The Walk of Shame

Puch ("Pook", as it's pronounced) was/is an Austrian importer of scooters, mopeds and small-CC motorcycles, eventually teaming up with the Sears/Allstate brand in the Sixties. This little scoot is also known in the States under the Sears/Allstate brand as the 'Cheetah'. Yes, it's a bit of a change from the bikes I usually work on, but I got this thing about five years ago along with a trashed out red one, seen below. 

WHY?? I dunno - it just 'called' to me. 

I tried saving this red one - repainted it and did what I could, but it was seriously rusted out, and I wound up selling it. Probably shouldn't have, but I did. At the time, I drove up to West Virginia to pick up what I thought was going to be the white one, but the guy at the scene had both of these sitting around in an old warehouse-type of building and essentially told me to take them both - for $125!  Why, SURE!! I love it when a parts bike is part of the deal!

They even came with a ratty original repair manual, which is actually more like a thin magazine and shows its age, but I was lucky to find it. Turns out though that it's missing sections 1 through 3, which was a problem when it came to trying to get this back on the road.  

I'm now pretty good at getting things to run - every engine is essentially the same. You need fuel, a spark and air. Combine all three of those in the right combination and the engine will fire; but soon after I got this white one up on the table, I realized I was faced by a whole different cat. 

The engine is only about the size of a cantaloupe, and runs with a magneto - and No, it's not a Marvel Comics character. The Interwebs tell us that a magneto is "...a self-contained electrical generator that uses permanent magnets to produce high-voltage electrical pulses for an engine's spark plugs. It operates completely independently of an aircraft or vehicle's battery and alternator, ensuring the engine keeps running even during total electrical failure."

Yah - what HE said...! In other words, it doesn't need a battery to start, it's its own battery. (It doesn't explain why I currently can't get a spark, but that's another matter - probably needs a new coil...).

I had plenty of parts for it, having bought them years ago when I first picked the bike(s) up, but then it sat for Lo these many years until just this past week when I once again caught my attention...I went over it again, seeing what I had to do and where to start, and that started with the front tire, which was flat, but pissed me off because I had just changed it a few weeks ago and put in a new tube. Turns out I had pinched the tube putting it in, so I went ahead and took off the wheel, fixed the leak, put it back on - and PINCHED IT AGAIN!!

I hate changing tires. If You Know, You KNOW. But it has to be done, so I do it. And now I'll have to do it AGAIN! This one's not too bad, 'cause it's small; it's still a PITA. Whatever. FML. ("There's always time to do it twice, never time to do it right"!) 

So anyway, with everything I had to/have to do to this bike - and being lazy - I put it aside and turned my ADHD self to my 1972 Honda CB500 Four, which needed the carbs synched.

I had taken this bike down the road the other day because I thought it was running well - well, it wasn't. I got about a half mile from my house and it died. It started sputtering and hesitating when I rolled on the throttle -

"Uh-Oh..."

Maybe you know the feeling. The good thing was, when I'm alone, I rarely travel more than a mile from my house when I road test these old bikes just in case I have to walk back - and this time I did. And it Sucked.

It was hot; I'm old (but I identify as 33, if that's anything); and it turns out that 400-lb bike turns into a BEAST when you have to push it up a 15-degree incline. At least I know my heart is in fairly good condition! 

A hot day, extreme physical exertion, sweat pouring, lungs gasping, heart pounding WAY past it's limits, and the distinct thought of "Damn - so THIS is how I go out!" kept running through my mind.

Walking a bike back home, or anywhere for that matter, feels like doing the Walk of Shame. Drivers pass you, raise a finger or two in greeting...and you don't look back because you can feel their eyes on you from behind, thinking 'Man...! Glad I don't have to walk that bike home!' But I did get her back home - and to add insult to injury, I still had to push her up my driveway, which is at about a ten-degree angle - oh, it Suuucked...! 

Obviously, something had to be done, and since I had previously dialed in the timing and points gap, that only left the carbs. The bike died on me mid-flight, which indicated to me that it probably had something to do with the carbs - some schmutz in the pilot jet or something. I pulled the carbs, went through all the jets again, got it back on the bike and synchronized the carbs, and I was glad I did, they were WAY TF off. I had a nice little idle going when I started, but after fiddling with the adjusters a bit the bike zoomed up to 3500 RPMs, freaking me out a little until I managed to get the hang of it and brought everything down to a human level. I mean, Look at those levels...! Sweet!

A tuned engine is a Happy engine! 😃

(This is my Morgan Carbtune II, btw, a 4-channel carburetor manometer that is easy to set up and use and gets you great results - highly recommended if you do engine tuning). 

Nice idle, too...