Melvin’s motobecane 50cc polini for sale
$4000
Melvin is selling his fast motobecane av10 50cc polini fully loaded. He’s building his next fast moped a Peugeot 103 RCX 50cc Doppler h20 electric water pump with stock clutch pulley and kick start.
ENGINE:
Stock mbk cases, doppler crank, ported 50cc W polini kit, doppler high comp head, dell’orto 19 carb, doppler exhaust with custom ball joint, mbk cdi, kick start, doppler er3 variator, doppler clutch pulley with Tomahawk Xtreme kit + special 2 way bearing with outer grease nipple for easy maintenance, custom launch lever.
CHASSIS:
Custom frame brace, custom disc brake, custom swing arm, 5 star mag wheels, Ebr hydraulic fork with custom brace, custom clip-on handlebars, custom seat and upholstery, LED tail light, brake light, Ruckus front headlight, 6v battery, key switch, kill switch, horn, gps aluminum mount, rotating license plate holder.
Peugeot 103 RCX project:
Frame with stock kick start imported from France. Stock clutch pulley and Doppler 50cc h20 kit from Treats. The engine will be ported, assembled and tuned by Tomahawk.
The Tomahawk moped nest is taking shape:
The roof frame is done.
Look… a little wounded bird landed next to the Tomahawk nest:
Commissioned project moby 40T frame with 6 star mag wheels + stock av10 cases, polini reed block, powerful malossi 50cc h20 Gr2 kit, stock cdi, 19 carb, stock cdi, doppler er3 variator, doppler clutch pulley, doppler spring. We’re gonna bring this awesome bike back to life with a new ebr fork + disc brake.
Two very powerful 50cc motobecane engine builds in progress:
Stock mbk small cases + stock 2 petal reed valve + 21mm carb + stock cdi, doppler er3 variator, electric water pump.
Just got those 2 polini 50cc h20 kits from Treats. For proper seal, the heads and cylinders will be machined to fit 1x 45mm and 4x 7mm viton O rings to replace the weak polini head gasket. The combustion chambers might be machined and modified later to fit Bidalot flat head pistons. The cylinder decks will be milled down to raise the port duration to Gr2 specs and the W shape exhaust ported for high rpm monster power. That motobecane setup should be faster than my race moped peugeot 103 rcx 50cc h20 + malossi cases + 21mm carb.
Thanks Treats! treatland.tv
RCX monster green
Damn that thing is bad dude!
Peugeot 103 rcx 50cc race moped/show bike with a new paint getting ready to compete in the West Coast motorized bicycle/moped 1st race event April 7th in Southern California.
Frame semi gloss black with very light metal flakes by Master Mario.
Powder coating: wheels and seat clear reflective, swing arm and frame brace frosty black, official monster green parts + black exhaust high temp ceramic coating:
SoCal Moped Race Sat April 7th 2012 Grange Track, Victorville
The monster is track ready. It looks mean and hungry for some 18 hp 200cc 4T go kart and 12 hp 50cc h20 Morini engines. The fairings have to come back in style, plus they’re so much more efficient on the track.
First videos:
The main jet is rich to protect the engine. It four-strokes and only revs at 13,000 rpm for now. At this level of tuning those small 50cc engines pushed to their limit are very sensitive to any wrong setting or weather changes . I’ll jet it on the track and will use a velocity stack or an air box for better air flow. But in general I tend to keep the carburetion rich to protect my race engines even if they lose a little bit of power. The races are just for fun in California, we’re not running a championship and it’s not worth blowing up an engine.
High tech catch bowl from 99c store 
. It prevents the fuel overflow from leaking on the race track and create dangerous slippery spots.
The gas tank leak repair with POR15 looks great.
- My motobecane Av10 50cc air cooled 19mm carb single variated with launch lever is track ready. The only thing left is to install the much needed Kawasaki NHK adjustable steering damper I got for cheap on ebay. Unlike on a big motorcycle, it has to be mounted as close to the frame as possible so that it doesn’t feel too stiff, guru’s word. No more test runs before the race to save the brand new piston ring for maximum power on track day.
Doppler clutch trick by Tomahawk race team:
I’m using the Tomahawk pulley Xtreme kit + push start bearing upgrade HFL 3030.
The stock Doppler clutch pulley often shutters during the shoes break in period creating vibrations resulting in broken stock 6mm posts or broken stock one way bearing. A good trick is to deglaze the cluth bell and the clutch shoes after the first couple of miles just on the edges where they make uneven contact. We did it quickly for the video but you can spend more time for a better finish. The clutch will engage smoother and later at higher rpms for super fast takeoffs. You may have to repeat the process a second time if the pulley start shuttering again. The shoes might wear out a little bit faster but when you ride a race bike or fast street bike you have to change engine parts very often, what matters for speed addicts is performance over long term durability.
My 50cc single vairated bike takes off as fast or faster than most dual variated mopeds like derbi or hobbit and pulls harder because dual variated transmissions absorb some of the power and need a lot of rpms when most of those kitted bikes use low rpm 70cc air cooled kits, or if they pop wheelies they don’t have the pull and top speed like a single variator with launch lever. I remember being faster off the line than 75cc derbis (maybe geared for top speed) on the race track with my peugeot RCX giraudo clutch pulley, 50cc air cooled stock cases single flat reed at the time and not tuned.
But a high rpm dual variated engine with a launch lever system is very effective on the track. It has been tested a long time ago in the late 80′s in 50cc french moped racing. It was at the time when the organizations were still deciding on banning or not the launch lever from “fully automatic rules”. The single variator + launch lever became legal and dominated the track for 20 years (still today in 2012, 18hp h20 50cc single variator launch lever prototype mopeds are faster than 80cc scooters on the track), but the dual variator + a launch lever was considered too powerful and banned from the rules by some organizations. It was one transmission system or the other, not both. We can’t see the engine but here’s a pic of a 1987 50cc dual variated launch lever prototype with fairings by master tuner Pascal Fraget and same year 50cc single variated parallelogram prototype by “Willy Hubert” one of the two last companies in France who still makes the vintage fairings we can now buy in the US thanks to Treats, fairing-full-race-conti.htm
Video:
Man… the motorized bicycles with 200cc 4 stroke dual variated go kart Chinese engines ($100) are gonna have to pedal hard to match the moby av10 or peugeot 103 rcx take offs on the start lane… lol. It’s gonna be interesting to see how the light and torquy electric bikes will compare. Even though I don’t like the expensive price or trust the reliability, I might try for one race the internal rotor MVT variable advance cdi strong spark for way better low end power and higher rpm. Available at http://www.treatland.tv motobecane-mvt-cdi-mbk-premium.htm
Thx Melvin for the demo… and the music.
- NEW 90cc cylinder kit by MXS (French/German company):
33 hp on the dyno, for AM6, Derbi euro2/euro3 and Yamaha Zuma engine cases hitting the European market soon! With the scootracing89 cases you can rip this kit on your monster moped with a Bidalot variator + special scootracing89 shaft adapter like the variated race bike below.
- French moped racing updates:
“Continental Vario” the northern organization for the french championship 50cc single variated moped is working on new official logos for 2012. Back in the old days small 50cc engine race bikes nicknames were “cup of coffee” (Italian size) or “pissing fire”. They gave those themes to their designer to draw the first sketches. The season starts this weekend with the first race Sunday March 25th. Here are some of the 50cc single variated mopeds with fairings competing in the north. They will also add young scooter and 6 speeds racers to the mix and maybe drag racing to bring new blood and keep the event alive in the long term.
- Also:
Check out that new moped racing organization starting on the East Coast which Tomahawk is excited to be one of the sponsors. Good luck guys!
Here’s the facebook page: 185520991554569
Jesse’s race bikes: Honda Hobbit 50cc + Puch free spirit 70cc
Puch race moped project for the OPEN class 49cc to 80cc:
North East Moped Racing Presents: Cherry Valley Cup
103 RCX, lets powder coat
After 2 years, time for a new look to get pretty and ready for the 2012 race season.
Motobecane rubber bushing mounts on Peugeot frame phase 2:
Special brass guides and bushing housing by Tomahawk, aluminum spacer by Overkill, welds by master welder and manufacturer of Apache helicopter parts.
Plus, motobecane old 19mm intake conversion to stock square shape for better gas flow with welded aluminum (no cheap JB weld for “Mr. High-Tech”).
Adams, 4th round
I just came back from the 4th minigp race at Adams motorsports park in Riverside, CA 06/05/2011.
What a blast… It felt good to be back on the track with my variated peugeot 103 RCX 50cc H20. I didn’t have a chance to test the new motobecane av10 G1 50cc since we arrived late and missed the 2hr practice session. I jumped straight into the race with the RCX probably the safest choice to keep up with the other motorcycle racers.
It was a small turn out because of back to back races. I was the only moped racer but they let me compete in the minigp vet/youth class with 3 other motorcycles. I placed second behind the experienced racer Saul with his Kawasaki 60cc 2 stroke engine and front of Rod with his Aprilia RS 125 frame + honda 100cc 4 stroke engine.
There was a great energy and I can’t wait to come back to the exact same track in July for the night race.
I found a Tomahawk made out of two wooden sticks in the dirt right in front of my canopy. What a strange coincidence…
Thanks Freddie for those awesome pics!
Rcx, 2nd test run in LA
I modified the pipe on the Rcx and the bike feels better even though I couldn’t read the max rpm because of a wrong setting on the tachometer. I’m getting close now and we’ll start doing some tuning on the carb (too rich) and the transmission (variator + spring tension and gearing). Overall the bike feels solid and good enough to be competitive on the first race. I don’t want to go t00 crazy with the pipe or compression ratio to keep it more reliable and have a bike running at every race.
The bike reached 57 mph at the end of the straight with Drew’s GPS. I still need to tune the gearing to get a solid 60mph which should be enough on those small go kart tracks.
RCX, la patate dans les rues de Los Angeles
“Rcx ripping in the streets of LA”… well not quite yet.
So after trying the old Gianelli pipe with a shorter length I was able to hit the 12,000 rpm zone way higher than the first time I started the bike with the Bidalot pipe. Once tuned properly with the right size on the modified Bidalot exhaust I should be able to reach close to 13,500 rpm. After I’m done searching and modifying pipes, I will probably send all the dimensions to a special shop to build a custom exhaust.
On the videos you’ll notice that the bike is not tuned yet. I didn’t have time that day to jet the carb for the new pipe or do any variator + engine spring tuning but it’s good to keep it rich for now.
Those french mopeds with single variator + clutch pulley properly tuned have pretty fast take offs and would probably match any Derbi with the same engine size. I can’t imaging doing some extreme porting with an h20 80cc kit on a french bike. Plus, they’re much more fun to ride having manual control of the variator gearing ratio with the launch lever that gives you the feel of downshifting on an automatic transmission. Derbis or Hobbits acceleration feels more like a scooter, it’s fast but not as fun. With the french bikes you really feel like you have some control of the engine and the transmission belt, it’s amazing. There’s nothing like it.
Rcx 50cc air cooled engine retires
It was fun returning to Grange’ Track last Saturday for an awesome practice session with the Daggrs bikes.
Special thanks to some of the Daggers members Jamisin, Tracey, Casey and also to Rachel ( from NoHo scooter ). We all had a blast on the open track. I hope we can do it again before the end of the year.
It was good meeting Young Lee the owner of the M1gp series. I’d love to participate at his 8h or 24h Le Mans race next year.
It was probably my last time on a track with the old Bidalot 50cc air set up. Unless we start a Gr1 class next year. It’s time for retirement ! Next time I ride the rcx on a track it will be with the new 50cc H20 engine.
Back from Grange’
Awesome racing weekend !
It was a very short notice but we were able to race with 3 mopeds thanks to the Latebirds guys. There was me with my peugeot 103 rcx, Carson with his Tomos A55 and Brian with his peugeot 103.
Also thanks to the spectators from Apple Valley Ryan and Curtis, Colby from Orange county and a group of Latebirds members, Jamisin representing the Daggrs who video taped the first race ( we’re still working on it ).
The good thing about joining a racing club is that they already rent the track, organize the race, have insurance, officials, medical assistance…. I’m realizing that it’d be hard to start our own moped league by ourselves and make it a successful event.
The results:
First race: 1st Christophe – 2nd Brian – 3rd Carson
Second race: 1st Brian – 2nd Christophe – 3rd Carson
We spoke with Josiah the owner of SCminigp race club about starting a moped class next season 2011. They host 9 races a year every month and have room for 2 or 3 moped classes. He wants to meet with the moped community at Choke next month to work on the schedule ( # of races ), the fees ( between $ 40 and $ 60 race day ), classes and rules, etc…
If the race becomes a success in Southern California he would create a moped race in Northern California and have us meet twice a year half way at the Buttonwillow track.
After talking with our group this weekend it sounds like people want 2 separate classes.
People like the idea of having a non variated cheap class so that anybody could race their stock Tomos or puch with stock 50cc cylinder (the cheapest) or maybe a 50cc kit, with a 15 carb max, and a pipe ( choose your gearing, suspensions, breaks…). That way, new Tomos owner wouldn’t feel left out, they could still have fun on the track competing with each others and afford to race.
The second class would be for the variated bikes but it’s a little complicated.
I personally want to keep it “cheap” and fair with the french bikes Group 1 class but I also realize that not everybody has a moby of peugeot frame to build a 50cc bike from scratch and would rather show up with their 70cc street bike already built. I also don’t want the monster derbis and honda hobbit left out of the competition either. We also have Jeff’s derbi from Choke ready to race in LA. And if the race starts in February would we have enough people able to build a 50cc Group 1 bike in 3 months ? The bottom line is that we need bikes on the track to make it a race.
So it seems like people want to keep it open like at the Polini cup with 70cc max and have 2 races within the race. In other words, let the big guys battle up front with their monster mopeds and big budget, and the other ones with their cheaper 50cc french bikes Gr1. I was able to keep up with Brian’s 103 70cc this weekend, so unless Tony shows up with his 2 monster Derbis from Northern California, the race should be “fair” and exciting.
I also talked to Keith from Polini spi-parts.com and they would love to carry more of the Doppler moped parts for us if we decided to build mbk and peugeot Gr1 bikes. They love the brand.
Also:
I’m planning on going back to Grange’ track next weekend…. so come and race me !
There’s an other GP series owned by Young Lee who wanted to host a moped class a while ago. I want to go check it out and see what he would have to offer us. I’ve heard there are more adults and less kids. But I need to call him first today. I’ll keep you posted on the blog or moped army if it happens or not so that you can get your bikes ready.
PHOTO GALLERY
Pics of race track, riders meeting, pocket bikes, 50cc – 65c – 100cc 2 stroke – 150cc 4 stroke GP bikes, our mopeds, and some great pics showing an example of the wire and catch bowl safety rules thanks to Rod’ and his Aprilia RS 50cc.
Polini cup race 1
I still have a lot of work to do on the chassis and the engine… moving pegs, moving exhaust and launch lever, changing the spring, rebuilding the variator with new machined parts, stiffening the EBR fork, cutting the clipons, and more…
Working late at night but I’ll be ready for the 2nd race !
Welcome to the pow wow
“Welcome to the Tomahawk blog. I’m the French dude who you may have met at Choke getting parts and advice for builds. I’m starting this blog to help me keep track of my various variated bikes. Most of my riding time was spent blasting the streets of Paris and now I’m building bikes here in Los Angeles. Motobecanes and Peugeots are my mopeds of choice and I’m sourcing a large portion of my parts from France. I have three projects right now: a Puch Magnum Peugeot powered Frankenbike, a liquid cooled dual disc braked 70cc Peugeot 103, and a 50cc metal flake powder coated pimp corner to corner commuter. I also maintain a 1990′s Bidalot 103 RCX track bike (group 1). Since some people have been asking about these bikes, I’m going post photos of each of them in this blog.”
