Like many of us here in the shed, my first venture onto UK roads was on a moped, in my case it was a Honda MBX50. The day I turned 17 I swapped the hairdryer for the giddy power of a 125, and promised myself there and then that I would never ride a moped ever again. Now, far too many years later, Mokka’s Puch may just have changed my mind.
The donor ‘bike’ for this build was a Puch x40 from the late 70′s. It features a proper moped shape with mini wheels, and weighs just under 80lbs. The vision was to build a cafe racer style bike with a nod to vintage bicycles, hence the handlebars and Brooks leather grips.
It might be just a moped, but any build takes time and costs money, so what was it that made the guys want to take it on? Quite simply it was the challenge of embracing the unique, odd looking main frame that looks like a big letter ‘C’ or half a hula hoop. It really is a striking feature. Of course the other thing was the appeal of the utterly simple, utterly reliable engine, and the fact that the Puch brand is iconic in the moped scene.
As far as modifications go, the main one was of course the extension of the frame, putting a cross bar between the front end and the subframe. But as well as that, a very rare puch monza tank was sourced on ebay and a cafe seat was custom made from scratch. The engine was rebuilt with a new crankshaft, cylinder and cylinder head, and a Dellorto carb was fitted along with custom made stainless steel manifolds and seals. The electrics were simplified so much, that the number of switches now comes to a grand total of one.
One of the areas of the bike that was singled out for particular attention was the lighting. The headlight is from a vintage soviet moped called a Riga, but was extended with a Mokka designed, CNC milled aluminium rim for a totally unique look. The taillight was a similar story, it features a CNC milled aluminium housing and has been relocated neatly on the shortened frame end.
One of the best things about this build is the eye catching colour scheme. The burgundy goes brilliantly with the grey, and in another nod to the custom bicycle world, the lower forks are painted the same colour as the seat.
Our thanks go to Mokka for sharing such a gorgeous and unique build. It’s taken us right back to our 16 year old days when we were screaming around provincial town centres pretending we were Kevin Shwantz. It’s also opened our minds to moped ownership again. You can see more projects on Mokka Cycles Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/MokkaCycles
First appeared in http://thebikeshed.cc
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