moped travel
 

It seems to be an emotional subject for a few. I have done a couple of year long trips on 650's and am now looking at vladivostok into Mongolia on my 50cc yamaha jog. I would be interested in any positive trips or modifications people have looked at. We all (those of us who have traveled) know it is possible on anything. So how about some great ideas.
Cheers Rich

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Not a moped but I set off to ride from the UK to Mongolia on a Honda 125 and despite a terminal engine failure in Azerbaijan found small bike travel very enjoyable. It might of been slower than previous trips on an 800 BMW but was faster than the bicycle I had also considered.
The only modifications I can think of are some way of carrying more petrol and something to protect the engine if it looks vulnerable to stone damage, apart from that just go for it.

Since you have experience on a bigger bike, I'd be interested in your motivation for going LD on a 50cc scooter. What are the upsides in your thinking?

I've ridden the Jog (around the pits at a race track). Very handy little scooter. I did tour a bit on my Honda 50 Cub (which I loved), 40 years ago in Mexico. But never thought of doing LD travel on it ... or a Jog.
What'ca think?

The thing about that Honda Cub was that is was built and designed in the 1960's and was, literally, tough as nails. Honda really intended to make a very clear statement to the world with that bike. Mission accomplished.
I swear you could not kill that little bike.

I'm not sure more modern bikes/scooters are built to endure such torture and ... maybe are not really built to last. For sure, NONE are intended for overland travel on rugged roads carrying a full load for tens of thousands of miles.

I guess traveling on a 50cc you would be doing a lot of camping and moving pretty slow. All good if that fits in with your plan and you've got lots of time.
Packing gear (and fuel) would seem to be another limitation, but one bicyclists seem to endure, (sans fuel) so no doubt it's doable.

But if you really want to suffer why not join the several road going Jesus's I've met over the years: fully equipped with full size wooden cross and loin cloth, hauling it down the highway on their back. :rofl:

I've met three such Jesus's in my travels since 1987. One even had a crown of thorns and sandals. All Mad as bedbugs, (imho) but indeed, were suffering! :innocent:

I can see several upsides too. One is fuel savings.
The other is when you're in Cities you'll have a nifty little tool to cut through
traffic on. :thumbup1:

I'd recommend a "short" shakedown run ... just to see how you get on. Maybe a quick jaunt down to Spain or so? As a compromise machine I'd recommend one of those 100cc Honda Postie bikes like Nathan took from Oz to EU. Built and designed to last. :D

Hmm interesting. I do have a ct110 at the moment and really enjoy riding it. The reason behind my thinking is that it seems like a challenge. I live in the South Island of New Zealand at the moment and on the odd motorcycle rally bumped into a few blokes who are know as the scooter boys.

They travel thousands of km's on there little bikes just enjoying the ride.

Don't get me wrong I enjoy my trips on my trusty dr650 but maybe I need a challenge. Perhaps the dr just makes life too easy and reliable. No catastrophic mechanical breakdowns to deal with!!

I reckon on a little bike I would be more at one with the locals or perhaps a little more on an even keel.

In my time in Indian I never went much above 70 anyway.

Lets face it in the last ten years the world of adventure bikes has gone mad. Huge BMW's and the like what a joke we don't need them but the marketing people make us think we do along with the gps and touratech bits and pieces and all the rest of the junk people buy and attach to their bikes.

So I guess Yamaha Jog is stupid simple and no chance to carry all the rubbish. That's my thoughts anyway.

But after my gravel road trip today I really need an better suspension set up.

Any ideas anyone? :scooter::funmeteryes:

Cheers

Rich

I'm sure you don't need to be told about the bike's shortcomings - 4.5bhp mainly but if you're not in a hurry ... Suspension wise I'm not sure I'd want to mess around too much. You want something that'll work (however badly) for thousands of miles without breaking. You get used to no damping or no travel and just ride around it in the end. What you don't want is something snapping - or transferring stresses into something else that that snaps.

On the up side, at 60kg (ish) it weighs virtually nothing. At a pinch you could strip a few bits off, pick it up and carry it. So getting bogged down is likely to be less of a worry.

IIRC it's a two smoke engine in the Jog. Any plans for carrying gallons of oil for the engine? I suppose a 50 might not use too much but my 125 smoker does about 800 miles per litre so finding oil gets to be an issue. I suppose at a pinch you could put anything in but seizing up because chip fat cut with white spirit was the only thing you could find might bring the trip to a premature end.

All you need is time, these 2 mopeds were at the 'rest day' at Nouakchott Mauritania en route to Dakar.

Excellent!
If you've got the CT110, I'd opt for that over a Jog. But just depends what you want your ride to be about. About constant breakdowns, repairs, and maintenance, or about having time to explore and interact with locals?

Sure, I know, break downs bring you this interaction ... but not always under ideal conditions! doh Break downs can eat money, stick you in some place you don't want to be and mean long wait for parts or help. $$$$

Totally get this. I have a DR too, never left me stranded in 60K miles.

You seem to look upon breakdowns as a sort of romantic interruption in your journey ... I get that. I guess I went through that as a kid in the 1960's when I first started riding ... at that time I didn't get the fascination ... pushing my
1960 Triumph Tiger Cub 200cc home at 4am in the rain. Or loading my 150 Vespa onto a truck in Mexico to get it to the next town. Or leaving my Bultaco Matador hidden under a pucker bush in the Mojave Desert and walking out. Between age 14 and 20 I did all this stuff (and more) and it just got a bit old. I hated Brit and Spanish bikes for 30 years after that!

When reliable Jap bikes came along I was happy to say good bye to the "romantic" good old days. Tired of pushing. Tired of No Starts.

Seems to me a CT110 could provide ample challenge. If not, then take more foot paths to nowhere. Sure to get better. :D

No question about that ... and that is a good thing. How many languages do you speak?

True, most here probably agree. As I predicted over 10 years ago ... the ADV scene has become big business ... not much different than package holiday deals. Everywhere they go, prices go UP. Not good for budget travelers. Has the affect of making the nicest, most secretive places (once discovered) into "Luxury Resorts" ... for the rich.

Suspension YES! But what about tires? Jog tires may be hard to find. CT110 a bit easier, no? Larger wheels/tires are a HUGE advantage off road, in sand, mud and such.
Good Luck! bier

Nice idea!
I was just thinking if a 50cc has the torque to klim a hill?
Other than that i say, go for it and enjoy!
Let us know how things are going,
Saludos!!

I've not done any long distances on my Vespas, other than a few 100km's in a day...

However I ran across this blog on my online travels - this guy has some stuff in his blog - he's been riding since April 2014 with some really interesting trips and posts daily, he's all over North America from edge to edge, and tip to tip...including Alaska and lots fo dirt, he's now up to 22,000 miles ridden on with 50cc Ruckus, might add some ideas to your challenge, otherwise a good read..

Lost with Mike

Wait a minute if I don't have to save up for all that fancy gear and expensive modifications I might have to leave soon.... What about my year of planning!!

Only joking....

That post Lost with Mike is the guy I want to be. Seems he has nailed travel by moped. Those two scooters at the rest day in the Dakar are amazing too.

I agree with the comments about the ct110 mine has 92,000kms on it and has never had the engine apart. Just one clutch done at 60,000. But they do go wrong sometimes just like anything.

Cost rears it's ugly head again. The jog cost me $800 and parts are really cheap. A ct110 with 20-30 thousand km's (mine might be a little long in the tooth for such a trip) would cost close to $3000. As I plan to leave it behind once I get to Mongolia it's worth thinking about.

This next trip can only be a short one say 6 months. So I guess I feel less inclined to invest so much in the bike.

Think I'll flick Mike a message and see what he reckons as he has been there and done that he still seems pretty happy with his bike choice.

Always good to get some feed back thanks people.

Cheers

Rich

Here's a French guy who did a good Africa trip on a 50cc french moped.

African Moped Ouagadougou - Paris en mob!

I don't see a problem with the size, attitude takes care of that. My only question would be spares. Some countries LOVE mopeds (Morocco, 90% of 2 wheelers are 50cc mopeds, carrying ridiculous loads), other countries you won't see one. Not sure where Russia/Mongolia fall on mopeds.

get a sym repo engine and ride.

Take a look at Ed March's trips on his C90:

Welcome to my C90 Adventures

https://www.facebook.com/pages/C90-A...79000328897692

Him and his girlfriend are currently riding across Canada (yes during Winter)

You don't need a big bike to go big distances

A few years ago, my daughter and I went for a +2000 km ride on two TGB Express Pizza delivery 50 cc mopeds. We chose TGB Express 50 because it has a 150 ltr box bolted on, proper suspension to carry heavy loads, a torquey 2-stroke engine which with ease hauled me (100 kg) plus all the gear up pretty steep hills. In addition, this particular model has a 12V socket in the box (for pizza heaters), sufficient alternator output and sports both kick & electric start. They are, in other words, adventure ready. The only mod I did was to put in a 12V socket at the front for powering my iPhone GPS. These were EU mopeds, limited to max 45 km/h, but a mere removal of a ring is all that is needed to de-restrict it to its full potential, meaning cruising speeds at ca +60 km/h. We still have the mopeds because we truly like riding them, and still go for smaller trips now and again. They are great fun for small money.
https://scontent-lhr.xx.fbcdn.net/hp...d7&oe=55966953