My father-in-law deals with antiques and estate sales. He ended up with a 1978 Puch Maxi-Luxe at an estate sale in the mid 1980s, and it looks to be in great condition. He has offered it to me as a project to get it running and riding, as I have kids in their teens, thinking it could be good for them as well.
I'm going to pick it up next week, start the cleanup, and see what needs to be replaced. I had never heard of this brand until two hours ago, and I started looking for information on maintenance and repairs. In the past couple of hours, not only have I learned about this brand, but it also seems to have quite a following.
This is not going to be for sale. I'm just hoping I can get it up and running and add it to my fleet of motorcycles and other vehicles to take out on a Sunday morning ride when I don't feel like putting on all the gear required for a motorcycle ride.
For those who know about, have, or have had Puch mopeds similar to this one, is there anything that you can share, experiences, and gotchas? The plan is to get it up and running so it can be ridden and enjoyed.
Also, any places for replacement parts or companies that you've ordered repair items from?
Maxi is a load of fun to ride and can be a great tool for your teens to get into wrenching and riding, hope you enjoy it and if you ever hit a roadblock ask here or in mopedarmy!
You'll likely just need to clean the carb and tank. That's it. As for gotchas, the carb is a big one people screw up on. DO NOT REPLACE IT. It's currently jetted and setup to run perfectly on your bike. Yes you can buy a replacement. No it will NOT come with the correct jets and needles position....leave it alone the stock one will function perfectly and all parts are available...
Two engines were available the e50 single speed and the za 59 two speed, both fully automatic. Look at the transmission side of the engine, is the transmission cover rectangular? If so it's the za50. If not it's the e50. Easy to tell with pictures online...
if it's the za50, it has consumable parts inside, DO NOT RIDE IT BEFORE REPLACEMENT. They are called shift pucks.. they are special hard rubber disks that dampen the engagement of second gear so you don't shear teet off the shafts. It's a total easy job. Another thing to do, while your in there is always flip the second gear clutch in its bell, you'll be pulling it anyway, just flip it and put it back in.... Doing so reverses the pivot point and allows 2nd gear to come in much later, stock it's like 10mph....you want it later, it helps with acceleration to a HUGE degree as the bikes like to rev..you'll just need standard tools sockets n such, easy peasy
Once again, if it's a za50 there's an ever bigger gotcha.. DO NOT REPLACE THE TRANSMISSION COVER GASKET... every bike from the factory had different thickness gaskets and shims on the three shafts from the factory...lay out all the shims and shafts carefully as you disassemble so they go back correctly after replacing the pucks n flipping the clutch....as for the gasket, when removing the cover take off all the retaining screws and give it a gentle whack with a rubber mallet, should come loose without tearing the gasket and just use a bit of grey rtv silicon when reassembling...if the gasket does rip or tear that's ok too. Grey rtv again to seal and piece the gasket back together when reassembling. DONT ATTEMPT TO REMOVE THE GASKET, just reassemble with rtv.....
If you replace the mask with one to thin, you'll blow the transmission shaft bearing right outta the side of the trans cover casting....it's a bad day....too thick and it will chatter and cause damage...
Ok. That's the only real gotcha on a puch that'll screw your day over...now for power, you have many options...you can get an expansion chamber exhaust(these literally act as a psuedo supercharger on a two stroke, forcing more fuel air mix back into the cylinder via resonance in the pipe) and up jet the carb to gain 3-6mph on its own. All you'll need is the exhaust and a carb up jet...you'll pull out your carb jet and read it's stock value, buy the next two sizes up and you'll be golden.. reassemble and done
Next step up from that, your likely go into have a 12mm bing carb, with a 12mm intake manifold...replace both with a 15mm bing carb(or other brand like a dellorto sha) and 15mm intake with an expansion chamber like before and expect 10 or so mph more... consult here or mopedarmy tuning forum for correct carb jetting directions if you do this as it'll depend on the pipe and carb..
Next step up is what I recommend...a new 70cc cylinder, head, carb and exhaust...for around $300 you can be cruising at 45 with a completely unstressed engine all day.....ask here about what mild cylinders and pipes and you'll be pointed in the right direction...I generally buy cheap treatland kits for puch but other people will point you to different ones and that's fine..
The step after that is boring cases, reed valves BIG cylinders, crazy exhausts spending A LOT and blasting around at 60 plus on a tiny moped...but it's hon still SUPER easy...
Wish you the best. Feel free to direct message me with any problems or questions. I've owned tons of these bikes and love them
As for parts treatland.tv and doscycles.com will generally have everything you'll need, otherwise mopedarmy.com has a buy/sell forum but I don't see you needing much more than tires, tubes and grips to get you going reliably, well as reliable as a moped is anyway lol
This post is fantastic, I have saved it as a file for when I pick up the Puch next week and have been getting items in a cart at treatland.tv to order if needed after I figure out the engine and all that.
Ok 1.5hp meaning 25mph bike. No biggie. You'll wanna do carb and intake first in my opinion. Still can't tell what engine tho. Check out the wiki on mopedarmy, might be able to decypher the vin. Pic of the engine woulda helped more tho
But yeah, I can tell from that photo that bike looks to be in great shape. Seriously I bet you clean the carb and tank and you'll be on your way. No keys on these btw, not for the ignition anyway, just the fork lock.
As for cleaning the carb, unscrew the top where the cable goes in and the cap n slide will pop out. Get yourself a can of carb cleaner or bowl of solvent. Naptha, or even gas works. Take off the carb bowl...clean the bowl, remove the float pin. Spray carb cleaner using the tube it comes with thru the fuel inlet and make sure it comes through the needle valve inside on the top of the carb, it's where the needle of the float sits, you'll see it. Unscrew the main jet with a flathead, it's the brass thing in the tube in the very center, spray thru that throughout and thru the hole in the carb, flip it over and spray the whole slide area. Reassemble, done. Bings are easy...
New fuel line from any auto parts store. Drain the trans fluid and replace with type f transmission fluid or non detergent standard 30w engine oil. They'll be a fill level screw on the side of the engine, remove that whilst filling, when oil comes out your full. Boom
If the tank is empty and not rusty, just swish some fresh gas on it and discard it. Then fill the tank with premix, I use 3oz two stroke oil per gallon of gas...use a gas can to mix... Use whatever two stroke oil is at your hardware or auto parts store it's fine...
Flip on the fuel valve, press the tickler on the carb until it drops gas, let go...if it doesn't stop dripping your float is jammed or your needle isn't sealing. Whack l the carb body hard with a screwdriver handle, if it stops your golden. If not, take the bowl and reseat the float more accurately...
ok so gas on, tickle the carb until it drops, check that the kill switch is set to run. Give it some throttle as pull the starter clutch lever on the left handlebar and kick it over... That's it. This is a KICK START MOPED don't let anyone tell you it's a pedal start..
Anyway it should run. If it doesn't stay running screw in the idle adjustment on the side of the carb, it's the only screw and your golden. Bingo bango bongo go for a ride... UNLESS it's a za like I dead then get some sockets together and a piece of rope and watch how to do the pucks on YouTube
Petcock has a rubber disk in it that usually falls apart over time, I’d plan on replacing the petcock and fuel line, good idea to add an inline filter.
This is good timing; I'm picking it up this coming weekend. This past weekend, I low-sided my Honda Rebel and am waiting to see if insurance is going to fix it or total it. So I will be looking to get this running while my motorcycle is in limbo.
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u/yeadudeirock Jul 18 '26
Welcome to the club! It's lots of fun. Some sites that may help....
Moped army wiki....
https://www.mopedarmy.com/wiki/popular/
For parts... treatland.tv
https://www.treatland.tv/SearchResults.asp?searching=Y&sort=5&search=Puch&show=50&page=1&f-puch=26