Brief History of Mopeds and Scooters
What you always wanted to know.
What is a moped really and where does it come from?
To answer this question, one needs to go back to the early days of the bicycle and the invention that revolutionized the 20th century - the internal combustion engine. Put one of these into a coach and you have an automobile, mount an engine it on a bicycle and presto, you have a moped derived from putting together two words (motor and pedals). The engine mounted on a bicycle was the beginning or predecessor of all motorcycles. The pedals were made available and used to start the device and as emergency fallback on human power. As bigger and better engines became available, it looked as if the half-bicycle-half motorcycle mopeds were just a flash in the pan a short-lived early development in progress that might be simply left behind. But as history now has proved that mopeds are here to stay.
The development and evolution of mopeds can be directly related to several but mainly four periods in our history:
Mopeds evolved and where developed between WWI and WWII and after WWII to the early 1980s and finally today. To define a moped it is a cross between a human-powered bicycle and an gas engine powered motorcycle that is usually under 50cc although some 100cc earlier mopeds were in use.
After the end of WWI, and until the Great Depression of the 1929 and 1930s was not conducive to the development of the moped. While motorcycle manufacturing boomed, largely fuelled by the rapid re-armament needs on all sides, it looked like the moped would be forgotten forever.
After WWII ended in Europe, the demand for simple cheap and economical means of transportation skyrocketed. Nobody could afford anything much less a car or a motorcycle. Many factories were in ruins no jobs. In European countries, Italy and France, many people got around on bicycles. Out of necessity came the rebirth of the moped and the Italian scooter. Many bicycle makers who also manufactured motorcycles started offering small engines for their bicycles. Motobecane, Peugeot, Ducati, Moto Guzzi all got into the act.
The scene changed dramatically, when Steyr-Puch of Austria, the company founded by Johann Puch, a master bicycle maker in the late 1800's, introduced the first MS-50 in 1952. The MS-50 design's success attracted many followers and became the kingpin of its era. It remained in production virtually unchanged until 1982. They reached North-America in the late '50s through the Sears catalog, as the Allstate Mo-Ped.
As Europe gradually recovered economically, the fate of the moped looked like it would disappear this time forever. But instead the moped on flourishing and its popularity went on to become a craze, there were moped races, clubs, meets and trips.
By the late 1960s mopeds branched off into multi-speed and cheaper single speed versions. Other than the 2-speed manually shifted Puch MS-50 and its cousins, 4 and 5-speed versions appeared as well . Soon the auto-shift 2-speed models arrived, followed by the continuous variable transmissions, the same system that is commonly used today on virtually all modern scooters.
By the late 1970s, hundreds of styles of models and brands, most under 50cc engine size. Worldwide sales were in the millions. Even in North America, that only caught the tail end of the boom, mopeds sold in spectacular numbers. In 1975, in the US alone, some 125 different models were available and Canada had about 25. They were sold through car dealerships, bicycle shops, county fairs and hardware stores.
The moped boom continued until the early 1980s. But then, the worldwide recession hit and hit hard. Many motorcycle and bicycle makers worldwide were wiped out. This, combined with the introduction of mandatory licensing and insurance
signaled the end of the moped craze as we know it.
For the third time it seemed the moped was finished. And for the third time, it bounced back.
In 1997, close to 12 million were produced worldwide. And while the distinction between mopeds (with pedals) and their siblings without (no-pedals) mopeds are here to stay.
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| Old photos of
Mopeds: |
 The common ancestor to mopeds and motorcycles; the Benz 'rolling saddle' from 1886. Still with training wheels and lever-type pedals. |
 The 1947 prototype Velosolex, virtually unchanged ever since and still going strong. |
 The NSU Quickly (1959). The lineage shows strong design similarities to the Puch MS-50. |
 The 1959 Eysink Credette from Holland. Notice the
curvaceous shape and the integrated tank. |
 This beautiful 1980 Indian carries the famous brand' name and was meticulously conceived as the 'non-plus'ultra' among mopeds. With its large frame, extended handlebars, elongated seat (sold as a 2-seater where permissible) riding one didn't feel like riding a smaller, more bicycle-like moped. |
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