We learned through trial and error how to modify them to reach highway speeds, shrieking like a pack of hostile bionic mosquitos down the local roads. I soon found other like-minded riders, and together we spent every second of each day riding or wrenching on our mopeds. At 15, the norm is to be wholly reliant on parents or older friends to be able to get anywhere, and becoming one of the select few to be liberated from adults at that age was true independence. Motorcyclists talk of the sense of freedom that riding provides, but in truth, that feeling pales exponentially in comparison to my first day ripping around the neighborhood solo on my Motomarina moped.
Two pristine 1980 Puch Maxi mopeds spotted on the way home from a tour of New England (September 2020). I aced my test with a perfect score, got my paperwork, and set out to explore on my own for the very first time. The night before my hallowed 15th birthday, I set up camp at the DMV so I could be first in line. In New Jersey, a moped license was obtainable at 15 years old, and the wait was excruciating. One day, it would be mine! I remember polishing it lovingly every weekend, saving every penny I could earn mowing lawns in order to buy a helmet and accessories. Dad used it to commute to work a few times before the novelty of barely breaking 30 mph wore off.
VINTAGE PUCH MOPED FULL
It had a 49cc Franco Morini motor, full fenders, mag wheels and a “top tank” design that resembled a traditional motorcycle’s silhouette. My own recently resurfaced moped obsession began at age 11, when my dad brought home a shiny new 1986 Motomarina Sebring. There are plenty of delightfully irrational reasons for this. Ride a moped, and you won’t be able to wipe the big, silly grin off your face for hours afterward. It seems most everyone has something negative to say about mopeds – until they ride one.
What’s left to be said about old mopeds that hasn’t been said already? Painfully slow, abysmally outdated and hopelessly primitive smoke belchers? Sure, they’re all that. The author with Dad on his new Motomarina Sebring moped circa 1986.
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