Annual Blog 8/30/2007 @ 18:38:53
Once upon a time using a moped for transport was simply a choice made by necessity where little thought was given to the impression made upon others. When other choices weren’t available or practical, when they had the market to themselves is when mopeds have shone brightest. It was the years just after World War 2 that mopeds first stood out as a recognizable class of vehicle separate and distinctly different from the other available transport options. It’s a fact that Honda, probably one of the most recognizable brands of anything started out by bolting a small industrial engine onto bicycles. Hondas idea wasn’t new, nor was it unique, but it was an essential phase in the life of that company, in the lives of its founder and employees, and indeed in the post war miracle that is modern Japan. Every new Honda product today from the largest SUV or the fastest F1 engine owes its existence to the first Honda and the first Honda was a moped, I think that’s pretty cool. The same can be said to some degree of Suzuki, Ducati, as well as many other motoring marques who at some time or another took advantage of the moped motor/pedal hybrid concept. It’s an idea that came about way back when the first internal combustion engines lacked sufficient power to accelerate an early motorcycle on its own without some form of assistance. The standard bicycle which at the time was experiencing a boom of its own provided an ideal test bed for these new motor cycles. Relatively simple frame modifications to mount an engine and a simple power transmission to get power to the back wheel turned the pedal bicycle into a motor cycle. Riding was achieved by pedaling the bike in the normal fashion and once under way engaging the engine at which point it took over and the rider could stop pedaling, exactly the same as any pedal moped today. It wasn’t long before a multi-speed gearbox and manual clutch was added to the mix, this enabled the engine to be started while the bike was stationary and various ratios then used to accelerate the bike into motion. It was at this time that the bicycle pedals became superfluous and from the early 1900’s motorcycles were able to shed their pedals and evolve into the dramatically wide variety of motorbikes available today. The evolution of the scooter followed a parallel path where instead of using pedals to get started, the bike was scootered in the time honored fashion known to anyone who has ever ridden a skateboard, kick scooter, or worn out Vespa. The scooter concept is simpler and this same simplicity is now dominating the market for small two wheeled vehicles. Scooters have been around since the late 19th century while the word moped didn’t come into common use until the 1950’s. Prior to that mopeds went under various names most common being the Autocycle and it smaller simpler cousin the Cyclemotor both of which took advantage of human powered assistance. The Autocycle generally had an engine of around 100 cc capacity which made for a somewhat bulky machine, while the Cyclemotor was basically a tiny engine designed to bolt onto any bicycle and thus convert it into a moped. It wasn’t until the devastation of post World War II necessitated an extremely simple and economical vehicle that the moped as we know it came about. The war had accelerated some new two stroke design and manufacturing techniques that allowed sufficient power to be extracted from a 49 cc engine to power a small motorcycle. The first of these 49 cc machines appeared in the late 1940’s and someone in Sweden noticed that they had both motor and pedals coining the name and a new word “moped”, short for motor pedal. The mopeds extremely high fuel economy and ease of manufacture saw it enjoy a boom time of sufficient magnitude to gain a foot hold in the small motorcycle market, but by the 1960's the world had recovered somewhat from the post war fuel shortages and the mopeds time of necessity had already passed. The moped was relegated to scrape a living in the shadow of the trendy scooter and tough motorcycle until it was thrown a lifeline by the OPEC oil embargo upon the US in the early 1970’s. The European moped manufacturers who had been struggling to maintain moped sales in the 1960’s suddenly saw a whole new market open up in the United States; they jumped in boots and all, the moped models that found their way to the US were well sorted having had over a decade of development behind them. In America with its many geographically flat cities and endless new suburbs the moped found a happy home. The moped was encouraged by congress as a means to combat the growing fears of oil shortage as America’s own oil reserves peaked. The 1970’s was the second boom time for the moped and Americans with leisure time to burn took to it with an attitude of fun. The US moped market boomed for almost a decade helped along by minimal legislation and a liberal attitude to safety that saw no requirement for crash helmets. The moped boom saw moped riding become a genuine 1970’s craze and it secured an eternal place in 1970’s America where the moped lives on in that most fascinating of decades. In many ways the 70’s were a great decade, music was diverse and decor was loud, hair was long and sex was safe, (or so it seemed). Towards the end of the decade however the things that made the decade great began to go out of fashion and one of these was the moped. Mopeds were cast off often being junked, or left to rot where they were parked. Many found a new home in the Punk movement, but these were almost always second hand seventies models offering few new moped sales to keep the little machines booming. As the eighties unfolded a global downturn saw most mopeds go out of production and new safety rules requiring moped riders to use crash helmets hurt their casual nature badly. Honda finally gave up on mopeds in the early 1980’s when they tooled up to produce plastic scooters by the million. In Europe many mopeds survived the 1980’s and new updated models were released to sell in small numbers to a boutique market of enthusiasts. Asian businesses looking for an easy and cheap product bought the rights to produce out of production mopeds and these started the revival of the moped as Indian pedal mopeds started drifting into western markets in greater numbers during the 1990’s. Today we are seeing a revival of pedal mopeds with the recognition by many of their minimal style and 1970’s retro cool. The Internet has assisted this with peer to peer sales of old skool mopeds now finding a market as collectable classics. Style conscious Japan has again given the moped a kick by providing a new market for old models built using new technology, German Sachs mopeds are today being sold new in Japan and will soon be on sale again in the US after a twenty year hibernation. Even the mopeds greatest rival the motor scooter is giving the moped a boost by it very success the scooter is becoming mainstream and rapidly going out of fashion. The moped has survived the last fifty years with booms and busts and in marketing speak is well and truly a “mature” product. We are now entering the era of Peak Oil with world oil demand exceeding supply pushing oil prices to new highs daily. The uncertainty of global terrorism coupled with insufficient oil production capacity and booming demand for oil in Asia is ensuring high oil prices are here to stay. Mopeds are the most economical vehicles after the bicycle and this will ensure their survival for at least another fifty years. The very design of the moped however is its greatest asset, just like the bicycle which uses human power, mopeds also use human power to assist their progress. Technology will get better and new forms of power will emerge, but the human body is unlikely to evolve any time soon, we will always have legs and at least a few of us will want to keep riding bicycles, somewhere on the fringe of the bicycle market will always remain a market small or perhaps also huge for mopeds with pedals that can be ridden like a bike or a motorcycle, or both as the rider chooses. The evolution of the moped has a long way to go when compared with the bicycle which has had multi-speed pedaling ratios for decades, the moped has yet to trial multi-speed pedaling ratios commercially. I believe it will be the ability to assist the moped by pedaling at whatever speed that will see the next moped boom be its biggest yet. The mopeds minimal design will come and go with fashion, but its sheer logic will always ensure its infinite survival. Moped!
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