Sometimes the cosmic moto-gods intervene in magnificent plans leaving a rider humble and with time to reflect on the world as it passes by.  Such was the experience of my short first ride on the Motoped Survival.  But even a short ride revealed a lot about this unusual machine.

The Coolness Factor

Without a doubt, the Motoped Survival attracted more attention than anything I have ever ridden.  Drivers stared at it at stop signs and traffic lights.  I could see drivers pointing and kids pushing their faces to the window to look.  Several people rolled down their windows to ask, “What is that?” and shout, “Cool!”.  If you want attention, if you want every stop to make you the center of attention, then the Motoped Survival might be what you’re looking for.

Make no mistake, anything else you’re riding, you are invisible.  Except for other riders and the rare individual dreaming of having a motorcycle or scooter, no one cares what you’re riding or what you’ve done with your machine.  No matter how much chrome you bolt onto your Harley or how many farkles you add to your Vespa, the world yawns and whispers, “Who cares….”.

Motorcycle or Bicycle?

The last time I rode a moped was in 32 years ago in Bermuda on a step-through Motobecane.   I was young, physically fit, and spending most of my time making sure I didn’t do anything wrong trying to navigate traffic circles while riding on the left-hand side of the road.

Fast forward to last Friday.  The Motoped Survival is more complicated, at least that’s what I tell myself as I throw my 61 year-old leg over the bike to mount up and encounter the bicycle seat.  Years of luxurious comfort on the Vespa is poor preparation for a bicycle seat no matter how good it is.  Keep that in mind.

Next comes the seat height decision — do you set it for pedaling or riding under power?  If you set it for pedaling you’ll not be flatfooting the Motoped Survival.  That’s not a problem on a bicycle weighing 24 pounds as you stop at a traffic light but it’s more complicated with a 100 pound machine.  Something else to consider when you sort out a setup that works best for you.  I chose the little pedaling in my future option which made the riding position comfortable.

As far as the motorcycle aspects go — the machine has a nice feel on the road with front and back shock systems.  Electric start, fuel shutoff valve (this will become important later), front and rear disc brakes, etc.  But the moment I was on the road I immediately became aware of no mirrors.  Habitual scanning of the world behind me was not available leaving me feeling remarkably vulnerable, especially because I was riding in the road as if I were a motorcycle.  I’m certain over time I would adapt but my guess is I would add a mirror.  But only if it black anodized aluminum to match to cool factor of the Motoped Survival.

On the Road with the Motoped Survival

I departed toward the end of the day with enough time to make a meandering ride home that would keep me off the major roads as people left work for the weekend.  Since the Survival doesn’t have any lights I wanted to make sure I got home before dark.

First thing I notice as I pedal across an intersection is that my armored overpants are a bit much to be wearing.  A complete reassessment of riding gear would be in order.

Pedaling wasn’t difficult but the gearing won’t allow you to engage in any breakaway sprints.  You’ll be able to move the Motoped but you’ll dream of pressing the starter button.  I chose to have the engine running all the time.  Call me crazy.

The Motoped Survival is not quick.  Twist the throttle and the machine starts to move but I’m certain I could outrun it on my mountain bike.  Riding through hilly neighborhoods revealed the limitations of a 49cc engine driving a 100 pound machine with a 194 pound rider with another 10 pounds of gear.  On the flat and downhill things sped along.  Uphill, not so much.  Still better than pedaling.

I quickly put pedaling out of my mind.

Unfortunate Coincidence

By the time I crossed the expressway, perhaps five miles from my starting point, I was comfortable with the machine and moving deftly along with traffic. As I made a turn onto another road the engine stopped and I coasted onto the gravel berm.

A kick check of the kill switch confirmed I did not accidentally hit it with my big, thick winter riding gloves.  I pushed the starter button to hear that sound every rider of any mechanized two-wheeled machine just hates — the starter chugging but no engine start.

And then I smelled fuel.

That’s not water under the Motoped.

Looking down I could see fuel pouring onto the ground.  Pouring. Being of normal intelligence I quickly got off the machine before it burst into flames.  On my list of personal failures is dying in a motorcycle fire.

Inspecting the leak the fuel appeared to be flowing from the cylinder head.  Being a Vespa rider I’ve sort of turned off the engineering part of my brain so I wasn’t sure what I was seeing.  And not riding a motorcycle often enough didn’t trigger the “turn off the fuel fool” alarm either.  So I watched the fuel poor out and figured the day was complete.

Kissell Motorsports responded to my hail immediately and dispatched a truck to pick us up.  As I stood along the road admiring the color of the sky as the sun was setting there were a few flickers of mechanical recognition.

First thing I remembered was the fuel shutoff valve.  Further inspection revealed the fuel was flowing from a carburetor drain hose.  More complex, high level thought had me arrive at the conclusion that something was wrong with the carburetor which Tom, Kissell Motorsports’s chief mechanic, confirmed upon arrival — stuck float valve.

Some might be quick to condemn the machine for this bad luck but I can tell you from experience that this is not uncommon.  The same thing happened with my brand new Vespa LX150 and my friend Paul’s brand new Vespa ET4. Those tiny carbs only need a little grit or gunk to clog them up.  Mine had a tiny piece of rubber hose that must have gotten into the system during assembly.

It never occurred to me that I could pedal the thing back to Kissell Motorsports.

Conclusions

A longer ride will have to wait until another day but I can say that the Motoped Survival has some unique qualities that may just fit a lot of rider’s needs.  For me I see a challenge of transition that parallels my first experiences with the URAL.  It took awhile to shed my predisposed riding expectations to begin to embrace the unique aspects of the different machine.

The same would have to occur with the Survival.  I just didn’t have enough miles behind me to become a Motoped Survival rider.

Until another day…