MoPed-Pros

Sabre-Comm
On the Cutting Edge

This web site is dedicated to the wonderful Moped, it's long history has seen an evolution in design that has made the moped one of the most numerous and successful vehicles on the planet.  The moped's design evolution began out of necessity during the resource starved years after World War 2. In the devastated countries of Europe and Asia, many roads, bridges and railway lines had been destroyed, often the only form of mass transport left was the bicycle.  It didn't take long for enterprising businesses and individuals to figure out that selling a small engine to power the millions of bicycles would cater to a largely unsatisfied market.  For obvious reasons these earliest Mopeds were called Cycle-Motors.

The moped found a waiting market, and during this era many millions of Mopeds were sold.  During the US oil crisis of the 1970's the moped again provided a cheap and very economical form of motorized transport.  The moped had been popular in Europe and Asia for many years, but safety restrictions had held it out of the US.  By 1974 the OPEC oil embargo was having a major affect on the US economy,  and it was during this time that many states relaxed their safety rules and recognized the moped legal definition in law.
 

In many ways the moped boom that began over 50 years ago is still happening today, the design of the moped has evolved, and advances in engine and transmission design have brought an increase in power and performance. One of the most important developments to affect the design of Mopeds since their inception is the C.V.T automatic transmission, or Constantly Variable Transmission. On C.V.T equipped Mopeds the pedals have become superfluous, enabling better weather protection and more secure storage to be incorporated into the design. Another important development in recent times has been the gradual acceptance of the four stroke engine over the two stroke engine. Four stroke engines are generally more environmentally friendly because they recover their own lubrication, unlike two strokes which use a total loss lubrication system where the oil is mixed with the fuel and burnt during combustion.

Hybrid Scooters:

Just as pedal mopeds utilize a hybrid of human and motorized power, the same gas/electric concept seen in hybrid cars is starting to appear in mopeds like this Hybrid Scooter which uses a 4-stroke 49cc gasoline engine working in tandem with a 500 Watt electric motor to achieve an average 200 miles to the gallon. The stop start nature of urban driving is well suited to hybrids, and with no need to travel at highway speeds or intercity distances, the moped maybe the best hybrid yet.

This is a tricky subject as pointing fingers at specific brands as being terrible can lead to legal issues.  In most of the writings we have published, we tend to elaborate more on the brands that we recommend rather than the ones we don't.  Having that said, there are numerous brands of MoPeds out there.  In general, they can be broken down in three groups including name brands, unknowns, and off-brands.  Everyone knows the name brand mopeds available and some are even US made.  Honda is one manufacturer out of Japan.  The Japanese as well as the Europeans and US make some great products with decent quality and support to back up their products.  These examples are going to be the more example versions available.

There are some brands out there that are made in Taiwan or South Korea as well.  These models are going be decent for quality and reliability as well, plus have good technical support and parts backing them.  They just aren't going to have the name recognition that most name brands will have acquired over the years.  These are the models that we would typically refer to as 'unknowns'.  They are very good over all but haven't yet established brand recognition.

The last group is of course the off-brands.  Most (if not all) of these come out of China.  The Chinese are really into the electric Moped and Scooter manufacturing scene at this time even though they have no ambition in regards to cleaning the earth, global warming or climate.  Their drive is mainly that its way cheaper to operate an electric vehicle over a gas version.  While we have seen and reviewed numerous Chinese made MoPeds, we haven't come across any that seem to stand out from the others.  Only one brand makes our report here and that would be X-treme Scooters and that's mainly for their dealer only sales, excellent levels of support and some unique designs that are capable of some great speeds and distances.  Most of the scooters pictured on this page are from X-tremes line up.  They do have an extensively offering of models as well.
 

Pedal powered bicycles have been around for nearly 150 years, and it is logical to assume bicycles will be around for as long as we have legs to power them. The moped hybrid concept of utilizing human and motorized power is probably going to be around for a while too given that people are always going to want some kind of motorized bicycle product, and we see this now with the growing popularity of electric bicycles. The moped hybrid concept offers some tangible and measurable benefits to society as a whole, especially with the growing world population, and the need to ease traffic congestion in urban communities. The moped's renown fuel economy offers a future benefit as oil resources are depleted and the price of fuel inevitably increases.

The NC I features a four stroke engine for low emissions and good fuel efficiency, a good ergonomically correct riding position for cycling fitness, and the light weight and slim lines of a bicycle for easy urban commuting and use on bicycle lanes. Products like these are the future of the moped, and will find wide appeal once the exercise benefit is recognized by the wider population, oh, there's one more benefit Mopeds have always offered... Fun!

Related Topics:

• Electric Bike
• Electric Moped
• Moped Scooter
• Mopeds Scooters

• X-treme Scooters