Motobecane Moped Repair Manual
As the world's largest (?) camera instruction manual web site owner, I started to include other "information" people out there might need. I used to own a moped shop for a year in '82. This is a PDF of an original moped "Moby V40 / V50 and 7" motobecane repair manual.
Thing I have found out during that year.
ONE: kids destroyed the moped, most times, in 2 months. They would think they are dirt bikes and beat then to death. The moped would hold up, just looked terrible and many times have the steering slightly off from the "accidents" that happen.
TWO: what ruined the moped is not "locking" the drive correctly. There is an arm that locks the rubber belt drive gear to the chain. That locking mechanism should turn 180 degrees. Most times people thought they locked it, but only turned it 90 degrees. You MUST play with the pulley and turn the pulley slightly to get it to lock it 180 degrees.
THREE: a separate gas can with the right mix of gas/oil. Also have the tip that is slightly clear... then you can see the gas is colored. No oil mix and the engine dies in 1/2 mile.
FOUR: Not much can kill that engine. The 12V model had the brake system work the ignition. If the brake wiring went, no ignition. If you ground the wire coming out of the engine, you should get spark with the plug removed. Many "accidents" damaged the brake wiring and hence, no spark.
FIVE: The lights are REQUIRED to keep the others from burning out. The two speedo lights, tail light and headlight are required to be working or the alternator just puts out 15V and will burn out the other lights. The 6V system had the Diode and I never had an electrical problem with them. Many mopeds in the shop had the two speedo light burned out and the other two took the 14 volts. When the tail light blew, the voltage went to 15V and would finally burn out the expensive headlight.
SIX: The Le Moped is a standard Motobecan Moped with MAG wheels and plastic body molding. The wheels were riveted on and when the wheels were destroyed by hitting curbs, you had to drill out the rivets and replace them with high tensile bolts and nuts with built in locking ends. The mags were expensive and you couldn't replace it with a standard spoke wheel.
SEVEN: The Motobecane Sebring moped was a totally different make. It had a very fancy two speed trans. The trans used standard auto transmission fluid. I had problems with one customer as it was always breaking the first gear clutches.
EIGHT: I sold the "General Moped" for a few months before I sold the store. It used an oil injector that had a plastic oil hose that always seemed to get "pinched" and toast the motor. This moped also had a wet cell battery, but again it needed water a lot since there was no voltage regulator. This moped came with directional lights. The tips were plastic.. the replacements were metal.. go figure ! The early wiring harness broke at the front fork where it was twisted a lot.
Click here for a high quality Motobecane MOBY Moped repair manual with both wiring diagrams (12V and 6 Volt).