Ted Sliwinski

SOOoooOOOOoooo, this is a long story…  Since I last posted about the Solepuch it was just painted black and running great, it very quickly turned into a nightmare. Not long after porting a #4 stock cylinder, one of the rist pin clips broke and wedged its self in between the piston and one of the transfers, aka, destroying the top end. I pulled it apart and replaced all necessary parts then got it running again. Not 10 miles after, everything locked up hard too the point were I had to carry it back to the shop (not too bad when your bike weighs 90 Lds). I later found that the con-rod snapped and wedged its self into the intake port… yep, fun. SO, I said screw it and got:

• 1977 Race crank / bearings
• Seals
• 70cc K-star w/ head
• 16 x 3.5in tire?

Wile rebuilding the engine, I decided to do some more frame work, including moding the rear end to fit a 16 x 3.5in tire?! Why you ask? because its sweet…

After this, I had it running ok, but it needed a new carb to run the kit, so after a couple weeks I got a 15mm PHGB BS and made a new intake for it. I got it together right before moped monday, and spent most of the night tuning the bike. Once I was happy with the tuning I let everyones’ favorite moped dude, Ben Krenke take it for a spin around Eastern Market. This was the after math….

He was waiting at a red light, as it turned green and he started to go, a car hit him from behind and ran over the back end of the bike… sweet (he’s fine). Peg snapped, frame bent, rear wheel crushed, front wheel bent, fork destroyed, pipe bent / baffle gone and the seat (old solex seat) was destroyed. I was able to bend the frame back to its correct position so after that is was just a matter of rebuilding everything else.

I decided to keep the rear hub because it was modified to fit the crazy tire (chain line) so this was the old rim… it loves you! Replaced all sorts of other stuff and BOOSH! SOLEPUCH LIVES AGAIN!

Now that is is back together, it is running kind of how it was… the rear wheel needs to be dished for a better chain line, and there is something wrong with the clutch, not sure what, but it is not releasing when you come down from top speed to a stop. I am just happy that it runs again!

Two large updates, the first one being my silly Yamaha Chappy.

This thing normaly has a automatic two speed with a low and a high range (pretty cool) but I got this bike for $100 and it was in very bad shape. At first I wanted to restore the bike, but because they are kind of rare, people just want too much mone for the replacement parts. SO, I slaped on an E50 engine I had sitting around, and boo yea, a nice “stock” moped that hits 32mph and is great on the Detriot pot holes. Also… did I mention the sweet pipe I slaped on for $30?

The second project I have been working on is yet another update to the Solepuch… Painted black, added some mounts (for tank, cables, ext.), new front wheel, new pipe, and a completely rebuild engine. It is not too much faster at the top end, but gets there a little faster. The biggest thing is it is running like a dream and feels much better on the road. The next step for this will be a 50cc TCCD kit and a real front fork, the pot holes are killing me.

So, let’s start at the beginning: After my Honda Hobbit was stolen, AJ picked me up this bad boy for $70 out in Burblandia and I swapped the seat and bars so fast I didn’t even get a good picture of the thing… so here is version 1:

I then got bored and slapped an 80cc Polini kit on it with some other goodies. But seeing as how I didn’t really know what I was doing, it was a quick bolt and go job with good results but not what it should have been.

Now winter hit, and I was sick of getting shitty range due to the big kit/carb so I dreamed up a plan on how to get more fuel on board. Instead of just slapping a top tank on like every other moped build in the world, I decided to use the space available and build a hidden “B” tank in place of the old luggage rack. While I was at it,the bike got lots of other fun and tasty upgrades:

LED headlight
LED taillight
New pipe
New intake
Paint!
Power coated 17″ mags
All stainless steel hardware
K10 hydraulic forks
Front BB7 disc brake
New bearings/Seals
Case matching/Port work
Gearing
Blah blah blah blah

Now I think it should just be sexy picture time:

Disc brake conversion plate I made on the ye-old trusty lathe

Disk all mounted up to the K10 forks

           First stages of building the new hidden tank

Tank welded and cleaned up

Everything tacked and mocked up, ready for final welding

Base coat! SO CLOSE TO THE END!

MEGA Skip forward / FINAL BUILD!!! WOOO!!!

A few more small things to do. It used to be slow off the line and topped out at 50, now this thing flies off the line and hits 55mph no problem. Now all I need is some damn clutch springs! Haha!

P.S. MORE PICTURES!

I feel it is time to give an update on the Solepuch… I seem to have a problem just calling this thing done, so a lot has changed since V1.0. First off, I feel I am currently at V3.0 with new:

• High comp head
• Gearing
• 16″ spokes (instead of 17″ mags)
• Custom intake
• CDI
• Pipe
• Clutch springs / tune
• Geometry change (mo’ comfortable)
• Ridged fork
• Fire extinguisher gas tank
• Front and Rear LED lights

In all, I am very happy with how this thing is going. Right now I have very nice low end power (for stock 50cc) and 38mph top speed. I am very exited to see what this thing does with some gearing changes and porting.

Sexy time:

Mo here

P.S. This is also a repost from MotorCityRiot.com

This is my first frame build on a moped (used to those bicycle things) but I am super exited to get this thing tuned and turned into a great city blaster/Thunderdrome killer.

This bastard of a build is a 1977 Velo Solex 4600 spliced together with a Puch e50 drivetrain from a Pinto and the fork off of a Maxi. I fabricated the whole rear-end with speed and weight in mind; coming in at 70 lbs wet, it corners like a mo-fo. Curently it has a stock E50, but soon will have pipe, intake, clutch springs, and some love. My tuning hopes are to keep the stock cylinder, but port it and upgrade just about everything else to see how quick (mad torquey) I can get it. I’ll post again as more tuning happens. Below are some build pictures, and more are posted on my personal flickr pool.

P.S. This is a repost from MotorCityRiot.com