The Royal Canadian Moped Posse

GTA 50cc

Thursday, February 23, 2006

Busted!

I got pulled over by a cop two days ago had my moped declared "unfit" and got a nice collection of fines and my plates taken away.

According to him the following things need to be changed to make it fit for the road:

Horn: I had it disconnected because it kept going off without me pressing the button. I plugged it back in and it was it's usual not very audible self. It also went on when I took my finger off the button. I don't really see the problem here as the engine is louder then the horn anyways, and AFIK there are no standards for how loud they have to be.

Brakes: Like many older mopeds my brakes shoes are glazed and don't work that great, but there was no issue with them potentially failing. I can't find safety standards for brakes other then this: "any bonded brake lining is thinner than 1.5 millimeters (1/16 inch) at its thinnest point" as an example of the minimum allowed for a brake shoe.

Tire: My front tire was the original so it was dried out tiny surface cracks. The treads are fine though. I also tested the tire by drawing with a hi-liter on the largest cracks and then over inflated the tire overnight to see of they got bigger.

Brake lights: apparently I need a brake light. Most older mopeds don't have them and hand signals are allowed up until dusk. Again, I don't see the problem here.

Speedometer: It wasn't hooked up either. I know that an odometer used to be the only requirement under the HTA and I didn't have that either, but wasn't written up for it. According to a site I found I need one to get a
Safety Standards Certificate (SSC).
Chain guards: I know you need these for motorcycles, but I'm not sure about mopeds. Its not like there is any real safety issue since my pants are not close enough to the belt to get caught when riding.

Tire Pressure: It was supposed to be around 35psi, but he measured it at 26. I later measured it with my digital gauge at 27psi rear, 28psi front. They should be about 1-2 psi higher since we both let a bit of air our of the tires when measuring the pressure.

He was also nice enough to give me a few other tickets:
Failing to signal a stop: I only bother making a hand signal if I think I should wand the person behind me because I'm stopping unexpectedly. I assumed that since he was signaling for me to pull over that he knew I was about to stop.

Having two licenses: I applied for a G1 a month or two ago and kept the temporary one wrapped around my registration in a weird part of my wallet. When I got my new plastic license I put it in the regular card part of my wallet and forgot about the temporary one, so I had two licenses. This law is obviously meant for people who are doing something abusive with the multiple licenses, but I got charged anyways.

Invalid sticker: I went and got my new sticker at the same time as I got the G1 temporary license and forgot to put it on my plate, so it was inside my folded up temporary license and registration. I think the point of a plate sticker is revenue for the province and as a was to make sure that people pay fines before getting it. Since I had it on me I had obviously satisfied those requirements.

It seems obvious to me that the cop was excessive in the tickets he wrote, either he didn't like me or didn't like mopeds.

To get my plate back I need get a certified shop to do a safety inspection. The problem is that as far as I can tell, and as for as anyone in the government that I have called there are no safety standards for mopeds other then what is in the HTA. This is good in that if it is impossible to do then the "Certificate of inspection of Defective Vehicle" that I got is then invalid.

I'm going to keep updating this for any others that might get stuck in this unfortunate situation.


Monday, February 13, 2006

Puch on Craigslist


If anyone's looking to spend $1000 on a 1975 Puch, there's a nice one for sale on Craigslist.

Allright boys! and girls!

Looks like we have an abundace of crappy weather for the next couple of weeks. But should clear up then, so what saw we start planning the wrench day we talked about at our last dinner? We'll have a day where everyone brings a bike or two that need some fixin' and we'll all help each other out. Perhaps a BBQ? And then once they're fixed, perhaps a ride????

Wednesday, February 08, 2006

Batavus in Toronto

Saw this on the Moped Army site today. Just thought I'd put it out there if anyone's looking for something new. It's a Batavus Regency, those are kind of cool.