How to Care for Your Moped
Every piece of machinery needs maintenance, mopeds are no different. One needs to keep their moped in top running condition to get the highest performance. Make sure to keep a toolkit with you when doing your maintenance. Your toolkit should include wrenches, a change of oil, a tire gauge, tire irons. Basically whatever you would need for a car.
If you are preparing your moped for winter, you will need to do some maintenance on it before you store it. Some suggest running the moped out of gas and spraying some WD40 into the tank to prevent rusting. Others suggest topping off the fuel tank and some fuel stabilizer in the tank, but mopeds are very sensitive to old fuel. If you leave fuel in the tank too long, the fuel can gum up the lines and make the moped hard to start come spring. Change the oil of the clutch and the gears, this will give you’re your gears a good flush and keep it clean for the winter months. Spray some WD40 into the cylinders. If you have a pedal moped, push the pedals a few times to circulate the solution so it can reach all parts of the machine. A good suggestion is to put the moped up on blocks so that during the winter the tires don’t end up lumpy or misshapen. If you have to keep the moped outside, it is a good idea to keep it covered. However, keeping the moped inside is better to preserve the integrity of the machine.
Give the moped a good wax, especially if you’ve already put a lot of work into the moped, you don’t want rust to be part of your problems in the future.
As far as normal usage, you want to make sure you keep your gears and chain oiled well even if you aren’t using the moped frequently. Keeping the tires pumped also will help the overall suspension of the moped.
If you are not mechanically inclined when you purchase your moped, find someone who is more skilled and learn from them. They can show you the basic ins and outs of your moped, even if they are more familiar with another piece of machinery. The two stroke engine of a moped is very similar to the basic make up of a car as well as what kind of maintenance needs to be done to them.
Don’t forget to ride safely, it is much harder to repair a moped than it is to maintain it.
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