w
   lighting coil, meaning converting to LED lighting is also required.

There are a few other inconsequential bits and pieces, but not much else
worth mentioning.  This weekends job will be making up cables for brakes,
clutch and throttle.

I am looking forward to the show itself.  There are some awesome bikes being
created.  I hope I can have a spot beside "Marel's Special"  as I can see a
lot of synergies and similarities between our 2 projects.  I mean what other
two bikes arn't going to be foot shifted (sorry that's all I could come up
with).

Time for the pics...

Dave's Maxi - Update

Thought it might be time to give an update on the Maxi.

I have spent most of the last 2 months watching and re-watching American
Chopper to ensure that I really understand the psyche of masters in the
field of bike customisation.

Obviously I was immediately drawn in to the combative relationship between
Junior & Senior.   But I found myself wondering why a show featuring such a
blue collar environment show is so popular in a mostly post industrial
west?  Susan Faludi has claimed that “the decline in traditional ‘masculine’
jobs has led to a rise in insecurity in the male psyche.  Increasingly
marginalized in the postindustrial service economy of contemporary
neo-liberal capitalism, men are suffering a crisis of masculinity”.  Perhaps
this is true and American Chopper is an escape into a place where men are
men and might is right?

Alternately Carl Marx believed that the working class (blue-collar jobs)
played a role in creating the wealth for society.  Maybe American Chopper
helps to justify some of the excesses that are present in contemporary
society reassuring us that somewhere there are people doing the real work,
physically producing something tangible and of substance that will
ultimately, even if indirectly, benefit us all?

Actually I'm not sure I saw them building any bikes?

Oh and also my frame now has an extra bit on the top (see photos).

Dave Agent's Maxi

Remember when you were 16 and you definitely had to have wheels? I do and so does Dave. I used to have a custom painted Mobylette that I rebuilt myself. Dave's going for a completely different look here. Makes me proud. Over to you Dave.

I have attached a pic of in it's current state.

Plans for it are convert to a full frame, rather than step through, fit
'real' bike forks and style something like a cafe racer.  The engine will be
rebuilt with a larger bore and some kind of expansion chamber with an
optimistic top speed of 100kph (the last time it ran it maxed out at 40kph).

I have built a couple of mopeds in the past, though normally limited to
mostly engine swaps/mods and this will be the biggest rework that I have
undertaken to date.

Of course I do understand if you don't want a small bike in the comp as they
are quite a different style.  But I think the ethos behind my build is
aligned pretty well with what you are trying to achieve.  This definitely
won't be a catalog build.

Nice one Dave