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Puch (rhymes with book)
Puch mopeds (in all forms) seem to be the most prolific of all 1970's moped brands. Purchased by Piaggio in 1987, they are still manufactured under license in Czechoslovakia and India today. Many consider Puch's to be the benchmark to compare all other moped brands against and for good reason; they are reliable, well engineered and ride very well. Performance of a 2hp Puch (such as this example) is exceptional. The midrange from 20 mph up to the maximum of 34 mph (hauling my 200lbs) is just about the best of any 70's moped I have ever ridden. Braking is good, however there is some fade when slowing from top speed. The frame and front forks (as long as the bushings are intact) are stiff and inspire confidence when riding the moped. One area Puch needed to work on was sound and vibration dampening - later models used sleeved cylinders and were a bit quieter. Another issue with many Puch's was moderate/poor off the line to 20mph acceleration. Some late 70's and 80's models incorporated a two speed automatic transmission that was an attempt to address the issues of noise and off the line performance. (as well as keep up with the competition) Unfortunately the 2-speed transmission does not seem to be as robust as the original single speed version. Personally, I have logged more miles on my Puch mopeds than all other brands combined and they remain a personal favorite. (I still use one to get from home to the train station!) Back as a college student in the early 1980's a group of four friends and I took our mopeds on an 60 mile tour in Maine of Blue Hill, Ellsworth and Acadia National Park. (this is still my best one day long distance record) My trusty '77 Newport squired me around with no trouble. On the way home it even ended up towing one of the other riders (and his misbehaving Tomos) 15 miles back to Blue Hill! Parts for Puch's are widely available new, NOS or used and remain reasonably priced. They are very straightforward to work on and very resilient. In
Summary:
If you can only have one moped, THIS IS IT!! |
