I’ve always had a thing for mopeds. When I was in Jr. High, I wanted to move to France because in France they let you drive mopeds when you are 14. I got my first moped with my own money. The shop sold it to me for $75, which was the amount that the previous owner stiffed them for when they brought it in for repair. My mom allowed me to buy and fix it, under the condition that I’d sell it once I got it running. Getting it running took all of 10 minutes, it turned out to have a hornet’s nest in the pipe and once I cleared it out it ran pretty much like new. So I pretended it was still broken for a year and I’d sneak it out at night. Driving under-age is probably the biggest thrill of a young person’s life. The paranoia and continuous look-out for cops prepared me for sneaking into pools and parking garages, which came the next year when I discovered skating. I used to panic when I’d see a cop. Even if he (all cops in Salt Lake are men) was blocks away, I was sure that he was driving around specifically looking for kids on mopeds. I’d turn off my bike and roll up on the side walk and act like I was pushing it until he passed. After a while of not getting so much as a bit of eye contact from the police, I got brazen. It got to where I’d drive to school, run errands and I even started going across town on the big streets in full daylight. Which eventually led to me getting busted and my moped getting impounded. Losing my moped left a big hole in my heart that I filled with skateboarding. 

A couple of years ago I was back in Salt Lake City after my Stepfather died unexpectedly. I stayed with my Mom for a few weeks I had the days all alone in her house. I finally had the time to hot-rod this old moped that hadn’t been ridden since the mid-eighties. That year I was back in Salt Lake every few weeks, so I chipped away at it each trip until finally by summer it was ready to ride. 

Through my research finding performance parts for it I uncovered the subculture of mopeding that has been raging since the 70′s but has been accelerated over the last few years by the access and sharing of information and parts provided by the internet. The current state of  moped culture and tuning reminds me of skating in the early 90′s. Looking at the bikes, I think you can recognize the ‘above-the-ankle-size-50-dickies-32mm-wheel-pressure-flip-cut-off-your-shoesedness’ of it all. But It’s advancing at an exponential pace. A few years ago there were only a hand full of riders scattered around the country and only a couple of bikes capable of breaking 50 mph. Now are hundreds and at least half of the bikes at rallies are able to go at least 50 with a few people pushing the 70 mph envelope. 

Last weekend was the Latebirds’s  awesome ‘Flock Yeah II’ rally which I only got to take part of on the last day. Until last Sunday, I hadn’t ridden my moped with anyone else, so riding with 200 or so people up an down Laurel Canyon, sometimes 5 across, in full never raced before mode, weaving through traffic at 50-60 mph, was a bit of a rush. When you are in a pack like that you get kodak courage something fierce. All I can compare it too is a combination of motocross (except with cops and on-coming traffic)  and bombing hills (skateboards have way better brakes). Its funny how subversive it all feels, I’m nearly 40 and I still panic when I see a cop. Needless to say, I wasn’t comfortable enough to try and shoot photos while I was riding, but I did manage to snap a few pics and video of people and bikes when they were still. There’s no telling where this will all go, I don’t really see it becoming mainstream, but in 1991 I never would have thought I’d see this collaboration either.