Pinball Run time!!

See you nerds in 2 weeks! Hopefully I'll be able to update sometime while I'm on the road but I probably wont have time. Expect a big update when I'm back. :)

THIS DERBI HAS BEEN READY SINCE FIRST CALL.

What's inside those heavy Tomos A55 pipes?

So I've been noticing a decent amount of newer Tomos coming into shop with the same problem. The bike will start and will run very intermittently when you rev it out.  It almost seems electrical or possibly like there is bad gas or water in the carb. The solution to all these bikes has been to replace the pipe with a new one, which 90% of the time it gets replaced with and performance pipe. So I know that due to Tomos being the only true moped still produced, they are going to have to keep up with standards and emissions. I've heard these pipes were catalyzed but have never looked inside one. The strange thing is this is happening to bikes from just a year or two ago. So I took a clogged pipe home to do some hacking and research. I've researched ways to clean the catalyzed parts and it seems like if this happens your only option is to cut it up or upgrade to a new pipe.

Looks like a good place to start.

Restriction cone.

Outlet.

Cutting more!

Catalytic converter.

Cut the welds all the way around the sleeve.

Converter comes right out.

Who knows, you could clean this and it could work out. Or you could just remove it and maybe even gain a couple miles an hour. 

Removing the cone.

Such a restricted pipe. If I owned a stock Tomos A55, I would probably just make a couple cuts and remove all of the restriction. If you have access to a welder it would be worth a shot.

So restricted.

So in theory, you could do the first cut I did and then also a cut 3-4 (?) inches or so in from there and the whole restriction setup would slide right out. If you look up a couple photos, you can see that youll have to cut close to the furthest heat guard mounting spot. I would try it out but I dont have a Tomos A55, maybe I'll try it out on thom's tomos sometime. 

On the set of Transformers 4 with mopeds.

So a Paramount dude came through the shop the other day looking for some mopeds to use in the new Transformers film. We were pretty stoked and went down to the set to hang out today. They blew some stuff up and outfitted the streets like Hong Kong. Pretty cool day, I took a few photos. 

 Hound.

 Not sure which Autobot this is going to be...

 Bumblebee, Slingshot, Cobra and Garelli.

 Dudes in the grass to the right were planting explosives.

 Crazed Asian extras, cool dudes.

Salute Your Ports 2013.

 So traveled to our neighboring state of Michigan this weekend for Salute Your Ports 2013. This rally was awesome! I love camping rallies because they really weed out the wieners who cant hang without showering 3 times a day. Saute Your Ports was sweet because it was a joint effort of many moped clubs.  The involved clubs were Motion Left, Guns, D-Cons, Ghost Riders, Kzoo moped riders, Zeros, No-Nos, Lafayetis, and MCR. The idea of a mega rally is rad because of how many moped clubs and moped rallies there are now a days. Sometimes its hard to pick which ones to go to but this one was a no brainer. The campsite was rad and huge so you could always escape the party if you needed. Sorry I rode on the trails a bit dudes!!! it was so tempting for my derbi. the ride was rad and everyone did a great job staying together. Kelly Crowder did a great job being a rally mom for 175+ pedders and everything else was very well organized. They raffled great stuff and everyone had a great time. Thx dudes.

Early bird.  

In the tunnel of 2-stroke, Justin is passed out.

 Dougie fresh.

 Me and Ed talked UFOs the whole gas stop, keep your eyes to the skies man!

 Blueberry season.

 "Dudes its only 3 blocks to the BBQ place" chea right.

 Gay Goth kid.

 Mag-x for Mary Anne.

 IDK why but I love taking these handle bar photos.

 Camp segregation. 

I rode my derbi out here and a bunch of dump bugs were licking on me.

Raffle time. Such good prizes! John won the rally bike, it was cool.

MOPED PARTIES AKA Chicago goes way harder. Burnt Pizza and M.O.P.E.D. 1 year Anniversary.

 Last Sunday we had a Burnt Pizza Racing fundraiser party. Shit was awesome and a ton of people came to really help us out. We had a photo booth, BB gun contests, raffles, skating, food, booze and SLUTS (idk). Thanks to everyone who came out and KEPT THE SCENE ALIVE.

 Disc"race" bikes.

 Private light show on crack.

 Who knows.

 um ok!?

 We were actually in a forest.

 Raffle time.

 Thx for the donations dudes!

Then last night was M.O.P.E.D in Chicago's 1 year anniversary. We raffled a brand new tomos and ate pizza. Tons of people showed up and the ride got wild. We left 50 deep and ended with 20 riders? Yeaaa come to Chicago we get wild! Had some fender benders but everyone was ok. Really though, Chicago has the best moped scene ever.

 Stadium Pizzas from Congress Pizza. 

 Raffling.

Happy mopedders.